4thWall

Series Development at Stiletto-

At the end of week three I got a call from Rob saying, “Are you ready for ‘phase two’?” It began the next day at Stiletto Entertainment, Barry Manilow’s production company comprised of two buildings, across the street from each other, tucked away off the freeway in Inglewood. Upon arrival, after my DMV appointment for a California driver’s license, I was greeted by my supervisors Shukri and Glenn. The two had just begun working on a project that Rob had pitched to me a week before about “sweepers”, people who make a living entering sweepstakes, and I was to support them. However, the day began with Shukri asking, “Lunch?”

According to Shukri, the two most important things from her experience in this business is that you get fed and you get paid. Obviously I am not getting paid in being an intern, not with money but rather with invaluable experience, and so I was prepared to take this advice to eat. We found a little strip plaza with almost every ethnic food available but settled on Etheopian and Greek. I got a gyro and Shukri was impressed that I pronounced gyro correctly. I mentally thanked Anna Germanidi, my lovely Greek classmate and friend who schooled me in not butchering her language. Thus began Dubinism No.1, food being one of the most important aspects of this industry, and I will tell you that Dubin is right on. Having a meal or a drink with someone supports a relaxed atmosphere and I got a chance to get to know both Glenn and Shukri better. Shukri had worked with Rob before on “The Apprentice” and Glenn had worked with Shukri on “Minute to Win It.” Rob enjoyed working with Shukri and hired her for this project as a project manager, focusing on games and contests, and Shukri hired Glenn as her PA based on her experience working with him. And folks there was industry lesson No.1 in full effect, it is all about who you know and if you work well with someone, and they like you, you’ll be kept in mind when a job comes round.

During this “phase” of my internship, I learned a lot first hand as I helped Shukri and Glenn find prizes for the show and locations to shoot across the country based upon the subjects in the show. In doing so, I was able to practice yet another Dubinism, business getting done on the phone, and learned that I “give good phone” or have a pleasant manner on the phone and have no issue chatting like an old friend to a complete stranger. This is yet another thing I learned about myself and this industry, being good on the phone is a skill that I had that not everyone else did. Who knew? Certainly not me but Shukri said something about it immediately as we worked in a small office space.

The other thing I learned in making all these calls is to just go with it. My voice can, apparently, sound sometimes androgynous and I’ve dealt with it for years. Though you may be initially insulted by the off-the-cuff “miss” or “ma’m” you should just go with it. I’ve tried this before with success on the phone with credit cards companies, receptionists, etc. and gotten what I’ve wanted out of it by being pleasant and just letting them think I was a woman. However, never have I scored something like a $75,ooo yacht. Oh yes, go intern! Though it didn’t work out for the production in the end, I was able to score a free yacht by letting a gentleman refer to me as a lady and just going with it. True to form, I did play it up a little once I went with it but that’s just the extra effort you gotta put in as an intern. Finally regarding the phone, my conversation skills proved to be so effective that cast members and hotel personel that I had spoken to were asking for me and on set during the shoots. “Where’s Chris?” came up a few times according to my coworkers who traveled for the pilot’s production. Where’s Chris? Chris sadly is an intern and does not get to travel across the country for work but sees it as a perk of the industry he’d like to experience one day. However, though no longer in the office, I did support the production team by working from home, making phone calls, gathering location releases and e-mailing while they were making the pilot for a major cable network.

On my last day at the Stiletto office I, the intern, brought the donuts. The assistant covering the front desk was so excited that he e-mailed the whole building to tell them about the donuts and that I had brought them. I left the building that day with everyone knowing my name. It’s the little things.

Here are some tips to for all you lovely people who will have your wedding day taped:

1) Make sure you know how many camera angles you are paying for, how many of those camera angles are manned, and how long it will take for the video to get made. The footage from unmanned camera angles that I’ve observed are usually pretty uninteresting, so you want to make sure you know what you are getting into.

2) Ask the video production company for a couple final products. You should review it to make sure that they fit your standards. Some companies just film the basics, while others go for artistic shots. Likewise, some companies use one camera lens, while others use multiple (such as fisheye). Some companies bring lights and special tripods, some don’t.

