Posts tagged ‘Melinda Larose’

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March 29, 2013

Boys Vs. Girls: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

As a woman, a tomboy and one of the proponents of the big name change from WiCM to CMA, gender issues and media is a topic I’m really interested in, sometimes conflicted about and always passionate about.  So I was delighted when CMA welcomed cultural historian, writer and teacher Lori Rotskoff; creator of “Princess Revolution” Melissa Levis and co-director of the Educational Equity Center Barbara Sprung for a discussion.

The presentation started with Lori who gave us a little history on the “Free to Be You and Me.”  Lori is the editor of “When We Were Free To Be” an anthology looking back on the historical television special.  You know the old axiom “You just can’t win?”  Well, it turned out Marlo Thomas really couldn’t.  When Carol Hall did a song about different jobs sung by Harry Belafonte and Marlo they set out to show all kinds of work – blue collar and professional and to affirm the important role of parenthood as a kind of job.  Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0_qbtLnsVI

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Well, radical feminists criticized it for being too heteronormal while the network was made uneasy by portraying Marlo and Harry as an interracial couple.  See what I mean, can’t win!

The song “William’s Doll” dealt with issues of a little boy being bullied and made fun of because he really wanted to play with a doll.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lshobg1Wt2M

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The message in the end:  Let the poor kid have a doll!  Progressive, eh?  Especially for 1972.  Well, it was criticized for going too far and for not going far enough.  Some critics didn’t like that the song portrayed William as still loving sports and saying that he’ll grow up one day to be a daddy.  Other critics would’ve been right out there with bullies chanting, “A doll!  A doll!  William wants a doll!”  Poor Marlo just couldn’t win. The big question:  How do you be progressive and popular at the same time?  When we figure out that one let me know!

Barbara was up next to talk about some of her work with the Women’s Action Alliance.  She set out to create a non-sexist early childhood curriculum.  Barbara showed us some of the books that were in vogue in preschool classrooms in the ‘60s and ‘70s and man, oh, man (or woman, oh, woman) was I shocked!  The most appalling entry:  “I’m Glad I’m a Boy, I’m Glad I’m a Girl” included the following pages:  “Boys can eat.  Girls can cook.  Boys invent things.  Girls [wait for it] use what boys invent.”  If you listened closely you could probably hear the sound of all our hearts breaking.  Barbara worked to make changes in classrooms, she put up pictures of kids playing with their dads (before that most pics showed moms as primary caregiver), she made job toy sets that included men and women doing the same jobs.  Normally one would buy these little sets and there would be one woman for every 7 men and that woman would always be a schoolteacher or a nurse.  Barbara says she noticed that there was a chance toward gender equality and then a backslide as girls’ clothes showed off bling and tutus and boys’ clothes were all about camouflage and sports. And that backlash is still around today.

Whoever wrote this never saw me ice skate or walk or lift a 30 lb. box of frozen fish - True story.

Whoever wrote this never saw me ice skate or walk or lift a 30 lb. box of frozen fish – True story.

Last but not least, we heard from singer/songwriter Melissa Levis who is redefining princesses one song at a time.  http://moeysmusicparty.com/

moeysprincessrevolution

Melissa read fairy tales to her son and didn’t like the messages of princesses having to be rescued by a man so she made an album “Princess Revolution” that tackled all the fairy tales and turned them on their heads.  The album has won a well-deserved Parents’ Gold Choice Award!  My favs are “Give Yourself A Kiss” and “Sing, Little Mermaid.”  She wanted to reinforce that girls aren’t just pretty, they can rescue themselves and just because you like pink doesn’t mean you have to be dainty.  The panel left us with a question to explore for ourselves:  What do we see in the current kids’ media landscape?  Where are we succeeding in having gender equality and where are we struggling?

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Main Takeaway: For me, I’m always thinking of the little girls like me.  I wasn’t interested in pink or things that were stereotypically identified as girl.  I need a “William’s Doll” equivalent that’s all about a little girl who doesn’t want a doll, she wants an action figure with kung fu grip.  As long as we have a “boy’s aisle” and a “girl’s aisle” and separate boys and girls happy meal toys, we’re not there yet.  And a change would be so simple.  How about instead of asking, “Do you want the boy toy or the girl toy, the cashier just asks EVERY kid and parent, “Do you want the Barbie or the Hot Wheels?”  No need to mention gender at all.  Why am I so upset about McDonald’s?  I dunno, but it is lunchtime.

2011? Don't you mean the Stone Age?

2011? Don’t you mean the Stone Age?

Personal Takeaway:  Did anyone see the “Big Bang Theory” where the guys went to talk to jr. high girls about getting into science?  There was some clever, lovely irony at the end when the woman scientists (Bernadette and Amy) talked to the girls via speaker phone while dressed as princesses at Disneyland.  Melissa’s right – women can be princesses and scientists and football players and whatever they wanna be.  I know I’m all those things, if only in my head.

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Inappropriate Takeaway:  Ever since watching that William’s Doll video I want to point and chant “A doll!  A doll!” every time I see a kid with a doll.  Not in a malicious way, more in an envious way.  Where’s my doll?  The kicker?  I live right next door to a school.  My life is hard.

Is this doll pointing and laughing at ME?

Is this doll pointing and laughing at ME?

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February 15, 2013

I Was A Teenaged Nerd

And now?  Well…I’m not a teenager anymore.

Ahh, teenagers.  I was one.  I remember it pretty vividly but in my mind I think I was more a teenaged boy than a teenaged girl.  I liked superheroes and sci fi.

Huge props to anyone who remember this nerdy girl show.

