PRE-PRODUCTION: Greenlight Pitch

As part of the Pre-Production unit, we had to pitch our idea to Simon and the rest of the group. Katie, Alex and I created ours on Google Docs and then we were all able to access it at the same time and work on our sections. 

We started by outlining the idea behind VET-MAN: On the Road and we then went onto our individual sections. As I am the producer of the project I highlighted my responsibilities which are to:
- Create the schedule and budget, and keeping the pre-production within these
- Finding and contacting the cast and locations
- Helping in the edit
- Risk assessments
- Call sheets and consent forms

I also detailed the cast, locations, schedule, budget and booklet research I did in the powerpoint.


Pitch





Feedback

The group liked the idea and agreed with our idea to change it from a mockumentary to a sitcom, especially after we related our ideas it to The Thick Of It

We need to advance the story more - we need the audience to know where there going throughout the story, they need to know where Dr. Tim Stewart is going to be at the end - even if he doesn't reach that goal. 

Cast and props MUST be realistic and believable. I already know this and I am working on it. I am shopping around for the most suitable props for our film and I am in the middle of organising auditions in order to find the best actors that we can to be a part of our film.

VET-MAN: On the Road sounds similar to David Brent: Life on the Road. Consider changing it to avoid confusion. As a group we have decided to keep the title as just VET-MAN. It's short and sweet and straight to the point. The audience will be able to grasp the main point of the sitcom from this short title - that it's about a vet. We will keep it as a working title so it can be changed later if needed.

Unsure on the tone of the show. As producer, it's my job to have a clear understanding of the tone of the show, and to make sure this is constantly communicated between Katie and Alex to keep it consistent throughout the show. The tone is essential to a television show, it also needs to be made clear at the beginning as this allows the "audience can identify what they are watching" (Sofluid, 2014) from the start. As we are only creating the first episode of VET-MAN and as this will only be a maximum of 20 minutes, we want the tone recognisable from the first minute or so. 

Another reason as to why the tone needs to be address early is because if we advertise the show as one type of genre, e.g. VET-MAN being a sitcom, and it doesn't live up to the genre at the beginning then the viewer may "get frustrated and turn over" (Sofluid). Therefore, we must comply with the conventions of a sitcom that I explained about earlier in order to show the audience that they are watching a sitcom. The tone of the show can also be set through the channel and broadcast time we choose. There is a watershed from 9pm every night where nothing inappropriate can be shown before this. As VET-MAN is a dark sitcom, it will be shown after 9pm, simply advertising the show with a later broadcast time can give off the idea that the show involves dark humour and is not appropriate for children and teenagers. 

We want the show to have elements of humour in it but for it not to become a laugh-out-loud type of comedy show. Therefore, we are going for a subtle comedy for the tone of VET-MAN. We want the humour to come across as blunt, which can be funny in itself. We also want the tone to be made up of satirical humour. Using sarcasm is a way of creating a comedy but without having to make it a laugh-out-loud film. The tone of the show is something that I will keep in mind while reading and giving feedback to Alex's script drafts, for them to be successful I will need to be able to tell the tone / genre from the first couple of pages. As we have advertised VET-MAN as a dark sitcom, I will be expecting a couple of dark jokes or something horrible to happen at the beginning, to help set the tone. 

I will be assessed on being purely producer, so I need to make my work detailed. I already know this and I am constantly working towards making my work detailed enough. 


We gained the green light for the pitch and we can continue researching and getting the pre-production package together.

References:

- Sofluid. (2014). TV scripts: The importance of setting tone/genre right from the get go!. Available: http://www.writesofluid.com/tv-scripts-the-importance-of-setting-tonegenre-right-from-the-get-go/. Last accessed 14th Oct 2018.