Pitching, Meeting and Vacationing in L.A.

Day 1:

Well, we arrived in L.A. last night after a looong trip from Toronto. Normally a non-stop flight from Toronto to L.A. will be about five hours. But since we're po, we opted for the super-cheap 3 stop-over flight out of Buffalo. So we left Toronto at 8:15 and took a bus to Buffalo. Ben got searched crossing the border. People were getting waved through while the customs officer was looking through his luggage, and then his portfolio, and then lecturing him on not accepting "American jobs" during his visit.

So then we flew from Buffalo to Pittsburg, making pretty much no headway. After a short lay-over got shipped off to Las Vegas. Unfortunately, we had to run for the plane and didn't get to gamble at any of the slot machines they had in the airport.

Then we sat on that plane for over an hour because they decided that since other flights had been cancelled they were making ours take on all the stranded passengers.

Finally we were in the air, and then we were in L.A. around 11:00pm, L.A. time. So that's 2:00am Toronto time.

After a shuttle trip through traffic unlike anything I've ever seen, we got to our first hotel: Motel 6 Hollywood.

We got a quick bite to eat on Hollywood Blvd and then crashed.

Day 2:

Today we woke up, and walked down to Sunset Blvd to the hotel we're staying at until Thursday, the Saharan Motor Hotel. It's the same place I stayed last time I was here.

Then we went to IHOP for breakfast after which we went to the most incredible comic store I've ever seen. I bought some art books, Ben bought some comics, and they didn't have the statuette I was hoping they'd have. Then we walked around Melrose for a couple hours. It's bloody hot here. Apparently we came just in time for the annual heat wave.

Anyways ... I start my pitches tomorrow with Disney at 2:00, followed by Cartoon Network on Wednesday. I'll be seeing Nickelodeon too, but not until I'm in San Diego.

We'd post pictures ... but SOMEONE forgot the cord.

Day 3:

Well, day 3 is winding down. Today was pretty hectic. I got up early to do some revisions on my pitch, then we took off to get it printed at the internet cafe down the street.

Then it was off to Burbank, where we got lost. Then we had to take a cab to the Disney Channel building. Got there just in time.

Went into my pitch, and it went really really well. I'll be making a few suggested revisions tonight and tomorrow, and emailing an updated version.

Ben gave them a storyboard portfolio, and the guy happened to be a big Superman fan. So it's good that he had his IMAX experience on there.

After that we took a tour of the Warner Bros studio. Saw the big water tower, along with two hours worth of other stuff.

Came back, went clothes shopping. I bought a shirt, Ben bought some shorts.

Anyways, just chillin out tonight. A couple meetings tomorrow, then Cartoon Network on Wednesday.

Day 4:

Got some feedback from Intel this morning. Means a bit more work before tomorrow night. Also re-writing my pitch with the revisions from Disney. Ben and I were thinking of some story ideas, and I gotta say ... it's getting pretty damn funny. I'm pretty excited about where it's going.

I had a meeting with a new client of mine who runs a company called Blank Paige Productions. I'll be creating his website, as well as company ID. It will be a blank piece of paper, folding into an origami frog, which will jump into the air and fold into an origami crane, which will fly around and then turn into a paper airplane which will land and turn into the logo. All in 3D, should be fun.

After that I had a meeting at a company called Cookie Jar. They do a lot of children's television production. They do that show Caillou. Anyways, I'll be working on some character design for them when I get back to Toronto.

After that we hung out in the hotel for a bit while I did some work for a web client. Watched part of Independance Day, which has apparently been playing non-stop here since July 4th.

Then at 7:00 it was dinner with my rep Troy. That was a lot of fun, had real mexican food. Ben had jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab and wrapped in bacon. In the US you can anything wrapped in bacon.

Tomorrow we're going to Cartoon Network for another pitch, and then off to Beverly Hills to try and do some celebrity sighting.

Anyways, up late doing Intel stuff tonight..

Hope everyone's enjoying the heat in Toronto.

Day 5:

Hey all. Had my pitch at Cartoon Network. It was okay. The guy at Disney really liked MMORGreg, but the guy at the Cartoon Network liked Brash & Sect-C.

After the pitch we went and hung out in Beverly Hills. Ate at Jerry's Famous Deli.

We also went to Bloomingdales, checked out some $125.00 t-shirts.

The big news is that we saw our first celebrity:

Johnny Galeck (David from "Rosanne")

We're definitely getting a lot of pictures ... but the big part of our trip is yet to come. Today we're leaving for ComiCon.

