Your read that right. TEN. Two classes a day, five days a week, no repeats.

It’s a little intimidating, but for the most part, I am excited by it. This is the kind of challenge I was hoping for. Bring it on! I want to work goddamn it. My only concern is that I will end up with so much homework that I will just plain not have the energy to blog, or at least, not to wordcount.

So in the future, this blog might just get a tad more stream of consciousness. Just a retelling of the day in whatever order it occurs to me. Whee!

Speaking of which : This morning’s class was Pitch 1. No, we’re not talking about ball throwing and we’re not working with molten tar, it was of course about how to pitch your stories to people who might actually want to buy them, or even hire me to write more of it and then hang around to make changes.

I get all tingly thinking about it.

And it was a fun, relaxed, friendly kinda class. There was just the ten or so of us, and we were in a circle around some tables, and that always makes things more relaxed for both instructor and student. The whole lecture thing is very hierarchical. Look at me and shut up, I’m the important person with the knowledge!

And the prof was great. Very funny, fun, and has loads of experience in the biz, mostly film. It was a little cozy in Classroom Two, but not enough to bother me. He talked about the importance of learning to pitch and how the most important thing was to get your idea across succinctly and compellingly, not to wow them with your charm or personality.

The standard pitch consists of the name of the property, the genre, and the logline. The logline is a one sentence sales pitch for what you’ve got, and he taught us one formula for a good logline : A description of the protagonist, quick summary of what happens in the flick, then something about it that makes it different from other properties.

That last part is the one I have trouble with. My brain doesn’t work like that. BZZT BZZT ERROR.

For next week we are supposed to have three pitch packages for movies we love. And obviously, the title and genre part of that are easy. And describing the protagonist is not hard for me, nor is summarizing the general thrust of the plot. But that last thing….

Here’s what I have for The Lion King :

It’s called The Lion King, it’s an animated feature film, and it’s about a lion named Simba who must abandon his carefree lifestyle in order to avenge his father’s death and bring life back to the Pridelands in this classic Disney animated feature.

See what I mean? All I did in the final part was restate the genre! I can’t imagine what makes The Lion King unique, or what I think is the coolest part. To me, it’s unique because it’s very good. That’s it.

I suppose I could say “with a deep spiritual messages about hope, family, and renewal”, but that doesn’t seem quite right. I get the feeling I am going to have to be willing to bullshit a lot if I am going to make it in the biz. Say things I know aren’t true, mislead people, that kind of thing.

Honestly, I don’t know if I can do it. I that I will likely just get real good at spinning the truth without actually lying in order to get by. And, of course, charm.

In the afternoon we had Story with Roger. It was a rather rambling but enjoyable lecture. Roger has a lovely rich baritone speaking voice, and has a lot of teach us, as well as, of course, lots of great anecdotes from the point of view of a showbiz insider.

I assume that the course will be a little more structured from this point on. I enjoyed his talk, and normally getting marks for just listening to a professor hold forth in an entertaining manner would be fine by me. But seeing as I am looking to use this education to get work, I would prefer my courses to be a bit more practical.

The whole thing is looking like it will be scary and hard but a lot of fun. I am going to end up writing two feature length movie scripts (eep), the script for a pilot for a TV series (apparently, that’s what the TV industry wants to see, not spec scripts for existing shows) and the second episode as well.

The whole idea is that at VFS, a lot of your schoolwork also builds up your professional portfolio. I am looking forward to that, but I am also a little intimidated by the task. I have never had to write something as long as a feature length movie. And it has to be low budget too, but I am not worried about that. I am confident in my ability to convey lots of tension and action and such via what boils down to people talking in rooms.

Plus there’s the miracles one can pull off with greenscreen technology these days. That doesn’t cost much, and seriously, you can create entire realities around your actors. The people see a lush alien planet with adorable animals and three moons, and in reality, it was an actor in a greenscreen room talking to two ping pong balls on a stick.

I am not really looking to get THAT ambitious, though. A few digital backdrops will be sufficient. Maybe it will be science fiction, maybe not. I have never written standard drama before, so that would be an interesting challenge, but then again, I would love to show off my mad comedy skills.

Maybe I will do a science fiction comedy. I’ve never managed to combine the two before, but there’s always a first time.

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.