C hristian
10-13-2003, 10:01 AM
Hello This American Life friends and contributors,
>>
>> *Once again we come to you looking for stories, ideas and pitches.
>>
>> *If you're new to these emails, here's how the process works: when you
>> *send in a story idea to me, I'll forward it to the producer of the
>> *show in which it belongs. *One of them - Alex Blumberg, Diane Cook,
>> *Wendy Dorr or Starlee Kine - will get back to you if it fits the
>> *needs of that particular show.
>>
>> *If you have a story -- of if you've read or seen some work -- you
>> *think is especially well suited to the radio show but doesn't fit a
>> *specific theme listed below, we'd love to know about it. *We're
>> *always on the lookout for new stories and ideas.
>>
>> *Thanks so much,
>> *Julie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *Here are some shows we're working on which still need stories and ideas:
>>
>> *HELL ON EARTH: We have a story about a hellish place that's now
>> *housing refugees in the war on terror; a story about someone caught
>> *in bureaucratic hell, in a battle with the phone company; and a story
>> *built from tapes recorded by a U.S. reservist in Iraq. *We're still
>> *looking for a small story about some other kind of hell on earth: a
>> *relationship, a job, an illness, a political nightmare, a
>> *deteriorating situation of some sort.
>>
>>
>> *WANDERING THE EARTH FOR 900 YEARS: This is a show made of stories
>> *about people who made their bed, and now have to lie in it. *One
>> *writer is doing a retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, which ends
>> *with Cain wandering the earth for 900 years after killing his
>> *brother. *We're looking for other stories of people having to live
>> *with the (intended or unintended) consequences of their own actions.
>> *Another kind of story that could work in this show is a story about
>> *someone who ends up in a kind of "man without a country" situation.
>> *We're considering doing something about a man who's been living in
>> *the Paris airport for years, without the correct papers to fly to
>> *another country or to walk out the doors into Paris.
>>
>>
>> *LIVING WITHOUT: *We have a story where someone has to give up wheat,
>> *and a medical story, about what gets lost when someone has a stroke.
>> *We're still looking for stories of people doing without this or that:
>> *without money or homebuilding tools or a proper chair at work or
>> *cigarettes or whatever, the more unusual the better. *Also, we could
>> *use a story about someone who gave up worldly things to achieve
>> *spiritual enlightenment of some sort, someone who could talk in an
>> *interesting way about whether that worked, especially whether it
>> *worked better than moments of insight that came without abstention.
>> *For a story like that to succeed, it would have to stay far away from
>> *any kind of typical pop spirituality.
>>
>>
>> *THE UNROMANTIC VIEW: *We don't have a decent title for this one, but
>> *the idea of the show is that it would be filled with stories where we
>> *see the real side of things that are usually idealized. *We have one
>> *story about what farming is really like, in which a farm family gives
>> *their property to city people who wrote an essay saying why they want
>> *a farm. We're looking for other stories where things are not what
>> *you'd think at first glance, where reality turns out differently than
>> *you'd expect. *Another story we're considering for this: about a
>> *crazy stepdad who turned out to be a better, more capable father than
>> *the supposedly sane parents in the family.
>>
>>
>> *IF I WERE A BELL: *Another show we haven't even begun to figure out a
>> *decent title to. *This one would be about the decline and fall of
>> *decent phone service in our country, since the breakup of AT&T in
>> *1984. *The average local phone bill has quadrupled since AT&T was
>> *broken up, and typically is cluttered with all sorts of charges that
>> *aren't what they seem. *We're looking for perspectives on this that
> *> might not have gotten much play. *We're looking for horror stories.
>> *We're looking for people who worked in the phone business or in
>> *regulating the phone business and have something to say about what
>> *they've seen.
>>
>>
>> *CLUE: *We're looking for stories where there's evidence of some sort,
>> *and people examine it to figure something out. *Stories of criminal,
>> *journalistic, or medical investigations would be just fine, but the
>> *further afield from that the better. *Personal stories, stories from
>> *everyday workplaces, sports stories, family stories, all are welcome.
