Where to Begin...

Begin with our contacts in the industry…
Begin with production people, dp’s, etc…
And writers, of course.
Writers.
This is where I feel the movie should start, actually, with the writer.
And where we should start shooting, too.
Perry will have something to say about that I am sure.
If there is one aspect that I’ve always wanted to see treated with better care, which is the intense process of a writer pitching an idea.
Universities and colleges don’t have 'How To' courses on pitching film and TV shows.
It is, quite simply, a craft that isn’t taught.
Okay, wait.
Red flag.
Is it a craft?
Uh, maybe, because there is an element of acting to it.
At least for some writers.
A skill, perhaps, is more accurate.
Ahem.
Anyway.
The industrial aspect to this project is that it could be a useful tool for students.
Our ambition, though, is to capture interesting personal stories of these-behind-the scenes people.
Now that I think about it, write about it, vet it in my brain a bit, the project does no strike me as an uncommonly tall order. Makes me wish I had a hand held camera during other shoots I’ve been on.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda…
Back to pitching…
Here’s the thing that has bothered me about the way pitching is depicted in other art forms.
“Art forms” as in film and TV shows.
Never, in my estimation, are they rendered as it really is: often sweaty, at times offensive, and sometimes, though not very often, a life changing experience.
For dramatic purposes, on the big and the small screen alike, the cheese factor is potent (and it’s usually a soft cheese) and it never, ever rings true.
And why is there always this colossal attempt to make pitch meetings funny?
Even a film like Altman’s The Player.
Having just watched it, it’s ferociously actorly.
Not expecting to capture the actual horror stories that all writers have when pitching (executives answering e-mails, producers turning up the volume on a TV set, agents making phone calls as one speaks), yeah, sure that would be great, but that’s not really what I’m after.
PROJECT: Project, I am hoping, will capture the good, bad and ugly of: “How to pitch” and, by turns, “How not to pitch".