Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Pitch Black

At least it started that way!

So I had my postponed meeting with S at major prodco. It didn't start off all that well. First of all it is hot as hell in Sunny London and my old bus don't got no A/C. I left my house in plenty of time only to get held up by some frickin roade census so by the time I got there I had about 5 minutes to spare.
Couldn't find anywhere to park nearby so ended up sprinting. So I'm there, dripping sweat and waiting to be buzzed in when a girl appears from off the dstreet and lets me in. I thank her politely then follow her up the stairs without saying a word as nI go to reception.

You've guessed it. An assistant shows me in to an office, and there's the girl who let me in. It was S but I hadn't recognised her. Hell it's been 10 years.
We had a bit of a laugh and she said we've changed a lot. I don't know what possesed me but I quipped 'Yep, fatter and greyer, but enough about you'!

Sometimes I think I should just cut my tongue out and be done with it.

Breezes were shot. Ten years caught up on. I told her about my LA adventures, heavilly censored of course. She told me of the various shows, jobs and projects she'd been involved in. Many many many.

I was gearing up to pitch my high concept cop drama when she said. I like your high concept cop drama.

Blow me down. I didn't even know she'd seen it.

Then came the question I was dreading. ' Is it just the treament or do you have a script?'

The reasin I was dreading it was because at that point I had to decide to tell her if there was a script or not. There is. But here's the thing. If they like the treatment they will option that and the chances are you will get paid to write the script. If you say there is a script they'll try and option the whole package for the price of the treatment.

In that case you'd be crazy to say there is a script?

Not necessarily.

Believe it or not Cop shows are a hard sell. The networks are awash with them. If you want to try and get one away you have to show how it is different from the herd. The best tool for doing that is the script.

So I said yes there is a script.

She asked if many had seen the project.
This is where you say no, but it's going out wide this week.

In this case it is but there's no harm in saying it anyway. I guarantee you'll be read quicker.

So......I've just emailed it over to her.

I'll keep you posted!

8 comments:

Schmucks with Underwoods said...

Good luck ED. Is that the spec you mentioned you'd just finished?

English Dave said...

Yep, that's the one Steve. It's moving up the chain in a couple of places and goes wide this week.

I'm really looking on it as a new sample to refresh peoples memories but you never know.

Schmucks with Underwoods said...

New TV series spec right?

English Dave said...

Yes. Unless the concept is so original that it blasts out from the bible [not generally the case with cop shows] the first ep lets the see the set up and tone. Especially tone.

Schmucks with Underwoods said...

"I don't know what possesed me but I quipped 'Yep, fatter and greyer, but enough about you'!"

Very funny. LOL! You definitely know how to charm the girls ED ;-)

English Dave said...

Perhaps why my wife wants to separate?

meh!

You know what I find the most awkward to deal with when facing female execs I know vaguely.

Are you supposed to shake hands or kiss cheeks?

I have no idea and so kinda wait for the cue.

You're saying goodbye does she hold her hand out or do nothing.

I assume doing nothing measns she is waiting for you to either shake or kiss.

I got caught out at this meeting when we were finished and saying goodbye on the landing and nothing was happening as the goodbye moment appeared.

At exactly - and I mean EXACTLY, the same time I leaned in to kiss her cheek and she held out her hand.

It was an 'Office' moment and I was Ricky Gervaise.

Andy Phillips said...

Best of luck.

What does 'going wide' mean? You're going to send it to lots of people?

English Dave said...

Hello Pillock! There's a phrase you don't see very often!

Essentially my agents comiple a list of producers who

a] Will definitely be interested in tbe project

b] Could be interested in the project

c] Probably won't be interested in he project but will hopefully dig the writing.

'Going Wide' is actually a bit high falutin' as far as the UK is concerned. There are probably less than 20 indy companies where it is worth sending, and by and large you approach them first before you submit to networks producers.