Take a deep breath, you are about to figure out how to spend millions of dollars to create 6, 8, or 10 episodes of the latest hit cable series.  And if you’re going to do that – then I beg you – don’t get cocky and act as though you’ve done this a million times.  Each budget is a new and unique experience, and creating the schedule will tell you where the bodies will have to be buried.

Break it down into units of time :
Scripting
Casting
Shooting
Editing
On-line
Mix

The schedule breakdown will give you valuable information.  How many weeks you’ll need the casting department, writers, story producers, field producers, DP, editors, etc., etc.  Once you know how many weeks each person will be on your show, you can start plugging in numbers, including how many edit rooms you’ll need, how many days for pre-production before a shoot, how many crew and cast you’ll need to feed, how many truck rentals and on and on.  The schedule is the key whether you’re dealing with a 1000 budget or a 10,000,000 budget.

You can start with a simple one below, made from an excel program. Each square represents one week.

From there you can get more complex with a schedule that gives you the specific days you’ll turn rough cuts into the network and how much turn around time you have before you need network notes.

Start with the schedule and then start plugging the numbers in.

Next… plugging the numbers in.

As with all technology, software or hardware, you’re taking a chance that in six months to a year there is going to be an updated  version of whatever you purchased with new bells and whistles you never imagined. Sometimes it makes me want to bang my head against the keyboard, but I suck it up knowing that’s one of the advantages and disadvantages of living and working in the 21st century – I will always be catching up to the latest technological releases. So, as a professional, I read the tech blogs, talk to other producers, DP’s and editors and keep abreast of the latest, greatest, gonna-make-your-production-life- a- breeze technology.

Such was the promise from Apple with their latest version of Final Cut Pro – FCP X.  Promise is the operative word because it not only missed the mark, it has people ranting.   If you’re one of the unfortunate people who has already purchased and downloaded the new software you know that any previous projects you’ve created will NOT open with this new version.  Oops…  You’ll also know that you cannot collaborate with other editors. There is no option to hand off your project file; instead you have to hand off your computer if you want anyone else to work on the project.  Need I go on?   For more particulars read what Walter Biscardi at Creative Cow Magazine has to say.

Finally, FCPX has earned the distinction of being the butt of late night jokes.  Apparently, Conan O’Brien’s editorial staff is not among the happy customers….

Did you know there was a Television Critics Association?  Why not, every other niche group has banded together.  But, I bet you didn’t know that they have an annual awards show, and that this year marks their 27th year presenting the awards.  Stick with me; I’ll give you tidbits of trivia to wow your friends, family and colleagues.  Unlike the Emmy’s or the Oscars, they don’t accept submissions.  The nominees are chosen by the members, an organization made up of more than 200 professional critics and journalists from the US and Canada.

I’ve listed the categories and nominations below.  The awards will be presented on August 6th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. You’ll notice toward the bottom of this list is a category titled “Heritage Award”, this trophy is awarded to one long-standing program that has culturally or socially impacted society.  So take a look, which one do you think should win?

Individual Achievement in Drama
1. Steve Buscemi (“Boardwalk Empire,” HBO)
2. Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones,” HBO)
3. Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” AMC)
4. Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife,” CBS)
5. Margo Martindale (“Justified”, FX)
6. Timothy Olyphant (“Justified,” FX)

Individual Achievement in Comedy
1. Ty Burrell (“Modern Family,” ABC)
2. Louis C.K. (“Louis,” FX)
3. Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation,” NBC)
4. Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation,” NBC)
5. Danny Pudi (“Community,” NBC)
6. Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show,” Comedy Central)

Outstanding Achievement in News and Information
1. “If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise” (HBO)
2. “Restrepo” (National Geographic Channel)
3. “60 Minutes” (CBS)
4. “The Rachel Maddow Show” (MSNBC)
5. “30 for 30” (ESPN)

Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming
1. “Amazing Race” (CBS)
2. “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” (Travel Channel)
3. “Survivor” (CBS)
4. “The Voice” (NBC)
5. “Top Chef: All Stars” (Bravo)

Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming
1. “A Children’s Garden of Poetry” (HBO)
2. “iCarly” (Nickelodeon)
3. “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” (Nickelodeon)
4. “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour” (The Hub)
5. “Sesame Street” (PBS)
6. “Yo Gabba Gabba” (Nick Jr.)