>>
>>
>> *REUNION: *Stories of people united after long periods apart. *Again,
>> *the more unusual the better. *We might even be doing a story where
>> *the people never met in the first place: about a Vietnam war
>> *protestor who meets the guy whose name was on the POW bracelet he
>> *wore decades ago.
>>
>>
>> *WHAT I SHOULD'VE SAID: We're looking for stories where someone gets a
>> *second chance - to say something they should've said, to do something
>> *they should've done, to tell someone something they ought to know.
>> *We would like stories involving surprising revelations or
>> *turn-of-events once the second chance is taken.
>>
>>
>> *MUSICAL CHAIRS: A seven year old girl tells us she discovered a big
>> *difference in the way musical chairs is played when she moved from
>> *Canada to Chicago. In Canada, kids would more or less politely take
>> *their seat when the music stopped; in Chicago, a boy pulled a girl's
>> *hair and yanked her onto the floor when the music stopped. *The way
>> *you play musical chairs says a lot about the type of person you are.
>> *We're looking for stories about fighting for your rightful place and
>> *what happens once you get there.
>>
>>
>> *YOU TALKING TO ME?: *Contrary to the title, this will be a show made
>> *of stories about overheard conversations. *We have one overheard
>> *conversation on a train, another heard through the walls of an
>> *apartment building, one is heard over a baby monitor. *We still need
>> *more. *We have no conversations that were overheard electronically -
>> *over the phone or Internet. *We have no story where people overhear
>> *other people discussing them. *In Shakespeare, when someone overhears
>> *people talking about him or her, it's taken as being more truthful
>> *than things said directly, which either leads to comedy or tragedy
>> *depending on the play. *Any other stories of overheard conversations
>> *welcome.
>>
>> *--
>>
>>
>> ***************
>> *Julie Snyder
>> *Senior Producer
>> *This American Life
>> *68 Hicks Street, Storefront
>> *Brooklyn, NY 11201
>> *718-855-4422
>>
>> *Once again we come to you looking for stories, ideas and pitches.
>>
>> *If you're new to these emails, here's how the process works: when you
>> *send in a story idea to me, I'll forward it to the producer of the
>> *show in which it belongs. *One of them - Alex Blumberg, Diane Cook,
>> *Wendy Dorr or Starlee Kine - will get back to you if it fits the
>> *needs of that particular show.
>>
>> *If you have a story -- of if you've read or seen some work -- you
>> *think is especially well suited to the radio show but doesn't fit a
>> *specific theme listed below, we'd love to know about it. *We're
>> *always on the lookout for new stories and ideas.
>>
>> *Thanks so much,
>> *Julie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *Here are some shows we're working on which still need stories and ideas:
>>
>> *HELL ON EARTH: We have a story about a hellish place that's now
>> *housing refugees in the war on terror; a story about someone caught
>> *in bureaucratic hell, in a battle with the phone company; and a story
>> *built from tapes recorded by a U.S. reservist in Iraq. *We're still
>> *looking for a small story about some other kind of hell on earth: a
>> *relationship, a job, an illness, a political nightmare, a
>> *deteriorating situation of some sort.
>>
>>
>> *WANDERING THE EARTH FOR 900 YEARS: This is a show made of stories
>> *about people who made their bed, and now have to lie in it. *One
>> *writer is doing a retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, which ends
>> *with Cain wandering the earth for 900 years after killing his
>> *brother. *We're looking for other stories of people having to live
>> *with the (intended or unintended) consequences of their own actions.
>> *Another kind of story that could work in this show is a story about
>> *someone who ends up in a kind of "man without a country" situation.
>> *We're considering doing something about a man who's been living in
>> *the Paris airport for years, without the correct papers to fly to
>> *another country or to walk out the doors into Paris.
>>
>>
>> *LIVING WITHOUT: *We have a story where someone has to give up wheat,
>> *and a medical story, about what gets lost when someone has a stroke.
