Rachael MacKinnon pitch thread

rmackinnon wrote:

"No Germz 4 U." I had told you a quick little snipit of this idea in the hall, and I would really like to do it this weekend. I think the ShamWow commercial is the funniest commercial ever because the guy is just so odd. He talks so fast and is so quirky. So I thought:
"Hey it's Rachael MacKinnon here and you know what time it is? Cold and flu time. And you know what you need to stop it? HAND SANITIZER."
But every sentence is a different angle and I am just so enthusiastic about this hand sanitizer. I start by explaining:
"Put it on ya hands.
Put it on ya arms.
Put it on ya calves.
Put it on ya binders.
Ya lockahs.
Ya teachers.
Ya homework.
I REALLY DONT CARE WHAT YOU PUT IT ON THIS PRODUCT IS JUST SO VERSATILE!
Put it on ya cat!
Ya othah cat!!
All ya cats!!
Put it on your oatmeal.
Ya apples.
Ya face.
Ya pet turtle!"
You get the point. It's a fast moving, weird voice talking ad about a product that everyone already knows about.
I'll present it in a way that will make me just about as bizarre as the Shamwow guy, but I'll add my own little twist. Another point of emphasis is that I will not be using real hand sanitizer. I have an empty bottle that I'll just fill up with water and mix it with something else to give it the consistency of hand sanitizer without the harmful effects of putting it on all the products I just named.

OCT 21

I can't wait to see the final product. Has potential to be classic.



PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

"What I Learned In Boating School Is..." The title is probably one of the most quoted SpongeBob lines ever. And it is so applicable to the seniors in their process of writing the college essay. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] This clip is what made me really think of this idea. We have everyone sitting at a computer around the room. Some people are rocking back and forth, others are sucking their thumb, and some are crying. We pan by each person and intercept their thoughts in the process.
one person: "What I learned in boating school is... WHAT I LEARNED IN BOATING SCHOOL IS!"
next person: "Blankity blankity blank."
next person: "Forty six, forty six pancakes in a steel treasure chest."
And so on and so forth, just forming random sentences that don't make sense in order to convey the message of epic confusion. When everyone is done with their "thoughts," the camera is back at the front of the room and it is just completely silent, yet everyone is still doing their stressed out motions.

OCT 23

I sense great potential swimming around in here, but it's not really all that clear to me exactly how it plays out in this one. Perhaps I just have no point of reference for the boating school thing, not having watched Spongebob and all (one of those things that came along after my generation). But if the target audience will pick up on the reference, that's what really matters of course, so that's why I say that I can SENSE the potential here, but I do need some further explanation on it in person to explain precisely how all the random thoughts and rocking, etc. connect.

PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

"A Tour of Colleges." With the new green screen, we will be able to do so many cool "journeys," if you will. I think a good one would be a tour of some colleges in this area. Maybe the Ivy Leagues or maybe some state schools. We can stand in front of the green screen and give a virtual picture tour of each place. Not only will this be useful to just seniors, but it will be interesting for every grade to watch. We can give facts such as average GPAs accepted, acceptance rates, and some majors included. Concise but informative.

OCT 27



Hmm, quite interesting. Do we really need the green screen though? Or could we just do some video overviews? It just seems like we could cut to the video really, unless I'm missing something. If there's a particular NEED to show a person in front of the footage, then sure, we could just do it on the green screen, but I'm not clear if that's a necessity or not.

But it's an interesting idea, one I'd love to see happen if we can get some footage of various schools. It'd be an awesome assignment for juniors and seniors to go get footage of a school they visit and do an overview report on it like you're saying here. I like the concept a ton.

PITCH: 10

"And I Approve this Message." Since Sarah and I are both on the new desk and also in the homecoming court, we should make a "commercial" to run down the other candidate. It will be sarah talking about all the good she had done, then she'll say "but Rachael lip syncs while on stage, goes up the wrong side of the stairs, and doesn't know how to write in cursive" while it's me doing random stuff in slow motion black and white. I start talking about how I'm the good guy, but Sarah "doesn't have a TI-83 calculator, steals peoples backpacks, and doesn't write passes." Then we fight over approving this message. When it goes back to the desk, we aren't looking at eachother and we are thoroughly annoyed (in a joking way of course).

rmackinnon wrote:

"And I Approve this Message." Since Sarah and I are both on the new desk and also in the homecoming court, we should make a "commercial" to run down the other candidate. It will be sarah talking about all the good she had done, then she'll say "but Rachael lip syncs while on stage, goes up the wrong side of the stairs, and doesn't know how to write in cursive" while it's me doing random stuff in slow motion black and white. I start talking about how I'm the good guy, but Sarah "doesn't have a TI-83 calculator, steals peoples backpacks, and doesn't write passes." Then we fight over approving this message. When it goes back to the desk, we aren't looking at eachother and we are thoroughly annoyed (in a joking way of course).