3) Communicate with the DJ’s, photographers, videoographers and anyone else that you hire. You want your video to come out well, and the more details everyone knows about the wedding, the smoother things will run, and the better the video will come out to be. For example, at one wedding I attended a woman began singing at the ceremony, and I had a hard time taping her. If I knew she would have done that, I would have positioned myself at a different spot.

4) Always smile! I like to use footage of happy people, and the more you smile, the better footage the videoographer will have!

AND MOST IMPORTANT:

5) The videoographes may attach a wireless mic to certain speakers sometime before the ceremony. Make sure to go to the bathroom beforehand, otherwise they will be listening to you doing that thing you do.

As all of you know, my “production company” is Pure Genius Pictures.  I got the name from the first time I ever tried to write a script.  I’d carry a binder with me, and scribble away between classes in high school.  People would always ask me what I was doing, and I would reply with a smile, “Sixteen pages of pure genius”.

It wasn’t always on sixteen (although I do think I was stuck on sixteen for a long time).  As I started trying to make movies on crappy consumer camcorders as an undergrad, I just decided I liked the ring of “Pure Genius Productions”, then decided Pictures was better.  I carried it over to Syracuse, and used it as much as I could (I’m still a little bitter that “Weddings” for Moller’s class doesn’t have “Pure Genius Pictures” on it somewhere).

Now that I’m a big boy, writing my final assignment for (hopefully-don’t fail me Schoony!) my final academic class, I decided to take the quotes off production company.  About a month ago, I officially registered Pure Genius Pictures as an Limited Liability Corporation, with myself as owner.

As you all know, I kind of want to take the road less traveled with the wonderful degree we are all about to receive in the mail (again, hopefully-don’t fail anyone Schoony!).  My plan is to do production and post production on anything I can get someone to pay me for, whether it’s a wedding, birthday party, terrible car dealership commercial, film, really anything that’s not porn or illegal.  Then again, we’ll see how this company pans out.

While I plan on taking any freelance jobs as a PA, grip, teleprompter operator, etc., that I can get, and looking for full-time employment, I am going to try to find local businesses in the Delaware and Philly area who could potentially need video production services.  I went out and bought some equipment that I could afford when I closed my eyes and clicked my heels together and said “There’s no thing like loans, there’ s no thing like loans”.

But, I figured if I wanted to be a videographer/editor/director, I needed to be able to film things.  Plus I have the means to start making movies without the Cage, which is nice.  Eric and I have been working on a film for a contest out of Philadelphia I found while researching film festivals.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is nervous now that I’m out of the cocoon of school  I avoided the real world after undergrad by going to Newhouse, but there isn’t anywhere else to run.  However, it’s kind of exciting to finally have the skills to do the things I want to do.  For this film Eric and I are working on, we just filmed this morning.  I used to pride myself on getting a lot done quickly.  After this crazy year, I know too much and see too many problems to just speed through things.  Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge leads us to perfection, little by little.

By the way, if anyone needs any video work done, let me know.  I already did some stuff for Jaz in her internship, and I’m still working on adding stuff to my reel.  I may not be in NYC or LA like a bunch of you, but if you guys ever need help with anything, feel free to call me for anything.

This post is way to long.  Goodbye.

Please sing that title to the tune of “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty.  Thank you.

I finished my internship up two weeks ago.  Finally I got a called from the people at Allied Pixel to be a production assistant for a shoot this Friday.  I was working with a crew from San Francisco, who had come in to shoot something for a company called SAP (I don’t know what they do, nor do I care to).

My role wasn’t a very big one.  Allied Pixel gave me one of their van, a few pieces of equipment, and I was to take those to the set then help out.  On set, I had even less to do than I did on my shoots as an intern.  However, the promise of a paycheck was quite nice.

I think those of us doing production work should definitely heed the words from Annie’s post:  Look alive.  I didn’t have much to do, after helping the grip and the gaffer set up some C-stands and light stands.  However, they realized they needed blue gels for the lights, and didn’t have them.  I offered to drive back to Allied Pixel and grab some.  When I got back, I was told I “saved the shoot”.

