SHALLA MINGLES with screenwriter Mark Treitel --Best Sitcom: Sperm Donor?
“Best Sitcom: Sperm Donor?”
by Shalla de Guzman
First off, who’s Mark?
Mark gives new meaning to the word “multi-tasking” and can switch gears flawlessly. Besides being a comedy writer, he has among other things, prosecuted misdemeanors as a city attorney in the Los Angeles area, parlayed his Tufts Biology degree to become a member of the US Patent bar, as well as fastidiously collecting adverbs in his spare time.
Mark recently sold with writing partner, Shoe Schuster, a comedy feature with Mike Epps ("The Honeymooners") attached that should go into production this fall and is currently writing a comedy feature (with Shoe) for Zucker-Netter, (the production company behind the all time comedy favorites of "Airplane" and "Naked Gun".) Mark is proud of the fact that he has more google hits than Sean Hayes -- over 350,000 as of now.
Shalla: Watched Situations Comedy? Remember Mark Treitel?
Hi Mark. How’s it going?
Mark: Great. Nice to finally put a name with a face. Sorry, it took so long to get together, but I was busy with the show. Nice place you picked. I like the decor.
Shalla: How was watching yourself on TV? What was that like? And did you and Shoe Schuster throw big parties with chips and dips every Friday when Situation Comedy was on?
Mark: Watching myself on TV, is like the real thing, except in the middle of a conversation, you don't have an advertisement for Kathy Griffin flash across my midriff.
Our original plans were to have viewing parties, but it was difficult to get people to come by at 7 PM, except for the Early Bird special crowd from Denny's across the street. And we didn't want our party to degenerate into a raucous game of Bingo. We might throw a viewing party at the 5 AM showing, for all the garagemen.
Shalla: Looked like you guys really enjoyed the experience, which is great. What was your most memorable one so far? Your funniest? Your least expected?
Mark: Honestly, my most memorably experience was tape night when we filmed Sperm Donor last December.
It's been a dream of writing a sitcom since I was a kid.
And to look back and say no matter what, that I had created this show that people can watch (there's a link to the aol.com video on my website at http://www.marktreitel.com/ or here... http://us.video.aol.com/video.full.adp?mode=0&pmmsid=1373712&referer=http%3A//television.aol.com/feature/situation_comedy_tv
We had an amazing tape night -- where the audience was laughing hysterically at almost every joke. It was a real high. Those memories will never be lost or taken away.
The funniest experience was something they did not show. The reality crew took us out to a Barnes & Noble book store to have us interview as kid on how she talks.
Well the teenager they got was not very forthcoming, but a very sweet girl and she wasn't giving us any good material, but Shoe kept trying to get something from her, so I was laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the entire situation. Here we have a reality crew filming us -- it's crazy -- the whole reality thing when it was going on -- even more than being on TV.The least expected? As reality junkies, Shoe and I expected almost anything. We thought we might show up the first day and it would be a joke where the producers were kids. You never know people's real motivations. At least at the start, everyone wanted to make the best television shows.
But in the end, you have a reality show. You constantly had to be on your toes, because cameras are watching you every second. At the end of the day, Shoe and I want to get TV jobs out of this, so we acted like we would under normal job situations. We listened to our producers and tried to make their suggestions work. I have TV writer friends who said that what we specifically went through, major rewrites, is what happens on TV. There are so many notes through the process.
Because you're always being watched, though, Shoe and I learned to speak in code. It was like something out of "Goodfellas." No I know what the Mafia feels like when they think they're being watched.
Shalla: If Sperm Donor won, what were your plans with the 50K? Disappear to Bali? Or were you splitting it with Shoe Schuster J ?
Mark: Well, we didn't win. So luckily I didn't spend the money. I hope that Andrew and David buy us a muffin.I would have used the money to feed the homeless, so, oh well.
Shalla: Any tips on creating funny characters?
Mark: We just were looking for opposites and what you see around you. Meaning, that once we had character, it was clear what the other characters should be. Take Odd Couple, one messy, one clean. Same with Sperm Donor, the more chaotic Clyde is, the more square Kaitlyn had to be. That's why the show works. We had the character of Clyde in our head pretty clearly. The other characters changed. For example, Dalton was more snobbish, but it didn't work when we had all the characters together. I like the change in Dalton.
