tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post5401660714080344268..comments2024-03-14T04:07:39.792-07:00Comments on Earl Pomerantz: Just Thinking...: "Premise Pilots vs. The Other Kind"Earl Pomerantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963705121297866334noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-73066674762826074632012-10-02T17:00:39.080-07:002012-10-02T17:00:39.080-07:00I don't know Earl Pomerantz -- but I do know h...I don't know Earl Pomerantz -- but I do know his brother Hart from my days in Toronto -- and heard some wonderful anecdotes about the Lorne Michael days. My lips are sealed. <br /><br />As to his thinking about pilots -- two things I would like to make clear:<br /><br />One is, the set-up of the series is part and parcel of the pilot script -- it's just that more time (and pages) are devoted to the '6th episode'. <br /><br />And two: Whether the pilot sells or not does not make it worthless any moreso than a feature script that didn't sell. Buyers are using pilot scripts as another tool in figuring out who to staff on their shows. The anecdote I like to tell is several years ago, in the post 'Desperate Housewives' world (which was a spec pilot that saved a network) -- I was at a network meeting in New York and they wanted to know if I had a spec pilot. I had never been asked for that before. I did. Even won a script writing competition that paid out real money for my spec pilot 'Raffle Guy'. But I asked they why they wanted to see a spec pilot? They answered: Because if we read your Sex & The City or whatever we don't know who you are. But if we read your spec pilot we know who you are. -- To which I chided, up until this point nobody cared who I was. <br /><br />But that's what they're looking for these days. They want an idea of who you are -- as well as how good a mimic you are. <br /><br />Whether people who have never written anything but a blog should be writing pilots is another story. <br /><br />At UCLA I request that the writers who sign up for my course have screen-writing under their belt -- whether they sold it or not. <br /><br />But I truly thank Earl for his perspective and anecdotes.Bill Taubnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-54671557698937854822012-10-02T11:00:08.285-07:002012-10-02T11:00:08.285-07:00They must not have done that with "Neighbors&...They must not have done that with "Neighbors" on ABC.candanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-35632907694568801832012-10-02T07:36:13.884-07:002012-10-02T07:36:13.884-07:00And that's why networks request representative...And that's why networks request representative episodes for evaluation prototypes. So they don't get suckered into buying a series with only one joke.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06248182899977033579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-66079606590221165012012-10-02T05:48:49.998-07:002012-10-02T05:48:49.998-07:00I don't know if this ranks as a good question ...I don't know if this ranks as a good question for a future post (the answer may just be "no") but I was wondering if you've ever seen (or written for) a show where the pilot was the highlight of the series. Or would a series never get to that point?<br /><br />The reason I ask is that you mentioned that if you have a number of ideas to choose from, you should pick your best one to sell the show. Does it ever happen that the writers can't rise to that level again?<br /><br />Jim DoddJEDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07538398157297345338noreply@blogger.com