The hoarsed cry of Allal El Alaoui ( Part 3 )

Yesterday, i went up to SNRT to see some of my colleagues and also to see if things become much better than it is now.Unforunately; things are still freezy and negative. People are shocked to see that some of SNRT bureaucrats known to be in French" Brats cassés" still invade their posts and command with total ignorance and illiteracy their workers . Some say that SNRT could become Tahrir square where film-makers, journalists and technicians express their agony and pain, others say that SNRT has already been a place of Moroccan identity revealing consciousness and awareness .SNRT- x - RTM becomes an important media institution where people find their dignity and one- self.

Weary with toil, I haste to Khalid Akdi to ask him about evolutions of the recent hoarsed cries of SNRT technicians, journalists and TV Directors.

Akdi: hello Allal.Nice to see you.

Allal: Nice to see u too.

Akdi: Well. I have seen your hoarsed cry. I think your cry has been truthful and honest. You know Allal; people still come to me suggesting burning themselves at SNRT square which is a reaction that I totally disagree. They want to YouTube videos to express their ugly situations.

Allal: I am not surprised about this fact. Ignorance still continues in SNRT.

Akdi: We have done sit-in and talked to the government officials to negotiate about our cause .Can't you remember?

Allal: Yes, I can.

Akdi: At this moment, we have not yet decided to do anything. We still gather our force to react and soon we will edit out our own opinion about these continuous demonstrations of SNRT workers. A notice will be hung soon.

Allal: my cry was meant to be more personnel and professional rather than anything else. It is true I am with dignity callers. My video release has come out right from my own house. That means my fight has no union or political agenda despite of my sympathisation of unionists .I feel so sorry that my manager has not fulfilled his promise to run an artistic program about painting what is more I have finished writing a Tele film, first road-movie ever produced in SNRT called " The forbidden Freedom".

Akdi:I know you as TV director and blogger. I usually follow your blog. I think you are serious and things will go in good direction for you hopefully. What I suggest to you is that you come next Monday to propose your ideas for our union and we shall see what we can do.

The pitch by Azedin El Ouafi

About the example for pitches: the basic point is that you should tell your idea / story in half a page. Your story should be written in an understandable way. Also, there has to be a clear and simple storyline with an interesting character in it. It is always good to accompany your story with some pictures.

The first thing you must remember when writing your pitch is that it is a sales tool. The job of the pitch is to get someone else to request (and hopefully) read your script. This makes it very different from an advertising campaign for an existing movie. In other words, a pitch is not a tagline or a tease.

A pitch is a compressed retelling of the story of your script. The trick is in how you do the compressing so that the most enticing elements of your story are transmitted to the reader.

My favorite approach to this task is something I call the "Once upon a time" method. Here's how it works:

1) Imagine you had to recreate your script as a bedtime story. Start with "Once upon a time" and go from there. Don't worry about creating a beat-by-beat repeat of script. Focus on telling the story. This first draft will likely be a little long. Usually, my first draft of this exercise runs 1-3 pages. Keep in mind that you are writing a bedtime story so keeping it short and sweet is part of the goal.

2) Once I have my first draft I go back through it and see if there are any elements I could cut out completely without losing the central plot. Every good script has subplots and neat character bits but this is not what sells your script. It is a great central story that people want to read. The rest is gravy. Be brave and don't worry about leaving parts out - stick to the headlines and big ideas that make your script stand out in the crowd.

3) At this point I usually like to actually record myself reading my existing pitch aloud. Listening back to my own voice reading the pitch is incredibly telling. I can immediately pick out poor grammar, sloppy phrases and run-on thoughts. I can also easily begin playing with the words so that they scan more cleanly. There is nothing more upsetting than reading what could be a cool pitch only to find the writer struggles to convey the ideas in a strong and vibrant voice.

4) My next step is to rewrite based on what I have learned in step 3 then I repeat step 3 (and step 4) until I can listen back to my own pitch without cringing or spacing out or losing interest.

5) Whatever I have after this process is what I consider my first working draft of a pitch. Now, I take that pitch and I read it (or recite it from memory) to anyone who will listen. I'm not talking about industry professionals but friends and relatives. If they don't find my pitch intriguing there is no way that a professional reader is going to be impressed. Trust those close to you and ask them for feedback. These are your eventual audience should you script get made so it makes sense to hear what they have to say.

6) At this point, I should have something pretty darn close to my final summary. This should be a one-paragraph document and no longer. A short summary should be somewhere between 3-6 sentences, no more.

7) Now comes the logline. This is simply your short summary compressed one more time resulting in a single sentence that tells the reader the key elements of your story. This is NOT a tagline or a tease - it must convey real information about your script and it must be specific. There is no value in a logline that could apply to a half-dozen movies. Again, this is a real editing process. Your first draft might be two or more sentences but you must cut it back to one.

( Part 2) The hoarsed cry in English by Allal El Alaoui

Again Allal has spoken out for the sake of freedom of journalists, film-makers and technicians in SNRT.He sates that Dar El Brhi becomes a place of awareness and consciousness of Moroccan people and that it time right time to speak out in order to promote arts which Moroccan society needs at this moment.

.Allal El Alaoui continues to say that Arts and fanatism do not match together and only arts can help to develop civil society because according to Allal Art is a noble instrument that reveals good and bad side of mankind.