Screenwriter Josh Friedman has written the best blog post I have read all year…maybe in the last two years… maybe ever. I loved it. What's it about? The intersection of life, writing, and TV procedurals. Kind of. I'm not doing it justice at all, so what are you waiting for? Just read it. Here's a peek:
So I'm at a meeting with a producer the other day and he's pitching me a tv idea. As way of emphasizing why I need him and his idea, he brings forth a piece of paper. On it, my credits. He doesn't actually hand it over to me but he says this:
PRODUCER: I've been looking over your credits, pretty impressive.
ME: Thanks, we try.
PRODUCER: Seems to me you're just missing one thing from these credits. And I'm gonna tell you what it is.
ME: Please do.
At which point he turns the piece of paper towards me and I see he's written in bold black marker near the top, pointing to the list: BIG FUCKING HIT TV SHOW.
ME: Well, yes, I am missing that. Very true. I think about that a lot.
PRODUCER: That's all right. Because I'm here to change all that.
At which point he launches into his pitch for what may or not be "my big fucking hit tv show."
Now, I leave it to you to debate whether pointing out my shortcomings is a good or bad sales strategy (it rarely works for my dad but often for my wife), and I'll leave it to me to decide whether or not the idea he pitched me was the answer to my problems…
And that does not even hint at the strangeness that happens after he gets a late-night call from a hooker…