The most difficult thing, at least for me, going from Newhouse to the real world is not getting to be “the man in charge”.  At school, I was always in creative, decision-making roles, either directing or as a DP or producing.  It’s tough watching people get to do those things with the camera, and I have to run crowd control so people walking by don’t mess up the audio.  But the person doing the gaffing is a prominent DP in the Philadelphia market, and I believe I made a good impression on him, and that might lead to more work.  If the rest of you are like me, it’s tough to put a ton of enthusiasm into the little jobs on set, but like Annie said in her post, those little things are what impress the people who will give you that next job.

In this post, I’m going to talk about three important things I’ve learned since beginning my internship.  This isn’t really advice to anyone else; it’s more like advice to myself that I thought I’d share with all of you.

Be patient:  I’ve always been someone who wants to get things done immediately – if I asked someone to do something, I wanted it done 10 minutes ago. Since venturing out into the “real world,” I’ve had to learn that projects can’t always get done in one day, or one hour. It might take a
few days for a vendor to send me an invoice, or for someone to fax me back an appearance release.  The waiting would have crippled me a few months ago, and, to be honest, I would have pestered people continuously until I got exactly what I needed. But since being at Discovery I’ve learned to work on a few projects at a time, and can always stay busy, even while I’m waiting for someone to do something on the other end. Now I give it a good day or so, and if I still haven’t heard back from someone, I either call or send a friendly “hey, don’t forget about me!” reminder. There’s a fine balance being pestering someone and being persistent enough to get things done in a reasonable amount of time, but I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it now.

Follow through: This is as simple as it sounds—just do what you say you’re going to do, and do it well.  I’ve really had to learn how to prioritize my time at this internship, because I literally can be reporting to up to ten people at a time. That’s ten people, with ten different requests, and ten different instructions for me—and every person thinks their project is the most important. I now carry a little notebook around the office with me everywhere I go. When someone stops me and asks me to do something, I immediately write down every detail so I won’t forget. If it sounds extra important, I’ll ask when they need it done by, and write that down as well. If someone says to me that they need something done by the end of the day, then they’ll get it by the end of the day – even if that means I’m staying extra late that night.  I remember hearing a lot of advice from alums – “always say you know how to do something if someone asks, and then figure it out later” – but that advice hasn’t really worked for me at
Discovery.  Because I report to so many different people and help out with so many different shows, I don’t have time to waste, so I ask a lot of questions of my superiors.  I think it shows them that I’m listening, and that I care about the end result.  People don’t want you to hand them something that’s done wrong.  Ask questions until you’re clear about EXACTLY what they want you to do; that way they’ll be impressed when it’s done in a timely manner, and looks exactly how they wanted it to – as if they’d done it themselves.

Look Alive:  I try to be the eyes and ears of the production team while I’m on set. I’m only an intern, and I know that all of the “real people” have a lot more to think about than I do, so I try and remain valuable by catching what everyone else might be missing. Let me give you an example – two weeks ago I was on set every night — call time 6:30pm, wrap time 6:30am.  It was about 4:30am on Thursday night (Friday morning?), and one of my duties, along with the PA, AP, and PM, was obtaining appearance releases at a restaurant we just arrived at.  About halfway through the shoot, I noticed that one woman was leaving the premises; nobody had obtained a release from her yet, and frankly no one even noticed she was leaving (it was 4:30 in the morning).  I noticed, and chased after her (down the block, in the ghetto) to get her release signed. Would it have been a huge deal if we were missing that release? Probably not—there were a lot of other shots, which she wasn’t in, that I think could have worked just fine. But I wanted to “look alive” to my superiors, and I wanted to be known as the person who would catch details that just might make a difference. I saw the erratic shooting hours as an opportunity to be on my game when everyone else likely wouldn’t be. Take opportunities like these to stand out and get noticed.

Reality: Casting & Series Development-

The first “phase” of my internship began the day I arrived in LA, at the end of a three-day and two-hour cross-country road trip. It began, as I exited the freeway to scope out the office for Monday, with a phone call. It was my supervisor Craig, calling to touch base with me as he would not be in the office for the first few days of my internship. Curious, right? Oh no, Craig had a list of things for me to do and brought me up to speed on the two projects I’d be starting on the coming week. Instantly, work had begun as I discussed the project via Bluetooth and attempted to figure out my way to the office at Berman-Braun.

