By Kate Blake – Admin TheEntertainmentHotline 
Who remembers Bosom Buddies? It starred Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari as two guys in advertising who donned dresses after work to get cheap digs in New York in a women’s hotel. Work It is a new series coming to ABC this fall that is trying to capture the fun of two guys in a dress. The big problem? Instead of having them wear the dresses part time to get a lease we are supposed to suspend our belief and accept that two men can dress as women in order to get good paying professional jobs.
about work it
This high-concept comedy centers on two unrepentant guy’s guys who, unable to find work, dress as women to get jobs as pharmaceutical reps. Not only do they pull it off, but they might just learn to be better men in the process.
With unemployment an ongoing issue and women now outnumbering men in the workforce, the new comedy series “Work It” follows two alpha males who realize the only way to beat the current “mancession” and land a job in pharmaceutical sales is to pass themselves off as women. Combining all the best elements of the workplace comedy, the buddy comedy and the family comedy, “Work It” centers on Lee Standish (Ben Koldyke) — a quick-witted and likable family man who used to be a top car salesman until he got laid off — and Angel Ortiz (Amaury Nolasco) — a single, hot-headed ladies’ man with no filter — who quickly learn there are fundamental differences in the worlds of men and women that go beyond teetering in high heels and tightening up with Spanx. Lee and Angel are determined to keep their ruse going for as long as they can — and keep their newly found jobs — in this smart, funny and relevant look at male and female relationships at work, at home and socially. Being a better man sometimes means having to be a better woman.
| starring: | |
| Ben Koldyke as Lee Standish Amaury Nolasco as Angel Ortiz Beth Lacke as Connie John Caparulo as Brian Rebecca Mader as Grace |
Rochelle Aytes as Vanessa Kate Reinders as Kelly Kirstin Eggers as Kristin Kacie Lynch as Kat |
| credits: | |
| Executive Producer / Writer: Andrew Reich Executive Producer / Writer: Ted Cohen Director: Beth McCarthy-Miller Production Company: Bonanza Productions, Inc. / Summer School Productions / Warner Bros. Television |
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Why is this such an epic failure that I put EPIC in all caps in this article’s title? Well let me count the ways! Wait – there is one reason and that is all you need to know.
1. Pharmaceutical sales is not a job where you can hide your gender or your background.
Why is this? Well pharmaceutical companies are part of the most regulated industry in the entire world – the only other industry with tighter scrutiny is the nuclear industry. The FDA has all kinds of regulations that must be adhered to from the earliest stages of research and development all the way through distribution and sales. This means that when a person applies for a job at a pharmaceutical company their background will be scrutinized with the highest level of magnification available. The Human Resources groups have incredibly formal hiring processes and long involved procedures for bringing on all new hires.
Step 1- Submit a resume and an application. You need a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in a scientific field or an R.N in nursing to work as a pharmaceutical representative.
Step 2- Phone interview with human resources- usually followed by taking an aptitude test. At this time if you pass you will be put into the hiring process to meet with a team from sales management.
Step 3- If you have made it past the first two steps- you will have your background thoroughly investigated. Most people in the industry call this the F.B.I check as your resume will be vetted from checking on your degree and dates of schooling , through your previous employers, a credit check, a check of your driving record and a criminal background check which may include your being fingerprinted. As a final step you must pass a drug test as well. Oh – and you have to sign off on a private investigator having the ok to talk to your neighbors about you too. Unless you live in the Chicago or New York city areas you will need to travel for your interviews and when hired – everyone who gets a job in this country has to present two forms of government identification. A birth certificate, drivers license, passport or social security card are all considered valid ID. How are two guys going to pull that off unless they are breaking the law and presenting falsified documents thus committing fraud?
I would like to know what idiot at ABC let this show through their vetting process? Doesn’t anyone do any research to determine if a series has any grounds for being even slightly within the realm of possibility?
Let’s suspend belief and go with the concept that two car salesmen could don dresses and get the job. How are they going to pass the training? Just like the hiring process – the training process in the pharmaceutical industry is rigorous.
Step 1- Travel to an onsite training facility for the company you are working for. See above for how this would be problematic for our posers.
Step 2- Training ranges from 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the product line and the company. This will include in depth training on company processes and procedures, technical product training and intensive sales training in the formal methods used by the particular company. The technical training is where the educational requirements come in to place as most new drugs are complicated and it is very important that the reps who act as the voice of the company knows how they work at a molecular level and can answer any and all questions a medical doctor or pharmacist may ask them. Every part of the training program includes testing and new hires can be sent home at any time during training for any reason.
Step 3- Lets say you pass training- good for you! Now you will be sent out into the field , usually with your boss or a training manager along for the first week or two. Your job will be to figure out who to call on in your territory- every sales rep has a defined area and set of accounts assigned to them with no overlap. Once you finish training- you are on your own.
What does an average day look like for a sales rep in the pharmaceutical world? Well once upon a time you chatted up nurses and handed out pills and played golf with doctors. Today in a world where insurance companies are determined to keep costs down doctors and nurses cannot accept goodies and gifts. Sometimes they even have to pay for their own meals if you go out to lunch with them. What can you do to get word out? You make cold calls on offices and set appointments and plead your drug’s case when you do get in front of a physician. Once you have a client – then it is maintenance to keep them in samples and brochures . You do not have time to hang out- usually you are expected to visit 25 to 50 offices per day depending on your product line and your territory. Your company usually provides you with an all expenses paid company car to facilitate this travel along with a cell phone and lap top to report in to your boss throughout the day. Many of your weekends will be spent traveling to and from trade shows and company meetings as well as attending medical conferences and industry events. This is not a job about sallying about pulling a case of samples and hanging out all day. There is a reason pharmaceutical sales people make a good living earning from $50, 000 to $100,000 per year – the work involves ongoing training, a commitment to hard work and long hours often away from home.
Does this sound like grounds for a gender swapping comedy? I don’t think so. What makes me an expert? Outside of being a tv geek I worked for 20 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech field as a sales rep and have been through all of the hiring processes listed above. I have done graduate work in biochemistry and know more people with doctoral degrees who are in sales than you would ever guess. Every once in a while someone hires a person with no medical or science background for a job in this field. Inevitably- they fail. You have to be able to speak with authority and have the right credentials to be successful in this field. I have been out of the industry for about 5 years and am no longer considered a viable candidate because my credentials are not current. I am ok with this as I have a new career in the travel industry with shorter hours, good money and no stress but from the moment I saw the initial specs on “Work It” I have been shaking my head. I know that people in Hollywood live in a bubble- but I am beyond disappointed that the execs in charge of programming at ABC would allow a series like this to get greenlit and I have to think that the one million or so people who work in the pharmaceutical industry in this country will feel the same.
If you are in love with your cast and the concept may I suggest you do some research and change their field of work to something that does not require this kind of regulation? Maybe the health food and vitamin industry which refuses to be governed by the FDA? They could sell pseudo medical diet products to health food stores and spas. That would be more realistic and provide plenty of room for comedy.
Fantasyverses
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