AboutBarry Pearson Expertise I`m a credited writer on nine feature films. My latest movie, IRON ROAD, which stars Peter O'Toole and Sam Neill,is being offered to festivals. Sun Li, the Chinese star, won the best actress award at the Roma Fiction Fest recently. www.ironroadthemovie.com)
I`m also the writer of over 40 hours of television drama for major networks in North America, and I`m a producer of three feature films and over 50 hours of television prime time drama.
I've received Best Screenplay, Best Picture awards at international film festivals around the world.
I've been coaching screen and television writers in person, and on the internet, for over ten years, and I've answered over 1000 All Experts questions!
Experience I've been in the business of writing and producing feature
films, television series, and MOW's for over 20 years. You
can check me out at this URL
http://www.createyourscreenplay.com/aboutbp.htm
I have read a few of your previous answers (negative in general but realistic) in regard to creating/writing a TV spec pilot without having established the proper credentials. They seem very practical and clearly you have been around the business long enough to know the 'ground rules'. That being said, below I give a quick description of a project I have just wrapped up and my question is simply:
What is your impression?
To keep a long story short, I wrote a one-hour teleplay and ultimately decided to form a production company to shoot the spec pilot. I made this decision after spending a decent amount of time speaking with people in the industry and ultimately teaming up with an experienced Producer / Director who could take the lead on the production of the pilot.
The casting went very well as we were able to get a reasonable name for the lead female character and an amazingly talented actor for the lead role. The rest of the casting we did in NYC (where we shot). We finished shooting the pilot in mid July and now have the final product on DVD / Blu-ray.
Between my partner, myself and the lead actors we have a few relationships which have landed us oral commitments to meetings once the Pilot is finished. We are now going to be following up to set these meetings.
Again, any thoughts, comments, criticisms you could offer would be greatly appreciated.
I've done such a trick only once, myself, and ultimately, it did not get sold. The project was a little ahead of its time. That was long ago, and I'm not really expert in the matter of marketing and pitching a "made" project. But I'll give my opinions with that caveat.
It looks to me as if you've taken a very professional approach to this project. The downside is that there are competitors out there who are making pilots for millions of dollars with the resources of a big company, and it sounds as if you would be a non-starter against them. That rules out big studios and networks.
You can probably go two ways.
First, you position your pilot as a "Demo." Pitch it as a concept car that you don't expect to be driven. So you have a pilot that's not for airing, but a pilot that can give the buyer a more precise idea of what the concept is and pitch the idea of developing it into a full blown series for the producer or buyer.
Second, you position your pilot as a pilot for the downscale market and you have a bible for how the series will progress. You pitch cable channels that desperately need programming but have a Mother Hubbard budget.
You should have bible material. If you don't, I could e-mail you a sample from a real one hour concept. e-mail me at createyourscreenplay@rogers.com
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