Television

Pax Goes Info

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Variety reports that PAX is giving up on original programming and going back to being an infomercial network. This news is sure to rile up the fans of one of the worst-titled shows in TV history: SUE THOMAS: F.B.EYE, the adventures of a deaf FBI agent who reads lips and her hearing-ear wonderdog Levi.

03fb_eye1300The show was shot in Toronto and our casting director on MISSING was always touting actors who  delivered " powerful" or "unforgettable"  performances on SUE THOMAS: F.B.EYE like it was the pinnacle of Canadian drama.  The scary thing is, it probably was.

(Click on the photo for a larger image…and then ask yourself: Why does an FBI dog need a photo ID? Could you really tell the difference between the face of one Golden Retriever and another? And if the pooch needs a photo ID, why doesn’t she?).

Q&A With Chris Abbott

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Chris Abbott is one of the most successful writer-producers in television, with credits like Magnum PI, BL Stryker, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Diagnosis Murder.  She’s just written a terrific book called "TEN MINUTES TO THE PITCH: Your Last Minute Guide and Check-List for Selling Your Story."  And all proceeds from the book benefit the Writers Guild Foundation.

Tf_pitch_1She’ll be signing her book this weekend at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 23, 11-12, at the  Writers Guild Booth.

Why did you write this book?

Leonard Stern, from Tallfellow Press, came to me with the
idea. He saw it as the second book in
their “Ten Minutes To Success” series, which began with “Ten Minutes To The
Audition” by Janice . I liked the idea; it seemed to me I had seen
dozens of books about writing, but none about pitching and I believe they are
two distinctly different talents.

 There are a thousand “How To” books for writers on
pitching and selling scripts. What makes
yours different from all the rest?

 A thousand? Really? Honestly, I didn’t think
there was even one book out about pitching as I was writing it. I have noticed, since, one other book. Nevertheless, I’m sure you’re right,
hyperbole aside, there must be several books on pitching. Mine is different insomuch as my professional
experience is different from the other authors. I think it would be valuable to read everyone else’s book as well as
mine. But the value of mine is that it
is very practical; it is very small so you can take it with you; it has stories
from lots of successful writers to amuse or enlighten; it doesn’t take long to
read.

Before you even get into talking about pitching itself,
you pay a lot of attention to the importance of seemingly irrelevant things…
like double-checking the address, arriving very early, going to the bathroom
before the meeteing, bringing a pencil and paper, turning off your cell phone…
but they aren’t irrelevant things, are they?

 When Leonard first talked to me about this idea, it was subtitled “A Parking Lot Primer For
Wrters.” The idea was that you’re in the
parking lot, you’re ready to go pitch
your heart out, what are the things you want to remember before you get into
the office?

 So that accounts for some tips, like “going to the
bathroom”, that you might not see in other pitching books! But there is something that I hope is a bit
more profound behind the seemingly mundane ideas. For example: Are You In The Right Place? This
isn’t just about making sure you have the correct address (although without
that, you are doomed to failure); it is
also about making sure you’ve brought the right kind of pitch to the studio
that is likely to consider buying your story. Each of the ideas has its own Zen-shadow idea I think writers need to
seriously consider before even showing up in the parking lot. 

Read more

A Terrific Book

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While Victor Gischler and my brother Tod squabble over who
came up with The World’s Worst Interview feature, and who, indeed, does it the worst, I’m going to buck the trend by offering a serious Q&A.

Chris AbbottTf_pitch is a veteran TV writer/producer ("Magnum PI," "BL Stryker," etc.) and followed Bill & I as executive producer of DIAGNOSIS MURDER. She’s written a wonderful and entertaining new book called TEN MINUTES TO THE PITCH that’s full of great advice and memorable
anecdotes.  If that wasn’t reason enough to buy it, all the proceeds benefit the Writers Guild Foundation for its literacy library programs.

I’ll be posting a Q&A with her here in a few days. In the mean time, she will be signing her book at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove on April 13th at 7:30pm.  Joining her will be fellow writers Charlie Hauck (Frasier) and Eric Tuchman (Early Edition). During the signing, several lucky attendees will have the opportunity to pitch and re-pitch their  own ideas to the trio of writers/producers.

Who is the Tall Dark Stranger There?

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Maverick_logEd Gorman has been pondering, and remembering,  my friend writer/producer Roy Huggins,  creator of such classic TV series as MAVERICK, THE FUGITIVE, 77 SUNSET STRIP and (with Steve Cannell) THE ROCKFORD FILES. I contributed a few memories of my own experiences with Roy to Ed’s blog, as well as a short piece on MAVERICK. If you’re interested in a little TV history, you might want to mosey over there to Ed’s blog and check out the posts.

Proving that TV Series Bibles are Pointless

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The NY Times reports that the producers of 24, LOST,  THE OC, and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES have no clue how their seasons will end.  As if you didn’t know. We know they don’t know. The presidents of the networks seem to know it, too (if you believe what they say in the article). The only people who don’t seem in-the-loop on this are development executives, who often want to know before the pilot is written every detail of the hero’s life…who all his relatives are and what they do… and who is best friend was in preschool. But the fact is…none of that matters. And even if the writers tell you, it’s bullshit. They’re gonna toss the bible as soon as they get the series order.

