Hope On The Shelf

IT'S LATE AT NIGHT as I write this. (Thank you, delayed publishing feature.) There are times when the bleakness of the news coming around makes you feel like Joe Frazier right before Cosell shouts "DOWWNN GOES FRAZIER!"

I was caught by surprise by my reaction to the Where The Wild Things Are trailer, (which I've linked to below.) The images, the song, I get to certain point in it and I feel myself tearing up, every time.

See, there are certain things you get out of if you don't have kids. Even as an "Uncle" with kids in my life, reading the occasional story, for whatever reason I've never really ever gone back to Where the Wild Things Are. Which means that I don't really remember it that well -- I don't recall the text, and the images are mostly those that I conjure up from my mind of being read the book when I was a sprout myself.

Clearly there's something deep in my sense memory about this book. And it evokes strong emotions. What a gift.

So no sturm and drang now. How about some evocations of hope? Something positive that I got from some screenwriting or industry related books? Some nugget of usefulness or narrative that reminds me of why I started doing this in the first place.

Find your positive thing and hold on tight to it. And keep writing.


DESPERATE NETWORKS by Bill Carter. A mostly inside-baseball look at behind the scenes building of the network schedules. The hopeful thing I took from this book is also the most scary thing. Every brilliant project was initially spurned. And every hit that comes out of the book came from some development executive who took a flyer on a talent, a piece of material, a something that they saw and their superiors didn't. And then they went out on a limb and made people see it.

You D-types...eventually you're going to have to fight for something. You're going to have to fight for a writer or a project. Read this book and find out why it's worth it.

A GREAT FEAST OF LIGHT by John Doyle Screw the TV turnoff week types. In a brisk, matter-of-fact, unsentimental style, Doyle paints a positive portrait of the effect that TV had on him growing up in Ireland. If you want to dip into a primer about how the medium can make a difference, not by being all self important -- but just by being entertaining and doing what it does best, this is the book. You don't have to say profound things on TV to shape a life. This book is a mash note to the whole TV medium.



BILLION DOLLAR KISS by Jeffrey Stepakoff. Another book I've blogged about here. And there's a lot in here that's depressing. But it's inspiring simply for the retold story of how one idea can pivot and change an entire show's direction. If you're a writer, you will recognize yourself in Stepakoff's every anecdote. And that's comforting too.


SIT UBU, SIT by Gary David Goldberg. I always meant to blog about this book and never got the chance. It's part memoir, part rumination by the guy who brought you Family Ties. What I get from Goldberg is that it's possible to be mercurial and productive, and wise, and foolish, and if you cop to it, come to humility and further understanding. Among the best passages in the book is a self-examination of how he came to leave Spin City... a passage where he's not afraid to look bad. His tale of falling out -- and eventually making up -- with Michael J. Fox should be required reading for any dramatic writer. We tend to be emotional people, and grudges can destroy and poison things...but there's always coming back. And then there's the love affair with his wife. Aw. What a mensch.






There you go. What books are you getting a bit of hope from these days?