Huge props to anyone who remembers this nerdy girl show.

I never knew a thing about makeup and I never knew a thing about boys except that I didn’t understand why girls didn’t just talk to them like they were people.  Thank goodness the talented Melanie Abrahams was on hand at our writers’ group to give us a little insight into the mind of teenaged girls.  Melanie worked as a writer at SEVENTEEN magazine for three years and now graces the internets on www.gurl.com.

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 Blogger full disclosure: I just spent about 40 minutes reading about Valentine’s Day fails, why leggings are totally pants and Mooncup vs. Tampon (Not for the faint of heart).  I thought the Mooncup sounded like something from Game of Thrones – see what I mean about being a teenaged boy.  Wait, what am I writing about again?

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Melanie gave us insight into the main differences between our minds and the minds of teenaged girls.  One of the main differences is that there’s a bunch of stuff we can do that they can’t:  drive, vote, drink – so a lot of teen media is about empowering girls and giving them a voice.  And the teen today is different than we were.  They have never not had text messages.  Soak that one in.  I’ll wait.  They want things delivered in short verse, they’re also used to crowdsourcing everything.  They also very used to having content curated for them, they’re not interested in stuff that’s not specifically for them.  Articles have to grab them in the first paragraph because most likely they’re just skimming unless something grabs their attention.before-text-messages

And then we got a most wonderful list of dos and don’ts when creating content for teens:

DO have a distinct, relatable voice

DON’T be afraid to talk directly to your reader ex. “You might think…” as opposed to “someone might think.”

DO explain new concepts, terms and ideas simply.

DON’T think anything is too complicated for teenagers to understand.

DO be self-deprecating, sarcastic and casual in your language (I have that DO down)

DON’T try to use teen slang unless it’s something you really say.

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

Stop trying to make fetch happen.

DO acknowledge when things are corny or awkward (again I’m good here, my whole life is corny and awkward)

DON’T pretend that you or your characters are perfect.  Teens already know everyone has flaws and they want to see them.

DO back up your assertions with evidence or quotes

DON’T expect them to take your word for it.

DO make pop culture references

DON’T say anything is new unless it happened that day.  A week ago is forever in high school world.  I think it’s something like that whole dog years thing.

Well, I can’t really do any better than a list of dos and don’ts from an expert, so I’ll leave with some other good resources for teens:  Oh No They Didn’t blog: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/; Feministing http://feministing.com/; LA Times (for high school coverage), Guardian and The Daily Mail.  Well, gentle readers, looks like the rest of my afternoon is booked if you need me, I’ll be at the mall.

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Main Takeaway: In a way, writing for teenagers is like writing for anyone else – know your audience and treat them with respect.  Teenagers want to read about themselves so be genuine and relatable.

Personal Takeaway:  Melanie said that teen girls don’t have bullying, they have drama.  I thought that really rang true.  I wouldn’t say other girls bullied me in high school but man I did get drama’ed.

It was like this only not as tan.

It was like this only not as tan.

Inappropriate Takeaway:  Someone asked Melanie what doesn’t work and she said surprisingly teenagers don’t want to read anything written about TV shows.  This shocked me considering probably 70% of conversations with me are about TV shows.  I watch way too much TV.  As you can see just from this.

Mom always said, if you sit too close the ghosts'll getcha.

Mom always said, if you sit too close the ghosts’ll getcha.

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January 25, 2013

Pitching A Show: Like Dating Without the Free Meal

Due to popular demand, we’re moving this blog post up in the rotation for all the many millions who weren’t able to get into the event.

This is exactly what it looked like.

This is exactly what it looked like.

The Gatekeepers of Children’s Television event was such a hot ticket item that president Sarah suggested that scalpers were selling tickets outside and I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be true.

We had 4 beautiful minds from different networks in the room:  Linda Simensky – VP of Children’s Programming at PBS; Teri Weiss – Exec. VP of Preschool Original Programming at Nickelodeon; Adina Pitta – VP Content Acquisitions and Co-Pros for Cartoon Network and Boomerang and Andrew Beecham – Sr. VP, Programming for Sprout. Moderating the event was the wonderful Linda Kahn who wasn’t afraid to keep things moving along and ask the tough questions!

The evening started with an overview of the different networks.  All the panelists agreed that in order to pitch you have to know the company you’re pitching to.  I’ve seen a lot of show creators who have never watched a kid’s show in their lives and it’s really not the way to go – do your homework.  I am a little tempted to make the rest of the blog just that sentence written over and over again.  But don’t worry, I won’t.

I hope this stern pony is intimidating enough.

I hope this stern pony is intimidating enough.

I suggest checking out all the networks online but here’s the 10-cent version:

Sprout is a cable network that’s designed to help parents get through their busy lives especially during the often problematic bedtime.  They program with one story instead of a 0:22 block (most preschool shows are packaged as two 11:00 stories) and they have an on demand asset that you can go to when the kids get drowsy that shows all the Sprout characters sleeping.  Brilliant!  They’re doing mostly licensed content at the moment but are getting into original co-pros (Pajanimals with Henson) and original shows The Chica Show and Noodle & Doodle.  http://www.sproutonline.com/

You're welcome, parents.

You’re welcome, parents.

Cartoon Network doesn’t program for preschool.  They’re targeting 6-11 year olds and have become the home for boys though they’re not trying to alienate girls.  Their shows are action oriented, have wish fulfillment and are not risk averse.  They also do a lot of digital programming.  And they are the home of Ben 10.  Awesome.  www.cartoonnetwork.com

Kid's watch gives him superpowers and he's not late for school!

