"It's gonna be hothothothot!"

Famous words, from my producer, at 9:30pm. Ahhs, the joys. Well, it is going to be hot hot hot, just another day to go for it.
Its been harder than I thought, I've been rusty on sizzle reels. For everyone else, a sizzle reel goes like this: Marketing department of major studio desires 1-3 minute video that shows off: How cool the studio is, How cool the movies they have are, How cool the new movies are going to be. Basically a "This is why you: Do business with us/Want to do business with us".
For our reel, said studio wants to show that before they had their current amazinglysuccessfullneverhappenagainmovie, they were very cool to begin with. (Another reel will show how cool they're going to be after the amazinglysuccessfullneverhappenagainmovie.)

Our reel goes like this:
1. Music Bed: "Let's get it started" by Black Eyed peas.
2. 40 Trailers from their best films of the last 20 years.
3. Selected clips from DVD's of their best films of the last 20 years (often overlapping the trailers).
4. Scripted Voiceover outlining how cool everything is. ("Ass-kicking, heartbreaking, kung-fu fighting, pipe smoking, rumpshaking, tearjerking, moneymaking, oscarwinning....etc.)

My job is to take all the elements, use the script as a guide, and forge my own audio/visual journey. Total running time (TRT)? Around a minute and a half. Make sure there are recognizable stars, and that their screen time is recognizable. Generally no less than 20 frames on screen, but to keep the energy up, no more than 2 seconds. You can do more, if there's a great line said (but a few words only), or less if you want that frenetic MTV flash-frame effect. Effective, but an effect nonetheless. Brad Pitt, yes. Gwyenth Paltrow, yes. Christian Slater no, he's over. Geena Davis no, over. Dustin Hoffman, yes, but he's old, so don't put him last or first. And don't repeat if you can. Yes, they made seven installments, but we really only need to see the bad guy once. Show how diverse they are, add minority stars liberally. Add some sex, add some drama, add some comedy. Keep it to the beat. Make sure the aspect ratios are in sync, keep it to the beat, make your cuts on the downbeat of the drum, start that VO 6 frames later, so it doesn't fight the vocal. Having a hard time transitioning from one defined section to another, use a swish sound effect, and add a white flash (6 frames, 100% white, centered on the cut.) Even though each section is 15 seconds long, it has a beginning a middle and an end. You're telling a complete story, in a minute and a half.
For this work, I will work standard 10 hours, occasionally 8, more likely 12. I will have in my 'office' (small room, ok AC, no windows) a $50,000 dollar tape deck, a $2500 dollar Computer, a $2000 dollar TV, a $1000 harddrive, two $100 dollar Monitors, a $200 desk (too small), and I will sit on a $20 office chair (back broken).
I will get paid handsomely for it (Form 1099), but the whole job will take 14 days, and then you're done. Have a week off, pack the house, get another gig. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.

Fun, huh?