4thWall

Jon reserved a space at the end of our session yesterday for me to ask him any questions—not questions necessarily related to the pilot I’m writing but questions about anything. I had been keeping a list in my notebook for just such an occasion. All of a sudden the questions I’d recorded seemed very menial and silly. I had questions like, “What do you wear to an interview for a writing job?” “How old are the people in your writing room?” “What screenwriting software do you use?” I warned Jon that my questions were stupid, but he assured me that there are no stupid questions. And though my questions might not have impressed Jon, now I’m happy that I have the answers. (Casual dress; a range of ages, the youngest starting at 30; Finaldraft.)

Though a seemingly minor worry, asking what to wear yielded perhaps the most important response. This question arose because I’d heard two different opinions. One, which I was more inclined to trust, came from one of my SU professors, who worked as a comedy writer in Hollywood for a number of years. He told us that, if you do get a pitch meeting, to look like a comedy writer. Don’t wear a suit and come across as uptight. Dress casually, but look like a million bucks. The other opinion held that you should err on the side of overdressing for interviews. Wear a suit.

Jon settled it for me. “If you wear a suit to a writing interview, people will think you’re crazy. You’ll look like you don’t belong there.” Catastrophe averted. It might have sounded like a silly question, but the little things do matter. Should I get an interview or pitch meeting, I will not wear a suit.

I learned another lesson today after talking with Jon. We were going over an outline I wrote for the pilot episode I’m working on. In the outline, I’d set up a couple storylines in the first two acts. We got through them and everything was fine, but then we came to the third act. “You just built up a bunch of momentum. Here it comes to a screeching halt,” Jon observed. While writing, I had it in my head that Act Three was going to be devoted to a particular plotline. I never stopped to ask myself if that was the most interesting of the plotlines I had. It wasn’t. Looking back on my outline and hearing Jon talk about it, it was clear that I’d chosen the wrong A-story. It should have been obvious sooner. When I struggled to expand it, when I struggled to make myself care about that storyline, I should have realized that there was a reason it appeared to be tapped out so early. That story could only give me so much. The other story, which I established and then moved away from, was the more engaging of the two. I’d developed it to the point that it could have an audience wanting to know what happened next. It could bring people back after the commercials. But, because I failed to stick with what grabbed their attention, when they returned from the break, they would be let down. Why are we going this direction now? What happened to the pressing, high-stakes action? Needless to say, I’m now rewriting my third act, and my third will inform my fourth. This time, I’m sticking to the right story.

On Set with Asylum Entertainment-

Though the agreed upon internship time had ended, it seemed that both Rob and I were interested in working together longer. I had always offered to do anything I could to help, which I’d inherently learn from, in trying to be the best intern I could be. After Rob and I had our pow-wow on a Thursday, about the internship and my goals, I got a call from him that Sunday. Rob expressed how he’d really like to give me a complete view of how things work for my internship and that he hadn’t had something in LA that I could be on set for and see in post. He offered a chance for me to go on set that week and I extended my internship to work on a project with LaPlanet and Asylum Entertainment. That Tuesday I pulled up to the Director’s Guild of America, early as always, and stood on Sunset Boulevard.

At the DGA- Morning on Sunset.

The day began just as you see it, I entered the DGA and was reunited with Rob LaPlante and both Frank, development for LaPlanet Ent., and Lauren, the story producer from the last project. I then met those on the Asylum side of things, the development company that Rob was partnered with through his representation by CAA. I got my first industry call sheet and was off for the day to shoot around LA, shadowing the story producer.

Lauren, Frank, Rob with monitors and notes.

In that extra week I was able to be on set for pilot, driving around LA to different locations, and had a chance to learn the job of a story producer with the story producer that I had worked with on the previous project. The whole day Lauren provided asides as to how things normally work on a production from her experience and examples of how they’ve worked differently as well. She provided a comparison to the last production we had worked on, filling me in on what happened once my work on that pilot had ended and the cross-country shoot began. I found her notes to me really helpful, in that as she would make these comments and I’d take notes that I could see things happening right in front of me opposed to reading or hearing about them and trying to undertand. Though I found some things to be similar to my experience in school and on shoots, there were logistics that I could run by Lauren and get a direct answer which with I was not familiar.

After a day of shooting, I found myself back at the DGA with Lauren to continue the work of the story producer. In the Asylum offices, I was able to sit down with Lauren and go over the footage that was uploaded to their Avid system. I had learned Avid with in grad school with the amazing Neal Coffey and prior had cut 16mm films in undergrad in VPA, Syracuse University’s art school. However seeing an Avid system, and touching for the second time in my life, was a little different. I didn’t understand exactly how the footage was logged and organized but figured it out. I had also never worked with grouped footage and almost wet my pants when I discovered the F5 key’s function, it switches between cameras in the viewer. Lauren saw geeky Avid ♥ and showed me how she uses the program to go through footage and create strings, good bits of footage that tell the story. As I sat with Lauren for the next few days, I watched as she juggled the incoming daily footage with her notes as well as the outline of how she and Rob had dived the it into acts. I picked up some slang and was able to put my two cents in and really understand the saying, “That is so good… but it isn’t this show.” When Lauren had strung something together with a good vibe she would know exactly what was missing and, because the production was on going, was able to contact Frank and Rob to tell them what audio bytes she really needed for the story to be most effective and make sense. I found Lauren’s focus to be impressive, reminding me of Lucy on the assembly line of that famous episode of “I Love Lucy.” I started to get it and she let me give it a go with some footage as well.