>> *We're still looking for stories of people doing without this or that:
>> *without money or homebuilding tools or a proper chair at work or
>> *cigarettes or whatever, the more unusual the better. *Also, we could
>> *use a story about someone who gave up worldly things to achieve
>> *spiritual enlightenment of some sort, someone who could talk in an
>> *interesting way about whether that worked, especially whether it
>> *worked better than moments of insight that came without abstention.
>> *For a story like that to succeed, it would have to stay far away from
>> *any kind of typical pop spirituality.
>>
>>
>> *THE UNROMANTIC VIEW: *We don't have a decent title for this one, but
>> *the idea of the show is that it would be filled with stories where we
>> *see the real side of things that are usually idealized. *We have one
>> *story about what farming is really like, in which a farm family gives
>> *their property to city people who wrote an essay saying why they want
>> *a farm. We're looking for other stories where things are not what
>> *you'd think at first glance, where reality turns out differently than
>> *you'd expect. *Another story we're considering for this: about a
>> *crazy stepdad who turned out to be a better, more capable father than
>> *the supposedly sane parents in the family.
>>
>>
>> *IF I WERE A BELL: *Another show we haven't even begun to figure out a
>> *decent title to. *This one would be about the decline and fall of
>> *decent phone service in our country, since the breakup of AT&T in
>> *1984. *The average local phone bill has quadrupled since AT&T was
>> *broken up, and typically is cluttered with all sorts of charges that
>> *aren't what they seem. *We're looking for perspectives on this that
> *> might not have gotten much play. *We're looking for horror stories.
>> *We're looking for people who worked in the phone business or in
>> *regulating the phone business and have something to say about what
>> *they've seen.
>>
>>
>> *CLUE: *We're looking for stories where there's evidence of some sort,
>> *and people examine it to figure something out. *Stories of criminal,
>> *journalistic, or medical investigations would be just fine, but the
>> *further afield from that the better. *Personal stories, stories from
>> *everyday workplaces, sports stories, family stories, all are welcome.
>>
>>
>> *REUNION: *Stories of people united after long periods apart. *Again,
>> *the more unusual the better. *We might even be doing a story where
>> *the people never met in the first place: about a Vietnam war
>> *protestor who meets the guy whose name was on the POW bracelet he
>> *wore decades ago.
>>
>>
>> *WHAT I SHOULD'VE SAID: We're looking for stories where someone gets a
>> *second chance - to say something they should've said, to do something
>> *they should've done, to tell someone something they ought to know.
>> *We would like stories involving surprising revelations or
>> *turn-of-events once the second chance is taken.
>>
>>
>> *MUSICAL CHAIRS: A seven year old girl tells us she discovered a big
>> *difference in the way musical chairs is played when she moved from
>> *Canada to Chicago. In Canada, kids would more or less politely take
>> *their seat when the music stopped; in Chicago, a boy pulled a girl's
>> *hair and yanked her onto the floor when the music stopped. *The way
>> *you play musical chairs says a lot about the type of person you are.
>> *We're looking for stories about fighting for your rightful place and
>> *what happens once you get there.
>>
>>
>> *YOU TALKING TO ME?: *Contrary to the title, this will be a show made
>> *of stories about overheard conversations. *We have one overheard
>> *conversation on a train, another heard through the walls of an
>> *apartment building, one is heard over a baby monitor. *We still need
>> *more. *We have no conversations that were overheard electronically -
>> *over the phone or Internet. *We have no story where people overhear
>> *other people discussing them. *In Shakespeare, when someone overhears
>> *people talking about him or her, it's taken as being more truthful
>> *than things said directly, which either leads to comedy or tragedy
>> *depending on the play. *Any other stories of overheard conversations
>> *welcome.
>>
>> *--
>>
>>
>> ***************
>> *Julie Snyder
>> *Senior Producer
>> *This American Life
>> *68 Hicks Street, Storefront
>> *Brooklyn, NY 11201
>> *718-855-4422