Though awkward when I picked up the phone, with Craig and my Garmin trying to speak at the same time, I seemed to click with Craig as we spoke and we discussed our backgrounds. Craig had come from the world of the documentary and currently works in casting for non-scripted TV. I found the way Craig liked to describe how he sees the work was docu-drama. Myself, heavily and happily sedated in the worlds of fiction and music video, never really thought to make any sort of distinction between types of reality TV programs other than contest oriented and not. The not usually consisted of how-to shows, biographies, educational programs or social experiments. However, letting go of the stigma of “reality TV” and thinking of the material as docu-drama intrigued me.

When I was in film school, the beast that is “reality TV” took over with shows like “Fear Factor,” “Survivor,” “The Bachelor,” and “Big Brother.” Prior to the late nineties and early two-thousands for me, the genre was really established with the series “The Real World.” It was a social experiment, albeit voyeuristic, that started much-needed social dialogues via the MTV generation. I didn’t see this in the new wave of millennial reality programming, they all boiled down to just be contests to me. I guess I was also a bit conflicted between the idea of the documentary film and “reality TV.”

However when Craig pitched me his idea of the docu-drama, drama centered around real people in similar situations but from different perspectives or walks of life, I started to see the genre through a different lens. I actually started to see the genre the way I had seen it when “The Real World” and some current programming getting back to initiating a dialogue. I also connected the dots, seeing how the social media aspect the programs have today to continue such that didn’t exist prior.

As the work week began, I found myself researching different communities and developing spreadsheets to track my progress via Google Docs. My phone calls were more effective in stating “new docu-series” followed by the topic rather than stating I was working on a “new reality show.” In addition to the cold calls, I explored different ways of outreach for casting the two sizzle reels to be used in pitches for two different major cable networks. Though I had enjoyed cold calling people, as I saw it both as chatting and a race against time to find interesting stories from total strangers, I wondered what other ways were available for me to do the same apart from the phone. I pitched an idea to Rob that, in addition to Craigslist postings on the internet, that it may be worth while to explore Facebook and Twitter as tools as well. I mean, think of the number of people who have turned internet presence into a dream job or career! Perez Hilton blogged from free internet provided by Starbucks. There was that kid who made a mint out of YouTube clip bought by a car company and made into a commercial, as noted and put on trial for comedy’s sake on Tosh.0, not to mention Justin Bieber. “Shit My Dad Says” were tweets before a show and “Julie & Julia” was originally a blog before a book and film.

SOLD! And thus my little social media experiment began with Facebook and Twitter for LaPlanet Casting. Mind you it takes time and luck to build a buzz or a following but, other than my peers I threatened to join, I did get a few followers for both sites and did have contact with one user about one of the projects. In addition, others users responded to my posts and tweets with other resources, specific to the subject and helped hone my outreach search efforts. I began with general posts, employed the # approach for certain areas I was casting and followed that by putting a # for trends and re-tweeting such in my own tweets. Though I didn’t find anyone that worked directly from those social media sites, I was pointed in the direction to potentials for other projects and generated other ideas via the interactions as well. I am no social media genus, starting a big or profitable buzz nor do I have any idea how to. However, I found great potential in research and outreach for casting via social media. (Plus, I got a chance to create and manage social media sites for a new entertainment company in LA.) After this experiment and outreach were over, the next stage of the project began.

