Sunday, March 22, 2009

Pitching - Your Own Personal Art Form







With all of the meetings that I have had - I know pitching is an art form. Well...in some ways its been my very own personal art form. I say this because I have such a creative mind and things are always popping into my head in regard to show ideas.

I started pitching at a really young age. I can remember going to the bus stop in second grade and listening to Katie Lanigan's stories from the previous night's TV watching. They were the most wonderful stories about Charlies Angels, Fantasy Island and the Love Boat. Katie told every detail as if it was the most exciting thing she ever saw. She remembered every juicy morsel, even what they wore, said and what the major plot of each show was.

You see my parents let us watch the nightly news, but anything after 8 p.m. was off limits. Big drag for me as a kid. Move over "Brady Bunch" Katie was my own entertainment reporter! It was a love/hate relationship; me loving to hear Katie's stories and me hating the fact that I couldn't join in on the conversation. Instead, I went to school, and embellished her stories about her TV time into my own stories, like I had watched every episode described at the bus stop that day. If I look at it clearly, this was the start of my pitching - in second grade mind you!

It really didn't materialize into anything until 2004, when I had a great writing partner. We thought that with the crap reality that was on TV, we could come up with great shows! And we did. I remember our first pitch out, we got a development deal for an idea. While that show didn't ultimately get a green light, I learned a ton about the process of developing a reality show for television. It's given me part of the foundation for where I am today.

I have found that I can think of an idea very easily. Lots of ideas. But its like playing the Roulette wheel with Networks and production companies. I found that my art form has been enriched and perfected by many factors in my life. I know now you have to work and color the room... paint that picture so that they can see it inside, like I did in second grade. The fact is that you have so little time to do so!

I am thanking Katie for what I learned in second grade. We still talk once a week and she still remembers every detail about our childhood and about all of the shows she watched and retold to me. Thanks Katie!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicole, Too funny, and yes me too, could not stay up late to see Charlies Angels.. Luv Robin

Anonymous said...

Finally, I will post my Charlie's Angels story for you. Before we moved to Sudbury, we lived in Waltham, a small city outside of Boston. Homes were close together. My sisters and I were probably 7, 5 & 3. Three girls, me in the middle. We LOVED Charlies Angels. I was Kelly, always, as dictated by the oldest sister. (She, of course, got to be Farrah Fawcett). Bound & gagged!

We always loved to play Charlie's Angels. We had a family next door to us. Phyllis was the mom. She was a great cook, but I don't think anyone in the family spoke any English, mainly Italian. Phyllis was a mean lady. She was explosive in dealing with her kids. They were our ages, a boy & a girl. Often, she'd tie them up sitting in a chair against a 2nd floor deck support!

Me & the Angels decided that enough was enough one day. We were putting a stop the madness. We took out our new squirt guns & ambushed their home. Their house was right up next to our driveway, so we thoroughly soaked the foundation & basement windows with the water. Woo hoo! Maybe we'd get her & she'd melt like the wicked witch that she was.

Phyllis had other ideas. She started screaming at us in Italian at the top of her lungs from the second floor deck. We laughed- and we were determined to melt the house & save the kids from her cruel ways. Well, she fired back. She got out her huge mop bucket filled with water & splashed it on us! I think she had a few because the water didn't seem to stop. Her buckets were no match for our little squirtguns. The Angels backed away, a little shaken I must say.

I still think we accomplished our mission- the kids weren't tied up. I think they were cheering us on!

Cyndy A. :-)

Unknown said...

Nicky! You are doing such great work here - why not put this on your own real site? - i can help you
love
Sat