Kid’s watch gives him superpowers and he’s not late for school!

PBS programs for 2-5 year olds and 4-8 year olds.  They’re looking for smart, fun and funny and these shows are definitely educational.  Lately there’s been a focus on math, science and literacy.  Shows like Martha Speaks, Curious George and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.  They look to books for inspiration and a baked in curriculum.  http://www.pbskids.org

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Nick Jr. brands themselves as “The smart place to play.”  They look for creator driven series with appealing music.  They’re home to The Backyardigans, Team Umizoomi and Peter Rabbit and of course Dora the Explorer.  http://www.nickjr.com

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So now that you know what the networks have, what are they looking for in a pitch?

Most of the panelists agreed that they’re looking for story driven shows.  They want to see how the idea can sustain 100 episodes.  Adina emphasized not changing your pitch in the middle to try and please the room.  Come with whatever you have and that’s the beginning of a conversation.  While they do expect you to have a solid, well formed idea they don’t want to see pilots and they’ll spend time working with you if they like you and your idea.  Be concise.  Be able to sum up the essence of your show in a sentence or two.  No one wants to read overly long pitches.

As for the specifics?  Sprout has a fairly small budget at the moment and they don’t hear unsolicited pitches, they simply don’t have the time or resources to review it all.  This year they have put out an RFP (request for product) to certain production companies, creators, etc. they want to work with and they’re hoping to continue with that model.  They’re particularly looking for animation.

Linda says she has a designated person that fields calls from folks who aren’t already in the industry but she likes to talk to folks who are already in the kids’ universe.  She’ll listen to an idea and tell a creator if it’s right for PBS even before there’s a fully formed pitch.  Also please don’t send her large files, her email gets clogged up!  It’s hard to get a puppet show on PBS because they tend to skew too young but they take live action and animation.

Nick has a website where you can submit pitches:  http://www.Nickpitches.com and Teri assures us that people are looking at all the submissions.  They’re looking for great ideas and are willing to pair up writers and designers or writers and production folks, etc.  You don’t have to be the complete package, just have a great idea.

Adina said that she wants to make sure all the pitches she receives get feedback so creators can understand why the show is or isn’t working for Cartoon.  Cartoon is looking for great ideas everywhere.  But they prefer animation to live action.

Then we talked about the buzz word of the century:  Transmedia.  Everyone is thinking about it and looking for it.  If you can learn from a show how can you extend that learning to video games, books, apps, etc?  Networks sometimes use apps and interstitials to gauge the reaction to a character or idea as a less expensive way than creating a pilot.  It’s like going on a date for a night as opposed to going away for a weekend together or getting married.  They’re not a huge commitment time or money-wise and digital platforms have the ability to reach lots of people.

TheTransmediaSphere_1

When asked about programming trends, Andrew in particular mentioned wanting to know how an idea can go cross platform.  Linda mentioned that everyone is getting into the business now including folks like Amazon.com and shows don’t necessarily need to be seen on traditional television channels anymore.  Ratings have become meaningless.  “We’re building the plane as we fly it.”  Teri said that networks are learning to be more nimble and learning to make content faster, “The democratizing of ideas is a great trend.”

Whew, panelists if you’re reading this I hope I did you justice!  There was a lot to absorb!

Main Takeaway: Gentle readers, if you have a chance to see one of these panelists speak – take it.  These folks are so passionate about what they do and they are warm and kind while being open and honest at the same time.  It’s difficult to describe the vibe in the room but you get the feeling that we’re all in the same boat and while it’s difficult to get a show on air these folks only want to help create wonderful content for kids.

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Personal Takeaway:  I don’t know how personal it is but it was my favorite thing that was said all night.  The panelists summed it up as such:  The Disney Channel kid is the kid sitting in front of the class raising his hand; the Nickelodeon kid is in the middle of class, looking at the teacher; the Cartoon Network kid is in the back of the class throwing spitballs; and the PBS kid is at the front of the class giving an enthusiastic presentation on rocks.

These are the kids who watch C-Span.

These are the kids who watch C-Span.

Inappropriate Takeaway:  Linda said her favorite transmedia platform is the yard.  That statement definitely brought back memories of me in my backyard, pretending to be Obi-Wan’s Jedi daughter.  For the record, I was also He-Man’s daughter and a My Little Pony who could shoot lightning boots out of her rear flank tattoo (see image above).  See?  I had to go into children’s media, who else would take me?

Take that, Darth Daddy!

Take that, Darth Daddy!

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December 21, 2012

It’s a Beautiful Day For a Tiger

Blogger’s Note:  It’s the last blog of 2012!  I want to wish you all a joyous holiday season.  In the words of Eeyore, “Thanks for noticing me” and reading the blog.  And thank you to everyone at CMA who put their kind hearts and brilliant heads into creating such wonderful programs for our members.  I’ll see you all in the new year with a new post on January 4th! 

If you haven’t had the chance to check out the amazing Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood on PBS do it now.  I’ll wait.

My friend Chris is gonna chill with Daniel while we wait.

Ready?  Good.  We were fortunate enough to be treated to a behind-the-scenes look at this amazing show with a screening and panel discussion.  Our esteemed panelists were show creator and executive producer Angela C. Santomero, Kevin Morrison – Executive Producer of the Fred Rogers Company and Linda Simensky VP of Children’s Programming at PBS.  Our panel was moderated by Leslie Rodenberg, Sr. VP of children’s media at PBS. Star studded indeed!

