[Ed. Note: Tubefilter News is live at Digitas’ Digital Content NewFront (#DCNF) today in New York and we’re keeping an eye on the pitch sessions for brands. Stay tuned for several of these breakdowns today.]
Dan Bucatinsky and Dani Klein Modisett gave the first of four content pitches at Digitas’ Digital Content NewFront. Their 10-minute comedy routine showcasing the web series Afterbirth seemed better fit for the stages of vaudeville than a room full of a Fortune 500 brands. Second up was Amy Brenneman of NYPD Blue, Judging Amy, and Private Practice fame.
Here’s her pitch:
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Presenter: Amy Brenneman (Emmy-Award Nominated Actress and Producer)
Show Name: The Procrastinators
Logline: It’s a Failure to Launch where Matthew McConaughey has a lot of hobbies and is a woman.
Synopsis: Produced by Electus, The Procrastinators is the well-shot story of two sisters. Lila Cox (Brenneman) is a 40-year-old who finds herself in graduate school trying to obtain a writing degree and manage her teenage lifestyle. Her sister has a more stable, traditional existence with kids and a white picket fence. Naturally, she’s incredibly jealous of her sister’s freewheeling ways, especially when Lila puts off actual work in favor of learning the citar, having an affair with the maintenance guy at her institution of higher learning (which Brenneman says may or may not be autobiographical), and generally doing things that she’s not supposed to be doing. Hence the name, The Procrastinators.
Talent attached: Amy Brenneman and her loving, director husband, Brad Silberling.
Will it get bought: Maybe.
Why? Brenneman has a genuine passion for the industry. It comes across in her pitch and passing conversations. Her itch for the web started when her Twittering and Facebooking lead to greater connections with fans. The Procrastinators is a way for her to scratch that itch in a big way, enhancing the two-way communication with her audience through peripheral, interactive elements. And though she may be a little naive when she says, “I want to create a web series that’s more than motorcylce stunts for 17 year-old boys,” her commitment to the medium is almost tangible when she continues, “I want to up the content level so people like myself will stay committed for web series once and for all.”
Plus, Brenneman’s an acclaimed actor with a committed following who wrote six seasons of Judging Amy for CBS. The lady at least kinda knows what she’s doing.
Likely brands: Beverages (Nestea, Vitamin Water); Telecom (Verizon Wireless, Sprint) and Autos (Ford, Chevy)