Lauren going over her strings with Brad, the editor.

After a few sessions learning from the story producer, I was back on set Saturday for a thirteen hour shoot day. This time on location, Rob had me on both a walkie and listening in on the wireless audio while I watched the monitor. I got to see Rob, the executive producer, in action again and I took furious notes for Lauren from the set. I got to experience the moment when you know you got it and what you just witnessed on the monitor is exactly what your show is about. I got to chat with the crew on set and during lunch, finding that the production manager is from Philly like me and hearing stories from the field.

My very own DGA parking pass!

Sitting in for the subject on set.

In the end, I came away with a pretty good understanding of what it takes to make a reality/docu-drama program, the players involved, and came away with a nice little cut I didn’t notice until someone pointed out that I was bleeding. I mean, what’s a day’s work without a little blood?

Now onto the real world… Wish me luck!

As my internship is coming to the end, I thought that I
would share some of my Random Thoughts or Lessons from my time in NY.

Warning: The Pigeons are crazy. They are not like normal
birds. They really think they run the city.

When walking in New York, I suggest wearing headphones and
sunglasses at all times Personally, I think sunglasses are a great accessory,
but if they are not for you at least have on the headphones.

Always keep walking. You won’t believe how many people will
try and stop you for something.

Avoid Time Square if you can. It’s like madhouse and if you
are trying to get somewhere you will get frustrated.

No one in NY believes in separate checks or free refills.

New York what is with all the revolving doors? Have you not
seen The Godfather, when Michael Corleone settled all family business?

If you will be in NY for a long length of time get the
unlimited Metro Card.

Avoid the R Train on the weekends if you can. For some
reason that train is always under construction and then you have to try to
figure out where to transfer to get where you planned to go.

Try and visit the Museum of Moving Image. It is a great time
and they currently have a Jim Henson exhibit and it will take you on journey
down memory lane.

My favorite thing has been Rush tickets for Broadway show. I
saw How to Succeed in Business Without Trying for $30 (which was a fabulous
show, I was so close to Daniel Radcliffe that I could see him spit as he sang)
and Spider Man for $40 (the music and the set were amazing, but the story and
acting were not very good, but it was only $40 so I don’t feel bad).

MTA trip planner is better at giving directions than Google
and HopStop (Thanks for the tip Lucy Place).

When walking on the sidewalk try not to walk so close to the
buildings. For some reason there is liquid always dropping from the buildings?
I think it is water from the air conditioners (at least I hope that is what
that is).

So those are some of my random thoughts from my time here in New York.

As an intern in the market and media research department, I
have my very own Nielsen account. Which I find to be exciting, since my only
exposure to Nielsen numbers were textbooks, various websites and the Station
Index books from the reading room. Nielsen offers a very special service called
Nielsen U. Basically, its instructions and/or overviews of Nielsen and their
various products/software.  I know in
many of the media research positions I’ve seen they will mention to be familiar
with several Nielsen products. Since I have access to Nielsen U, I thought I
would share an overview of some of the software/products. Today, I’ll start
with NPower.

NPower: Report Overview

What is NPower?

Custom Analysis tool

Unparallel ability to focus on
detail

Limitless analysis opportunities

Respondent level data

Report Types

Rating Analysis: 2 types of analysis program and time period

Program Analysis is used: 1. for individual
ratings based on program data 2. Only  report
that generates C3 ratings

Time Period Analysis produces
ratings report based on time period data

Universe Estimate-Provides sample size and weighted universe
estimates

Use to answer: What is the sample size for a particular demo and/or market break
for a specific measurement interval?

Co-Viewing Program-Examine pairs of viewers who watched the same
program on the same TV at the same time.

Use to answer: What program would
best reach children watching with adults, so the primary viewer and primary
consumer are reached together

Length of Tune& Length of View

Length of Tune Time Period-Produces
averages and distributions for tuning events of varying lengths by viewing
source

Length of View Program-Produces
averages and distributions for viewing events of various lengths to a program

Use to answer: How long do viewers
stay tuned into a specific program or daypart

Source & Destination-Produces source and destination ratings
and/or distributions based on selected programs or time periods.

Use to answer: Where did your viewers come from before viewing a particular
program or network and where did they go after?

Reach & Frequency-1.Provides unduplicated audience estimates
and frequency of viewing for schedule for various market breaks and
demographics. 2. Analyzes the
viewing of schedule pairs and determines the exclusivity and duplication
between the two, as well as their individual reach.

Use to answer: 1.What is the reach of an advertising campaign? 2. How many unique people saw a
particular program in a month ?3. How
many people saw the promos for a particular program, and also watched that
program?

Segmentation-1.Produces reports that rank and classify viewers of
selected programs or time periods. 2. Organized
viewers into various segments based on duration of viewing. 3. Can be further analyzed in other
reports.

Use to answer: 1.Who are my loyal viewers? 2.
Who are my heavy, medium, and light viewers? 3. What else do my local, or occasional, or non-viewers watch?

Power Play-1.Desktop research tool used to analyze large data sets.
2. Interactive pivot table that
allows you to change layouts, apply filters and create instant averages

Use to answer: What is the season
to date ratings for all programs airing on a broadcast network?