Carlton Cuse wants fans to create a title sequence for Bates Motel

In case there are any artistically-inclined fans of A&E's upcoming Bates Motel interested in creating a piece of the show, executive producer Carlton Cuse has put out a call for an opening title sequence. Through January 3, fans can submit videos, graphics, and other ideas to the show's Facebook page. Cuse, who will ultimately choose the winner, says, "We want to give fans the chance to participate in the show. We're looking for an awesome 15-second title sequence that captures the feel of Bates Motel -- not as a slasher/horror show, but as a complex, character-based thriller." Considering the prevalence of fan art, plus the current Hitchcock fever we've been experiencing, this seems like a really great opportunity to rouse a fan base that might have its doubts about a Psycho prequel series by making them feel like a significant part of the production. Bates Motel is set to premiere on A&E in March. (via The Hollywood Reporter)

• [Nathan Hornby]

  I’ve got nothing against the show, but I don’t necessarily think that accident and emergency is the right place to air it. The critical injuries unit… maybe.

  (I’ll be here all night)

  • [Jerry Coscia]

     Yes.

• [Wiki-Truths]

  Winner will be PAID what?

• [Lauren Seals]

  Oomph. First rule of commercial artistry: NEVER DO SPEC WORK. These sorts of things always seem like fun but… why can’t they just hire a motion graphics designer/filmmaker who is a fan?

  And yes, what will the winner be paid? How will the other entrants be compensated for their time? “Looks great in your portfolio” is the oldest scam there is.

• [Brainspore]

  “We want to give fans the chance to participate in the show.”

  I’d like to give people the chance to participate in community gardening. You can start by landscaping my back yard.

• [grimc]

  NO SPEC

• [etmthree]

  This is a deplorable scam that is becoming far too common.  Brett Ratner did it last year for his production company logo and found no shortage of desperate suckers.  Sad to see that the executive producer of Nash Bridges could sink so low to save a few thousand bucks.

• [crockeronline]

  “Help us keep under-employed motion graphics artists under-employed!”

• [Tony Marasco]

  They’ve been filming down the road my house for a couple months now. The set of the Motel is pretty creepy. We went down there one night about 2 weeks ago when it was really foggy out, no one was around………. it was kinda creepy :P

• [Jardine]

  How can you be a fan of a show that hasn’t aired yet?

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    The answer to that and many other questions lies in the etymology of the word ‘fan’.

• [Donald Petersen]

  Remember that awesome MT sequence somebody did for Walking Dead a couple years back? I’m sure that guy has plenty of paid work these days, but that’s probably due to being showcased right here.

  Plenty of suckers will submit for this once, maybe twice.  And someone will get picked, and land a fat check for (according to the fine print under Cuse’s mug in the above video) $2500.  I presume all other contestants will get squat, plus lose any and all claim to ownership of their submission, if past is prequel. (One of you folks who still uses Facebook can confirm or deny that last bit for me.)

  A&E will get what they want, and it’ll probably be quite good, for a tiny fraction of the professional going rate for a main title sequence.  (Last time I paid the invoice for a seven-second main title sequence was in 2008, and it was for $15,000.) And despite all the older-but-wiser artists out there who know what a mug’s game this practice is, there will always be a fresh crop of innocent suckers eager young artists all too willing to roll these loaded dice.