Movie Review:The TV Set

This movie is about a writer, Mike Klein, who wanted to pilot a comdey TV series. The series was to be titled "The Wexler Chronicles" and the plot was derived from his real life experiences. It tells a story about the life of a lawyer who's very affected when his brother committed suicide.

While Mike was working on it from the casting to the actual shooting of the pilot episode, he was being manipulated by the network he's working for, his manager, his producer and even his own director. The first instance was when he was looking for an actor who'd play the role of the 'lawyer'. He rooted for the guy he thinks would perfectly fit the role but his manager liked someone else. Second was when everybody wanted to change the story and cut out the "suicide" part, since it would be 'too depressing' for a comedy show. He was torn between two decisions: whether to change to plot and erase the suicide part, or not continue with the shoot. He tried to resist the opinions of his manager and of his producer, but he gave in to what they wanted when he talked to his wife about it. He realized they needed the money for their toddler and his pregnant wife.

As they were already shooting, everything was, of course, not how he wanted it to go. The set wasn't how he envisioned it to be, the shots were not how he wanted it to be and the actors do not live up to his expectations. Also, his network boss was pressuring him, again, to change the suicide part. He decided to do two versions of the pilot episode, one was the death of the brother and the other was the death of the mother. By the end of the movie, the network piloted the version where it's the mother who was dead before Mike even knew about it.

This movie presented the networks as ones who are hungry for new minds and then they suck the talent out of them. Mike Klein wanted to do a good pitch but then his bosses just used his ideas to create a whole new show. Perhaps this movie mirrors the realities behind the sitcoms we love watching nowadays. But for me, if I was Mike Klein, I would stand my ground and fight for the things that I wanted to do. After all, those are my ideas, I wouldn't let them create a whole new story under my name. If they are to, then might as well I stay out of it than to be labelled as someone who wrote yet another stupid show on television. Regarding his (Mike's) need for money, if I were him, I would walk out of the project and find someone who would accept  the story as it is. Besides, it would be the network's loss for it's them who wouldn't have anything to air. I'd like to believe that I am a good negotiator and if I were to end up in the same industry as Mike Klein, I wouldn't let this happen to me.