OCT 29

Strong potential, but missed the window. I wonder if there's any other venue/issue to spin it for? Maybe not, but worth considering.

PITCH: 10

"Heeeey Ms. Cotta." The song Partition by Beyonce starts with "lemme hear ya say heeeey Miss Carter" but it sounds like "cotta" because she doesn't pronounce the "er." So I would like to choreograph a dance with Sarah, Ms. Cotta, and I, an portray Cotta as Queen B and us as her backup dancers. She is such a well-known teacher and I know she would be totally down to help us out. We'll end the PSA when it says "drums" at the end of the intro.

There's a vending machine in the cafeteria that doesn't work, meaning it just won't accept dollars. So it starts out that we are starving, lying on the hall floor. Someone says "wait!! There's a vending machine in the caf!!" We get up the motivation to crawl towards the caf, turn the corner, and see our savior. When we stand up, all excited to get our food from the vending machine, it rejects our dollar. Every. Single. Time. We do different camera shot angles of the dollar being rejected. And then everyone falls to their knees and screams nooooo! Then we gather ourselves up. Someone goes "well there's always rams den!" Then we begin crawling towards rams den. End.

"Shake It Off, A Block Edition." So I'm sure you have heard Taylor Swift's newest single Shake It Off. Not only is it a catchy song, but it is also a really fun music video. I think it would be super fun to do a remake of the original music video, but as an A Block edition. Here's the original: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
As you can see, she starts off wearing a ballerina tutu. I have several tutus because I used to be a dancer. At one point she's a cheerleader. Tyna is a cheerleader. We will assign different lines to everyone in the class and even choreograph little snipets of dances. The final product would be such a hoot.

"I Can't Stop.... Saving The Environment." There's a group of maybe four of us (I like the idea of Sarah, Tyna, Kat, and I) (a nice little throwback) and we go around doing stuff to save the environment. But it's to the tune of this song: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] . We have such a hardo outlook on saving the environment and recycling, and we JUST CANT STOP DOING IT!! ITS SUCH A RUSH OMG!!! We can have eye black on and leather jackets and construction boots, but we are doing the simplest things like planting flowers, and aggressively throwing litter in the trash, and tossing water bottles in green bins, and turning off lights. The video will feature lots of visual effects (I'm feeling a strobe-light kind of look) that gives a rap-video feel.

rmackinnon wrote:

"Heeeey Ms. Cotta." The song Partition by Beyonce starts with "lemme hear ya say heeeey Miss Carter" but it sounds like "cotta" because she doesn't pronounce the "er." So I would like to choreograph a dance with Sarah, Ms. Cotta, and I, an portray Cotta as Queen B and us as her backup dancers. She is such a well-known teacher and I know she would be totally down to help us out. We'll end the PSA when it says "drums" at the end of the intro.

OCT 31

I'd like to get a reference embedded in the pitch here to get a listen to the song line you're referencing. If you can get it pulled off the way you're describing it, the potential is there for a solid bit. The ceiling will be higher for those who know her than those who don't of course, but I like its potential overall. I'm not sure if she'd indeed do it or not, so I'd make sure you have a rock solid, detailed plan in place before even bringing it up to her.

PITCH: 9 (because I can't get a listen here to the line of the song this entire pitch is based on)

rmackinnon wrote:

There's a vending machine in the cafeteria that doesn't work, meaning it just won't accept dollars. So it starts out that we are starving, lying on the hall floor. Someone says "wait!! There's a vending machine in the caf!!" We get up the motivation to crawl towards the caf, turn the corner, and see our savior. When we stand up, all excited to get our food from the vending machine, it rejects our dollar. Every. Single. Time. We do different camera shot angles of the dollar being rejected. And then everyone falls to their knees and screams nooooo! Then we gather ourselves up. Someone goes "well there's always rams den!" Then we begin crawling towards rams den. End.

