Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy (Submissions)

[StingX]

Hey guys, I'm happy to announce that yet another GetLazy interview with a member of LazyTown's cast/crew will soon be conducted! This time, Mark Valenti, LazyTown's head writer, will be interviewed by our very own boredjedi! It is up to you, the GetLazy community, to come up with the questions that will be asked during the interview!

Mark has worked for LazyTown since the beginning of the television series. Along with his work as a writer, he worked on many of our favorite song's lyrics especially in seasons one and two, and closely collaborated with Magnus Scheving during the duration of the television series. At the bottom of this post is some additional information, and I suggest you take a look before submitting your questions so that you have a chance to learn more about Mark, have a good starting point to ask questions, and have the ability to provide interesting and unique questions for the interview.

Please submit your questions for him to answer by replying to this thread. You can ask him anything that you would like, whether about LazyTown, his other work, or anything else you can think of, as long as the question is appropriate and not overly personal. They will try to cover all of the questions asked, but I can not guarantee that they will have the time to answer everything. Mark will have the opportunity to reject any questions that he does not want to answer, but that has never been a problem. Submissions will be open until Monday September 28th, and the interview is scheduled to be held on Sunday October 4th.

I am really looking forward to getting your questions and putting out yet another great interview done for LazyTown fans, by LazyTown fans.

Mark's IMdB Page
Mark's Blog
Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything)
A Short Q&A With Mark

As Head Writer (70-plus episodes) and lyricist for Nickelodeon's LazyTown, Mark Valenti helped to propel that show to its #1 rating debut. He also served as Story Editor for Nickelodeon's bloc of animated shows including Rugrats, Catdog, Hey Arnold, and The Wild Thornberrys. He has created content for numerous Nickelodeon ancillary products, including computer games, books and commercials. He has also written for Back to the Future, Olivia, Gaspard and Lisa, Totally Spies, Kid Fitness, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh.

Valenti wrote the television movies Menno's Mind (1996), starring Billy Campbell, which debuted on Showtime, Like Father, Like Santa (1999), starring Harry Hamlin, which aired on the ABC Family Channel and The Christmas Pageant (2011), starring Melissa Gilbert, for the Hallmark Channel. He also wrote the high school fantasy comedy, The Devil and Danny Webster for The Disney Channel.

He scripted the annual holiday special, Mannheim Steamroller's The Christmas Angel, for NBC and received a gold record for the CD release of that project. His family/action feature film script Planet Fred was acquired by Dreamworks, and his family action comedy Bob the House was picked up by Paramount Studios. An action drama, Pursuit, was developed by Twentieth-Century Fox Studios.

Valenti was Creative Director for a team tasked with re-imagining Disney's California Adventures theme park in California, and also served as Creative Manager for Disney Interactive. Prior to his writing career, Valenti was Vice President of Development for John Hughes Entertainment, during the production period of Home Alone, Uncle Buck, Christmas Vacation, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

He has authored two books, The Hannibal Twist: A Tom and Huck Mystery, and "Last Night at the Monarch Motel."

Valenti began his career with a two-year stint as a Production Associate at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, followed by several years as Script Analyst for Ron Howard, Oprah Winfrey and Sydney Pollack's production companies.

[Sportsicus]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

How did you become a script writer, like, for how long did you go to school? How was it working with Magnus? What was your favorite thing writing for LT? What was your favorite scripting job? What is the most rewarding thing about scripting? What is the hardest? How long was an average time to write a script? How easy or hard is it to get a job as a script writer? Any advice you could give on this topic? Which did you like better, writing the scripts for the show, or working on the song lyrics? What was your favorite project you have ever done?

[SollaMega]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

It's great idea. I will post my questions soon...

