I will be having surgery on my right elbow on Wednesday, Nov. 17th. In my absense and recuperation, my brother Tod and my writing partner Bill Rabkin will keep you entertained, informed, and offended…and let you know how I am doing. Until then, I’ll do my best to fulfill those awesome responsibilities.
Lee Goldberg
How Do I Write a Treatment?
I received this email today:
I am trying to pitch a movie. My question: Is there a specific format for an outline or treatment? Is there someplace I could get a sample of either or both?
Unless you are an established screenwriter, or are teamed up with a well-connected movie producer, there is no point in writing up an outline or a treatment. No one will ever read it or meet with you. You are better off writing the script…or the book… and trying to sell that to the movies.
On the other hand, if you are an established screenwriter or aligned with a hot producer, you still don’t need an outline… a simple, punchy, two-page "leave-behind" after your verbal pitch will do.
If they want an outline or a treatment, they can pay you for one.
That’s my advice, any way. Then again, most of my experience is in television, not feature film. You might visit screenwriter John August’s blog and pose the same question to him.
UPDATE: For details on how to write a series treatment, click here.
Chemo-sabe
I’m going to be in Palm Springs for the next couple of days… perhaps longer… giving my brother Tod a much-deserved break and taking care of my Mom during her next chemo treatment. I’ll also be working hard to finish “Diagnosis Murder #5: The Past Tense” before I go in for surgery on my right arm… and so I can meet the book’s delivery deadline of Nov. 30th. So don’t be surprised if I don’t post as much, or as frequently, on my blog for a little while…
I’m Glad This Isn’t MY Agent…
I got an email today from an agent who is having trouble selling his client’s crime thriller screenplay. Every development exec he submits the script to says they aren’t interested in the project unless there is “some talent attached.” The agent wanted to know “if you have any suggestions how to get around this” and also if I was interested in reading the script… and if I wasn’t, if I knew of any producers who were looking for great new material.
I was astounded. What kind of agent needs to ask another screenwriter the best way to get his client’s material to buyers? Here’s the advice I gave him:
By “talent,” they usually mean an actor, director, or major producer. But it’s just an excuse. No offense intented, but what they are really saying is they think the script is terrible, or it sounds terrible, or they aren’t interested in your client at all. The only way I know of to get around this is to have a kick-ass idea, a great script, a powerful agent, or as the development people have told you, a big name involved with the project. The bottom line is, whoever you’re talking to simply isn’t interested in what you have to sell. Russell Crowe would have to walk in the door with the script under his arm for them to give a damn.
What I didn’t say was if this agent was any good at his job, he’d have relationships with the right development people. He’d know what they were looking for and who the right people would be to send the script to. The development people would respect the agent, know the kind of writers the agent represented, and would decide whether or not to read the script based on that. The email I received tells me this is an agent who doesn’t have relationships, doesn’t have much experience, and shouldn’t be trying to sell anybody’s screenplay. But if that didn’t tell me, his next two questions did.
Are you interested in “a terrific feature screenplay?”
Only the ones that I write. I’m in the same position as your client. I don’t buy scripts, I try to sell my own! So that kind of answers your next question, too…
Maybe if you are not looking but know someone who is you can point us in that direction?
If I knew such a person, I would be sending them my script!
I wouldn’t want this guy representing me. The screenwriter would almost be better off with no agent at all, sending his script out on his own…
What do you think?
Dorktower
A reader pointed me to this amusing cartoon on “Fanfic.”
And here’s another interesting fanfiction debate, waged on Gaia Online.
TVBGone.com
Tired of the TV blaring in your favorite restaurant or bar, making it impossible for you to have a conversation without yelling? You could ask the owner to turn the set off… or, now, you can do it yourself without anyone even knowing it was you who did it. According tothe LA Times, someone has come up with a handy, key-chain remote that will turn off any television set.
For someone who just wanted a little peace and quiet, Mitch Altman is causing quite a ruckus. The San Francisco entrepreneur, perennially irritated by televisions blaring in restaurants and other gathering spots, revealed this week that he had come up with a solution: a cheap remote that shuts down almost every model of TV.
After the story of Altman’s invention zapped around the Internet, so many people visited TVBGone.com that the website crashed. Even so, Altman had taken 2,000 orders by early Wednesday, accounting for the entire first production run. Through mobile phones, pocket TVs and other devices, gadget makers have spent two decades devising ways to keep people constantly "on." The buzz over Altman’s device shows that some people are eager to turn off.
"I can see it turning into a sort of punky instrument of disruption," Columbia University sociologist Todd Gitlin said of the $15 devices, "a sort of new-style culture jam that’s within a lot of people’s means."
