My first invitation to a conference call!!!!

Blame it on the booze. I usually do that.

It hasn't worked yet, but I have hopes.







Oh, congratulations!!!!!

Ice,

I'm dead serious here.
Will YOU be at home during this call?
Or in an office?

If you will be at home then

GET RID OF THE KIDS!!!!

Sure as shootin they will start fighting and howling the moment the important people start talking.

I don't know what else to say.
Uh, brainstorm out some possible questions and issues they might have and practice your answers.
Go over your pitch, just be comfortable in what you need to discuss.
Have some questions for them.

And lots of luck.
Break a leg.

Congrats.

Dclary mentions something about picturing them naked and then goes a wee bit further, pushing the boundaries of board ethics.

Edited by Moderator for offensive material.

Jesus Christ.

I understand.

How much time do you have to prepare?
You have a couple of options.
(not in any order)

1) Medicate.
An hour before the call dose em up with Benadryl or what ever kids meds you have that make YOUR kids drowzy. (every kid is different, some meds make em hyper.)

2) If your kids are more the quiet, easily entertained sort then get them each a new little toy that will keep them occupied for a while.
OR
A new movie.

3)Depending on what time the call is scheduled get your kids up early in the morning and then play with them real hard until right before the call.
Then put them to bed. See if you can drive to the mall or other HUGE place and walk em around.
If the call is scheduled for earlier in the morning then keep the kids up late so they'll sleep in.

4) Institute an emergency quiet hour.
Start putting them in their rooms for 15 to 20 min, then up it to 30, and INSIST that they stay put. They can play, or read, or whatever BUT they MUST stay in the room. Maybe by the time the call comes around they'll have accepted it.

5) Set up some type of art project or find the hidden treats game, or something that will keep them searching for a little while.

6) When the time comes sit them on the couch and threaten their lives if they twitch.

7) Tie em up.

Hey, sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures.

Same thing for animals, dogs, will bark at the worst moment. People will knock or ring your doorbell... it's best to hide yourself away somewhere... I used to sit in my car in the garage to have a conference call, but be careful, don't start the car, you could asphyxiate yourself! Relax and take deep breaths.

For my first important phone call, I got so freaked out that when the phone rang, I picked it, said hello and then accidently pulled the phone cord out of the wall -- hanging up on them.

They called back. It was ok =)

Don't worry about rambling too much, a lot of people will actually cut you off.

I find having notes to be helpful. Not long paragraph length things, just little bullet points -- so you get across whatever you want to.

I get really nervous with these things so I actually practice answers beforehand. You can guess some of the things they are going to ask you. I'm usually prepared with what I'll say.

Good luck!!

These are advice for fellowship interviews, but they may also be useful for chats w/ execs, prodcos etc.

this blogger is/was a Disney fellow. He's had meetings w/ execs, agents, showrunners etc. :

http://salcalleros.blogspot.com/2006/12/agency-meeting.html

http://salcalleros.blogspot.com/2006/12/moving-and-shaking.html

http://salcalleros.blogspot.com/2006/10/my-speed-date.html

other meetings in there, too. search.



(RE clary's post.

clary just enjoys talking to strangers on the phone when he's naked.

Most of us hate telemarketers. For clary, they're free phone sex.

How many nights has he sat by the phone, pants around his ankles, waiting for a call from that nice man with the gas company?)

Hey, congratulations icerose. I've only ever been on the phone with my agent but I sure get nervous when I know he's calling for some reason.

Must be the time for good news because he told me that in a general how-do-you-do meeting with Intermedia, their head of UK development mentioned how much she likes my work and that it would be great to meet up and 'talk about ideas' the next time I'm in London. I tell ya, it was all I could do to stop myself from running to the train station.

But I think it's going to be a couple of months. It'll give me time to polish something I'm working on now and come up with a couple of extra pitches. By then it'll have been about a year since I've seen a load of other contacts so I'll try to get into see them again at the same time.

Good luck with yours.

As for preventing yourself from rambling, I have this problem too.

The best way I've found is simply to be aware of it. If you have to, write "Rambling" on a bit of paper and put it in front of you while you're on the phone.
Be yourself, but just be aware of it.

one other thing....


...


...


...Oh yeah, Good Luck! let us know how it goes.

Sorry took me so long to get to this. Congrats Ice!. I'm assuming this may lead to a sale (not for someother reason) and that's a double congrats!

Don't sweat the meeting. It will probably be short and will never meet your expectations or fears.

My friend, Chandus, just won the Disney Fellowship (not announced yet so keep it under your hats)and when he became one of the 20 finaists, they flew him out to the Disney Studios to meet with the top executives.

It was a 15 minute interview and he was so scared, he he just took a deep breath, walked in, sat down and kept remembering why he was there.

That's my advice to you. Keep remembering that you are there because you a good storyteller and have a marketable product. You are good at what you do!

I have had a few meetings in my day and they all pretty much went the same.

They may ask you why you are a writer, background, education. They will probably ask you questions about the story and characters and where you came up with them. Why does a charcater do this or that? They may say they like things but the budget won't allow it and ask you to come up with something else. They don't expect you to come up with great ideas during a phone meeting, but they do what to get a feel for you and see if your are one of those "my scripts are perfect and need no change" kinda people. They mainly want to talk to you on the phone to see if they can work with you for the next six months or maybe longer.

Be yourself, be calm, have fun, but most important, show them you are willing to make changes, but will explain why they are important to the story, so they can decide for themselves.


As for the kids... Defiantly keep them far, far away.


Again. congrats and knock them dead.

Hey Good for you Icerose, will be keeping the fingers and toes crossed for you.

good luck, ice. and i suggest two shots of whiskey.


Not for you, but for the kids. Should putt'em down for an hour at least.

whiskey,

benadryl, what's the dif?

When is the call?