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Just finished watching the Jake Kasdan film The TV Set, produced by Lawrence Kasdan and Judd Apatow, starring David Duchvony, Signorney Weaver, Ion Gruffud, Justine Bateman, and Judy Greer. It's a film that got limited distribution due to the fact that it is basically an insider tale about what it is involved in creating a television pilot.
If you have any interest at all in television analysis, the process of making a tv show, or the television industry - you probably should rent this film. And make sure you watch the commentary with Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan, skip all the other special features but that one. It's a great discussion about the obstacles involved in creating a tv series. Judd Apatow and Kasdan were the creators and writers behind the tv series Freaks and Geeks, which got cancelled after one season. Kasdan also was a co-creator of The Ben Stiller Show, and Apatow did Undeclared. Both have since left tv and gone on to film. They state quite simply that while it is difficult to get a movie made, once you are making it, the studios tend to leave you alone unless of course you go over budget or become expensive, which Apatow tries really hard not to do because he does not want to become their problem. While in television, the studio is always bugging you; they never leave alone. You never ever reach the point in which they are "committed" to your project, not threatening to pull the rug out from under you, or telling you it won't work.
The film is a bit of a satire - it makes fun of the process, depicting everything from the casting process to the actual presentation in front of the critics and networks.
The problem with television or creating television is you do not have control and someone who knows little about your vision is constantly telling you how you need to change it so that it will air. There's a great line that the studio head, Lenny, tells the writer in the film:"We don't want it to be too original. Let's get rid of the originality, so it can work."
( Read more... )
From the commentary, most of the people who saw The TV Set were television writers and tv insiders, and they all said the film made them not want to do a tv show. It is a grueling process. That takes a lot of time and more often than not goes nowhere. After watching this, I thought - it is a minor miracle that good shows like Buffy, BSG, the Sopranos, Lost, or Heroes ever get made let alone make it to the tv screen. Not so surprising that the Bachelor and countless reality shows do. Freaks and Geeks died an early death because the network wanted to put on a game show in it's slot.
If you aren't that interested in the process of making a tv show or like satire, the TV SET may bore you. It's a lot like Robert Altman's The Player, filled with inside jokes and focused on the process. The other commentaries including The Making Of - are a waste of time, mostly self-congratulatory, with lots of bits about how great everyone is. They give little insight into how or why the film was made. The best commentary is the Apatow/Kasdan one, even if you don't like Judd Apatow or his comedies and think he's an chauvinistic asswipe, which I do. The film is mandatory viewing for anyone who wants to discuss the making of or quality of television shows in any depth or for that matter aspires to be involved in the process. According to Apatow, it's actually being used by some to teach courses on the topic.
If you have any interest at all in television analysis, the process of making a tv show, or the television industry - you probably should rent this film. And make sure you watch the commentary with Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan, skip all the other special features but that one. It's a great discussion about the obstacles involved in creating a tv series. Judd Apatow and Kasdan were the creators and writers behind the tv series Freaks and Geeks, which got cancelled after one season. Kasdan also was a co-creator of The Ben Stiller Show, and Apatow did Undeclared. Both have since left tv and gone on to film. They state quite simply that while it is difficult to get a movie made, once you are making it, the studios tend to leave you alone unless of course you go over budget or become expensive, which Apatow tries really hard not to do because he does not want to become their problem. While in television, the studio is always bugging you; they never leave alone. You never ever reach the point in which they are "committed" to your project, not threatening to pull the rug out from under you, or telling you it won't work.
The film is a bit of a satire - it makes fun of the process, depicting everything from the casting process to the actual presentation in front of the critics and networks.
The problem with television or creating television is you do not have control and someone who knows little about your vision is constantly telling you how you need to change it so that it will air. There's a great line that the studio head, Lenny, tells the writer in the film:"We don't want it to be too original. Let's get rid of the originality, so it can work."
( Read more... )
From the commentary, most of the people who saw The TV Set were television writers and tv insiders, and they all said the film made them not want to do a tv show. It is a grueling process. That takes a lot of time and more often than not goes nowhere. After watching this, I thought - it is a minor miracle that good shows like Buffy, BSG, the Sopranos, Lost, or Heroes ever get made let alone make it to the tv screen. Not so surprising that the Bachelor and countless reality shows do. Freaks and Geeks died an early death because the network wanted to put on a game show in it's slot.
If you aren't that interested in the process of making a tv show or like satire, the TV SET may bore you. It's a lot like Robert Altman's The Player, filled with inside jokes and focused on the process. The other commentaries including The Making Of - are a waste of time, mostly self-congratulatory, with lots of bits about how great everyone is. They give little insight into how or why the film was made. The best commentary is the Apatow/Kasdan one, even if you don't like Judd Apatow or his comedies and think he's an chauvinistic asswipe, which I do. The film is mandatory viewing for anyone who wants to discuss the making of or quality of television shows in any depth or for that matter aspires to be involved in the process. According to Apatow, it's actually being used by some to teach courses on the topic.
