Writing

Room 222

by

Enrollment has begun for our next online session of Beginning Television Writing. The four-week course begins Oct. 24th and is a lot of fun…at least for your humble instructors. Here’s the listing from Writers University:

In this four week course, two established executive producers/showrunners
[That would be William Rabkin and me ] will give you an inside look at the world of episodic television. You will
learn—and practice— the actual process involved in successfully writing a spec
episodic script that will open doors across Hollywood. You will learn how to
analyze a TV show and develop “franchise”-friendly story ideas. You will develop
and write a story under the direction of the instructors, who will be acting as
showrunners… and then, after incorporating their notes, you will be sent off to
write your outline. Finally, you will develop and refine your outline with the
instructors, leaving you at the end of the course ready to write your episodic
spec script…the first step in getting a job on a TV series.

We look forward to seeing your in our virtual classroom.

Connelly’s Road to Hollywood

by

Michael Connelly’s crime novels regularly top the best-seller lists.  His Harry Bosch series has sold more than 2.6 million
copies. His website gets one million hits a
month, and his email list boasts about 30,000 names. Connelly is a certified celebrity in the mystery book world.  You’d think studios would be scrambling to make movies based on his books. But so far, only BLOOD WORK has made it to the screen…and was a critical and box-office dud (but was something of a dry run for the creative team that would make MYSTIC RIVER an Oscar-winning success).
Although Connelly co-created the UPN TV series LEVEL 9, his involvement was minimal and the show tanked( a writer on the show, Paul Guyot, has a nice appreciation of Connelly on his blog today).

Over the years, his Bosch books have been optioned several times and countless screenplays have been written…and yet, no movie or even a TV pilot have been produced  (having read a couple of those scripts, I can understand why).  VOID MOON reportedly began as an original screenplay before Connelly turned it into a book…and yet, no movie there, either.

What’s the problem here? I don’t know.  Perhaps it’s the same curse that has kept Thomas Perry’s books from being made into films.  But now there’s buzz that Connelly’s new novel THE LINCOLN LAWYER is generating heat in Hollywood and is big-screen bound.

Let’s hope.

Marvin H. Albert

by

You may recall that I’ve got a guilty-pleasure-passion for the Frank Sinatra’s TONY ROME and LADY IN CEMENT movies, both of which were based on books by Marvin H. Albert (who also co-wrote the screenplay for LADY). Novelist, editor and paperback collector Bill Crider  has written an interesting article about Albert for this month’s issue of Mystery*File magazine. The article includes a complete bibliography of Albert’s work, compiled by Steve Lewis. Albert was an amazingly versatile, if unappreciated, writer whose work included screenplays, novels in several genres, and even movie tie-ins. He was one of a dying breed. 

Doug Lyle Likes to Kill People

by

Doug Lyle may be Orange County’s most prolific serial killer.

He’s smashed 18-wheelers into station wagons, tossed dynamite into mine
shafts, hung victims by their ankles, or plain, old-fashioned shot them.

He is also a willing accomplice to hundreds – perhaps thousands – of other
murders.

That’s the opening of a great profile of Dr. Doug Lyle in today’s Orange County Register and his work as a consultant to mystery writers like me. Without him, Dr. Mark Sloan would be an LA screenwriter in his early 40s.

Mysteries of Tie-in Writing Revealed

by

Want to know how to become a tie-in writer? Do you need an agent to break into the tie-in field? What kind of deadlines do tie-in writers have to meet? How do the writers approach characters descriptions and backstory? What kind of royalties do tie-in writers get? What is better — fighting for royalties or accepting a flat-fee? These are just a few of the intriguing business and craft questions tackled and answered in the  articles  posted today at the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) website.

Shamus Award Winners

by

Author Harry Hunsicker has clued me in to this year’s Shamus Award Winners from the Private Eye Writers of America:

Best Novel: Edward Wright, While I
Disappear (Putnam)
Best First Novel: Ingrid Black, The Dead (St. Martin’s
Minotaur)
Best Paperback Original: Max Phillips, Fade to Blonde (Hard Case Crime)
Best
Short Story: Pearl Abraham, "Hasidic Noir" (Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books)

Lifetime Achievement: Sara Paretsky

Procedural Checklist

by

Greg Braxton of the LA Times shares his funny, and stingingly accurate, ten-step formula for the typical TV police procedural.

2. The ‘What d’ya got’ scene

The star investigators must
arrive at a crime scene walking at a regular pace or in slow motion. Dark trench
coats are a must, and the stars should look properly stern and speak cryptically
out of the sides of their mouths when asking officers at the scene, "Who’s the
stiff?" Detectives should possess a background in comedy or philosophy: Nothing
kicks off a murder investigation or leads into the first commercial like words
of wisdom or a morbid one-liner such as, "Dinner really did cost him an
arm and a leg."

The list goes on. But Greg left a couple of things out:

1 ) the hero’s  obligatory dead wife (an updating of what was "the obligatory estranged wife").

2) the hero’s  or co-star’s  struggle with an  addiction (gambling, alcoholism, etc.)

3) one lead character eats healthy, the other loves junk food.

4) the irascible boss.

The Big Pitch

by

Screenwriter Craig Mazin has some excellent advice on pitching. Here’s an example:

First, understand what it is that you’re pitching.  You’re not pitching a script.  You’re not pitching a story.

You’re pitching a movie. Don’t give me that blank
look. You’ve already done it. Ever see a movie and then have someone
ask you to describe it? That’s movie pitching.

What you want to do is achieve the same effect with the producer or exec.  You want them to believe that you have already seen a great movie, and you’re just telling them about it.

Craig’s pointers also work for pitching a series. But there’s one thing he doesn’t bring up. Be flexible. Be prepared to get, and consider, the input of the person you’re pitching to.  Today we pitched a series to a major production company. The exec we were pitching on got hooked on one aspect of the pitch and said, basically, how would you feel if you just went with that one aspect and tossed the rest? And, what if we added this extra element?

And you know what? It was a damn good idea. We jumped on it. And so did the exec, who is now as invested in the idea as we are and taking it to his superiors with enthusiasm. Will it go anywhere? Who knows. But it would definitely have gone nowhere with that company if we hadn’t been willing to consider other possibilities.