Buzzell's Men In Black

About 3 years ago, I read part of a milblog by a guy named Colby Buzzell called MY WAR. Apparently the guy was later censored and pulled down all his posts, wrote a book and just won an award from NPR for it. This is a PBS recreation of one of his posts. I'm a fan of war movies, some of my best childhood memories are sitting on the couch watching them with my father. While polished up from his original post (which I can't find, but if I do I'll update this post with it), this still has the raw bewilderment of a young man caught in a fucked up situation.

**UPDATED*** KID NATION LINK

I'm now officially obsessed with KID NATION. Let me know what you think of the teaser.

***UDATE***

I'm putting in the youtube link which is sized for the blog. Those CBS guys must be new to this whole weblogging thing... :-)

KID NATION and The Network Upfronts

First, thanks to Monstroso for tipping me (and all of you) to the active page for Disney's writing fellowship. This program is widely acknowledged as the best one in the business, and the only one that pays a living wage. I highly recommend that folks apply for it. I did a few years ago, didn't get the fellowship, but I'll probably try again this year, but on the feature side.

This week is UPFRONTS week. All of the networks travel to New York and announce their fall line-ups. I've been burning the midnight oil following developments and viewing whichever pilots I can get my hands on and I think this year's crop is going to be very interesting. ABC is going whole hog on the magical realism stuff, Fox is doing it's character-driven best, NBC is going big with lots of adventure and sci fi (yay!) and the CW is staying young at heart with shows all geared to teenagers and fanboys. I thought REAPER was a good pick up but have not heard anything about GOSSIP GIRL except it's probably like the OC does Manhattan.

And then I heard about this show from CBS, KID NATION.

A new reality show, "Kid Nation," will take 40 children and set them up in an
abandoned New Mexico town. Cameras will follow them as they try to set up
their own society without adult supervision.

Anyone who has kids or has supervised them is cringing in horror at the thought they will be a) separated from their parents; b) allowed to run their own town; c) given attention through cameras while they are unsupervised. This reminds me of a sci fi short I read when I was in highschool. If I can find the title I'll post it. It just sounds nutty.

PILOT VIEWING SEASON HAS BEGUN

Right now, in TV rooms all over Hollywood, network executives are watching pilots and deciding the fate of next year's schedule. I'm weasling my way into as many of those living rooms as I can. I have a pretty good line on seeing some of the basic cable shows this weekend, so if I see anything good I'll let you all know.

I met with a director friend of mine this week. He shot a pilot for LOGO which they didn't pick up, so he was bummed, but he's got a crack new agent who promises to help him put together the financing for his indie film, so at least there's some glimmer of hope there. We talked about a few of these festival deadlines that are coming up. I hope all of you out there submitted to Sundance. It's a great workshop environment, you do come out of it a stronger writer, and that's one of the few festivals that mean something in town. The Nicholl Fellowship also closed on May 1, and that one actually pays money. So, the next two up are Disney Fellowship (usually the end of June, but they haven't posted their 2007 application yet), Film Independent's workshop (due today, but they have a late fee you can pay and turn in your script 5/28/07) and Warner Brothers writing workshop, which technically costs money, but is such a good hook-up it's worth it, and the CBS Diversity Fellowship, which is invaluable for people who do not have any industry experience.

I'm off to take my Grip/Electric guys out to drinks. The gaffer and a production associate are joining me and another producer at this little bar in Hollywood.

DAYS THREE, FOUR AND FIVE IN THE... CARD

This weekend we finished shooting the film. Since we shot on HD we actually recorded to a digital card. I was so nervous watching the digital transfer guy walk back and forth when he switched the flash cards out, I kept yelling for folks to clear the way for him like he was carrying a transplant organ.

I'd forgotten what it was like to produce something this size. I had a blast. Because our crew was so small I got to drive the police cruiser and hit the "take down" lights, and the firetruck guys let me sit inside and touch the switches. They were going to let me drive it, but after the owner told me it was worth $350,000 I passed. :-)

I'm beat to hell and I still have to finish up the budgeting stuff, so I'll try to write more later. I hope everyone is doing well. I'm way behind on my blog-reading because the DSL at my house is impossible, but hope to catch up this weekend.