Do it for free?

Today was a good day at work. I was actually tasked to do some actual writing for a potential ESPN TV spot and I literally couldn't sleep at night I was so excited.

Let me start from the beginning.

The company I work for does work on does various branded material for ESPN. Meaning that we make commercials for various products and tie them into something sports related, typically whatever is the biggest sporting event that would be covered at that particular point.

In the case that they asked me to "give a stab at" was some NBA playoff spots for a upcoming summer blockbuster. Again, I feel weird getting too specific at work. You can never tell in show business what is supposed to be under wraps and what is okay for general broadcast on some dumb blog that no one reads. So I'll leave it at that.

But what I can tell you is how the format generally works. Let's say we want to do a spot for a new Doritos flavor. The idea is for a thirty seconds of content to cover both the chips and the sporting event. The company I work for produces the material that connects the two. So, as I understand it, the layout goes as follows:

15 seconds: our stuff
5 seconds: ESPN branded stuff for whatever sporting event
10 seconds: while your watching ESPN for whatever sporting event, why not chow down on some Doritos. Now with a kidney drying flavor of Max-a-MSG.

You get the drift. It was my job today to come up with some ideas for the first 15 seconds. Not exactly Shakespeare but a challenge nonetheless. But if there is one thing that I know, all I need is the format and I can fill in the blanks. That's part of my problem as a writer, without a pipeline like that, it's usually just a mess, hence this blog. (Richard has a good water/cup analogy for that.)

The important thing is that this is a kind of a step that I've been working towards for years now. Getting paid to generate ideas. As the wise sages of AC/DC once said: "it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock n' roll." Any step up is a reason to call it a good day. Especially when they liked my ideas.

So consider yourself lucky, dear audience, you getting the milk for free. Suckers.

Anyway, time to call it a night. Sarah and I have had our nightly ritual of watching Lingo reruns on the Game Show Network and giggle at how many times Chuck Woolery uses the combination of the words: grab, stroke, and balls.

That and it's a fun game show.

Command Image: Ball Pit Command

Location:Hoyt Ave,New York,United States