Humor spots for a games show at America Television. Based on my experience handling humor, some CEO's of this TV channel hired me to make spots, short movies... actually, whatever I wanted with my small production unit a PD, but with humor, to be included during the broadcast of a live games show.
So, I started to play with the camera and formats, employing styles as the hiden camera, fake movie "trailers", fake TV commercials ("The curse hot-line" was a good one), prommotional spots for the show, etc. It was fun to let my mind flow with ideas which make me laugh and, of course, the audience.
I had one rule however: to never mock about/with innocent people. That was very "fashion" then, and still is. I simply don't like it.
I don't believe in media as a tool to mock about the innocenc of the people or "play" with their good will.
The experience was relaxing but honestly, a bit booring, so I quited.
TVs potential to reach broad viewers and the almost adiction that many people have to it is almost overwhelming.
Due to this reality I have been trying to use it for means related with my beliefs in the power of the people to transform their environment.
So, I worked with young people teaching them about how TV works and how they can use its power to add some meaningful social content. That happened in the CONFER, Peru's religious conference, an open minded institution.
The results where really interesting and in many cases, excellent.
A good part of my stay in Peru happened with the unspeakable, mob style, dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori and his siniester partmer-in- crime Vladimiro Montesinos. I took active part in designing and put in place alternative-media campaings to get rid of their anti-democratic gobernment... and we succed!
Based on that experience I, with the help of a group of pro-democracy mates, registered in digital format most of the process of that dictatorship, the coming to power of a provitional gobernment and the active citizens fight to elect a legitimate gobernment.
Step by step I'm working on my free time to make a documentary with this material to make it part of the peruvian historical memory.
In a sort of way I'm a children of movies and TV: I have grown watching and ejoying images on a screen.
Maybe that's the reason why I feel a particular attraction to narrate using the formats that a movie or a TV show demands: the screenplay and the script.
The following are some of my experiences doing SCRIPTS, for the broad-reaching world of TV.
At Almendra, a TV show for children, that I mention on the JOBS page, I developed many scripts. As it was a long LIVE show (3 hours lenght) with games, choreographies, humor "sketchs", cartoons, and many more elements, I had the give an attractive overall structure to each and all that in order to keep our audience glued to the TV having a good time.
The results were very positive. It was hard work as at the same time I was the Executive Producer, but the smiles and response of the children were really rewarding.
My previous experiences in theater were very useful for our goals, bringing a real sensation of LIVE TV. It was awarded Peru's best children's TV show for many years.
Pueblo Nuevo (New Town). This project was born from a initiative of my good friend Susana Villaran while she was the Minister in charge of Peru's Ministry for Woman and Human Development.
The goal was to inform the citizens about the existence and use of a number of services provided by the Ministry, as counceling and protection for abused woman and childrens, communal kitchens, etc.
So, knowing the tastes of the target audience, I wrote a miniseries in the format of a soap opera: Two main characters, a handicaped men and a abused woman fight for their love with the background of a poor neighborhood where every day is also a fight for survival. Secondary characters surround the main ones experiencing every day problems as child abuse, violence against womans, alcoholism, poverty and how to reach an effective community organization to unite them of their needs.
I was very happy with the script: it have rhythm, a nice flow, emotions, well developed characters and actions. The problem was that the Director choosed knew about TV direction as much as about Quatum Physics: nothing!. You're not going to believe it but this is true: he did not even know how to read a TV script!
Anyway, it was a nice experience to write it and to try to use a format so hackneyed as the soap opera to make something more meaningfull than simply entertainment.
