Time has an article about 51 things you can do to save the environment.
Here are my two proposals:
1. Install an air vent opening in your dryer exhaust. Your dryer vents hot air to the outside. In the summer, great. In winter, it's a waste of hot air. A simple Y joint that allows you to vent the hot air into your house in winter will save on heating bills. And the place will smell like fresh laundry.
2. If you live in an apartment building, put a large carboard box downstairs for people to put reusable packing materials. Plastic peanuts, bags of air, foam, bubblewrap: why have to buy it when your neighbor just got a bunch of it?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Pitching at PitchIt
Chris writes:
Needless to say, not how pitching usually happens.
I submitted four pitches last year, and one got into the program. I didn't win, so I can't claim any special brilliance there.
What gets you into the program, I have to imagine, is a good 750 word pitch. To me that means about 300 words on what your show is; 250 words on who your characters are; and 200 possibly story ideas. They don't have to be in sections like that, but for most shows that's the simplest and cleanest presentation.
I memorized a four-minute pitch down the word, honing it constantly, and pitching it to anyone who would give me four minutes. I thought it came off well. I did lousy at the Q & A, though. I didn't understand what one of the judges was asking, so instead of answering the question in two sentences, I rambled on incoherently.
That's okay. I eventually set up the project in development at a cable network here, with a 20 page pitch that answered pretty much every damn question anyone ever asked me when I pitched them, including the one I bobbled at PitchIt!
What were the others, lessee ... A comedy about a heavy metal band that performs for kids ... A comic procedural about health inspectors ... a comedy about two drunken louts who used to be the Hardy Boys and now solved mysteries about their missing beer can and the like ... can't remember the last one. I thought Sarah Timmins' health inspector show was the best pitch among the others (obviously I have no perspective on my own). The Hardy Boys guys did some schtick onstage and then showed a trailer they'd shot. The heavy metal guy seemed a little shaggy, and so did his pitch, but he won the prize and the audience prize, so there you go.
Personally I'd stay away from theatrics. I don't want to be judged on how well I bring off the theatrics. I want to be judged on the value of my idea. And if you have a great idea, all it needs is for your to explain it coherently and cleanly. If you don't, no amount of theatrics will rescue it.
My pitch was fairly complex, so I spent about two months moving bits around and trying them out over and over to see if they would go into people's brains better. I started with an image, then my main character, then her problem, and expanded from there. I ended on a mystery, and my theme. I was doing other things during those two months, but whenever I had a spare moment I worked on my pitch. I practiced it while I went running. I pitched it to absolute strangers. I pitched it to my (then) 10 year old son.
(As a side note, it is always a good idea to pitch your idea to a fifth grader. If there's anything he can't understand, the odds are excellent your story is too complicated.)
The biggest question you need to answer in any pitch is, I think: how is this a series. An obvious question, you'd think, but not all of the pitches answered it well. Some of the ideas seemed good for a show, or maybe even five shows. But 100 shows? If you can't explain out how you're going to come up with ideas for at least three seasons, then maybe your idea isn't a tv show.
I'll be submitting a couple of things to PitchIt! this year too. Whether or not your pitch wins, you get a lot of exposure pitching in front of a huge crowd like that, and it structures your visit to the Rockies. It might help you get the show set up, but expect for it to take six months to a year to get anything solid out of your Banff trip.
Good luck, and hope to see you at the podium!
Q. I read through some of your entries from last year about your pitching at Banff and I have a few questions. I'm considering entering the PitchIt! dealie and wanted to know what makes a winning pitch. What's the difference between a winning pitch and a not-winning pitch, is it theatrics? Quality of the show? A clever balance of both? What are some pitch do's and don'ts? How long do pitches usually run and is their running time mandated? How should I structure my pitch? What would you have done differently in your pitch?The PitchIt! program is an event at Banff where creators (including creator teams) pitch their idea to an audience of 150+ people. To pitch, you submit 750 words on your idea, and 300 words on you or your team, and the best five are selected. At the pitch, you get 4 minutes to say or do whatever you like, and then a few more minutes to answer questions from the panel of judges, who are network execs.
Needless to say, not how pitching usually happens.
I submitted four pitches last year, and one got into the program. I didn't win, so I can't claim any special brilliance there.
What gets you into the program, I have to imagine, is a good 750 word pitch. To me that means about 300 words on what your show is; 250 words on who your characters are; and 200 possibly story ideas. They don't have to be in sections like that, but for most shows that's the simplest and cleanest presentation.
I memorized a four-minute pitch down the word, honing it constantly, and pitching it to anyone who would give me four minutes. I thought it came off well. I did lousy at the Q & A, though. I didn't understand what one of the judges was asking, so instead of answering the question in two sentences, I rambled on incoherently.
That's okay. I eventually set up the project in development at a cable network here, with a 20 page pitch that answered pretty much every damn question anyone ever asked me when I pitched them, including the one I bobbled at PitchIt!
What were the others, lessee ... A comedy about a heavy metal band that performs for kids ... A comic procedural about health inspectors ... a comedy about two drunken louts who used to be the Hardy Boys and now solved mysteries about their missing beer can and the like ... can't remember the last one. I thought Sarah Timmins' health inspector show was the best pitch among the others (obviously I have no perspective on my own). The Hardy Boys guys did some schtick onstage and then showed a trailer they'd shot. The heavy metal guy seemed a little shaggy, and so did his pitch, but he won the prize and the audience prize, so there you go.
Personally I'd stay away from theatrics. I don't want to be judged on how well I bring off the theatrics. I want to be judged on the value of my idea. And if you have a great idea, all it needs is for your to explain it coherently and cleanly. If you don't, no amount of theatrics will rescue it.