Also, characters change over time, with the strengths of actors. Look at the original pilot of Seinfeld. The only one that is the same is Jerry, George and Kramer changed so much. Not 100%, but over time, more of who they are came out. The same would be true of our characters. The actors added so much to their roles. We wish we could have them work together more.
Shalla: Any tips on how to break into the business? Will there be Situation Comedy II?
Mark: The only way to definitely break into the business, is to claim you are the child of someone face. It's really difficult and you have to keep on working on it. The only way it will come easy is if you are incredibly lucky. But if it's something you want to try, as long as you are realistic and know that it's not going to come over night -- you might as well try for your dreams rather than being miserable.
I don't know if there will be a Situation: Comedy II. I think it's a great way to get other shows out there -- but probably things will go back to business as usual. Meaning, that the odds of someone actually getting a pilot on the air are impossible. People should just show it on the web and forget the network system.
Shalla: What have you learned so far from being in a Reality TV show?
Mark: Reality TV would be the best show if you had absolute control of the editing process. There are genuine moments that you can see on the show -- but just because someone tells you something happened, or how it happened, it can be biased. For example, they said on the show that Shoe and I had writers to help write the show. Well, they made it sound like only we had writers, while both shows had writers and that is par for the course. Any pilot usually gets other writers to add jokes, but somehow if you say it and you have no reason to know otherwise -- it sounds true.
Shalla: Would you say, everything was truly “real,” nothing rehearsed? Did you get directed in any way?
Mark: The moments at the beginning, when I was picked to win -- was a genuine moment of happiness and reality. Other moments had to be "recreated". For example, when I tell my wife I'm going away for my first day on the job, it was shot six weeks later -- check Shoe's shirt -- it doesn't match to the shot later. This is especially apparent to the video interviews that were done after the fact. After going through the process, it was pretty clear how to watch reality shows. The only show I believe as real is "Amazing Race" -- because either you climb the Great Wall of China or you don't. Also, people like Bobby Brown, are acting for the camera. And others are acting -- the more you think -- you might second guess people's motivations.
You also have the fact that we were working ten to twelve hour days and they are only showing you a few seconds per day, if that. Selective editing. But all the actors were trying their best. Originally, the show was supposed to be more documentary style, like Project Greenlight, then Bravo made it more "reality" like -- which mean less actually reality.
Shalla: What is the future of sitcom?
Mark: We can't go back to the days of three networks -- so the sitcom is dependent on advertising and viewers. With Tivo, advertising as we know it is dead. Maybe not tomorrow, but within five to ten years. It doesn't make sense for advertisers to advertise when no one's watching.
Networks need to make money. Which means less money to create the products and less money for writers and actors. There will be shows. But not in the same way they were in 1996. Less of the working writers are working -- so there might be a few sitcoms. But even if there was a break out hit -- will it be a unifying viewing experience -- I doubt it. There are no ultimate viewing experiences anymore. Take Star Wars III -- you can't get bigger than that -- that came out in May, and now it's September and already it's gone. We're on to the next thing. Only in our collective memories, will shows like Gilligan's Island, Brady Bunch and Seinfeld live on. Even the shows they are pushing, like Everybody Hates Chris and My Name is Early -- we'll see what happens in six months from now. We have too many other distractions. Obviously, people will always have jobs -- but we won't all be watching the next Happy Days.
Shalla: What’s next for Mark? Any projects in the works?
Mark: Lots of stuff is always going on. The two main things right now are projects I did with Shoe. We sold a comedy feature with Mike Epps ("The Honeymooners") attached that should go into production this fall and we are currently writing a comedy feature for Zucker-Netter, (the production company behind the all time comedy favorites of "Airplane" and "Naked Gun".) People can read my daily blog, http://www.marktreitel.com/ which has been getting lots of press. Don't ask me how, but I have more Google references than Sean Hayes.
Shalla: Wonderful to know, thanks! Please visit Mark Treitel at http://www.marktreitel.com/
Good luck Mark. You’re always welcome to talk with us again.
Shalla de Guzman writes multicultural, fantasy and paranormal novels with a chick lit tone. A former writer and producer of a health and fitness cable show, Shalla is currently writing her next top secret, future best-selling novel. http://shalladeguzman.com/whoisshalla.php
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posted by Shalla at 1:58:00 AM
