A couple of weeks back I did a one-day workshop in Winnipeg sponsored by Film Training Manitoba & the CFC (and I'm pretty sure there might be another organization in there too, I'm sorry if I'm leaving you out. There seems to be a good bit of government support for the Film Industry in Manitoba. Coming from Ontario, where they've starved the OMDC for years, it was weird.) Anyway, that's a digression.What I did at that workshop is what I always do. I asked people what their favorite shows were, and what they were thinking of speccing. This is always a trick question. We got several Californications, a Dexter or two, a bunch of Breaking Bads, Sons of Anarchy, True Blood...one brave soul stuck up for Being Erica. I think there might have been a Flashpoint.
But the point was that about 80% of the room wanted to do a cable show. That's natural. Writers or would be writers are attracted to good writing and sometimes that means investing in a show that is more of a cult thing.
But every slice of the pie that grows smaller means less of a chance of connecting with a show that your reader knows. And that's why new writers looking to make a mark with their first specs ignore network shows at their peril.
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| Announcing itself in the poster. |
The L.A. Times today has an article about Modern Family & The Good Wife, where the critic calls them nearly perfect shows. They have their reasons -- well and thoughtfully laid out. I tend to agree with most of them.
The most important thing is to like the show you're speccing. If you don't, that will show. But I defy anybody who really wants to write professionally to watch a few episodes of either Modern Family or The Good Wife and not appreciate the deep and solid craft at work in these shows. Both programs, now wrapping up their first seasons, have managed to maintain a consistent, superior quality that connects to a network sized audience each week. Now, true, that is a slice that's getting smaller by the year, but it's still the most significant slice.
It's a hard thing to have to explain the ropes to somebody that really, really wants to write an episode of an obscure cable drama that might or might not see another season. There are plenty of people who are working who should know better. There are people working on Canadian network shows that don't count a single network hit among their likes and influences, and I think it shows in their work. Californication is not an example of anything except maybe a male writer's Arrested Development.
(Arrested Development was a bad spec back in the day. And 30 Rock's not as great as you think it is, either. Better to do a good, solid Big Bang Theory.)
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| The Best Character on TV Right Now |
(As an aside, another thing to keep in mind for next season: pay attention to the first positioning spots the Network does in print and on TV during the summer: they are the clearest indicators of how they see the show, and how they'll try to position it. Half the time, the poster announces the theme of the show.)
There will be time to build your portfolio with other colours, other paints -- maybe something with a more cable feel. But take a look at the article linked above, and ask why tens of millions of viewers agree with it each week. That is the business you're in, my friend.
This is a populist medium. It's okay if you admire The Wire. We all do. But if you've got talent, a solid The Good Wife will get you more work in a month of Sundays. You don't get points for being an auteur in this game. You get points for writing good, accessible stuff -- and writing it fast. Surprise the audience, yes, but also give them something familiar and relatable. Save the cable spec til later. Stalk the big game first.
For what it's worth, that's my thinking. Maybe now I can punt on the question for awhile. :)
6 comments:
How often do you think writers need new specs? Every year? Every two years? If you have a script that's distinctly from last season, how long is its shelf life?
Thanks!
I think you need to keep rotating through at least a new one every six months (or more) until you start getting work.
Remember once you get work, you can use those scripts too if they're in the genre you're going for.
Every successful writer hits a point where there's one particular spec that for whatever reason, starts to get them heat. And you wind up riding that hot spec to jobs.
So there's no hard & fast rule. But since you get better on every script you write, I think new writers should be looking to write several scripts a year.
I didn't have a current spec for years...I got work mainly off a couple of originals and my paid scripts. But I've been working up a new one recently because the market has shifted, and I don't really have much in the way of suitable material for the kinds of shows that are getting made. So the reality is: where is there a hole in your portfolio of material? Fill it.
Rather than putting a timeframe on it, that should be your goal.
Thanks!
I recently finished a 'Big Bang Theory', and I'm thinking of doing a 'Modern Family' next - I've watched some of the show, I really dug it, and I think I'd enjoy really digesting the whole first season.
However, I'm somewhat more intrigued by 'Community'. It's by far my favourite scripted comedy on TV right now, but I worry that it might be another 'Arrested Development' or '30 Rock'. Which do you think would be smarter to focus my energies on right now?
PS. I was at the workshop you taught last month at the CFC - thanks very much! It was enormously helpful as I rounded 3rd on my application package.
It looks like the American market is swinging away from specs and towards original pilots. And I realize you're talking primarily about the Canadian market, so feel free to just delete this if you don't think it's relevant.
I've heard from a few people either recently staffed or currently taking meetings in staffing season that producers and showrunners don't want to read specs anymore, they want to read your pilot.
Check out this post by a baby writer currently taking meetings in staffing season: http://tinyurl.com/23jmtlw
And I had lunch recently with a writer who got staffed two seasons ago and he told me the same thing: write a pilot.
Yes, I've been hearing that for awhile. (And Canada was actually ahead in this regard -- they always wanted to see original pilots first, or most.)
I don't think this necessarily benefits the starting out writer, though. A pilot is an INCREDIBLY hard monster to nail. And part of the problem these days is half baked shows that have nowhere to go after their pilots. The extendability and franchise isn't baked in because that's not the world'd easiest thing to come up with -- it requires a level of skill beyond executing one good script.
I still think that specs are useful because these things are perverse -- they'll swing back in a heartbeat. And it's also because it simply is an easier exercise to learn how to mimic voice & turn out a good script if you don't have to worry about creating from the ground up. Considering the job will be mimicking another's voice, not creating your own show with zero experience, I think it's important to be able to show that you can do that. Many writers can't. They can write their own voice, but no one else's.
If I was hiring someone on a staff I would want to see both. And I doubt I'd hire without seeing some spec of a show. It tells me they love the medium, not just their own work.
In all this, of course, the caveat is: a really, really, really good script will open doors whether it's original or spec. You need to aim not to be good. The bar is better than anyone else they're likely to read. And that can be a very tall order.
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