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood debuted in September and was watched by over 3.8 million kids (and me).  It was ranked #5 in its first month, not bad for the new kid in the neighborhood.  The series focuses on a social-emotional curriculum.  Each of the two 11-minute segments model the same strategy which is presented as a short, singable bit of advice like, “Grown-ups come back.”  (Imagine that sung)

After getting a sneak peek at an upcoming episode about “Thank You Day,” a fictional holiday which I am totally going to celebrate this year, the panel spoke about the origins of the project.  Kevin said they were looking to do something “Fred-ish” and they worked on several concepts before hitting on Daniel.  To give you a sense of the timeline, he met Angela in ’07, they went to PBS with the idea in ’08, did a pilot and the series premiered this September.  So what elements of the original series were important to keep in Daniel’s revamped neighborhood?  Why the castle, the tree, the clock with no hands, Daniel talking directly to camera and of course Fred Rogers’ social-emotional curriculum.  Angela said there was never a question that Daniel would be the star, he was Fred’s first puppet.  For Linda, she said the series was a development exec’s dream.  The animatic of the pilot made her weepy.

Then they put out two mics for people to come up and ask questions – totally intimidating for your introverted blogger.

But the overall vibe coming from the panel is that everyone working on this show has nothing but reverence for Fred Rogers and his mission.

Main Takeaway: To me, Daniel is not so much a re-imagining of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood but a continuation of it, so when you watch you have no doubt that all the characters in the Neighborhood of Make Believe have always been there living their lives, you have just been invited once again to come for a visit.  And it’s such a very good feeling to be back.

Personal Takeaway:  Incidentally, the strategies work with baby walruses as well.  I volunteer at the New York Aquarium where I sometimes get a chance to keep an eye on our new five-month-old baby walrus, Mitik.  Mitik doesn’t like to be left alone and tends to cry if any of his keepers step out of sight.  That’s right, you know where this is going.  I sing the “grown-ups come back” ditty to the little guy all the time.  I think he likes it.  I know I do.

“So, uh, I…uh…guess I’ll just uh, wait here?”

Inappropriate Takeaway:  Why did Mr. McFeely have to work on Thank You Day?  Speedy Delivery really needs to unionize.

But seriously, about those vacation days.

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December 14, 2012

I Heart John, Here’s Why You Should, Too

Pretty much from the first second Sarah Wallendjack became president of CMA I have been bugging her to get a workshop on how to puppeteer.  She’s come close in the past – we did do a few puppet building workshops but it wasn’t quite the same.  For one thing, I am downright lethal with a hot glue gun and I believe there is a court order somewhere banning me from using scissors.  And though I wouldn’t give up my beloved Lowell for anything, what I really want to do is learn about being a puppeteer.  Because I’m shy but for some reason I think in another life (or in this one – It’s never too late) I would be an awesome puppeteer.

That’s Lowell, he’s just a little depressed. “What am I gonna do? The word ‘low’ is right in my name.” – Lowell

So you can imagine my utter child-like joy when I heard that John Tartaglia was going to host a Puppetry 101 workshop.  John and I go way back and I can’t even begin to describe how wonderfully talented this guy is.  He’s been puppeteering pretty much since he could crawl. He’s worked on Sesame Street, starred in Avenue Q, created the wonderful show Imaginocean and is, of course, the Johnny in Johnny and the Sprites.  And he’s the nicest guy in show biz to boot.

Here’s Johnny!

Okay, okay on to the workshop.  So the three basics that puppeteers need to get down are:  lip sync, eye focus and position.  First, we got our own set of Peepers and set up to explore the world of lip sync.  It’s important not to flap around too much, that’ll make your puppet look like a maniac and it’s important not to merely just open and close.  Think about how your own mouth makes the sound and do your best to approximate it.  So we went to the mirror and practiced making our peepers look right, left and center and then we went through Lady Smith Mambazo’s African Alphabet until we were all feeling pretty good or pretty goofy about ourselves (Like a fitness guru Johnny kept repeating “No Judgements” in response to our nervous giggles and frustrated sighs).

Jeepers, creepers. We got those peepers from Johnny.

Just when we thought we had it nailed, Johnny brought out (DUN DUN DUN) the camera and monitor.  And I still don’t know which way is left and which way is right but we practiced moving the puppet around, taking into account the mirror image that the screen provides.  Puppeteers use the monitors simply so they can see what’s going on in a scene since they are usually down below working their magic.  This is the only way they can keep track of the puppet’s eyeline and performance.  If you are working with puppets, monitors for them are a must.

After we got over our initial trauma of the dreaded monitor we got to take some puppets for a spin and do some improv.  There are many different kinds of puppets but on a show like Sesame Street you’re dealing with rod and full hand puppets.  Rod puppets (like Bert) have hands that move around because there are rods attached to them.  They can’t pick things up unless you stop camera and attach something to their hands.  Full hand puppets (like Ernie) use the puppeteer’s left hand (if the puppeteer is right-handed) as the puppet’s right hand and often requite another puppeteer to manipulate the left hand.  These puppets usually have only three fingers.  That makes them look smaller even though there’s an adult-sized hand in there.  What happens in puppet workshop stays in puppet workshop so I won’t say any more about the improv but just know that we rocked it.

I have no idea what I was saying by John looks scandalized!

Main Takeaway:  John said that puppeteers come from all different backgrounds.  Dave Goelz (Gonzo) was a software casing engineer.  There’s no set path and it’s one art form that you can practice yourself with a set of peepers.  So hook a camera up to your TV and let the hilarity and creativity ensue!

Even Mr. Rogers needs a monitor!

