The sitcom isn’t dead; it’s just in a cryogenic sleep. Everyone wants to pronounce it dead, stand over it's corpse, saying that people don’t want to watch sitcoms any more, but they are wrong. People don’t want to watch unfunny sitcoms any more. People would LOVE to watch sitcoms again, if they are truly funny.
Think I’m wrong? Okay, smarty pants, why are the number one rated syndicated shows all sitcom re-runs? Because people want to laugh. That’s why more people are getting their news from “The Daily Show with John Stewart”…it’s much funnier than “World News Tonight”. The most watched videos ion YouTube aren’t dramas. Lots of blockbuster movies are comedies. People flocked to see “Wedding Crashers” and “40 Year Old Virgin” because comedy, when it’s done well, is a gift. It uplifts you, takes you away from your problems and gives you a joke to tell around the water cooler the next day.
The reasons sitcoms are sleeping are many. Cheaper to produce reality TV, network executives too timid to give a show time to develop (ever watch the first season of “Friends”? It was terrible. I only watched the credits so I could hear the catchy song. But it hung on and became a great show), and a dearth of original thinking. The last one is the killer. Yes, sitcoms are, and should be to a slight extent, formulaic. I said formulaic, not clone copies. Today, if a sitcom does become successful, it’s duplicated so many times that the dead horse isn’t just beaten but completely pulverized. The truly great and memorable sitcoms were both formulaic and original at the same time.
Is there nothing original out there? Sure there is. The BBC puts out plenty of successful comedies, which we try unsuccessfully to copy here. And there are literally TONS of writers out there with ideas (Contact me if you want some scripts and I know a lot more writers with shows as well.). Some may not be great, but I bet if you pan through enough, you’ll strike gold. And we need it. It’s a pretty unfunny time right now, with the war, the economy and elections coming up. So we need sitcoms to help us through a rough time. NBC has only one new sitcom in it’s 2007-2008 season lineup. It’s not enough. We need the funny stuff and we need it now!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Film Festivals Are Like College
Okay, so my short film, SUPERMODELS didn’t get into CineVegas. Big deal, you say. It’s not exactly a tragedy on the scale of say, the genocide in Darfur or the war in Iraq or even the pet food scandal. But it still feels pretty painful to me.
In the mind of a writer/director, one’s film is like one’s child. You conceive it, you nurture it, your deliver it unto the world. Your want your child to succeed in life, to excel, to make you proud. Film festivals are like college. You’d love for your child to go to Harvard or Yale (Sundance and Slamdance). Because they are prestigious, well known and well respected. It’s doesn’t necessarily mean a better education but it is ‘perceived’ to be better. But you also know your kid’s odds of getting in are pretty small, unless your kid was valedictorian. (In the film world, that means your film was probably a big budget, had name actors, etc.) So you also apply to some good but not Ivy League schools, your Stanford or Duke. Which are still great schools, and you’d still kill to get in.
But maybe your kid’s SAT scores aren’t the tops, or his GPA wasn’t as high as you would like (maybe your film had sound problems or just a lower budget than the other films). So you hope that because you have an ‘in’ you’ll get in despite some issues. (CineVegas is in my hometown, so I was hoping that as a Nevada filmmaker we would get in). So if you don’t get in there, you feel like maybe people don’t appreciate your child. So what if he’s not the best student, he’s a great kid who always cleans his room, helps around the house and is pretty popular. Now as parents, we sometimes think our kids are say more attractive than they are. That’s not the case with my film. I know it has flaws but it’s still a pretty cute film with a lot going for it. So getting rejected is hard because I know if the right people see this film, its future is bright. I’m not saying that my kid is going to be President of the United States, just that it has potential.
So now we are waiting to hear from our ‘safety schools’. You know, smaller universities and junior colleges (smaller film fests, niche fests where comedy isn’t the red-headed stepchild). We’d still like to get in to a top 10 school, of course. And we’ll wait, praying for a fat envelope instead of a thin one (or fat email instead of thin email as the case may be.) No, it’s not a tragedy to not get in. But I still want the world to think my child is special.
In the mind of a writer/director, one’s film is like one’s child. You conceive it, you nurture it, your deliver it unto the world. Your want your child to succeed in life, to excel, to make you proud. Film festivals are like college. You’d love for your child to go to Harvard or Yale (Sundance and Slamdance). Because they are prestigious, well known and well respected. It’s doesn’t necessarily mean a better education but it is ‘perceived’ to be better. But you also know your kid’s odds of getting in are pretty small, unless your kid was valedictorian. (In the film world, that means your film was probably a big budget, had name actors, etc.) So you also apply to some good but not Ivy League schools, your Stanford or Duke. Which are still great schools, and you’d still kill to get in.