NOV 4

Solid. I like some of your other ideas better, but this is pretty good for a fallback option.

PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

"I Can't Stop.... Saving The Environment." There's a group of maybe four of us (I like the idea of Sarah, Tyna, Kat, and I) (a nice little throwback) and we go around doing stuff to save the environment. But it's to the tune of this song: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] . We have such a hardo outlook on saving the environment and recycling, and we JUST CANT STOP DOING IT!! ITS SUCH A RUSH OMG!!! We can have eye black on and leather jackets and construction boots, but we are doing the simplest things like planting flowers, and aggressively throwing litter in the trash, and tossing water bottles in green bins, and turning off lights. The video will feature lots of visual effects (I'm feeling a strobe-light kind of look) that gives a rap-video feel.

NOV 6



Classic in the making. Totally need a hardcore gangsta rap about how you can't stop recycling and living green. It's such a perfect ridiculous topic for the hardcore rap style of presentation, which is what makes it so funny.

My one big tweak that I'd suggest here is to actually not go back with the 4 girls here. I don't mean it as anything against that casting whatsoever, but since you did a video in a somewhat similar vein with that cast, I'd suggest switching it up and exploring a crossover cast of you, Sarah, Trevor, and Danny. It'd be more challenging to film, sure, but worth it for the final result. And then the audience wouldn't be so compelled to view it as a straight comparison to the leggings rap, as it would stand on its own as a much more independent product.

I love this though. The ceiling is a mile high.

I just can't wait to hear "chlorofluorocarbons" worked into a hardcore rap song.

PITCH: 10

"Funny Skool." Hey everyone!! Yeah you!! Sarah and I have been hearing your generous and frank feedback! Thanks so much for your time, and sorry we haven't been living up to the high standard you put us on!! For that reason, we have decided it is in our best interest to attend "Funny Skool" let by Dr. Mr. Professor Liam Keane. Yes, you heard us, funny skool.
Liam holds up a cardboard sign with "funny skool" written in crayon and asks us if we are looking to expand our comedic horizons. A montage ensues of Sarah and I following Liam's lead through a series of ridiculous actions (kind of like over-the-top slapstick humor) like putting or faces in a whip cream pie, honking bicycle horns, wearing wigs, etc... Then Liam stands in front of us with a sin graph and a exponential growth chart and we take notes as he points at these.

I know I want to do something along these lines... Do you see another route we could go? I pictured slapstick comedy in fast motion with a circus song in the background. What do you think?

Thank you... Boat shoes for tearing my feet to shreds and pieces before allowing me to wear you comfortably.

Sarah and I have a test last block but we forgot our books to study. But who has everything? Backpack from Dora, of course!! We are standing on the green screen and the backpack is singing and showing us everything he has. He usually has the most random things and we begin to get stressed by how he doesn't have our textbook.
"Backpack, you specifically said that anything that we might need, you'll have inside."
We start arguing with backpack but this conversation is going no where because it's almost like he cannot hear what we are saying. His stupid backpack face is still happily plastered onto the green screen as our blood pressure goes through the roof.

"What's it Like to be a Celebrity." So Sarah and I introduce this as "so many people have been asking us what it's like to be so famous now from MSB... And we think it's a little like this."
This song starts at the la la's: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(I have no idea what the music video is so.. If it's inappropriate then whoops)
Me and Sarah step out of the car, I'm wearing heels, we start walking in slow motion, Sarah looks at my heels, makes a face, I look down, take off my heels, carry them in.
People are waiting alongside the sidewalk and we are signing signatures.
We walk down the hall whipping our hair (slow motion-ified). We walk up to get a drink from the fountain, but someone is there and they quickly back away and now down.
Excessive stuff like that.

"Lives of Cats." So there is a YouTube clip that I love and it's about two cats that are bickering back and forth. And I remember sports last year did a VoiceOver with the rams climbing the mountain and it worked well. So sarah and I are these cats: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
And we'll be talking about telecom related stuff. And match up our words to how their lips move.