Personal Takeaway:  Puppeteers are a friendly lot.  They like when people take interest in their work and with the proliferation of animation on TV, puppetry could be a dying art form.  Support your puppeteers!  Join Puppeteers of America.  Build your own puppet (www.projectpuppet.com).  Hug a puppet!  Do your part!

Is that guy hugging that puppet or holding it for ransom?

Inappropriate Takeaway:  So I just looked at my notes and noticed I wrote, “John says Fraggle Rock changed his wife.”  There’s a W.C. Fields joke in there.  I’ll leave it up to you to figure it out.  And to google W.C. Fields if you need to.

If you guessed the Penguin, you were close.

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November 9, 2012

I’m Free to Do What I Want Any Old Time (Just Not During Office Hours)

Mom, Dad you’ve disappointed me.  Neither of you wrote in questions to ask me about being a freelancer so now, as promised, instead of recapping our Writer’s Workshop:  Freelance Nation I’m going to do as threatened and talk about writing in my pajamas.

There I am folks. In my PJs. Happy now?

I really am.  I must admit I didn’t take notes at the freelancer panel, I am a bit of a nervous public speaker and so I was concentrating on being coherent and listening to the advice imparted by my fellow panelists Jill Cozza Turner and Judy Katschke.  If you already know me, this’ll be familiar but if you’ve been wondering about the mystery woman behind the blog read on.

Yes, I am a freelance writer.  To many people that means I sit home all day in my pajamas and eat bon bons.  Not true.  I sit at home all day in my pajamas and write my butt off.  That is, when I’m not hustling for work which is a full time job unto itself.  I went from having a 7 year, steady 9-6 (or sometimes 9-9 or sometimes 9-10, production is what it is), structured job as an in-house writer and story editor where I had supervisors and office hours like everyone else, to making my own schedule with no one to supervise me but me. I gotta admit at first I felt like those ants that Homer frees from their space ant farm on The Simpsons.

I, for one, welcome our ant overlords.

Where do I start? What do I do with my day?  Am I allowed to watch “One Life to Live” (the answer to that is no) but then I realized that I’ve always been good at structuring my own workday.  I’ve always motivated myself to make my deadlines and get things done and a workday from home is no different.  So I try to have an 8-hour workday.  I don’t watch TV (unless it’s for research), I am allowed to go to yoga and no, I don’t sit around in my pajamas for the most part.  Especially if I have a phone meeting.  I will make sure to shower and brush my teeth just in case that person I have a call with somehow has Smell-o-vision.

Being a freelancer is about being disciplined and feeling like a professional.  I make myself presentable before client meetings and I have a designated workspace and designated office hours.  Since you really have to hustle to get work it’s easy to think that you should be hustling 24 hours a day but I think it’s just as important to have boundaries of work time and personal time as it is to make sure you don’t go in the opposite direction and end up watching TV all day.  I read Cynopsis and congratulate my colleagues when their shows get picked up.  I read KidScreen and everything David Kleeman writes.  I’m standing around the water cooler with my good friend the internet making sure that even though I’m isolated in an office of 1, I’m not alone and I’m not an island.  I go to every Children’s Media Association event I can, networking is part of my job, too.  One of the more fun parts.

I love Google Images

How do I got about finding actual paid work? After 14 years in the business (yowser) I have a lot of contacts so I am sure to keep up with them regularly but not too regularly.  Time can pass slowly when you work alone all day and sometimes a day can feel like a week. I keep a notebook and write down every person I’ve contacted to say hey, every person that I’ve followed up with about potential writing work. I write down the date and make sure not to email them unsolicited for at least a month.  When I was on the other end as the person who looked for new writers I hated it when someone would call me over and over again to check in.  It made me feel guilty that I couldn’t hire them and it made me want to duck their phone calls.  What I appreciated was a once a month or less frequently, “Just emailing to check in” that I could return with a simple answer as to whether or not we were looking for new writers.  Now, I’m new to freelancing and one thing I have to look into which I think would be helpful is finding an agent. For the past two years I’ve been getting by on my talent and Brady Kid-like charm but I am looking into getting a person who’ll hustle for me and especially someone who will read my contracts since I’ve racked up way too many favors on fee consultations with my fellow writers and lawyer friends.

“And Bobby and Cindy can be cute and charming.”

But it’s all part of the learning curve.  For now, I’m really interested in trying out writing all different kinds of things and that’s the beauty of being freelance.  On any given day I write e-books about dinosaurs who ride trains, teleplays about flying pirates or I help new producers give voice to their visions.  When I’m not being paid I write anyway:  spec scripts for older kids shows (an area I’ve yet to explore professionally), scripts for horror ideas (my extracurricular passion), witty emails, the blog, whatever.  So yeah, I’m happy to be a freelancer (remind me of that during the summer slow down, please).  It’s a lot of fun.  And a lot of work.  And I like it that way.

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September 14, 2012

Unconvential Heroes with an Unconvential Blogger

Okay, okay so I missed another event due to my high society, jet setting lifestyle.  Did you think Prince Harry was going to just undress himself?  Luckily, Jill Cozza Turner, one of the  most talented freelancers I know was on hand to take notes on our August Writers’ Workshop with Tracey Baptiste.  Jill is an Emmy Award-winning writer whose credits include silly, heartfelt shows like Wow!  Wow!  Wubbzy! and Jungle Junction and shows that are more meaty on the curriculum like Word World and Little Einsteins. She recently finished writing for Sprout’s upcoming series The Chica Show and is working on her first original picture book.  Let’s give a warm Muppet show welcome for Jill Turner!

Yaaay!