Outstanding New Program
1. “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
2. “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
3. “Terriers” (FX)
4. “The Killing” (AMC)
5. “Walking Dead” (AMC)

Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials
1. “Cineme Verite” (HBO)
2. “Downton Abbey: Masterpiece” (PBS)
3. “Mildred Pierce” (HBO)
4. “Sherlock: Masterpiece” (PBS)
5. “Too Big to Fail” (HBO)

Outstanding Achievement in Drama
1. “Friday Night Lights” (DirecTV/NBC)
2. “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
3. “Justified” (FX)
4. “Mad Men” (AMC)
5. “The Good Wife” (CBS)

Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
1. “Community” (NBC)
2. “Louie” (FX)
3. “Modern Family” (ABC)
4. “Parks and Recreation” (NBC)
5. “Raising Hope” (FOX)

Career Achievement Award
1. Steven Bochco
2. Dick Ebersol
3. Cloris Leachman
4. David Letterman
5. William Shatner
6. Oprah Winfrey

Heritage Award
1. “All in the Family”
2. “Freaks and Geeks”
3. “The Dick Van Dyke Show”
4. “Twin Peaks”

Program of the Year
1. “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
2. “Friday Night Lights” (DirecTV/NBC)
3. “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
4. “Justified” (FX)
5. “Parks and Recreation” (NBC)

I believe the difficulty starts with imagery; no two people’s imagination is the same. If an author described a woman as having long flowing red hair with a petite nose – we would both have a different picture in mind.

See – two different images, but both potentially describe what the author has written.

In contrast, the book “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is based on vintage photographs and the author, Ransom Riggs uses them to illustrate his book and his book trailer. Mr. Riggs is a writer and a filmmake who clearly knows a thing or two about production. Using live action in combination with compelling narration and some very unusual photos, he has produced a riveting book trailer.

It’s not often that photos inspire a work of fiction, and in a quote from EW.com he says, ”I was developing the story as I was finding the photos. I’d find a particularly evocative photo and I’d say, ‘I need to work this in somehow.’

The LA Times’ Deborah Netburn, who talked to Riggs, writes, “…really great found photography is hard to come by, so Riggs started contacting the big guns in the found photography world, including Robert E. Jackson, a collector whose photos were featured in a show at the National Gallery. Jackson and others opened up their archives to Riggs and allowed him to borrow whatever images he needed (a list of images and the collections they are from are in the back of his book). After looking at close to a 100,000 photos, he eventually amassed a pool of 300 to 400 usable pictures and whittled that down to the 44 images he used in the book.”

See for yourself – I think this is one of the best book trailers out there, I can only hope the book lives up to the preview.

In a press release issued by SAG on April 30th , a task force was officially created and instructed to meet with members of AFTRA to develop the creation of a union that would combine the best parts of both unions. Whatever union morphs from the marriage of the two will be a force to be reckoned with. As we move into the second decade of this new millennium there will be an acceleration of different ways to view entertainment. The rights of the actors, performers and journalists who are part of the entertainment we so greedily want in every format at a moment’s notice need to be protected. I’m sure that will be the first order of business when the successor union debuts.

Read full press release here

IOTG’s mission is to democratize open writing assignment, open directing assignment, spec script and other film development information for the benefit of the entire entertainment community. In addition to the tools and information available within the site itself, the company also maintains a free section of the site where news about updates and additions to the database is posted on a regular basis.

Apparently the public was so outraged they bombarded Oprah Winfrey with a plea to save the soaps.  Unfortunately, one of the most powerful woman in television was unable to help.  She took to You Tube to announce that while she was a fan of soaps she was unable to do anything.  Soaps just aren’t attracting the numbers of viewers they have in the past, and without viewers there are no advertising dollars.  Without those dollars – well… you get the picture.

While English speaking viewers are shifting their loyalties, the Spanish speaking television audience can’t seem to get enough of scripted intrigue, adultery and back stabbing. Spanish telenovas (soap operas) are in high demand. Univision is planning to launch up to three new Spanish-language cable networks in the US- one network would be devoted to telenovelas and is tentatively titled UniNovelas.

And There’s A New Video Streaming Service:
It would be a sad day if we didn’t have entertainment choices.  And the opportunities to stream video to your various devices are increasing by the hour.  Vudu.com, a Walmart company offers a streaming video service they say rivals Netflix.  There’s no subscription fee and they offer films the same day they’re released on DVD.  You have your choice of quality at a cost; HDX $5.99, HD $4.00 and SD 3.99.  Whether you go with Vudu or Netflix it’s cheaper than the cost of a NYC movie ticket at $12.00.