But maybe your kid’s SAT scores aren’t the tops, or his GPA wasn’t as high as you would like (maybe your film had sound problems or just a lower budget than the other films). So you hope that because you have an ‘in’ you’ll get in despite some issues. (CineVegas is in my hometown, so I was hoping that as a Nevada filmmaker we would get in). So if you don’t get in there, you feel like maybe people don’t appreciate your child. So what if he’s not the best student, he’s a great kid who always cleans his room, helps around the house and is pretty popular. Now as parents, we sometimes think our kids are say more attractive than they are. That’s not the case with my film. I know it has flaws but it’s still a pretty cute film with a lot going for it. So getting rejected is hard because I know if the right people see this film, its future is bright. I’m not saying that my kid is going to be President of the United States, just that it has potential.
So now we are waiting to hear from our ‘safety schools’. You know, smaller universities and junior colleges (smaller film fests, niche fests where comedy isn’t the red-headed stepchild). We’d still like to get in to a top 10 school, of course. And we’ll wait, praying for a fat envelope instead of a thin one (or fat email instead of thin email as the case may be.) No, it’s not a tragedy to not get in. But I still want the world to think my child is special.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Graduation Gifts 2.0
So, the latest trend in graduation gifts is plastic surgery. Yup, if you fulfill your high school requirements, maybe Mommy and Daddy will buy you a new nose or bigger boobs. Plastic surgery is now tops on teen wish lists for gifts for grads.
Let’s not even go into the inherent risks of plastic surgery or the icky message that Daddy buying your bigger breasts implies. Let’s talk about the core values we should be teaching kids. High school graduation is important, but let’s face it, it’s a pretty minimum requirement these days. You can’t do nearly as much in the future without a high school diploma. High school dropouts make less money (most below the poverty level) and have higher unemployment rates that those with a high school diploma. So yes kids, celebrate your accomplishment. But don’t expect extravagant gifts for it. The gift you should be grateful for is the economic opportunity your diploma affords you, as well as the advanced education you can now go on to.
The problem in this situation is parents with more money (or credit) than brains. In the ‘My Sweet 16’ generation, hoards of spoiled children are milking their rich parents for extravagant gifts. Plastic surgery is a natural extension of the desire of these over-indulged youths to have whatever they want without any regard for consequences.
Now, granted, I didn’t have rich parents. They couldn’t have thrown me a thirty thousand dollar birthday party even if they had wanted to. But what’s important is that they didn’t want to. They wanted to teach their children the value of working hard for something that they wanted, and the feeling you get when you achieve it. So for my graduation from high school, they patted me on the back and promised me free room and board at home while I attended the local university. My grandfather gave me an unabridged dictionary and my grandmother paid for some of my college freshman textbooks. Not exactly a trip to Europe, brand new car and a nose job, but they were gifts of love and learning, exactly what a newly minted high school graduate needed.
If your kid has a deformity and needs plastic surgery, by all means, help your child. But small breasts are not a deformity. There is no NEED for a double D chest, unless your daughter’s goal in life is to be a stripper. If you can provide your child with a vehicle to make their life easier, great, make it a low end used Toyota, not a high end new Lexus. The Toyota will still get your kid to school, it’s made by the same company and if your kid wants a Lexus, let him earn the Lexus.
In a few years, some of today’s high school graduates will be graduating from college. If they got an Escalade for their sixteenth birthday and a boob job for high school graduation, what can they possibly hope for next? Mansion in Malibu? A yacht? The Space Shuttle? How about we start a bit smaller, and give them something to look forward to, something to work towards? Let’s bring back that age old graduation gift…the pen and pencil set.
Let’s not even go into the inherent risks of plastic surgery or the icky message that Daddy buying your bigger breasts implies. Let’s talk about the core values we should be teaching kids. High school graduation is important, but let’s face it, it’s a pretty minimum requirement these days. You can’t do nearly as much in the future without a high school diploma. High school dropouts make less money (most below the poverty level) and have higher unemployment rates that those with a high school diploma. So yes kids, celebrate your accomplishment. But don’t expect extravagant gifts for it. The gift you should be grateful for is the economic opportunity your diploma affords you, as well as the advanced education you can now go on to.
The problem in this situation is parents with more money (or credit) than brains. In the ‘My Sweet 16’ generation, hoards of spoiled children are milking their rich parents for extravagant gifts. Plastic surgery is a natural extension of the desire of these over-indulged youths to have whatever they want without any regard for consequences.
Now, granted, I didn’t have rich parents. They couldn’t have thrown me a thirty thousand dollar birthday party even if they had wanted to. But what’s important is that they didn’t want to. They wanted to teach their children the value of working hard for something that they wanted, and the feeling you get when you achieve it. So for my graduation from high school, they patted me on the back and promised me free room and board at home while I attended the local university. My grandfather gave me an unabridged dictionary and my grandmother paid for some of my college freshman textbooks. Not exactly a trip to Europe, brand new car and a nose job, but they were gifts of love and learning, exactly what a newly minted high school graduate needed.
