35mm Independent TV Pilot "The Triboro"

[Jon Petro]

Hello,

 

http://www.vimeo.com/1819417

 

The above TV Pilot took about 2 years to put together. Although the pilot is only 11 minutes long over 130 pages were shot for 35 days of nights with a crew of 20, a cast of over 40, 30 locations, and so much more.

 

I dropped out of film school the early part of my junior year of college to make it. The amazing crew consisted of my film school friends and the actors were all out of NY. Everyone worked for free.

 

I performed nearly every key role on the production (to my mental and physical detriment) Writer, Director, Producer, DP, Editor, Composer, Production Designer...etc.

 

It is stupid to list, which is why i made up some names in the credits. However, it was amazingly educational and I learned so much more making this than I did at film school.

 

I honestly could write a book about the adventures involved in producing this and the 120 pages that were shot and you aren't seeing. (At this time I have no plans on completing the first 3 episodes of this series.)

 

 

 

TECHNICALS

 

We shot on Fuji Eterna 500t 35mm

 

Moviecam Super America (Heavy block of metal)

 

Zeiss Superspeeds

 

Lighting was largley put together through Home Depot painter lights and a small rented package.

 

And lots and lots of China Balls.

 

 

 

 

I would love to answer any questions, welcome any comments or feedback. It was about 2 years worth of work and I just want people to see it.

 

It just recently was accepted to the New York Television Festival where it was awarded Best Director.

 

I do hope you enjoy,

 

Jon Pivko

[XiaoSu Han]

hey, looks really really good!

 

and the acting is very believable and the story seems cool as well

 

hope you get picked up and we can see the full series on tv! :)

[Jon Petro]

hey, looks really really good!

 

and the acting is very believable and the story seems cool as well

 

hope you get picked up and we can see the full series on tv! :)

 

 

Thank you for the kind words XiaoSu Han.

[Ram Shani]

this is great stuff

 

story, cinematography,acting,directing

 

the look of it is just beautiful

 

there is some kind of direct view on the life of this teen and there world

 

greet work

 

q

 

1- how did you light the scene when the buy bang on there car in the parking?

 

2- what light you used to light the front yard of the house where they bring the drank friend?

 

3- did you push the film

[Jon Petro]

this is great stuff

 

story, cinematography,acting,directing

 

the look of it is just beautiful

 

there is some kind of direct view on the life of this teen and there world

 

greet work

 

q

 

1- how did you light the scene when the buy bang on there car in the parking?

 

2- what light you used to light the front yard of the house where they bring the drank friend?

 

3- did you push the film

 

Ram,

 

Thanks for taking the time to view the pilot and for your kind words. Allow me to address your questions one by one.

 

1 - The front of the convenience store was lit with 4 1k China balls on stands on the roof of the store. We also had a few 650s shooting down toward the car area that had green on them to match the color temp of the inside of the convenience store. The flourescents inside were uncorrected and green. That way when we timed the flourescent lights to normal the 650s went white and the 1k china balls became purple/pink which explains the purple/pink glow over the scene. When they were in the car we also had a store bought flourescent cieling light as the key on their face which also timed down from green to nearly white, although in the case of the key on their face I think it is still a little greenish since the bulb must have been even greener than the convenience store flourescents.

 

2 - The front yard where they bring the drunk kid was lit with another 1k china ball on the roof of the house. We also had 2 650s pointed toward the driveway to simulate house flood lights and finally an HMI on the trees in the back ground. This scene was pulled 1 stop.

 

3 - Nothing was pushed. Only a couple scenes were pulled. The stuff at the house where they drop the drunk kids off, and other scenes not included in the pilot.

 

I hope that was clear and helpful to you.

 

Thanks for watching,

 

Jon

[Phil Rhodes]

You do realise this simply will never be picked up, right?

 

They commission pilots, you don't go hawking them, usually.

 

P

[Jon Petro]

You do realise this simply will never be picked up, right?

 

They commission pilots, you don't go hawking them, usually.

 

P

 

Phil,

 

You are wrong.

 

Independent Pilots can be sold on an idea basis just like they would buy a script for a show.

 

I was just at the New York Television Festival with this and people have sold shows there before. Also some people were getting interest this year. In a way it helps you stand out from a pile of scripts.

 

Regardless, I do not think anyone will buy my show. But if someone showed up with Mad Men the independent pilot that would be a different story.

 

Jon

[Olivier Vanaschen]

Hello Jon,

 

I loved the hands-on approach and the final result! Great great work! Best luck for what's next !

 

Take care,

 

Olivier

[Keneu Luca]

Looks good.

 

Even if you don't get the pilot, this will obviously lead to good things for you.

[Jon Petro]

Looks good.

 

Even if you don't get the pilot, this will obviously lead to good things for you.

 

Thanks both of you guys. The knowledge alone made it worth it. I have some new projects in the works and I am excited to get further into them.

 

Jon

[Saul Rodgar]

Looks good, man. The stock definitely looks Fuji-like, which is great in that is not Kodak-overused. Who owns the camera and lens package? That was probably not cheap. Did you bankroll it? If you don't mind my asking that is.

 

Don't be bugged by jerks like Phil. Like you said, the learning experience alone is worth doing it ten times over. Some people just have their heads too far up their butts to realize this.

[Jon Petro]

Looks good, man. The stock definitely looks Fuji-like, which is great in that is not Kodak-overused. Who owns the camera and lens package? That was probably not cheap. Did you bankroll it? If you don't mind my asking that is.

 

Don't be bugged by jerks like Phil. Like you said, the learning experience alone is worth doing it ten times over. Some people just have their heads too far up their butts to realize this.

 

It is fuji stock and I must say it was awesome. The camera and lenses were rented from a rental house in Boston that I do not want to mention because I do not want to endorse them in any way. I am pretty sure their camera they rented us was stolen from CSC. The lenses were in pretty poor condition too. But because of these circumstances our package was so cheap so that is why we went with them.

 

The whole production was paid for by credit and borrowed money from loved ones.

 

Phil has no bearing on my mood. He is just wrong and I wanted to let him know.

[Chris Keth]

There's a lot of good stuff there. You got me interested in seeing more. I loved peeking through the fence at the guy getting beat up.

 

I didn't care for your angles for the "next time" conversation under all of those streetlights. You would cut back and forth and one streetlight post would stay in approximately the same place in frame but the people would switch. I found that awkward. Other than that I like the way you cut it, too.