MakingOf: Ive seen you talk about pitching before in an interview and you were saying how it was easy with Will Ferrell. But that was a couple years ago, so how have things changed and what advice would you have more for aspiring screen writers going out and trying to do their thing. 

 

Adam McKay: Well you know, there are a bunch of different ways to go about it. The reason it was easy with Will was because half the battle was done. You could see the face of the lead, you knew what it was going to be. At the same time, we couldn’t get make Anchorman made. That was before Will was big. Once Will hit, we still had to write out a two page treatment, you still had to tell them the story, you still had to tell them jokes. People always say, oh, you pitched Talladega by saying Will Ferrell. NASCAR. But that’s not true, we did had a whole pitch. You still kind of had to let them know what the movie was going to be, talk about the style, talk about who you are seeing in it. So, when you pitch with the star already attached, it helps a lot, there’s no question about it. If you are pitching naked as a writer just with an idea, there is a lot more weight on the idea to have sort of twist or a bend or something original. It is a much more premise based situation without a performer attached to it. So I always tell people when they have an idea that is not a twisty, turny, cleaver idea, but its a good idea... I mean some of the best comedy ideas are very simple ideas, like two grown men who become step brothers. That’s hardly a premise even. But it is wide open. So I always tell people try and get an actor or a director or someone attached before you go in, because it helps. And then if you can’t, then you have a big burden to pitch a lot the jokes and the style that you are going to have. At that point I would even almost say just write the script. Don’t even go and pitch it on it’s own. Make the script your pitch and its original voice. There’s a lot of different ways to pitch things. There’s a lot of different ways to walk in that door, whether you already have a star attached, whether you have a speck script, that certainly does all your work for you. Whether its good... you know. If it’s good they go crazy for it. If it’s not, then its clear cut. It all depends on how you are pitching stuff. I mean, we have gone an pitched stuff without Will attached that we are just producing, and it is a whole different conversation. 

 

(MO): The buzz from today is just the lost Anchorman 2 scenario. 

 

(AM): Yeah.

 

(MO): Can you talk a little about that, briefly what that story was. And then, just why did that not work. Why can’t that work? If you can. 

 

(AM): Oh, yeah, sure. There is no hard feelings between Paramount and us. We get it. They are a corporation, they do business how they think fit. We are still doing two other movies with them, so everything is fine. But yeah, basically we had this idea, this kind of crazy idea, that we were going to do Anchorman 2 as a musical on Broadway, premiere it for four months, and with the whole cast, run it for four months and then right as soon as it was done, go and shoot the movie sort of Marx Brothers style. And everyone agreed. Carell was in, Rudd was in, Koechner, Applegate... I mean, everyone was in. We went and pitched it to Paramount. And of course, Adam Goodman is a big executive over there, and he did the first Anchorman, so he was super excited. They loved the Broadway musical idea, which is what we thought was going to be the stumbling block and they totally got it, they were super cool about it. But you know, a lot of these studios run comps on movies and they look at what the first one did box office wise and foreign is very important now. The truth with Anchorman was that it did pretty good in the box office. It made money. It did very very, well, but it didn’t make a fortune. It made 85 and then another 5 or 10 overseas and they just ran those numbers. And our argument was, well you really have to look at it like Austin Powers where, yeah, we did good, but it got kind of know on DVD and cable. That is sort of where it really took off. We were like, God, there is no way you are just going to do 85 again. You are going to at least do 125. And your foreign money, it got really popular in England and Australia, I would think it would at least do 40. These were sort of our worst case scenario numbers. And I think it’d even do better than that. But they got to run their numbers and that is how they saw it. Based on other movies we have done and foreign performance, it just didn’t track with what they wanted to do. But, you know, it’s fine. We have lots of other ideas. And maybe ultimately it’s for the best because you do sequels and they are never as good as the first one. So it is probably better. It makes us keep doing original ideas. And who knows, it might come back someday too, maybe in a couple of years. It was tough to get everyone lined up though, so it’s going to at least take a couple of years. So, that’s the story. 

 

(MO): I heard John C. Reilly speak and he said the first time he really felt like he could completely embody a character was with you. 

 

(AM): Oh, really? That’s very nice. 

 

(MO): He has worked in so many amazing films. Can you describe your process of directing and collaboration? 

 

(AM): From the limited acting I have done, I do know one thing, which is that it is really important to be in the room and feel like you can make mistakes. I always try and create that. In fact, I think without mistakes you don’t get to good stuff. So, that is a big thing on our set. I will literally tell actors, like, make the wrong move. Do something that is wrong. I just want to see some choices. Let’s start feeling it out. And Reilly is so smart and such a good improviser. He really flourished in that environment. I mean, Reilly is wickedly funny. You give that guy a little room and he knows how to use it. And then you combine it with the fact that he is an amazingly grounded actor and so intelligent in his choices, he was just like... he blew us away. He was amazing. Adam McKay discusses pitching

Adam McKay discusses pitching & "Anchorman 2"

 

MakingOf: Ive seen you talk about pitching before in an interview and you were saying how it was easy with Will Ferrell. But that was a couple years ago, so how have things changed and what advice would you have more for aspiring screen writers going out and trying to do their thing. 

