In the last 24 hours, I've gone from concept to execution. Yesterday, Matt, Jim, Suzi and I were invited to talk about a pilot concept with some Los Angeles filmakers from Spyglass Entertainment and Snackaholic. We met with Tedd, Belisa and Megan, who are variously involved in Emmy-award winning television, documentaries, and UCB's show that ran on Comedy Central. They had a pitch: American Expats experiencing Europe in a documentary-style series for cable. So today, from noon till 9pm, we shot footage. And it was awesome. We assumed characters not too distant from ourselves, like heightened versions of our worst characteristics. We hung out in a Hostel, walked the streets of Amsterdam, stepped into tourist shops and did scenes with Real People. Matt was a wanna-be novelist who lost his backpack shortly after landing in Holland. Jim was a clueless and charming gross-out-guy. Suzi played the self-absorbed songwriter, and I played the 9-5 assistant, too uptight to join in on the drugs and fun. We shot hours of footage which will be edited together for a presentation to network in the hopes of obtaining the funding for a pilot.
They put it like this, "I can't believe how lucky it is that we met you guys yesterday and here we are shooting this amazing stuff today."
I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Suzi kept describing it as a backpack version of the Office. Matt and I dropped LA names and talked locations, and Jim entertained with unfathomable anecdotes. Everyone was charmed and excited. I can only hope that the reel looks good.