Jon Starr
Veteran
A while back we were told by our teachers that a former student of Concordia University, Peter Lenkov, was going to speak to the students. He got into the business by writing Demolition Man, then worked as a producer/writer for many movies and TV shows, most recently he's the executive producer of 24 and CSI: new york. He decided to give something back to our school as a guest speaker.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006997/
Then I get a call from my departments dean that I was chosen by my scriptwriting teacher with 3 other students to meet Peter Lenkov for an interview with the Gazette. I just came back from that small meeting and it was amazing. We asked him questions, and got a lot of advice. He's really easy going and nice guy even though he's a very "producer" type of character.
One of the big things he told us is that it's all about the attitude. He's the type of guy that will watch a TV show with the commercials because he wants to know what type of companies fund these TV shows. He understands that although it's an art, it's also a business, and you have to look at it from the business aspect, what will sell, what people are looking for, etc.
What I find interesting is a lot of people say it'll take years in LA to really go somewhere. I asked him how long it took him, and he said 18 months. However it was 18 months of non stop work, writing for 16 hours or more a day until his hands hurt, knocking on doors every chance he got.
He also mentioned his funny Steven Speilberg story of what not to do. He was pushy, and he would go as far as to sneak onto lots and leave notes on producers cars. He wanted to pitch an idea to Steven Speilberg and so he called up the office pretending to be someone else. The assistant knew he wasn't who he said he was, and he hung up. Three years later, he was talking to some of the same people and mentioned the story of how he tried to speak to Steven Speilberg. This woman said "just one second" and opened up a huge list of "security threats" towards Steven Speilberg, and sure enough there was his name. They of course had a laugh about it.
But this guy is engaging, interesting, and really motivating. He brought with him dozens of rejection letters from big name producers. The last word of advice he gave us, aside from having a great attitude when working with people and being really open to criticism (it still hurts him when his scripts come back with red all over them), is to always write, every single day. Never stop flexing that muscle.
Going to be attending the speaking lecture/conversation, whatever you call it, later today and I'll see if there's anything to add.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006997/
Then I get a call from my departments dean that I was chosen by my scriptwriting teacher with 3 other students to meet Peter Lenkov for an interview with the Gazette. I just came back from that small meeting and it was amazing. We asked him questions, and got a lot of advice. He's really easy going and nice guy even though he's a very "producer" type of character.
One of the big things he told us is that it's all about the attitude. He's the type of guy that will watch a TV show with the commercials because he wants to know what type of companies fund these TV shows. He understands that although it's an art, it's also a business, and you have to look at it from the business aspect, what will sell, what people are looking for, etc.
What I find interesting is a lot of people say it'll take years in LA to really go somewhere. I asked him how long it took him, and he said 18 months. However it was 18 months of non stop work, writing for 16 hours or more a day until his hands hurt, knocking on doors every chance he got.
He also mentioned his funny Steven Speilberg story of what not to do. He was pushy, and he would go as far as to sneak onto lots and leave notes on producers cars. He wanted to pitch an idea to Steven Speilberg and so he called up the office pretending to be someone else. The assistant knew he wasn't who he said he was, and he hung up. Three years later, he was talking to some of the same people and mentioned the story of how he tried to speak to Steven Speilberg. This woman said "just one second" and opened up a huge list of "security threats" towards Steven Speilberg, and sure enough there was his name. They of course had a laugh about it.
But this guy is engaging, interesting, and really motivating. He brought with him dozens of rejection letters from big name producers. The last word of advice he gave us, aside from having a great attitude when working with people and being really open to criticism (it still hurts him when his scripts come back with red all over them), is to always write, every single day. Never stop flexing that muscle.
Going to be attending the speaking lecture/conversation, whatever you call it, later today and I'll see if there's anything to add.