Gitlin warned that with TV such a big part of daily life — Americans watch an average of more than four hours a day — incautious use of TV-B-Gone could be unwise. Picture, for example, a sports bar during Wednesday night’s decisive match-up between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.
Altman started mulling over what became TV-B-Gone after he and some friends found themselves watching a soundless TV in a restaurant, abandoning what had been an entertaining conversation.
Altman, an engineer, tinkered in his studio apartment and then ordered as many of the keychain devices as his one-employee company could afford: 20,000. The gadget works by emitting every known set manufacturer’s signal to shut down. In his daily experiments in stores and elsewhere, Altman said, few people have objected.
"TVs are so ubiquitous that they don’t even think about it," Altman said. They see TV-B-Gone as giving them "some way of controlling their lives."
Amherst College sociologist Ron Lembo described Americans as ambivalent about TV. They want to turn it off, he said, but can’t stop watching. TV-B-Gone "plays into deeper resentment," Lembo said. But even if Altman’s gadget catches on, "you can’t turn off where television is and how important it is in the culture."
Along with customer orders, Altman said, he has been deluged with suggestions for follow-up products, including Car-Alarm-B-Gone, Booming-Bass-Speakers-B-Gone, and the clear favorite, Cellphone-B-Gone.
Altman has put some thought into that last one. "There are many possible ways to do it," he said, "but I don’t think any of them are legal."
Scammer of the Month Reponds
A while back, I criticized Bookreview.com as a scam for offering to review books for a fee. Heather Froeschl, associate editor of the service, has responded and thinks I was way out-of-line (I wonder if she’s also a member of the Colonial Fan Force, "the power brokers of the new Babylon"?)
Every writer providing a review deserves to be paid for the service. This does not mean paying for a rave, it means paying for the reviewer’s time and written word.
Sure, a reviewer should be paid. By her editor, not by the person whose work she is reviewing.
My goal is to give authors what they ask for…a review of their work. Sometimes I have to give bad news, sometimes I do give a rave, but in the end, authors respect what I have said about their book. Can you buy MY respect? Nope. But you can get a review from us within 14 business days. And that’s no scam.
Heather argues that the reviewers, despite being paid by the author or publisher for their comments, can maintain their objectivity and journalistic integrity. Paying for a review, she says, doesn’t guarantee a rave or that the reviewer will tread gently.
Okay, for the sake of argument, I’ll take her word for that.
How could anybody respect a book review that’s paid for by the author or publisher? How could anybody trust a critic who takes cash from the subjects of her reviews?
Of course the assumption is that a review that’s bought and paid for will be positive. If a book gets a negative review from her, I’d have to figure the author’s check bounced…or he wouldn’t kick in the extra $50 for a rave.
She doesn’t seem to get why anyone would question the validity of a review that’s paid for… or a critic who is in the pocket of the author or publisher. Heather also doesn’t seem to get the ethical problems, either…or how the practice creates a glaring conflict of interest.
Would you respect a movie review from a critic hired by the studio? Would you trust Consumer Reports on their review of a car, appliance, or other product if they were paid for the review by the manufacturers? Would you respect a restaurant review from a critic who was paid by the chef?
Apparently, Heather would.
What I’ve Learned from the Fanfic Debate
I’ve found this passionate discussion about fanfic fascinating and informative. And I have to say that some of your well-considered, heartfelt arguments have made me seriously reconsider some of my long-held views on the subject.
In particular, a comment yesterday from “Morgul” really got me thinking…
“Would you be so offended if, in one of your episodes one of the characters died of cancer, a fanwriter chose, instead of writing the Slash and MPreg you are so fond of mentioning, to write about that person when they realised that they were going to die? Or perhaps go AU and make that person live a year longer, exploring what that character would chose to do with that time?
Because, if you had an episode in which a character died of cancer, you’d get truly Godawful stories that would tell how true love will conquer all and be boring, but you would also get some amazing stories about how the character’s family coped with that loss, or even how the nurses and doctors that looked after the character reacted. You may have to sift through dirt, but there are gems out there.
That’s what we’re trying to get across to you here. The people who are taking the time to tell you what they think are the people that truly care about their fandoms and would never desecrate them like the people who use fanfiction as a form of masturbation.”
I think he’s right. I think my exposure to the fanfiction community – first with Seaquest and later with DM fanfic – didn’t show the field, or its writers, in the best light, establishing and strengthening my negative views.
I went back today and found that GUNSMOKE fanfiction I stumbled on some time ago… and yes, it’s very good and, as a GUNSMOKE fan, I enjoyed reading it very much.
In retrospect, I believe I have made some unfair generalizations about fanfic and the people who write it. But that’s not to say I don’t still have some strong objections to fanfic.
