Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Film, Television, and my worthless opinions

I started an internship at Tribeca Productions yesterday. I am going to be the intern/slave for Tribeca ever Monday from 9:30 in the AM to 6:30 in the PM (yesterday wasn't a Monday, but it was a training day).

It'd say it's cool, but it only is conceptually. I've already been informed the likelihood of this at any point turning into a real job is basically nil. I mean I'm keeping my hopes up and all, but one must be realistic. This is just basically a stepping stone so I can put Tribeca Productions on my resume and hope that it will land me a better job. But it's a start, so I am happy. The work itself is pretty boring. I sit in a small office, run copies of script coverage to the Production heads, and mail out screenplay submissions to the professional readers so that they can write the script coverage. I also answer phones and other light clerical work. The intern who trained me said there will be a lot of down time with nothing to do. Luckily, all the scripts (submissions and current projects) are filed in the intern office thus giving me the opportunity to read all those scripts. I started reading a submission titled: The Sexiest Man Alive (no it isn't about me, but it was nice of you to think that). I'm not going to say if it's any good or not (Yes I will, it has some funny moments but over all very tepid), but it did start to make me wonder why if this guy has representation (Tribeca won't accept any unsolicited submissions) don't I? I should work on that.

Second thoughts: I watched the premier of Love Monkey last night purely because I like the name. Unfortunately that's all I really liked. There is really one big reason I didn't like this show, and that reason's name is Judy Greer. Tom Cavanagh as the lead is fine, he's basically playing Ed in the big city. He's very good at being adorable. The other actors aren't really that inspired but they aren't bad actors, just what you'd expect from a standard hour long drama/comedy. Judy Greer is the exception. And it isn't her fault. I don't like the show not because she's in it, but because she isn't used well at all. Out of all the actors they have, she is the one with the best comedic timing. She may not have been in the best movies, but she is always the funniest and most interesting character in said movies. Anyone else who doubts her keen grasp of comedic timing, I give you her performance on Arrested Development. She is a talented comedic actress and in this poor man's sex in the city (really it's a poor man's Jake in Progress which itself is a bad male rip off of Sex in the City) she is given no funny lines or actions. Her character is so vanilla it hurts to watch. Not because it's unbelievable, but because she's capable of so much more and the weak minds of the writers and directors are holding her back.

It's a stupid rant, but please, Ms. Greer, you're better than that.

3 comments:

Liz said...

I did think of you! Concrats on the internship, it will look good on your resume. Could I be more envious, sitting around reading scripts all day, in NYC. Great review, I didn't watch Love Monkey because I enjoy pain and misery. The American Idol premiere rocked!

rawbean said...

Tap Tap Tappity Tap....just passing through.

James said...

I wanted to watch Love Monkey, but now I don't. Thanks a lot!

And as far as your intern experience, I totally know what you're talking about. I'm a submissions reader for a Hip Literary Pub in San Francisco and some of the stuff I've sifted through is absolute dreck. It's a strangely inspiring (and also frustrating) to see work submitted (or published, even) that you deem grossly inferior to your own. But now you know what you're up against, right?