The attention from the studios pretty much comes from having a rep. If I didn't have that, then it would be very difficult to get in to see the people I'm seeing. And I wouldn't be able to pitch to them either, since it's a legal requirement out here.

It's definitely genuine ... no one is very false in their attitudes or anything. It's not like people are saying "Yeah, I love it, let's do lunch and sign the paperwork" and then not doing it. For example the guy at Cartoon Network said, "I like Brash & Sect-C, despite that it has an alien and we get a lot of alien pitches, this one stands out. We'll discuss things further." But he also said, "I don't like MMORGreg as much..." and then he told me the reasons why.

On the other hand, the guy at Disney said "I'm not too sold on Brash & Sect-C, and here are the reasons why.." but used the term "brilliant" when it came MMORGreg. So it's really a matter of personal preference, along with do they see the show as I see the show in my mind, or did I get what my vision is across to them in my pitch, do they have the same sense of humour as me, etc, etc.

But to get a show optioned is a pretty big task. So right now the guy at Disney likes MMORGreg. So what he'll do is take it to his two supervisors and pitch it to them. Then if they like it then they take it one person higher and pitch it to him. And if that person likes it, it gets optioned.

Then after that it'll probably get stuck in development hell for a number of months before either the option runs out and I get it back, or they make a series out of it.

It's a really, really long process, and I'm definitely not holding my breath on having an animated series when I'm 24 years old. So you keep coming up with ideas, you keep polishing the ones you have. Something I pitch this year everyone might hate, but three years from now it might be exactly what everyone's looking for.

Anyways, that's the process. I'm off to finish this Intel stuff. G'day!

Day 6 & 7:

Day 6 was kind of a write-off. Spent a lot of time on the train from L.A. to San Diego ... then on the trolley from San Diego to the hotel in Santee (a small town outside San Diego). Then on the trolley again back into and out of San Diego to get a couple hours of ComiCon in.

Day 7, today, was pretty wild. Ben took off early, and he's not back yet so I don't know where he's at.

I had some Intel work to do this morning, and then I left for the Con. When I got there I walked around for a bit, saw Ash Wood and apologized for flaking out on the Popbot thing. He didn't really mind, considering he flaked out on Marvel when they hired him to do Ghostrider 2099 way back in the day.

Then I walked around and bought a bunch of stuff. A WHOLE bunch of stuff. Then I sat in on a Nickelodeon panel that showcased their latest animated shorts. Got to listen to the creators, and the execs they pitched to. Was really interesting, and the shorts were dynamite for the most part.

At noon I went to the Gotham Group party. For anyone who doesn't know who the Gotham Group is, they're an artist representation company (agents). They're the largest such company in the world, and rep a ton of comic book and animation guys (and gals). From writers to animators to creators and designers.

So that was a lot of fun. After that I went and hung out at the Con some more. Bought some more stuff, saw lots of cool things.

At 4:00 I had a meeting with Ghostbot, a flash animation company out of San Francisco. You might have seen their stuff on those E-surance commercials. Pretty fuckin awesome.

We chatted for about an hour, they gave their latest demo reel. I'm going to be checking that out tonight.

Then it was back to the Con where I bought more stuff, followed by the Jim Henson panel where I got to very briefly meet...

drumroll....

Genndy Tartakovsky! The man himself. He's directing the Dark Crystal sequel, so I got to see him after the panel. Ash and Genndy both in the same day...

Then I came back to the hotel, and I'm going to do some Intel then go to bed.

So, I WAS going to get the Hellboy Animated statuette. It was $150 ... but they're not out until September, so I wouldn't have been able to 'take one home today'. So instead, at Ben's recommendation, I just bought a bunch of little stuff. I recommend any and all of this stuff. If you ever see it, pick it up:

- 'Gigante' poster from Kevin Dart
- 'LA<>SF - A sketchbook from California' by Christian Schellewald
- 'Mariachi Samurai' - Jose Lopez's sketchbook (he did the designs for Jackie Chan Adventures, and The Batman)
- 'Desene' - Sketches & Scribbles by Ovi
- 'A Sketchbook 2' by Patrick Morgan
- 3 Postcards by John Loter
- 'Bits & Pieces 1 & 2', a collection of drawings by John Naverez
- 'Gutsie Gator' by Ashley Wood
- 'Stephen Silver's Sketchbook' (he designed Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, etc)
- a souvenir for my girlfriend. Shh ... it's a surprise.

Anyways, I pitch to Nickelodeon tomorrow afternoon, then we're going to the airport on Sunday (where we'll be sleeping) until our 6:30am flight to Atlanta, then to Buffalo, then the bus to Toronto.

Lates..