I signed up for the “Unconventional Heroes” writers’ workshop with Tracey Baptiste hoping I’d get some inspiration for my own projects.  Little did I know that Melinda would ask me to write a guest blog about it!  I’ve got some big shoes to fill, but here goes:

I knew I was going to like Tracey the minute she kicked off her shoes and began her presentation.  I should give her husband some credit too as he set up her projection equipment while everyone around the table introduced themselves.

Tracey started by discussing her background in Trinidad where she lived until she was 15.  Trinidad has a very rich folklore with characters that are similar to the fairy tale characters we Americans have grown up with, but in Trinidad the characters are much more present and very macabre.  For instance, we have mermaids, but they have Mama D’Leau.  This is a creature with a human torso and a snake’s tail.  I was pretty creeped out as she described it, but Tracey relieved my fears by assuring us that if we ever come across one we simply take off our left shoe then tip-toe backwards until we are home safe in our beds.  Yet another unexpected writers’ workshop surprise:  we got survival tips!

Another interesting (read: horrifying) creature in Trinidad folklore is the Douen.  It’s a leprechaun-type being with backwards feet that listens to your mom call your name then mimics her voice to lure you into a forest where they GET YOU.  Yeah, that’s right.  We got the cute little guy on the Lucky Charms box and Tracey had to worry that when her mother called out to her it might actually be a monster trying to kill her in the woods.  No wonder she’s a writer!

As I listened to her stories it was pretty obvious where her creativity comes from.

Tracey talked about how Trinidad honors literature – especially authors from Trinidad and that made her think, “I can do that!” (despite the fact that she was failing English class at the time).   Obviously she turned that around because she went to NYU and got a Bachelor’s in Literature and a Masters in Elementary Education.  She taught for a while but found that it left her no time to do her own writing so she left teaching and got a job at McGraw Hill as an editor and there she learned what kind of writing she enjoyed.

She told us that she got the inspiration for her novel, “Angel’s Grace” when she saw a picture of a girl with a mark on her head.  She began thinking about a story where a girl has an unusual birthmark and meets someone else with the same birthmark.

She wrote the first two chapters and sent them to her agent while she was on maternity leave with her first child.  The agent found some interest in the book and asked for more chapters.  Despite the fact that writing with an infant on your lap is no easy task (trust me, I can vouch for that) she finished the book and once it was published it made the list of 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.  This was the point where I was thinking, “That’s incredible.  Now explain how exactly you did that.”

Tracey talked about how she likes to use index cards to organize her thoughts and her husband added that there are notebooks all over her house so she always has a place to write down an idea.  I’m reading Anne Lamott’s book, “Bird by Bird” (thank you, Becky and Melinda for the recommendation) and she also uses index cards so I think there might be something to this technique…

Once Tracey went completely freelance she went on to write biographies for young adults.  The best tip and guideline she gave for anyone wanting to write non-fiction was to verify everything.  “If your mother says she loves you, find a second source.”  She also said the key to writing biographies is to find the theme or thread.

Tracey is currently working on new fiction and writes a blog called “Knitting with Pencils.”  (http://www.traceybaptiste.com/)  She also started a company called Fairy Godauthor that helps others elevate their writing as well as assists them in the submission process which can be extremely confusing for someone who’s never done it before.  This woman is BUSY!

However in her spare time (the italics means I’m being sarcastic, if you hadn’t guessed it yet) she likes to search the web for creepy, weird images and then makes fictional covers of the books she hasn’t written yet.  Once such image that someone sent her was a picture of these amazing boots*:

For all of you who want to be Mr. Tumnus for Halloween

She’s currently working on a story called Goat Girl so if anyone can find out how to purchase these boots for Tracey you should send her a tweet or message her on Facebook.

I was so glad to be a part of this workshop.  I could relate to how Tracey balances family life and freelancing and I appreciated how candid she was about her writing process.  I was also inspired to think more about my childhood and background and all the interesting people and stories I could use in my own writing – even if my childhood folklore had mostly happy endings and Prince Charmings instead of one-hoofed devil women trying to steal my soul.

*Special thanks to Sandy Damashek and Corey Nacsenzi for the photos!

Melinda here again.  The next writers’ workshop blog will be about the freelancers’ panel that Jill and I participated in.  Instead of tooting my own horn and recapping the event, I invite you all (both of you) who read this blog (Thanks Mom, Dad) to write in any burning questions you have about being a freelancer and I’ll try to answer them.  If not, I’m just going to write about writing in my pajamas.  Which no, I’m not doing now but maybe I was when I started writing this.  You’ll never know.  Unless you ask.  Send questions to melinda@melindalarose.com or use the comment section.  That’s what it’s there for!

You know I’ll do it

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August 31, 2012

Now Kids Can Waste Hours A Day Not Doing Their Work, Too!

Ahh Facebook.  It has changed my life.  Now instead of inventing the next great children’s television series I can read all about what some of my friends had for lunch and just how great it is that it is Friday.  Okay, okay I’m being cynical (I get to be cynical a couple times a year) but it is true that half of all Americans connect with friends via social networking yet under 13s are not technically allowed on Facebook (though they are pretty good at finding ways to be on Facebook anyway).  May’s Talking Tech event had to do with this very subject (and you thought I was just rambling):  Social Networking for Tweens.  Joining us were Christina Poturica-O’Neill, JD: Senior Legal Associate, Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) and Alan Goodman: Editorial and brand consultant, Everloop.com.