My pitch was fairly complex, so I spent about two months moving bits around and trying them out over and over to see if they would go into people's brains better. I started with an image, then my main character, then her problem, and expanded from there. I ended on a mystery, and my theme. I was doing other things during those two months, but whenever I had a spare moment I worked on my pitch. I practiced it while I went running. I pitched it to absolute strangers. I pitched it to my (then) 10 year old son.
(As a side note, it is always a good idea to pitch your idea to a fifth grader. If there's anything he can't understand, the odds are excellent your story is too complicated.)
The biggest question you need to answer in any pitch is, I think: how is this a series. An obvious question, you'd think, but not all of the pitches answered it well. Some of the ideas seemed good for a show, or maybe even five shows. But 100 shows? If you can't explain out how you're going to come up with ideas for at least three seasons, then maybe your idea isn't a tv show.
I'll be submitting a couple of things to PitchIt! this year too. Whether or not your pitch wins, you get a lot of exposure pitching in front of a huge crowd like that, and it structures your visit to the Rockies. It might help you get the show set up, but expect for it to take six months to a year to get anything solid out of your Banff trip.
Good luck, and hope to see you at the podium!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Gnostic Gospels
Pavement & Stars has rounded up an assortment of real live show bibles, and then adds a few more.
Getting Old
Craig Mazin blogs about why screenwriting is a young man's game. He points out that he is a better writer at 36 than he was at 25, but as you get older, and you have a family, it gets harder to work the long hours, and anyway, it gets harder to suck up all the disrespect.
I think there's something else. At 36, Craig is still loving writing the Scary Movie sequels. As I get older, I find myself less and less interested in watching a broad swath of popular entertainment. For example, I can't watch a hero shoot a bunch of minions without thinking how much trouble the minion's parents went to raise them; and now they're dead. Silly, I know. As I become a more thoughtful person (from an admittedly low baseline), I find it harder to enjoy thoughtless entertainment. I lose patience with shows like Lost that I suspect aren't going anywhere. If I'm going to watch a show where people get tortured, I want it to be in a political context that speaks to the real world, as in the cleverly transgressive Sleeper Cell, not in a right wing revenge fantasy like 24.
What you don't enjoy, you can't write well.
Fortunately I am not too thoughtful. I am loving rewriting my medieval zombie picture (though there is a suspiciously high amount of theme in it). And if I'm successful enough, then I can just hire younger writers to be thoughtless for me...
I think there's something else. At 36, Craig is still loving writing the Scary Movie sequels. As I get older, I find myself less and less interested in watching a broad swath of popular entertainment. For example, I can't watch a hero shoot a bunch of minions without thinking how much trouble the minion's parents went to raise them; and now they're dead. Silly, I know. As I become a more thoughtful person (from an admittedly low baseline), I find it harder to enjoy thoughtless entertainment. I lose patience with shows like Lost that I suspect aren't going anywhere. If I'm going to watch a show where people get tortured, I want it to be in a political context that speaks to the real world, as in the cleverly transgressive Sleeper Cell, not in a right wing revenge fantasy like 24.
What you don't enjoy, you can't write well.
Fortunately I am not too thoughtful. I am loving rewriting my medieval zombie picture (though there is a suspiciously high amount of theme in it). And if I'm successful enough, then I can just hire younger writers to be thoughtless for me...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Spec Ep Queries
Q. Will you read my spec COLD CASE episode query? Here it is.I don't evaluate other people's work for free unless I know and love them. But you don't really need me to check out your spec episode query anyway. A feature query has to impart a lot of things in a nutshell, including who the protagonist is and what the venue is. With a spec episode, the show you're speccing gives you that. We know who the characters are and what they do for a living. All you have to do is tell us a few words about what makes your CSI, HOUSE or DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES special -- what's the heart of the episode -- what's the main character's fresh and interesting problem. E.g., "House discovers his dying patient is genetically his sister."
As a side note, I'm not sure you should be speccing COLD CASE. You should be speccing a contemporary hit show. Your spec is useless unless the person you're sending it to is familiar with the show. Personally, I've never seen COLD CASE; I've only seen one episode of the Canuck show it was apparently
UPDATE: J.M. comments:
"Cold Case" is rated #10 in this week's U.S. Nielsen's. If that's not a contemporary hit...True. But numbers don't tell the whole story. You need a show that's a hit with showrunners and network execs. That's often a show that people talk about. Usually it's a show with great writing. I haven't seen much media at all about COLD CASE, which is why I brushed it off. I suspect few or no showrunners are watching the show; while probably all showrunners checked out STUDIO 60 even with its lousy numbers. (Not that S60 is a good spec either.) Entourage is a good spec because everyone in Hollywood watches it, or has at least checked it out.
You need a successful show, yes. But you need to spec a show that appeals to the people who will recommend or hire you, because if they don't know it, they won't read your spec of it.
How do you figure out which shows people want to read? Ask an agent's assistant. Just call up a few lit agents at big agencies -- CAA, ICM, Endeavor -- and ask their assistants what they're recommending their clients spec. I suspect COLD CASE is not on the list. But don't trust me. Verify.
Commentary
Scott the Reader asks his readers which commentary tracks contain master classes in filmmaking, as opposed to the ones where the director thanks his wonderful d.p. and relates a funny story about the dog and the craft services table. Scott's readers oblige.
Via Pavement and Stars.
Via Pavement and Stars.
Start Me Up
Paul Graham is a smart guy who funds inventive people in Silicon Valley. Periodically he writes bright little essays about the high tech world. Many of them are worth reading because high tech has similarities to showbiz. They are both worlds filled with smart people who like to very hard, but only on projects they're passionate about. Some of them are worth reading for sheer inspiration. His latest essay is about all the reasons people don't start a startup, and why they're bad reasons. Some of these may apply to you and Your Showbiz Career.
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