April 23, 2008
Appy Film Fest Guest Entertains, Educates About the Business Portion of Filmmaking
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Prior to the Appalachian Film Festival Awards banquet Saturday night April 19, former studio head and pitchman Ken Rotcop introduced independent film makers in attendance to a new term for major studio : A bank.
Explaining that production companies and studios commission scripts and back projects with financing, the montage of logos which precede films represent the companies that have a financial stake in the production.
Rotcop told attendees that the key to a successful meeting with a production executive is getting them to listen. Describing executives as not interested in spending the time required to fully read scripts, he has helped new talent sell project by teaching them a two minute pitch.
Attesting to film executives distaste for reading a script, Rotcop stated “the hottest thing in Los Angeles” is having your script turned into a comic book for the executives. “They know how to read comic books,” he said.
His current projects include “Baby on Board” (shooting in Chicago) and an upcoming musical based on the life of Mama Cass, Rotcop headed Avco-Embassy when the contemporary classics “Carnal Knowledge” and “Lion in Winter” played at theatres.
Sparking his presentation with anecdotes, the writer/educator told that he persuaded E.B. White to change his mind from selling “Charlotte’s Web” to Walt Disney. Working for Hanna-Barbera, Rotcop’s Hail Mary pitch to White stated: "Walt Disney has done classic animated movies. Yours will be forever known as Walt Disney’s Charlotte’s Web. If we do it, the title will be “E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.”
He also told of ghosting a re-write for a staff writer under a time constraint for another production house’s made for tv movie. The writer, Earl Hamner Jr. At the time, he was perfecting “The Homecoming,” which would become the pilot for “The Waltons.”
The business is not without dirty tricks, too. He related how Universal purchased the rights to a novel that at first went nowhere on the charts. Looking for buzz, studio types pumped a New York Times writer into telling which book stores would be surveyed for “sales” the next week. They orchestrated a sell out rush of every copy of Peter Benchley’s “Jaws” at those stores.
In fact, Rotcop admitted that studios keep “two sets of books,” one for the true accounting of dollars made and spent and one for promotional and/or display to those with percentage of profit stakes.
Laughingly berating producers as little more than morons, Rodcop emphasized the importance of getting every ‘deal’ in writing and ensuring that they ‘show you the money’ at the start, not afterwards.
“If you have a good script, it will sell ,” but he added two additional elements are necessary: Connections and luck. He called production executives individuals who have failed at writing and directing, thus, anyone with storytelling talent has an upper hand on the keyholder to the studio bank.
Calling writing a “lonely profession” where you “hang out in rooms with your characters,” Rotcop holds weekly workshops in Los Angeles to educate, entertain and generate enthusiasm amongst screenwriters. Often hanging out and stimulation are needed to instill inspiration to keep filling the computer page.
“We start at 7 o’clock and go [into the night] as long as someone needs help. People can write,” he said. “They do not know what to do with it to get the movie made.”
So you have a movie in your head ? You’ll first have to get it on paper (about 94 pages). Then, you should buy a copy of his best selling: “The Perfect Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Movie Idea to Hollywood.”
As Oprah Winfrey has said, “Ken is the master of teaching writers how to pitch. It’s all in the pitch.”
For information on Rotcop’s Pitch Mart, books and DVD’s, visit: http://www.pitchmart.com.
And, don’t forget to check out the photos from this year’s Appalachian Film Festival awards banquet at the Frederick.
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By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor
Huntington, WV (HNN) – Prior to the Appalachian Film Festival Awards banquet Saturday night April 19, former studio head and pitchman Ken Rotcop introduced independent film makers in attendance to a new term for major studio : A bank.
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Rotcop told attendees that the key to a successful meeting with a production executive is getting them to listen. Describing executives as not interested in spending the time required to fully read scripts, he has helped new talent sell project by teaching them a two minute pitch.
Attesting to film executives distaste for reading a script, Rotcop stated “the hottest thing in Los Angeles” is having your script turned into a comic book for the executives. “They know how to read comic books,” he said.
His current projects include “Baby on Board” (shooting in Chicago) and an upcoming musical based on the life of Mama Cass, Rotcop headed Avco-Embassy when the contemporary classics “Carnal Knowledge” and “Lion in Winter” played at theatres.
Sparking his presentation with anecdotes, the writer/educator told that he persuaded E.B. White to change his mind from selling “Charlotte’s Web” to Walt Disney. Working for Hanna-Barbera, Rotcop’s Hail Mary pitch to White stated: "Walt Disney has done classic animated movies. Yours will be forever known as Walt Disney’s Charlotte’s Web. If we do it, the title will be “E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web.”
He also told of ghosting a re-write for a staff writer under a time constraint for another production house’s made for tv movie. The writer, Earl Hamner Jr. At the time, he was perfecting “The Homecoming,” which would become the pilot for “The Waltons.”
The business is not without dirty tricks, too. He related how Universal purchased the rights to a novel that at first went nowhere on the charts. Looking for buzz, studio types pumped a New York Times writer into telling which book stores would be surveyed for “sales” the next week. They orchestrated a sell out rush of every copy of Peter Benchley’s “Jaws” at those stores.
In fact, Rotcop admitted that studios keep “two sets of books,” one for the true accounting of dollars made and spent and one for promotional and/or display to those with percentage of profit stakes.
Laughingly berating producers as little more than morons, Rodcop emphasized the importance of getting every ‘deal’ in writing and ensuring that they ‘show you the money’ at the start, not afterwards.
“If you have a good script, it will sell ,” but he added two additional elements are necessary: Connections and luck. He called production executives individuals who have failed at writing and directing, thus, anyone with storytelling talent has an upper hand on the keyholder to the studio bank.
Calling writing a “lonely profession” where you “hang out in rooms with your characters,” Rotcop holds weekly workshops in Los Angeles to educate, entertain and generate enthusiasm amongst screenwriters. Often hanging out and stimulation are needed to instill inspiration to keep filling the computer page.
“We start at 7 o’clock and go [into the night] as long as someone needs help. People can write,” he said. “They do not know what to do with it to get the movie made.”
So you have a movie in your head ? You’ll first have to get it on paper (about 94 pages). Then, you should buy a copy of his best selling: “The Perfect Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Movie Idea to Hollywood.”
As Oprah Winfrey has said, “Ken is the master of teaching writers how to pitch. It’s all in the pitch.”
For information on Rotcop’s Pitch Mart, books and DVD’s, visit: http://www.pitchmart.com.
And, don’t forget to check out the photos from this year’s Appalachian Film Festival awards banquet at the Frederick.
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