Christina gave us an overview on what CARU does.  Basically, they review child targeted ads in all media and evaluate them.  When ads are found to be misleading or inconsistent with established CARU guidelines they nicely ask the advertisers to cooperate with them and change their ads.  This self-policing approach helps keep the FCC at bay.  They are the first FTC approved safe harbor under COPPA (the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act).  Whew, there were a lot of initials being thrown around there.  Online they work with advertisers to make sure that kids can’t click on inappropriate material or accidentally buy something online, etc.

“Great Melinda, great, but what does this have to do with Facespace?” you say.  Well, that brings me to Alan’s part.  Alan spoke about his new project everloop.com, a Facebook-type site specifically for kids 13 and under.  Kids can only sign up with a parent’s consent and they get an account that doesn’t use their real names or any personal info that could identify them.  And here’s the part that made me go “Wha?”  – There are live personnel monitoring all activity on everloop in real time making sure there’s no cyberbullying going on and that no predators are trying to glean personal info from the kids online. The site is providing a social network for kids and teaching them to be good cybercitizens as it gives each kid a credit score of sorts that goes up or down depending on how they conduct themselves online.

Sir, it’s all just chatter about “Twilight.”

So, I’m 9 years old, what’s in it for me?  Well, besides being able to chat with kids and your friends (provided you know their usernames) the site boasts the most awesome thing I wish I could use as an adult. The Goob.  Even the name is awesome.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when you employ one of the geniuses who was responsible for making Nickelodeon a household word in the ’80s, thanks Alan! Goobs are cyber pranks you can send to you friends that sabotage their screens (safely of course).  You can bombard a screen with toilet paper or start an onscreen food fight.  Neat.  The site also partners with companies to provide content exclusive to everloop like free online books from Harper Collins.

Food fight!

Oh and why is it called everloop, you ask?  Because instead of having a network of friends you have loops.  Kids can join loops about sports or music or they can create their own loops.  Everloop keeps them in the loop, get it?  Alan, if you’re reading this, is there any way I could get a Goob on my phone?  Just for me? Pretty please.  Ahh, to be young again.

Main Takeaway:   Kids are becoming more technically savvy but that doesn’t mean they have any more common sense than we did when we were that age.  A certain degree of policing is a good thing so the kids don’t get involved with folks who may be out to hurt them.  Also, they won’t be able to just order things online and stiff you with the bill the way we got our parents with all those calls to 1-900-NEW-KIDS.  Don’t look at me like you don’t know what I’m talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxH67j0ZUx4

As someone on the internet observed, that phone is bigger than that kid’s head.

Personal Takeaway:  I have got to get me a goob.  It’s really all I can think about.

Inappropriate Takeaway:  I’m gonna be honest and say that while I buy that a real kid is gonna have a hard time joining everloop without parental permission, I think it could be fairly easy for an adult to log on and pretend to be a kid.  But I guess that’s where that live chat monitoring kicks in.  Can you imagine the person who has to read all that?  I imagine it looks a little like this:

TeamEdward:  LOL!  OMG!  TMI!  182.  JK.

TeamJacob:  SH^  LTLWDLS.

TeamEdward:  LQTM.  LYLAS.  ABTA.

Live Monitor:  WTH?

True Story

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August 17, 2012

A New Blog and a Fabulous New Guest Blogger

I’m pleased to present the first guest blogger of my blogging administration.  Or perhaps I should say Vice-Blogger.  I told you all up front that there was no way I could go to EVERY event so like all good leaders in the blogosphere, I have put together a trustworthy cabinet of children’s media veterans to step in while I’m on vaca in Kennebunkport.  It is with pleasure that I introduce the lovely and talented Jennifer Oxley, children’s television creator, Creative Director, Director, Animator, Writer of books, TV shows and well phrased e-mails.  Jennifer is the recipient of an Emmy Award for her work on “Little Bill,” she created the look and animation style for “The Wonder Pets!” and is currently working on “Peg + Cat” a new show she created with Billy Aronson for PBS Kids!  Jennifer is going to give us some insight into the event Talking Tech:  Turning books into apps.  Take it away, Jen!

I got an iPad when my 1 year old son was born as an excuse to download all the cools apps for kids I’d been hearing about. First to download was Sesame Street’s THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THE BOOK app. I’m a huge fan of the book and was very curious to see how it had been adapted for the iPad. I was impressed! Narrated by the lovable furry old Grover himself, this app is charming and sweet with clever touches of interactivity that are perfectly woven into the story.

Ever since my first download I’ve been having a blast playing with new apps. Few are up to the level of the monster app, but I did find a lot of great standouts. Like Mo Willems DON’T LET THE PIGEON RUN THIS APP.

 So when I heard Women in Children’s Media was doing an event with Editors Tracey Keevan from Disney Publishing Worldwide and Betsy Loredo of Sesame Workshop, the two companies who created these genius apps, I immediately signed up.

The event was very well attended with folks from all areas of Children’s Media. Incidentally, it took place at the Sesame Street offices in Lincoln Center, where I worked years ago in the Interactive Technologies Department. Back when interactive CD ROMS were the wave of the future. Now years later these interactive games seem to have been reinvented in downloadable apps.

The Talking Tech presentation began with an informative case study of how an app gets made, using my favorite monster app as an example. We learned that the original 1971 golden book written by the Sesame directing legend Jon Stone has sold over 5 million print copies. So turning this beloved story into an app was a no brainer. The trick would be living up to the unquestionable greatness of the original book.

Rule #1: Start with a great story

Rule #2: Advocate for your audience

Rule #3: Ask Questions (and don’t be afraid to look stupid)

To visualize what the app would look like the team created storyboards and wireframes (similar to a choose your own adventure) to map out the content.  The team made decisions about the animation style (they wanted a vintage look) and how the text would be handled (they wanted it highlighted).