If your kid has a deformity and needs plastic surgery, by all means, help your child. But small breasts are not a deformity. There is no NEED for a double D chest, unless your daughter’s goal in life is to be a stripper. If you can provide your child with a vehicle to make their life easier, great, make it a low end used Toyota, not a high end new Lexus. The Toyota will still get your kid to school, it’s made by the same company and if your kid wants a Lexus, let him earn the Lexus.
In a few years, some of today’s high school graduates will be graduating from college. If they got an Escalade for their sixteenth birthday and a boob job for high school graduation, what can they possibly hope for next? Mansion in Malibu? A yacht? The Space Shuttle? How about we start a bit smaller, and give them something to look forward to, something to work towards? Let’s bring back that age old graduation gift…the pen and pencil set.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
LOOK OUT FUTURE STEVEN KING'S
An eighteen year old high school senior was arrested in Illinois for disorderly conduct after he completed an English class assignment. In a “stream of consciousness” writing exercise, the boy expressed some violent ideas, and school authorities have since placed him in a secure lockdown environment.
In the wake of school shootings at Virginia Tech and the anniversary of Columbine, school authorities are vigilant to any sign that may point to potential “disgruntled” shooters. Apparently believing that the expression of violent thoughts leads to violent action, school officials have now appointed themselves the thought police. Yes, Big Brother is indeed watching.
I understand the desire to pinpoint and thwart future violence but words are not deeds. If so, Steven King would be one of the worlds most prolific serial killers and Quentin Tarrantino would be behind bars without the possibility of parole. The thought patrol would probably have to arrest just about every person in the world for disorderly conduct if our thoughts alone made us guilty.
Look, the guy who wrote the song “I Shot the Sheriff” never shot a sheriff, Steven King’s freezer isn’t full of human heads (at least not that I know of) and Hollywood is happily cranking out horror films because that’s what sells. Most serial killers don’t write their thoughts, feelings and plans down in a diary (boy, wouldn’t it make it easy for investigators and prosecutors if they did!) and those that do usually don’t do it far enough in advance to be of much use in preventing crime. Even if you believe in psychic powers, psychics are called in after the crime is committed…shouldn’t we be calling them in before? Nope, you can’t convict a person of their thoughts. Thoughts and words do not always become action (case in point, people think about sex about way more often than they actually have sex).
So be careful kids and make sure you only write about kittens and rainbows and unicorns. But not about killing kittens, that would be wrong. And rainbows are associated with the gay rights movement so make sure you write only about heterosexual rainbows, so no one starts to question your sexuality. And unicorns have that pointed horn on the tope of their head, that’s not safe if they puncture someone with it, plus it’s kind of phallic. Okay, forget kittens, rainbows and unicorns. Wait, I have it! The next time your teacher gives you a writing assignment, just refuse to do it. If they ask why, or try to fail you, assert your Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination. Let’s see what the thought police say then.
In the wake of school shootings at Virginia Tech and the anniversary of Columbine, school authorities are vigilant to any sign that may point to potential “disgruntled” shooters. Apparently believing that the expression of violent thoughts leads to violent action, school officials have now appointed themselves the thought police. Yes, Big Brother is indeed watching.
I understand the desire to pinpoint and thwart future violence but words are not deeds. If so, Steven King would be one of the worlds most prolific serial killers and Quentin Tarrantino would be behind bars without the possibility of parole. The thought patrol would probably have to arrest just about every person in the world for disorderly conduct if our thoughts alone made us guilty.
Look, the guy who wrote the song “I Shot the Sheriff” never shot a sheriff, Steven King’s freezer isn’t full of human heads (at least not that I know of) and Hollywood is happily cranking out horror films because that’s what sells. Most serial killers don’t write their thoughts, feelings and plans down in a diary (boy, wouldn’t it make it easy for investigators and prosecutors if they did!) and those that do usually don’t do it far enough in advance to be of much use in preventing crime. Even if you believe in psychic powers, psychics are called in after the crime is committed…shouldn’t we be calling them in before? Nope, you can’t convict a person of their thoughts. Thoughts and words do not always become action (case in point, people think about sex about way more often than they actually have sex).
So be careful kids and make sure you only write about kittens and rainbows and unicorns. But not about killing kittens, that would be wrong. And rainbows are associated with the gay rights movement so make sure you write only about heterosexual rainbows, so no one starts to question your sexuality. And unicorns have that pointed horn on the tope of their head, that’s not safe if they puncture someone with it, plus it’s kind of phallic. Okay, forget kittens, rainbows and unicorns. Wait, I have it! The next time your teacher gives you a writing assignment, just refuse to do it. If they ask why, or try to fail you, assert your Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination. Let’s see what the thought police say then.
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