Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Not Completely Useless

Always pleasant to get this in the gmail:

Just a follow-up from the panicky screenwriter who emailed you a couple of
weeks ago about my studio pitch. Read your post that Monday. I revised and
shortened based on your advice, and went on to use your magic words "what's
fun here is that this concept gives us a lot of stories..."

Anyway, I just found out it sold to USA.

Now shhhhh, people. If the suited humans discover our secrets, we're done for. Vary it up, change the wording.

Things are a bit chaotic at the moment, between a rewrite, home stuff and a possible trip to London. (Get that pint ready, Mike) Sometime soon though I will do a review of Gugino's "Sequence Technique" screenwriting book. I dug it. Shit, that was the review...

21 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, they believe there are stories -- but explicitly laying them out both confirms their own beliefs and often opens up new avenues they hadn't thought of, showing the show has even more posibilities than previoulsy thought. it also helps inspire confidence in you as a show-runner/writer.

And yes, some of them are that stupid. not all of them. But enough. And I don't know if "stupid" is the right word. "not really precisely skilled for the job they;re being paid to do" is better. Many are very bright people who just shouldn't be working in a creative field.

That said, now you know why I drink.

Chris Parr (ukscriptwriter) said...

Ah, I trip over to my side of the pond!

It's easier going in your direction. When you travel in this direction, the jet-lag just sucks.

I'm a few hundred miles from London, but buy yourself a pint on me :)

Anonymous said...

If you want to do a London meet-up, let me know. I'll be glad to buy you a pint.

Matt said...

I'd love to buy you a pint if you get over to London. I predict you will need a London pint-o-meter in your sidebar.

GM Doug said...

As stated before John, pint in Edinburgh waiting for you should you too sucummb to the "Da Vinci code" fever sweeping the world.

Yes you too could be very disappointed when you get to Roslin to find out it's been closed for filming by Tom (Did he really say he would be up for playing the voice of Op Prime in Transformers Movie) Hanks.

Realising there are other KFMonkey Fans over here in the UK should we try and form some sort of collective and meet? Or remain typical brits and stay shy at home sending out e-mails :)

James Moran said...

Another Londoner here with a pint waiting for you, if you like. Only it'll be flat and mouldy by the time you get here, so I'll buy you a fresh one on the day. Don't say I nevah give you naffink, innit?

Anonymous said...

I too would very much like to buy you a pint if you end up in London. And yes, we Brit-monkeys should arrange a get-together...

Anonymous said...

I love those succint book reviews..keep them coming, maybe I can narrow my choices down a bit

Anonymous said...

Simon-

Rogers already answered your question, but I will answer again, from my perspective as the actual Panicky Screenwriter.

The execs I pitched to were actually really smart - even, I will grudgingly admit, the execs at the places that passed. There was no question that they could read between the lines and see that other stories were possible.

It's more a matter of how you organize your pitch and transition and keep the flow of it going. "What's fun about this is that it gives us a lot of great stories..." is a great intro for a couple of reasons.

First, it's a lot better than what I had before, which was a kind of clunky "here are some other episodes which could be in season one." It sounds very much like you are offering something up for summary judgment.

"What's fun about this is it gives us...", by contrast, feels more like you're just tossing out ideas, and suggests that the stories you have are just a few choice tidbits you selected from a vast ocean of same. It also uses the word "us" which has a real psychological effect on execs, in my experience. It's more of a "I'm solving your problem!" vibe than a "please buy my show!" vibe.

These things seem small, but the difference between a sold pitch and an unsold one, assuming the story is strong, often comes down to little shit like that.

And blowjobs.

Anonymous said...

Off-topic-alert! I just read the Shane Black article in the latest Rolling Stone and I just have to ask, is depression and a complete inability to be happy a prerequisite for being a screenwriter? Christ, I feel like I need to practice being a glass is half empty kind of guy in order to fit in. The woe is me "I am lonely in my mansion and nothing will ever make me feel succesfull" song and dance routine seems to be the norm as far as I have noticed and it makes you wonder...

Kidsis said...

Always pints waiting for you here. No pesky baggage-search and passport required.

Anonymous said...

I'd even slog up from Canterbury to share a pint with the Londoners. And if anyone wanted to see "Serenity" while we were at it, well, I wouldn't complain...

Grubber said...

"I'm struck with the funny idea that what if they greenlighted a show after a successful pilot and the guy who pitched it said "Gee. I don't know what happens next, I was hoping you did..."

Didn't that happen with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld after their pilot? Just from what I have seen of behind the scenes interviews that is what I remember.

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