Thursday, November 10, 2011

New Name, Same Show



I've been struggling with the name of this show since it started. When I had the initial idea I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't have a name I liked.  We talked it over, and decided to go with "The Steel City Podcast" and while it was alright for the time, the name never sat well with me.

Recently I've been feeling a strong urge to change it and make the name sometime unique to give the show it's own identity.  We needed to find something that would stand out, but also had some sort of meaning in regards to what we try to do here. 

At it's core, this is a show about people.  People who are worth talking to, and people whose stories are worth hearing.  As the show has developed in the early episodes I've found that conversations are hitting on people's approach to their work, as well as how and where they got started with what they do.

So we've decided to name it "Writing On The Floor."

What does that mean?  I'll tell you. 

In the short–lived, but much–loved Aaron Sorkin TV show “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” Matt Perry plays a sketch comedy writer at a fictional Saturday Night Live-type show.  His character, also named Matt, is reminded of an early office he once had at the show, which was so small that if he held a pencil in each hand he could write on opposite walls at the same time.  Matt replies, “That wasn’t my first office, that was my second office. My first office was on the floor outside the writers room. I sat there with newspapers and a legal pad.”

This is a common theme among writers and artists.  And at some level, people never seem to leave that place where they started. They carry it with them for the rest of their career.  That’s what it’s about… it’s about the feeling that we are all still writing on the floor. 

So, that's it.