Once a cast was in place for one show’s sizzle reel, quick sketch of characters and stories to pitch the idea, I was introduced to process of getting this sizzle reel and materials ready for the network. I was able to see a cut of the sizzle reel before the network and Rob asked me for my opinion. The footage was mostly footage acquired by video interviews, recorded by subjects and uploaded to a secure server, and Avid generated title cards with some emotional pop music that fit. The message was clear and I was interested in the characters. It was effective but it was, in fact, a critique so I put in my two cents about a few edits and such. Rob took my feedback and I later learned from Lori, one of the development heads at Berman-Braun working on the deal with LaPlanet, that I was actually spot on. She also told me about her experience with pitching to networks and the different networks around town. Most of it was not new from being in Newhouse and class with Dr. Wright, but I didn’t know how important the supplemental materials were. According to Lori and Rob, the log of outreach and research was just as important and those documents would be available to the network for review. One of the other documents to be distributed to the network during the pitch meeting are one sheets. As I discovered from Craig, there is an art to writing a character synopsis that sells to a network, otherwise known as a one sheet. Craig let me write them for the cast potentials that I had contact with, follow-up interviewed, and then reviewed them, giving me feedback as I learned on the fly. After a few tweaks, the one sheets, Google Docs and sizzle reel were ready to go. Armed with these materials, Rob and Lori went go to the network to pitch the show and if all went well the partnership will get the go-ahead to produce the pilot.

My internship this summer was in the development department of TLC, a sister channel of Discovery. Although I hope to pursue writing and developing scripted material, I am really fascinated by the storytelling process regardless of genre. I was excited to be a part of this process for the summer, and was hopeful that the main principles of storytelling – finding compelling characters, discovering the most suitable narrative structure, establishing the viewpoint – would apply to both scripted and unscripted spaces. As it turns out, although reality TV has many significant differences from scripted TV, the basic tenets of storytelling absolutely cross over. When the development managers take a pitch from producers, they are always looking for the following general qualities that are paramount to any great project: a unique idea, captivating but relatable talent, and a solid format.

In addition to these general requirements, there are also other very specific issues that the managers always consider. This was one of the most important lessons I learned at my internship: when to pass on a project…and why. Every time the TLC managers passed on a project, I always made sure I understood why. As an aspiring writer, I felt lucky that I was able to have a sneak peek into what distinguishes between good and great, into what, ultimately, affects the decision to pass or not. There were so many different reasons to pass, and some of them were surprising. For instance, a producer might approach TLC with a great show idea, but previous ratings (and earlier attempts at the idea, failed shows, etc.), research and focus groups have shown that it hasn’t or won’t work for the network. A sizzle reel may have an interesting idea, but boring or forgettable talent; conversely, there may be exceptional talent stuck inside a poor idea or format.

Another instance that we ran into a few times this summer was an “MOP” or “most often pitched.” As you can gather from the title, this phrase means an idea or ideas that are pitched with the most frequency. The managers consistently seemed to pass on MOPs. In this case, I think it’s important to note here that having an original voice, or a solid point of view from which to tell your story, is of the utmost importance. If you pitch an MOP but you have a fresh take on it or a unique perspective, the idea suddenly goes from stale to something exciting. For example, TLC has found immense success with shows like “Say Yes to the Dress,” “A Baby Story,” and “Bringing Home Baby” (among others). Traditionally, marriage and children are watershed moments in a woman’s life, and it seems that TLC programming has really struck a chord by emphasizing these special events. These shows place the focus on the woman – it’s all about her and her special day. The drama in “Say Yes to the Dress” is entirely drawn around the protagonist’s (in this case, the bride) journey to find the perfect dress. As such, if a producer pitches a wedding show that doesn’t place the focus on the woman, but rather stretches itself thin with all of the other aspects of the wedding, then TLC is not as likely to be interested. Other times, the network may just be looking for something very specific; that is, a certain space, time, or genre that needs to be filled in the schedule. Finally, a pitch may be amazing, but it’s just not “TLC.” This has certainly happened several times this summer. We’ll receive a pitch and many of us will agree that the idea would make for a great show; indeed, we often say how we would definitely watch this program if it were to air. However, like most networks, TLC has a very specific vision or mission statement that it attempts to adhere to. For TLC, programming is best-suited when it finds and explores unique worlds and subcultures, when it opens the viewer’s eyes to the extraordinary things about ordinary individuals, and when it challenges its audience to discover new and different people. While some managers may be interested in pushing and testing the boundaries of this vision, others stick more strictly to this mantra. It’s a nice combination that allows the network to continually evolve while still retaining its essential core values.

It was very eye-opening to see the creative and business reasons behind the decisions that development managers make every day. It is my hope that I’ve gained a better understanding of when and why the decision to pass is made, and that this understanding will help me to become a better writer, pitch-maker, and student of story.