I’m a TV/movie junkie, admittedly, and not ashamed of it. But sometimes I just growl over stuff I see them do over and over and over… just proving the writers are idiots who have NO idea.

1: Play acting
We’ve all seen it, I know I do at least four times a y. Character 1 has a problem, Character 2 offers to help them by enagaing them in a bit of play acting to help them out. This could involve a sticky situtaion from asking a boss for a raise to asking out a girl. All are stupid, does any ANYONE play act out practice runs of these things with people in real life? Anyone?
Didn’t think so.

And, Mary will prolly agree with me on this next one…

2: Advertising Executives
Bewitched started it… and I am full convinced screen writers have NO idea how the advertising industry works then or now.

Usually you see Ad Agency shows, or characters and they (at least in comedies) will somehow end up having to write and perform some hokey jingle in front of “big mean client”. It’s so last minute they can only manage to get their best freind/roomate to help of course. Oh yeah, they always win the account, which everything was riding on of course, and they save the day. And usually get promoted.

My most blatant example would have to be What Women Want, where Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt play High Level AE’s who evidently do not require a creative staff or brainstorming sessions in any way. They draw, marker and voice over all the presentations themselves withut a need for a single support creative, despite there being a HUGE office filled with people. I guess they are just all there to get them coffee or be sex toys.

Now granted, I’ve been kind of stuck in “web design world” for a few years now, I’ve never been at a honest to god Ad agency, but PLEASE, do people even still USE markers? Jesus Christ, they were well on the way out in 1994 when I was graduating design school.

There are musicians on call who can write ditties, there are voice over people in every city who will come in a cut a track for a presentation. And agencies have a HUGE staff of creatives who think up, prepare and design all this stuff. In the old days due to costs marker and pen sketches on big white boards where a easy cost saving way, but now with computers you can show them a near complete mock up on a huge conference room screen if you wanted.

Mary Help me out, this one actually bugs the crap out of me… How much work DOES the AE’s do that is directly creative these days? I can’t imagine its more Than “Good job, guys, I think they’ll like this! I’ll present it tommorrow.”