Could the co-dependent relationship between Hollywood development execs and writers be any more dysfunctional? Like most Tinseltown marriages, it’s born from mutual desires and devolves quickly to a strained partnership. To get their projects produced, writers need the execs, and to find new projects, execs need the writers. They can endure long separations and even get all Brokeback, screaming “Why can’t I quit you!?” but divorce is never an option.
If you’ve ever sat in on a pitch meeting (I had the pleasure as an intern at a prominent film company), watching writers sell their ideas can be an exercise in torture. To say they’re in an unenviable position is an understatement. They’re presenting to an impatient, skeptical young alpha male who’d much rather be meeting with a proven audience draw (someone…no anyone from Apatow’s crew, for instance) and who’s basically expecting the ideas to suck.
Writers sometimes put years into creating and refining projects, only to pitch and re-pitch all over town, and then have the ideas shot down in less than five minutes. They’re at the whim of the exec’s likes and dislikes, industry trends, and budget shortfalls. Many times, the exec holds the key to their project’s survival, and later on, the noose on their creativity.
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Though “suits” have long been the object of derision in writers’ fantasies, Son Of A Pitch may be one of the first series that’s sympathetic to the exec. For every development exec who has ever patiently sat through overly enthusiastic, totally non-original pitches, Son Of A Pitch is for you.
Created by Andy Mogren, and starring himself and John Lange as the “pitchers,” this series lampoons the entire awkward process. Brian Corsetti is the development executive who’s job it is to remind them that A) it’s already been done, B) they’re annoying him, and C) they’re wasting his time.
Each episode begins with the announcer merrily booming, “Welcome to Hollywood, California…before anything comes to a theater near you, movie executives decide what’s good and what’s not.” From there, we see our hapless pitchers trumpeting their latest idea, or recycled idea for a film that’s been done a million times.
The crux of Son Of A Pitch is that every pitch is terrible, so, naturally they all get shot down. The writers have cleverly satirized Hollywood’s go-to stories at every turn. We get terrible romantic comedies/small town girl makes it big in the city (There’s No I In Iowa), the family tearjerker (That’s My Kid), random action film starring Megan Fox and/or other random hot girl (Swedish Treasure Hunting Sisters), and on and on.
While viewers will appreciate the recycled concepts that the pitchers reveal via glossy shorts, each of the episodes can’t help but fizzle out at the end. We know the pitches are bad, and we know the exec. will hate them. But perhaps we needed a few more twists and turns to keep the comedic momentum going.
Check it out on Koldcast.TV.
