Martini Shot TheAnkler.com
-
- News
-
When you’re filming a movie or a television show, when it’s the last shot of the day, the first assistant director will call out, “This is the Martini Shot!” I call these stories “Martini Shots” because they’re exactly the kinds of stories we tell — and lessons we learn — after we’ve wrapped for the day. - Rob Long theankler.com
-
Burger King Kids Club
Remember the Burger King Kids Club, the chain’s ad campaign targeted to “the kids?” There was Kid Vid, the white, video game-playing leader; Jaws, the Black kid who loved to eat; and a boy in a wheelchair named (seriously) Wheels. The idea, Rob Long speculates, must have been devised at one of those offsite retreats, the kind TV execs love to do in Laguna. But hits rarely are born from suits tossing around banal concepts. Instead they begin with a writers’ novel idea, the equivalent of a delicious-looking hamburger.
Also, we’ve been nominated for a Webby Award, vote for us here by April 18th!
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Gossipy, Critical, Snippy
Legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld once complained about the way a room was decorated: “It was a lot of Louis Quinze mixed with Louis Seize,” he said. And then added: “Ugh!” The entertainment business runs on this sort of Lagerfeldian Ugh, a sort of lingua franca of Hollywood. But what if we tried, just for a while, to not slag others as conversational filler? Rob Long says then, very likely, you could expect a whole lot of deafening silence.
Also, we’ve been nominated for a Webby Award, vote for us here by April 18th!
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
'It Only Made, Like, $50 Million'
Howard the Duck might not have won Best Picture, but if you’re a sandwich shop worker, or a young Rob Long at lunch with high-up producers, it’s probably best not to espouse how big a flop you thought it was. See, failure in Hollywood is a relative term. Movies fail, pilots fail, but after a failure of your own, it’s tough to see anything that makes it to the screen as defeat — especially if it came with a check. After all, getting paid in show business is getting paid to try. The later checks — the bigger ones — are about getting paid to succeed.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
The '10 Pages in One Night' Trick
When Orson Welles found an investor for a cheap little noir thriller, legend has it he devised a scheme. His opening sequence took up almost 10 pages of script, with descriptions and action all spread out. Except when he actually filmed it, he used only a high-tension, 12-minute “virtuoso” single tracking shot that became signature to Touch of Evil — but also fooled execs into thinking he’d be under budget and on time every day. As genius as Welles’ move was, Rob Long says he was also a practitioner of Haraka Baraka. And you should be too.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
The Scariest Word in Hollywood
Sixty percent of Americans say they read the Bible regularly. But in Hollywood, where Jesus and religion can feel — how do you say it — downmarket, people rely instead on the series bible, where writers flesh out their TV series’ characters, situations and possible future episodes. But Rob Long suggests Hollywood, much like he has, take a fresh look at the Bible — the one with a capital B, no IP rights, and packed with tragedy, sex and human weakness fit for a limited series.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Shut Up and Pitch
When Rob Long pitches anything these days, he knows that he’s not going to sell that idea in the room. That’s over. But he wouldn’t be upset if he didn’t hear, “Fun stuff. We’ll talk internally and get back to you.” What’s fun about that? If we can identify fun — rather than fun stuff — the entertainment industry can get back to being like that big, noisy party Rob throws, with a supermarket ham and cheap booze. Overthink it, and the party’s over.
Transcript here. For more entertainment news, subscribe to The Ankler.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Customer Reviews
Was Hoping for More Recipes with Sparrows
Just what the title says. Still, I give it 5 *s.
Great insights with Twist
I love the insights for writing & production. Rob’s stories make feel like I’m not alone. It’s my little Therapy Session.
The Best Available
Rob Long (who thinks he’s a curmudgeon) seems to always both give me a chuckle and lift my spirits. I look forward to the drop of Martini Shot every week, just to listen to a master story teller at work. Many thanks for your wonderful work.