[Glanni's Girl]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

I have nothing to say, except "Sir, you have an account here, you've seen what goes on, thanks for not shutting us down" lol

[StingX]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

I have nothing to say, except "Sir, you have an account here, you've seen what goes on, thanks for not shutting us down" lol

I'm sure you can come up with something ;)

[Fox]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

I would like to know more about the process of writing an episode.
- Do you start out with a basic idea of a plot?
- Do you work by a certain template of "starting good - something bad happens - something exciting follows - and ends with something good"?
- Did you find inspiration to episodes in the original play?

Máni also mentioned something about having the songs fit in the script. Maybe some questions going in depth with that.
- Did you write songs prior to the plot, or did you always find a way to implement the songs?
- Can we (finally) get the story, of what happened to "Good to be Bad"?

Perhaps some questions about LazyTown compared to his other works
- What was unique about working at LazyTown?
- Did you implement ideas from your former work into LazyTown?

[StingX]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

Can we (finally) get the story, of what happened to "Good to be Bad"?

I'm not sure I understand this one. What do you mean?

[Glanni's Girl]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

I'm not sure I understand this one. What do you mean?

Continued on from the "Good To Be Bad: what happened to the video?" thread, I think we discovered the song was on the TV show but not on DVD's, possibly because it literally tells children "It's good to be bad".

[LazyPooky]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

.. possibly because it literally tells children "It's good to be bad".

That was me brainstorming hehe. I'm quite positive it was because of the length of the video. But let's not discuss this here and wait for Mark to answer this ;)

[Sportsicus]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

I would like to know more about the process of writing an episode.
- Do you start out with a basic idea of a plot?
- Do you work by a certain template of "starting good - something bad happens - something exciting follows - and ends with something good"?
- Did you find inspiration to episodes in the original play?

Máni also mentioned something about having the songs fit in the script. Maybe some questions going in depth with that.
- Did you write songs prior to the plot, or did you always find a way to implement the songs?
- Can we (finally) get the story, of what happened to "Good to be Bad"?

Perhaps some questions about LazyTown compared to his other works
- What was unique about working at LazyTown?
- Did you implement ideas from your former work into LazyTown?

Wow! Great questions!!! I can't wait for the answers to these!!! :)

- - - Updated - - -

Continued on from the "Good To Be Bad: what happened to the video?" thread, I think we discovered the song was on the TV show but not on DVD's, possibly because it literally tells children "It's good to be bad".

This song always confused me because of that.

- - - Updated - - -

That was me brainstorming hehe. I'm quite positive it was because of the length of the video. But let's not discuss this here and wait for Mark to answer this ;)

Great plan. :)

[Fox]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

I think we discovered the song was on the TV show but not on DVD's, possibly because it literally tells children "It's good to be bad".

I'm quite positive it was because of the length of the video.

Length of the video, and the fact that the show contained 2 songs in a row, is also my guess. But it's a weird thing though, because the CD version is also completely different.

[Sportsicus]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

Two more questions one from a friend, and one form the LT Google+ group I am in: Did Valenti write the episodes, and can he write a prequel saga with number 9?

[StingX]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

Did Valenti write the episodes

I think I can handle this one. The answer is.... yes. Anytime you see either "Mark Valenti" or his penname, "Noah Zachary," in the writing credits, that means that he wrote or helped write that episode.

[Glanni's Girl]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

Anytime you see either "Mark Valenti" or his penname, "Noah Zachary," in the writing credits, that means that he wrote or helped write that episode.

Didn't know he has a penname, I wonder if that means 2 paychecks

[Buzz]

Re: Mark Valenti Interview With GetLazy

here are my questions for Mr. Valenti

What is your favorite episode ?
What's the reason that the Clown Lady, Eyrun Eyosluklo, Maggi Mjoi, the postman and the policeman from the original Latibae plays haven't made it into the tv production?
In "Welcome To Lazytown" we witnessed the beginning of a sweet romance between Pixel and Stephanie...what is the reason that we never experienced how and why this lovestory ended so suddenly ?
What is Stephanie's surname?
Since "Secret Friends Day" we know that Lazytown is located in Asia...do you agree and if not, where is LT actually located on the globe?

that's all for the moment..thank you