Here's the question everyone asks me now (after the requisite expressions of outrage/anger at NPR's decision to cancel Day to Day): "So what are you going to do now?" A very reasonable question to which I don't really have an answer. "Oh, I'm pursuing a bunch of things," I respond vaguely. The truth is, there's nothing concrete, nothing that's paying me a dime. But I feel like I'm being productive because I'm taking a lot of meetings in the tv industry, as they say here. I've lived in Los Angeles for five years, but only now am I learning about the beast that makes this city tick--tv and movies. Here are a few of my observations about what goes down at these meetings.
1) I am always offered a free bottle of water from the receptionist. Never coffee, never a soft drink, never a glass of water.
2) The people I meet with are exceedingly nice, with the exception of one high-profile producer, who said after rejecting everything I proposed: "I don't want to waste your time." (actually, maybe he was the nicest of all. I"ll have to see how it all pans out.)
3) Agents wear suits; everyone else wears jeans.
4) Never, ever pitch a show with the words "user-generated content, " as in what I said at my first pitch meeting: "I see it as a documentary series where people film themselves, you know - like YouTube - a lot of user generated content." First of all, I don't really know what that means. Second, the producer did, and hated it. After we left, my agent politely advised me never to utter those words again.
5) The meetings end with a lot of smiles and overly validated parking passes.
It's been months of these meetings, and only now do I feel like I made a good match. I met a group of producers whom I really like and who - I think - really like me. So now what? A whole new round of meetings.
Check out Madeleine's website to see more of what she's been up to.
The image associated with this post was taken by Flickr user darrylh and used under the Creative Commons license.
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