NOV 10: 0

rmackinnon wrote:

"Funny Skool." Hey everyone!! Yeah you!! Sarah and I have been hearing your generous and frank feedback! Thanks so much for your time, and sorry we haven't been living up to the high standard you put us on!! For that reason, we have decided it is in our best interest to attend "Funny Skool" let by Dr. Mr. Professor Liam Keane. Yes, you heard us, funny skool.
Liam holds up a cardboard sign with "funny skool" written in crayon and asks us if we are looking to expand our comedic horizons. A montage ensues of Sarah and I following Liam's lead through a series of ridiculous actions (kind of like over-the-top slapstick humor) like putting or faces in a whip cream pie, honking bicycle horns, wearing wigs, etc... Then Liam stands in front of us with a sin graph and a exponential growth chart and we take notes as he points at these.

I know I want to do something along these lines... Do you see another route we could go? I pictured slapstick comedy in fast motion with a circus song in the background. What do you think?

NOV 13

I like the spirit of it, but there will never be pleasing lots of haters. So I don't know that it accomplishes what it should in theory. My concern is that it almost gives credence to it in some ways, but I might be dissuaded from that though if you want to discuss it further. But as a pitch it's solid.

PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

Thank you... Boat shoes for tearing my feet to shreds and pieces before allowing me to wear you comfortably.

NOV 17

Good topic. We might revise the punch line perhaps, worth discussing, but has potential to fit into the mix for sure.

PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

Sarah and I have a test last block but we forgot our books to study. But who has everything? Backpack from Dora, of course!! We are standing on the green screen and the backpack is singing and showing us everything he has. He usually has the most random things and we begin to get stressed by how he doesn't have our textbook.
"Backpack, you specifically said that anything that we might need, you'll have inside."
We start arguing with backpack but this conversation is going no where because it's almost like he cannot hear what we are saying. His stupid backpack face is still happily plastered onto the green screen as our blood pressure goes through the roof.

NOV 19

I love the potential of interacting with a cartoon, because we can voice over pretty much anything and make it work as the cartoon character's dialogue. I dig where this one could head.

PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

"What's it Like to be a Celebrity." So Sarah and I introduce this as "so many people have been asking us what it's like to be so famous now from MSB... And we think it's a little like this."
This song starts at the la la's: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(I have no idea what the music video is so.. If it's inappropriate then whoops)
Me and Sarah step out of the car, I'm wearing heels, we start walking in slow motion, Sarah looks at my heels, makes a face, I look down, take off my heels, carry them in.
People are waiting alongside the sidewalk and we are signing signatures.
We walk down the hall whipping our hair (slow motion-ified). We walk up to get a drink from the fountain, but someone is there and they quickly back away and now down.
Excessive stuff like that.

NOV 21

Excellent potential, but it kind of needs a bubble burst at the end I think. Sort of like Mike MacNeil's old skit based off the Eastbound and Down scene. Ask me in class and we'll find it, could be a good reference point.

PITCH: 10

rmackinnon wrote:

"Lives of Cats." So there is a YouTube clip that I love and it's about two cats that are bickering back and forth. And I remember sports last year did a VoiceOver with the rams climbing the mountain and it worked well. So sarah and I are these cats: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
And we'll be talking about telecom related stuff. And match up our words to how their lips move.

NOV 25

There's good potential for the first half, but I got bored in the second half, and it's less than a minute long. So it could be decent, but you might not need to even use the whole clip, could just make it a super fast bit you cut away to.

PITCH: 10

"Baby it's Cold Outside." Sarah and I are singing the popular Christmas jingle "baby it's cold outside" but it's a remix. I'm singing the guy part with Sarah responding as he has to do homework and get home to start a project.
S- I really can't stay
R- Sarah it's cold outside
S- *talking not singing for rest of song* no seriously I have to get home and do homework
R- but Sarah it's cold outside
S- no this has been great but let go of my arm
R- look out the window at that... Snow?
S- I also have a test tomorrow, LET GO
R- mind if I move in..
S- why are you hugging me
R- what's the sense in hurting my pride

And at the part where it says "say what's in this drink" Sarah is holding a juice box instead.

"Sounds Like a Lotta Hooplah." Sarah and I are discussing the newest and hippest songs of 2014.. but there's a catch. We don't really know all the words because there is a lot of techno in them.
S- Hey you know that cool new song?
R- Which one?
S- The one that's like: Is it worth it, Lemme work in, wa wa dada dada ye yeee..
R- Um yeah.. i guess that kinda sounds familiar.. but have you heard the other one with Jay-Z and beyonce that's like "NEWWW YORRRRK! da da da da weeee wa wawaaaaaaa baaah!!!!"


And so on and so forth.