After the
network ordered the first full season of "24," the writers presented a
huge map of the entire first season. The blueprint, however, didn’t
endure. "We used to obsess over that in Year 1," Mr. Cochran said. "You
know, Oh, God, let’s story out as many episodes as we can. We always
got in a lot of trouble with that because if you try it, you end up
locking yourselves into things that don’t really work and it gets
really contrived."

After his four seasons of "24," Mr. Cochran endorses the same approach:
save big decisions till the end of the season. The writers and the
audience, he insists, will then enjoy the benefits of a looser process.
"At the beginning of the season, we certainly don’t know," he said.
"Halfway through, we certainly don’t know. As we’re writing episode 16
or 17, we start thinking in a very general sort of way, where we’d like
to end the season."

It’s the same on shows with a far-less restrictive franchise.

"Lost" and "The O.C.," along with "24" and "Desperate Housewives,"
are high-profile serials with substantial, devoted audiences, but no
one – not writers, not network executives and not viewers – knows
exactly how they will end their seasons. Their writers, like others in
Hollywood, are trying to devise the perfect season finale – with little
time to spare.  According to interviews with writers from all four shows, their finales are unshot, and mostly unwritten.

So forget about "bibles." They’re pointless. What counts is a strong pilot script and a showrunner with a vision.

Remember HUNTER?

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It’s not often you see a review of a 15-year-old rerun airing in syndication…but this week, Entertainment Weekly spotlights an episode of HUNTER written by my buddy Morgan Gendel.

This 1990 Hunter ep is titled "Unfinished Business" but I call it "the one where
Hunter and McCall have all the sex." After six years of stake-outs, innuendo,
and lingering looks over dead bodies, Rick and Dee Dee finally get it on in a
series of positively Bergman-esque flashbacks– and a shiveringly unresolved
ending. Mulder and Scully got nothin’ on this heat. Truly, the crap cop show’s
finest hour. Episode: A. Series: C+. TVLand, March 25th at 1 pm.

I’m sure it was the best episode. Morgan has a knack for writing the episode everybody remembers…no matter what series he’s on.  For instance, his STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION episode "The Inner Light" was an instant classic, a Hugo-award winning script that every other STAR TREK series felt duty-bound to ripoff at least once, and sometimes twice (most recently on the ENTERPRISE episode "Twilight").

Staffing Season

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I received this email today:

Lee – as a fringe writer (some low rent success –
but definitely not made) and an avid reader of Successful Television Writing, a question…
When DOES staffing season officially kick off.
I’m always hearing about the "Start of Staffing Season" and you mention it in STW, but I’ve never seen a time when this is  actually going… Late April?

This is how I replied:

It’s not really a staffing "season," more like a couple of staffing "weeks."

The networks announce their fall schedules — the new shows they are picking up and the old shows they are either renewing or cancelling — in late May.  Staffing the new shows, and some positions on returning series, begins almost immediately (though some confident, or at least extremely optimistic, pilot producers actually start taking "get to know you" meetings with potential staffers in early May, before they know whether or not their shows will get picked up).

 
Because most series begin shooting episodes in early July, the staffing season is a very narrow window of opportunity, just about four or five weeks.  If you don’t land a job during those short, competitive, anxiety-filled weeks, odds are you will be sitting out the season (though you may get a freelance gig or a pilot).  That said, there’s another staffing with that opens up a crack around August, when it’s clear that some showrunners and staffers aren’t cut out for their jobs and a quick change needs to be made… and then the window opens a bit again around Thanksgiving, when producers may look to make staff changes for "the back nine" if it looks likely their shows will get a full season pick-up.

 

Star Trek R.I.P.

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I’ve been catching up on my my friend Javier Grillo Marxuach’s blog. We worked together years ago on SEAQUEST, and he’s gone on to much better things… like his current gig as supervising producer of LOST. A few weeks back, he wrote  about the demise of  ENTERPRISE.

For the past ten years, being a star trek fan has been like watching a
beloved relative waste away from a completely curable degenerative
illness… you prayed for someone to administer the readily available
magic bullet of creative freedom, bold choices and individual
thought… and yet, its care was continually entrusted to insurance
company administrators eager to deliver the bottom line.

He nails it, doesn’t he?

Big Sunday

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Sunday has become a big TV night in the Goldberg household…one terrific series after another to enjoy. There ware two episodes of NIP/TUCK back-to-back on FX, a new season of DEADWOOD on HBO, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and BOSTON LEGAL on ABC. I can remember the last time we looked forward to a night of TV as opposed to a particular show… it kind of harkens back to the old days, when Saturday was comedy night on CBS… or the heyday of "Must See TV" on NBC. The difference, of course, is that we aren’t just watching one network… we’re channel-surfing between subscription network, basic cable network, and broadcast television, which is probably not what advertisers want to hear.

An Enterprising Director

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I wrote ENTERPRISE off a long time ago… so imagine my surprise when I watched Friday’s episode and I was riveted. Not by the plot (which was flat) or the acting (which was flatter), but the inventive, energetic, and fast-moving camera work and creative staging by director David Barrett. I wasn’t familiar with Barrett, but after watching the episode, I immediately looked him up. His credits include WITHOUT A TRACE, COLD CASE,  THE OC, and VERONICA MARS.  It’s a shame they didn’t bring him in much earlier… he certainly livened things up. I hope Ron Moore was watching…Barrett could do a hell of a job on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. I’m going to remember this guy.