Then after 3 months of development time they tested a first pass with kids. And they addressed notes from researches like “can you give the kids more of a clue what to do with the ropes.”

80 days later (and a day before Christmas) the final build was done. And it launched with great success reaching the status of top 10 apps for kids.

Betsy closed by saying what you need to make a successful app is a “good story, a cute adorable monster… and at least 80 days.”

I certainly agree with all this, but couldn’t help but wonder, do you also need a best selling book that’s sold over 5 million copies, and a huge company backing the project? How can an Indie developer be successful in the growing App market? This question was asked, but wasn’t really addressed.

Next Tracey from Disney took the podium and highlighted some of the different types of apps that are out there:

1.     Storybook Apps: A reading experience with some bonus features, like IT’S A SMALL WORLD.

2.     Storybook Deluxe: Usually based on a feature film

3.     Original Feature Apps: Taking a popular character and building an original app around that character, like Mo’s Pigeon app.

4.     Comics and Graphic novels

5.     Learning Apps

6.     Interactive Digital Books: basically the book with a couple add-ons

Afterwards there were loads of great questions asked, like “do you expect parents to play with kids.”  And the response was, after about 3-5 minutes the kids are usually in complete control of the iPad. So you need to design your content so kids can play independently.

I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation, and was particularly excited to hear all the details about the monster app. Although, I think it would have been a stronger discussion if a successful indie panelist were added to the group. As interesting as it all was, the talk felt a bit one sided.

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June 8, 2012

I’m Teacher’s Pet at the Writer’s Workshop

I’ll tell you a secret.  Shh, no one in the world knows this as I have kept it carefully under wraps with my suave demeanor and impeccable fashion sense:  I am a nerd.

We can’t all be the Flash.

I know, you’re totally shocked!  Well, at the last writer’s workshop event I completely blew my cover by becoming the infamous classroom stereotype:

This month’s writers’ workshop was with Mackenzie Cadenhead.  Mackenzie is an accomplished author and former editor at Marvel.  Oh yeah, that’s right thee MARVEL.

Mackenzie was kind enough to walk us through the how tos of creating a comic book and as her example she happened to use a comic that is very near and dear to my heart Runaways.  Like comic books?  You should check it out.  Don’t like comic books?  What is wrong with you?

Not These Runaways

These Runaways

Like many of our children’s media properties the comic book starts with a pitch.  Every comic should be based around a clearly articulated, exaggerated metaphor.  Like X-Men being about discrimination and discovering yourself.  Runaways is all about old vs. young, rules vs. freedom.  The series is about six young friends who find out that their parents are actually super villains.  The teens run away and discover that they have superpowers, too (well some of them are more like stolen gadgets but you get the picture).  The kids resolve to right the wrongs of their parents and be a force for good.

So how to make that awesome idea into a series?  A standard comic pitch usually goes through 5 or 6 book arcs (that’s enough for 1 trade paperback graphic novel, as they call them).  The end of every issue is of course a cliffhanger, leaving the readers wanting more.

After the pitch is the script (still in familiar territory here).  It looks a bit like a screenplay with the panel descriptions and dialogue all typed out.  Sometimes writers suggest layout, sometimes they don’t. Now here’s where it gets all “wha?” for those of us who don’t work in the comic arts.  The job of Mackenzie, as editor, is really to be the go between between the writer and artist as none of them are likely to be in a room at the same time.  After script comes layout which is really like a rough storyboard.  After the layout is decided on the pencil drawings are done.  These look more final but are still, well, in pencil (hence the name).  Once the pencils are done the panels are inked.  The inking really indicates the light source and is an amazing art form unto itself.  After the inking comes coloring, another powerful tool.  Color choices can reflect mood or the characters’ alignment, it can also show the passage of time and time of day.  Then after the pictures are final, inked and colored, the letterers come in and fill in the text of the book.  A good editor and a good artist know enough to leave room in the picture for the dialogue to fit and the writer also needs to be aware that there’s not room for a 20 line monologue in one panel.  The editor has to juggle all these artists artistic sensibilities and make them gel into one cohesive unit. From what I can tell comic book writing is somewhere in between writing a teleplay and a silent movie script.  You count on the pictures to fill in information so you don’t have to have text spell everything out for you.  It sounds like a really interesting challenge.  Kind of like saving the world on a daily basis, only on a smaller scale.

Main Takeaway:  My first thought was:  comic books look like they’re hard to write. I want to do it!  Read ‘em or don’t read ‘em but there’s no doubt that comics are an amazing art form.  Every medium presents its own sets of challenges and triumphs.

Personal Takeaway:  What a great medium for exploring wonderful universal truths with kids or anyone!  As a kid I learned from Spider-Man that with great power comes great responsibility. I learned from Batman that you can do one of two things with the tragedies that happen in life – use them to become a better person or use them to go dark side.  We all have the potential to be monsters or heroes.  And I learned from the Incredible Hulk that you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.  Okay, maybe not that last one but rule of threes and all that…

Hulk Baby, Smash!

Inappropriate Takeaway: I don’t know if it’s inappropriate or just an interesting factoid but comics are not returnable.  Once they’re stocked in the store they’re there and there’s no ripping off the covers and returning them to the publisher.  My local comic book store should’ve thought of that before purchasing 8 million copies of Peter Porker:  The Amazing Spider Ham ‘cause I’m pretty sure I was the only one itching to buy that one on new comic book day.  (It was my favorite comic book when I was a kid, by the way, next to Katy Keene.)

This? Not so much.

This seems more like me.

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