HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA: PILOT (TV)
Summary
The pilot of this drama series about a pair of young New Yorkers struggling to break in to the fashion industry.
Ben and Cam, two friends living in New York City, ponder what to do with their lives after their skateboard graphic design business fails. They go to help their friend Gingy put on an art show, and she explains that she desperately needs to make a profit on it or she’ll go broke. Ben is concerned that his ex-girlfriend Rachel might be at the show. Gingy gives Ben one of the photographs from the show as a thank-you gift for helping her. He goes to his job at a clothing store and runs into his high school classmate David Kaplan, who is now a successful hedge fund manager. Meanwhile, Cam goes to have dinner with his grandmother and finds out that his cousin Rene has been released early from prison for good behavior. They share an awkward reunion together. Cam picks up Ben and explains that he has to pay back Rene for making the initial investment into their skateboard graphic business; Ben is surprised since Cam lied about the source of the loan. Ben is concerned, as Rene is “crazy” and has been known to respond violently to perceived slights. Cam convinces him to help him purchase bootleg leather jackets by the docks in order to sell them and raise enough money for the payment.
That night, they attend Gingy’s opening and Gingy tries to set Ben up with her friend Jane. They make small-talk and Jane says they met once before at his birthday party the previous year. She invites him to an after-party at her place but he declines. Later Ben sees Rachel from across the room and works up the nerve to talk to her. She introduces him to her date, Darren, and the three of them share an awkward conversation. He and Cam change their minds and decide to attend Jane’s after-party. They find that numerous people there are drinking absinthe, including Jane, and she introduces Ben to her painter friend Marco. Ben and Marco end up staying at the party until well after 3:00 AM, after virtually everyone else has left. Ben expresses a desire to spend the night with Jane but hesitates, and Jane takes matters into her own hands when she asks Marco to leave. However, Ben soon finds them making out in the hallway and he leaves, dejected. He drunkenly wanders over to Rachel’s apartment and tries to speak with her, but she yells at him to go home. Darren is there with her and also tells Ben to go home.
The next morning Ben is awoken by Cam and they sell the bootleg jackets on the street. They are stopped by the police and Cam runs off with an armful of jackets after the officer asks to see his vendor’s permit. Ben gets him to come back and the police confiscate all of the jackets. Ben criticizes Cam for getting them in trouble with the law, while Cam believes that Ben abandoned his aspirations in order to “work for the man.” Ben decides to visit Dave in order to get him to help them pay back Rene. Ben offers to sell David the photo Gingy gave him in exchange for the remainder of the money owed to Rene. David declines, but offers to give them the money anyway if they will do a favor for him: convincing Des, the doorman at a local club, not to bear a grudge against him. Ben agrees, as he plays basketball with Des every week. Ben and Cam pay Rene back, and he appreciates that he did not have to harm either of them in order to secure it. However, Ben immediately asks Rene for another loan so that he and Cam can purchase a stolen shipment of denim and make their own designer jeans.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: February 4, 2010 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:17
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 110560
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: TV - Drama
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 2010-2011
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Julian Farino … Executive Producer, Director
- Ian Edelman … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Rob Weiss … Executive Producer, Writer
- Stephen Levinson … Executive Producer
- Jada Miranda … Executive Producer
- Mark Wahlberg … Executive Producer
- Margo Myers … Producer
- Tim Christenson … Co-Producer
- Mickie Reuster … Associate Producer
- James Thompson … Associate Producer
- Carole Kravetz Aykanian … Associate Producer
- Bryan Greenberg … Cast, Ben Epstein
- Victor Rasuk … Cast, Cam Calderon
- Lake Bell … Cast, Rachel Chapman
- Eddie Kaye Thomas … Cast, David "Kappo" Kaplan
- Shannyn Sossamon … Cast, Gingy Wu
- Scott "Kid" Mescudi … Cast, Domingo Brown
- Luis Guzman … Cast, Rene Calderon
- Samaire Armstrong … Cast, Jane
- Jason Pendergraft … Cast, Darren Hall
- Miriam Colon … Cast, Cam's Grandma
- Torrell Bigelow … Cast, Anthony
- Curtis I. Cook … Cast, Alex
- Bojana Barovic … Cast, Natalia
- Eric Weinstein … Cast, Dock Worker
- James F. Ransome III … Cast, Tim
- Dom Magwili … Cast, Donny
- Michael Carbonaro … Cast, Marco
- Tuffy Questell … Cast, Jabar
- Edgar Garcia … Cast, Eddie
- Michael Imperiale … Cast, Mike
- Garvin Bellour … Cast, Guy
- David Raymond Wagner … Cast, Cop