Post Day 9 Assignment Here

[Michael Kemp]

Michael Kemp Story Producer Insights – Alternate-TV – Lesson 9

What I Learned Doing This Assignment is the planning and scripting it will take to do a show, including outlining, preparation, and cast relationships, what notes can mean, and six acts to a show. 

How to make the show work dramatically.

The editing, review and add to if necessary, looking for the small things, analyzing the content, overseeing the narrative. Raw footage. What do the characters want to say? 

How much preplanning goes into a show?

Depends. Organizing thoughts each day. Observing. Having staff track the cast members and their topics 

Developing Story hooks on the fly.

Be tolerant, consider reshoots of topics that just occurred. 

What makes the “talent” amazing versus average.

Interview questions. Quirky talent that’s compelling and grabbing. Some being great storytellers that can carry the show for hours and hours if allowed. 

The predetermined beats of a show that will create drama.

Discussed in meetings. Decisions rendered. Conflict? Is it there or not? Location? Kitchen or front porch? Linking the scenes together from Act 1 through Act 6. Overview of it all. 

How Toni responds to “notes” from the producer and network.

Reviews Director notes, consider the best guess how to proceed. Let the story department make the outline. Generate a rough cut to a fine cut to a locked cut. Embrace it. Interviews and cuts may be additional. 

What happens when the “reality” is not good enough?

Pay attention, don’t let lack of attention miss important issues and emotional responses. To make it work better, consider editing perceptions. 

How to maintain a relationship with the cast members even when you make them look bad.

Temperament. Push a lunch together, convince the cast members that they will be redeemed later through promises. Review internal cuts. 

Shooting “pickups” and OTF’s (on-the-fly interviews) to elevate moments.

Fatten, not thin in substance, relationship health. Don’t burn bridges. Cold pickups of any scene. What happened at a party? Add extra on a scene. Searching for that emotional or exciting scene for a reaction from one or all involved. 

How you choose cast members that can sell your show.

Use authentic people. Extreme personalities that can self-generate and be unfiltered; jobs, families, lifestyles. Fantastic talent that leaps through the screen. Be someone the public can admire and would want to have lunch or dinner with them.

ASSIGNMENT 1. Watch the interview and take notes. 2. Tell us at least three insights you had that will make you a stronger ATV creator.

Assembly of a show, the storytelling, the guts of the machine you’re selling, the value of the editing room, and being tolerant of whomever you’re working for or with, including the network, streamer, or cable personnel.

[Laura Souders]

Laura Souders Story Producer Insights

What I learned was that the process to get a show produced from inception can be 12-18 months.

3 Things I learned:

The field and the edit room may not get to talk much about how the footage is working.

The story line is scripted, but the dialogue/fights/ what is said, may not be.

It’s not enough to have funny or interesting people, they have to be over the top.