the full report
Ok, here goes:
Apollo Theater: gorgeous. reminds me of muppet theater--it's about the same size, and the decor & boxes are similar (sans hecklers)... but the staff needs to watch some more s.s. to learn concepts such as cooperation, talking nicely, and planning ahead!
unnecessarily long intro by the sponsors, but they're promoting internships & jobs behind the scenes in the entertainment business, so i suppose that's good news if you're looking for such opportunities.
then they showed the montage from the 35th anniversary show with the clips from each year, & brought it up to today.
then the panel:
carol-lynn parente (executive producer)
rosemarie truglio (educational research)
kevin clash
joey mazzarino
sonia manzano
here are the highlights from my notes (i'll refer to the speaker by first initial):
R: "I represent the child, who's the true expert"
"educate them without letting them realize they're being educated"
production, writers, talent work together "like a marriage"
K: "we fight a lot"
S: "all i have to do is to continue getting older on the show, which I can do effortlessly!"
on process of creating the show:
C: some sketches don't work, they find out in research. had one about mountains, and before the test kids watched the show, "they all knew what a mountain was," but after they watched it, they "they had no idea"
J: (after moderator wrongly introduced Kevin as a writer) "Kevin, what's it like to write?"
Kevin always sees scripts & says "Elmo wouldn't do that, Elmo wouldn't feel that"
on writing for the "Green and Growing" curriculum goal on the environment: hard to figure out what to write b/c kids "have so little control over their environment"
Typical day:
puppeteers get in at 8:30
S: casts gets in earlier for makeup, costumes. "it really helps if you know your lines" b/c filming goes quickly. "the time to question [the script] is before production"
J: muppeteers "we never learn our lines" just put script by tv
K: "we definitely feel sad for the cast"
S: as an actress, it's weird b/c "there's always men at my feet!" had trouble at first looking at muppets, kept looking at muppeteers
K: " 'cause we're so handsome!"
Process of script writing:
R: after research reads it & sends suggestions back to writers, the negotiations begin
J: "then we harass them" "it's like a hostage negotiation"
R: "it's a compromise!"
J: (exaggerated cute innocent face & voice) "it's cooperation!"
K: not just the script, the song lyrics, too. learned a lesson from the see the signs segment w/Chris Brown. told writers to write about signs, they came back with stop, yield, etc. but research said "a child doesn't drive"
R: came up with "teachable moments" from walking in the neighborhood instead.
R: when she first started, didn't realize that the script would change on the set, from improv. drove her crazy. got a phone with a direct link to the stage so she could say no, no, you can't do that!
K: "there was a red phone in the control room for a while"
C: "that we didn't answer"
talked about youtube videos, which i'll post about on the youtube thread so more people will read it
advice for young people who want to go into the entertainment business:
C: started working for s.s. "schlepping tapes" from the control room
J: "what are tapes?"
C: they were heavy! it's like grandparents saying i walked uphill to school--go look up 1 inch tapes!
J: (with hands out like showing a fish) "they were this big!"
C: do what you love. & "look for mentors" people in the business are eager to help you
J: "Kevin was my mentor. I asked him every question there was"
K: "it was like, Joey, I have to work now"
S: but "the journey is never a straight path. you don't know what you're going to love" she never thought of being a writer for the show, only got into acting because "my grades were so bad, auditioning was the only way i could get into college" so get internships and while you're there watch what everyone else does, see all the different kinds of jobs there are
J: didn't know what a puppeteer was or that that was a job. remembers seeing Empire Strikes back with his dad & thinking "Frank Oz must be so little--how did he fit into that suit?"
What are you looking for in an intern?
J: "an original voice" don't let them tell you that you can't write. it's all about the ideas. the rest you can learn--read Robert McKee's book "Story."
K: probably in 2009 they'll get back into having puppeteering workshops. until then, people send him tapes of themselves puppeteering. "i'm looking for lipsync," humor, and "how you control that puppet" and bring it to life and make people like the character. he learned how to do this through practicing, just hook up a camera to a tv and get used to moving the puppet
S: looking for someone who helps the people they work for in whatever they do. remembers a long time ago an intern who was a "kid wrangler" (feeding kids snacks, entertaining them until they're needed on set), who was asked to bring out some kids, and the director said i only need one, which one is the best for this scene, and she had an opportunity there to help but instead she said "whatever you think." that was a missed opportunity to help.
on writing topical/parody stuff:
J: "it never works out how you think it will" he wrote a piece about snakes on a plane during all the hype for the movie, but when it came out and flopped, knew they'd never produce that sketch.
on current projects:
J: working on a participatory bit for the internet where there's a narrative & then the character has a problem and the story can't continue until the viewer/player solves it.
R: the itunes downloads, podcasts, youtube channel, website, etc., are their attempt to get parents involved. they still aim the tv show, with celebrities, parodies and such, at both the kids and their parents b/c they know the kids will get more out of it if their parents watch with them, but now tv is becoming more of a babysitter. the new media, however, is where the parents are present--they have the ipods, they supervise the kids' computer access, so these are the places the workshop is trying to focus parental participation. they had great results testing a program of texting parents' phones with ideas for activities such as finding foods that start with a certain letter in the grocery store.
K: (during the reception afterwards, to a woman who thanked him for the shows for the military families) the parents have asked that they do a story where the parent doesn't come home. it'll be hard, but they're going to do it, because the families need it.
ok, i think that's it, except the stories everyone here knows, like kevin getting elmo b/c nobody else wanted him. the overall tone of the evening was a bit too serious (too controlled by the moderator, & elmo & murray didn't get a chance to talk, they just came out for a publicity shot) but when the panel actually got to talk, you could really see the rapport between all of them, and joey was especially funny. so it was a fun night--thanks fozzie for pointing it out or i never would have known about it!
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