 

Adam McKay: Well you know, there are a bunch of different ways to go about it. The reason it was easy with Will was because half the battle was done. You could see the face of the lead, you knew what it was going to be. At the same time, we couldn’t get make Anchorman made. That was before Will was big. Once Will hit, we still had to write out a two page treatment, you still had to tell them the story, you still had to tell them jokes. People always say, oh, you pitched Talladega by saying Will Ferrell. NASCAR. But that’s not true, we did had a whole pitch. You still kind of had to let them know what the movie was going to be, talk about the style, talk about who you are seeing in it. So, when you pitch with the star already attached, it helps a lot, there’s no question about it. If you are pitching naked as a writer just with an idea, there is a lot more weight on the idea to have sort of twist or a bend or something original. It is a much more premise based situation without a performer attached to it. So I always tell people when they have an idea that is not a twisty, turny, cleaver idea, but its a good idea... I mean some of the best comedy ideas are very simple ideas, like two grown men who become step brothers. That’s hardly a premise even. But it is wide open. So I always tell people try and get an actor or a director or someone attached before you go in, because it helps. And then if you can’t, then you have a big burden to pitch a lot the jokes and the style that you are going to have. At that point I would even almost say just write the script. Don’t even go and pitch it on it’s own. Make the script your pitch and its original voice. There’s a lot of different ways to pitch things. There’s a lot of different ways to walk in that door, whether you already have a star attached, whether you have a speck script, that certainly does all your work for you. Whether its good... you know. If it’s good they go crazy for it. If it’s not, then its clear cut. It all depends on how you are pitching stuff. I mean, we have gone an pitched stuff without Will attached that we are just producing, and it is a whole different conversation. 

 

(MO): The buzz from today is just the lost Anchorman 2 scenario. 

 

(AM): Yeah.

 

(MO): Can you talk a little about that, briefly what that story was. And then, just why did that not work. Why can’t that work? If you can. 

 

(AM): Oh, yeah, sure. There is no hard feelings between Paramount and us. We get it. They are a corporation, they do business how they think fit. We are still doing two other movies with them, so everything is fine. But yeah, basically we had this idea, this kind of crazy idea, that we were going to do Anchorman 2 as a musical on Broadway, premiere it for four months, and with the whole cast, run it for four months and then right as soon as it was done, go and shoot the movie sort of Marx Brothers style. And everyone agreed. Carell was in, Rudd was in, Koechner, Applegate... I mean, everyone was in. We went and pitched it to Paramount. And of course, Adam Goodman is a big executive over there, and he did the first Anchorman, so he was super excited. They loved the Broadway musical idea, which is what we thought was going to be the stumbling block and they totally got it, they were super cool about it. But you know, a lot of these studios run comps on movies and they look at what the first one did box office wise and foreign is very important now. The truth with Anchorman was that it did pretty good in the box office. It made money. It did very very, well, but it didn’t make a fortune. It made 85 and then another 5 or 10 overseas and they just ran those numbers. And our argument was, well you really have to look at it like Austin Powers where, yeah, we did good, but it got kind of know on DVD and cable. That is sort of where it really took off. We were like, God, there is no way you are just going to do 85 again. You are going to at least do 125. And your foreign money, it got really popular in England and Australia, I would think it would at least do 40. These were sort of our worst case scenario numbers. And I think it’d even do better than that. But they got to run their numbers and that is how they saw it. Based on other movies we have done and foreign performance, it just didn’t track with what they wanted to do. But, you know, it’s fine. We have lots of other ideas. And maybe ultimately it’s for the best because you do sequels and they are never as good as the first one. So it is probably better. It makes us keep doing original ideas. And who knows, it might come back someday too, maybe in a couple of years. It was tough to get everyone lined up though, so it’s going to at least take a couple of years. So, that’s the story. 

 

(MO): I heard John C. Reilly speak and he said the first time he really felt like he could completely embody a character was with you. 

 

(AM): Oh, really? That’s very nice. 

 

(MO): He has worked in so many amazing films. Can you describe your process of directing and collaboration? 

 

(AM): From the limited acting I have done, I do know one thing, which is that it is really important to be in the room and feel like you can make mistakes. I always try and create that. In fact, I think without mistakes you don’t get to good stuff. So, that is a big thing on our set. I will literally tell actors, like, make the wrong move. Do something that is wrong. I just want to see some choices. Let’s start feeling it out. And Reilly is so smart and such a good improviser. He really flourished in that environment. I mean, Reilly is wickedly funny. You give that guy a little room and he knows how to use it. And then you combine it with the fact that he is an amazingly grounded actor and so intelligent in his choices, he was just like... he blew us away. He was amazing.