Defending fanfic on the basis that it’s not copyright infringement is silly. It is infringement, and it violates the intellectual property rights of the author/creator. You know it. I know it. Any reasonable person knows it. While the issue of copyright infringement/violation of intellectual property has strong ethical and artistic importance to me, it’s obviously a meaningless issue to those who write fanfic, so I won’t try to argue that any longer. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that score.
We can debate, however, the other arguments/defenses for fanfic, for which there is no clear-cut right-or-wrong —
a)it’s a way to learn how to write, a stepping stone to writing your own, original work.
The arguments here have persuaded me can be… but I still believe it’s a mistake for an aspiring writer to spend too much time and effort on fanfic… that they are better off, and will learn more, and will develop their own voice, by putting that effort into original work. It might be a useful exercise for a 12-year-old, but I think anybody, particularly an adult, serious about becoming a professional writer should concentrate their efforts on original work. That is the only way you will truly develop the skills you need to succeed (and, I believe, any aspiring or professional writer should respect the intellectual property rights of their fellow authors).
b) it’s the only way to get real feedback of your writing from a wide audience of people.
I’m unpersuaded. Personally, I don’t think this is a valid argument at all. There are many, many ways to get feedback on your writing without having to do fanfic.
c) it’s a way to explore aspects of the shows/novels/movies that the film-makers/authors don’t.
This was something I didn’t fully appreciate until Morgul’s post. My view has been far too influenced by all the slash/mpreg/hurt-comfort/etc. sludge out there and by strident fans who think their fanfic is the canon the TV writer/producers should be following. But his post opened my eyes.
d) it’s a way to celebrate and enjoy shows/novels/movies that you love with other fans.
I can see the point. .. though I think you can enjoy & celebrate a show/book/movie without writing and disseminating stories based on them.
e) it’s an expression of appreciation to the film-makers/authors
I suppose it is when you’re doing the things “Morgul” was talking about. But not when you pervert the authors intentions with garbage like mpreg, slash, hurt-comfort, etc. That isn’t flattery or appreciation. It’s aggressively offensive.
f)it’s self-policing…when fanficers violate the canon and write out-of-character stuff (mpreg, slash, etc), they get slammed for it.
I’m not persuaded… there’s far too much of the swill out there to believe “self-policing” is at all effective.
g)it’s harmless fun, give us a break.
On this, I have to say… you’re right. I’m a schmuck.
h)It’s a challenge to the ‘business model’ and thereby a political act.
This is a popular rationalization among all kinds of copyright infringers and product pirates and I simply don’t buy it.
No Funny Bone
As some of you may recall, I had a freak accident back in April and broke both of my arms. My left arm healed fine, but my right was badly damaged and had to be rebuilt with titanium (which you can see in the x-ray to the left and click on for a larger image). Sadly, I have very limited range of motion in my right arm and will soon be undergoing surgery, most likely in early November, to remove the implants and some scar tissue. 
While I am in the hospital and recuperating, I’ve been thinking of handing over my blog for a week or so to a "guest blogger," like my brother Tod or my writing partner Bill Rabkin, or perhaps both of them.
My question to you… would you prefer I "go dark" during that period, or would you prefer the guest bloggers?
What David Montgomery Has Learned About Fanfic
David Montgomery has posted an interesting essay on his blog about what he’s learned about fanfic from the debate that has raged here the last few days:
1) Most FanFic is a violation of the copyrights of the original creators. (The main exception to this is works in the public domain, which are free for all.)
2) This violation doesn’t really amount to much and is probably not actionable in most cases.
2a) Most writers of FanFic are unaware (or don’t care) that they are violating copyrights.
2b) They aren’t making any money off it anyway.
3) There is no essential difference between writing FanFic involving Huckleberry Finn or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, other than the copyright concerns.
4) Writing FanFic is a diverting hobby for some people.
5) Writing FanFic might be of some use to its creator as a learning tool, but the writer would be a lot better off creating his/her own works, if they can.
6) Presumably FanFic is fun for some peple to read, although hardly anyone seems to be making this point. (I get the impression that FanFic has many writers, but few readers.)
7) Most FanFic is crap (Sturgeon’s Law in action), but some of it’s pretty good.
8) The sexually-oriented FanFic (slash, mpreg, etc.) is downright creepy — and there’s quite a bit of it out there.
9) One will never convince FanFic writers that they’d be better off pursuing works of their own — and they’ll get mad if you try.
And, perhaps, most importantly…
10) FanFic is not a serious thing, nor an important one, so there’s no point in treating it as such. It’s fun for those who practice it, largely harmless, probably pointless, and the discussion of it has occupied too much of my time the past couple days.
I think I’ve learned a few of the same things. I may follow his lead and post my own list in the next day or two…