EXTERIOR. STEPS OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY.
WIND BLOWS. TOURISTS TRUDGE TOWARD THE
BUILDING'S ENTRANCE.
Keith Bedford for
The New York Times
Amber Ettinger,
left, speaking on
camera for Donna
Barnes and Charley
Wininger.
DONNA BARNES, a
cheery television
producer, trains her
video camera on
ILANA EBERSON, a
single 44-year-old
Australian-turned-Manhattanite
who has a long, dark
mane of hair and is
wearing a black
fur-lined coat.
CHARLEY WININGER, a
professorial-looking
dating coach,
interviews ILANA for
a television pilot
about dating in New
York, in which the
fickle, the lonely
and the betrayed
share their battle
tales from the
city's savage dating
terrain.
ILANA: Dating here
is cutthroat. It's a
competition like
anything else.
Yesterday, I was
told that men don't
like women with
curly hair, because
they can't run their
fingers through it.
DONNA (piping up from behind the camera): I
have straight hair, and men don't run their
fingers through it.
CHARLEY: What pointers would make this dating
treadmill easier?
ILANA: I would like to understand more about the
male psyche. Why don't men have the same respect
for women that they have for people in business?
You would never hear a man say to a client, "I'm
going to call you," and not call. If you're not
going to call, don't say you're going to call.
CUT.
Ms. Barnes and Mr. Wininger thanked Ms. Eberson
for her time. Like the other 18 men and women
they had interviewed for their pilot, "Up Your
Dating Game," Ms. Eberson had responded to an
e-mail message seeking New Yorkers to share
their dating woes. The message had explained to
potential subjects that their show would go
beyond "Sex and the City" narratives to offer
advice and solutions.
"These days, people don't know how to connect
except electronically and genitally," Mr.
Wininger said. "There's a lot of sex, and also a
lot of loneliness and frustration that goes
along with the sex."
Ms. Barnes added, "We're dishing out tough love
on the show, telling people they have to find
themselves first."
The two plan to submit their 30-minute pilot to
Current TV, a new cable network co-founded by Al
Gore, and hope that it will be picked up as a
series. They are also writing a dating advice
book titled "You Are What You Meet."
Ms. Eberson left, and the two producers hopped
into a cab to go to their next interview.
EXTERIOR. AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.
CHARLEY interviews AMBER ETTINGER, a svelte and
tawny 24-year-old actress. Curious passers-by
turn their heads. AMBER tells a long, sordid
tale of infidelity and heartbreak.
CHARLEY: Amber, what question would you like to
ask men? Say it to the camera.
AMBER (looking into the camera, glassy-eyed): If
you love your girlfriend, why do you cheat on
her?
CHARLEY (nodding sympathetically): It's a
wilderness out there.
CUT. JENNIFER BLEYER |
