at this point you are aware that chandra and kriz are co-creators of the next big cable TV show- SMOKE & MIRRORS. we are no old hats in the TV game- we are the pie-eyed newbies who know enough about what it takes and how to move forward, that is just enough to get ourselves in trouble. Since we've been friends since the 80's, we knew two things- 1- there isn't anything we can't do and 2- there is nothing we can't do if we do it together. wonder twin powers- ACTIVATE!
The concept was originally born out of Chandra's experiences as a non-entertainer in the entertainment industry. Being California girls we knew that it had to take place here- and that means no where but Hollywood. So we put our thinking caps on and wrote and riffed our little hearts out before loading up the Prius and posting to Facebook - WE'RE COMING TO LA! WHO IS IN?
Our goal was to take the GREAT AMERICAN PITCH FEST by storm... and as is the custom of any time spent in LALA-land, we had more meets, greets and random treats than you could imagine, unless of course you know how it goes...
a little bit of backstory for anybody who doesn't get out of their own non-LA environs much... whether you are in the Valley, downtown or pretty much anywhere inside of the LA county lines (no doubt there are plenty of gangstas in South Central and the like carrying around a script they want to get onto the screen) the chances of you encountering somebody who is either in the industry or related to somebody famous. there is a saying- if you live or work in LA and you aren't in the 'biz', then you are in the way. for our friendly followers who are skeptical, it's really like that- just watch TV and you'll see. so in the course of 3 short days, we encounter handfuls of musicians, and even heckled a guy about his issues and it turns out, yup he had celebrity pedigree too.
our social calendar included dinner in Laurel Canyon, in the same building as the fabled Laurel Canyon Grocery! we had low-rider margaritas in Silver Lake (where I also broke a toe dancing the night away) and had to pass up an art opening (incredible icelandic landscapes by Fridgeir Helgasson) in Santa Monica. Lunch with Lisa Hampton who has produced greats like Prince and is directing / producing Making Music Herstory- but before you get all starstruck- these were just the people we know!
The real adventure was at the Great American Pitch Fest. The seminars were really informative- we met nice people and made friends - hello Brian Beckwith! After one such panel that included Romany Malco, Randi Siegel and Pat Probst. In case you don't already know - Pat Proft worked on Airplane, wrote Police Academy and other such CLASSICS. Of course when Chandra and I saw Mr. Proft (Pat to us!) walking through the lobby, being the brainy ambitious networking babes that we are- we stopped him to say how grateful we were for the information he provided in the panel discussion. You always hear about the superficial, inaccessible stars who come off holier than thou, untouchable- well this was most definitely NOT the case. Pat thanked us and asked if we wanted to get some coffee- yeah baby! Of course we accepted, sat down in the Burbank Marriott restaurant and got on with lunch and fabulous conversation for a couple of hours. Did we waste this time, his and ours? Oh hells no! We pitched him our idea for SMOKE & MIRRORS, he loved it and gave us feedback, material and wait there's more! he marched us right into the middle of the Pitchfest auditorium and not only got Randi Siegel's attention but got her to speak with us and pitch our idea. Both Pat and Randi were amazing- reinforcing the value of our concept by offering their own ideas and contact info. it was like magic i tell you...
since then the universe has continued to open up- sometimes just to shed light on what we want and don't want, what we need and don't need. it's a long process- you ask anybody who has or is doing it- TV is not easy. i managed to sit for 5 days straight and write write write, cranking out a first draft of the Pilot- crap! no hard feelings, i approach first drafts with the expectation that at best it will require major revision or at worst it will be a pile of shit that i can learn from. This was the latter. now you will find me carving the heart out of the mountain of conjecture and contrived circumstance that helped to form the rough first look. A lot to work with and more to work on. More on that in another post...
