Major Project: Pitch research - Friends

I have been doing some research into the kind of pitch the team should put together for our show. I am focusing my research on similar genre shows and looking in particular at the areas i will be working on - the writing aspects. This is something we spoke to simon about and he made it clear we needed to make sure there were no overlap of jobs - Chris is Editor and DOP so he needs to focus on this, Danny is director so he needs to look at the directing in football films and sitcoms, Aimee is producer so she needs to looks at the organisational side, budget, planning, risk assessments, casting and promotion etc. Then if there are still jobs or areas we have left to fill Aimee must decide who should do these jobs and whether it would be better to bring in someone from the outside to fill these roles or if one of us is capable of doing it. I think this is a good idea as i know from a personal point of view although i am keen to be involved in as much as possible it is not always helpful for me to be involved in certain things. Working on the Studio production i found myself over stretched at times when i tried to take on too much and as much as we all are going to be involved and equal in decisions we have to allow our teammates their own creative control in their area of expertise. We can make suggestions but we have to respect whoever is in charge of that area.

When i began looking into the pitching aspect for the show i came across a website called good in a room. Which has lots of pilot scripts and pitching advice for screenwriters. A page i found particularly helpful was:

http://goodinaroom.com/blog/original-pitch-tv-show-friends/

This looked at the original pitch for the TV show Friends. This is a show i am going to look at in detail over the summer to help research the sitcom genre.

They use an 80 word synopsis to tell people what the show is about and in those 80 words we are able to establish:

• Heroes (six people in their 20’s, young, single)
• Setting (city, coffee house)
• Themes (sex, love, relationship, careers)
• Tone (an optimistic tone that isn’t sappy)
• The Big Idea (your friends are your family)

i also read an interview with the writer for the show who discussed the changes that came from pitching the shoe to networks. In my case teacher helen and simon are the 'network' and as always will offer advice not our work but i doubt they will be making huge demands and changes like a usual network. 

here is a link to the interview:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4899445/ns/dateline_nbc-newsmakers/t/friends-creators-share-shows-beginnings/#.VZ3XNFxH2t8

The writers found they had to to tests with audiences to see if the characters were liked as the network was worried that some characters wouldn't be likeable. The show also went through various name changes before deciding on a final name. And characters changed when actors put their own spin on a character for example matt le blanc played joey as dim and they liked it and he became a massive source for comedy in the show. They also originally has plans for monica and joey to be together and for them to be the big couple but after writing the scripts they realised ross and rachel would work. 

this goes to show how things can change and how you need to be flexible when pitching ideas. You need a clear idea of what your show is to be but things like characters can be developed as you write about them and learn from how an actor portrays them.

Stay safe,

Helen