Interrogation Goodness

I SAW THIS a week or so ago but didn't have time to look into it in detail. Now I've gone back and I'm glad I did. 

One of the staples for any screenwriter or TV writer working in the mystery or police drama is the "interrogation scene."  You've seen a million of them; you know why they're there.  They're easy to shoot so they can eat up a lot of pages & be shot quickly. They're a good way to get out all the things that you need to get out -- exposition (pipe), character revelation, plot advancement, and in the hands of the right actors they can even be elevated to something greater: great drama.  A good Two handed interrogation scene can be some of the most memorable things in a show.

Programs like The Shield, NYPD Blue, and especially the wonderful and underrated Homicide: Life on the Street, used the interrogation to incredible effect.  In my two years on The Border, I tried to always make sure that my interrogation scenes had something going on in them other than the surface obviousness.  I did a better job with that in some places than others, and overall, it's one of the areas where I always wished that show was a little better.

The other thing about an interrogation scene is that it's familiar.  You know the format, and the stakes, and how it works.  Information that comes out this way is information easily processed by an audience, even if you do manage to dress it up with great character involvement, a la Criminal Intent, or subtext a la Homicide, or simply just through bravura performance, as in Prime Suspect or Homicide.  (Interestingly enough, though it was one of my fave Canadian shows, I sometimes think that Intelligence suffered because it didn't use this trope enough.  Overhearing actuality doesn't give you the same clear expositional stake as interrogation does -- and for some people that made it hard to follow.)

Canadians who follow the news might vaguely remember the Liberal Party's sponsorship scandal of a few years ago.  It's a tale of payoffs in the Quebec wing of the party that severely damaged that wing, and led to the Liberals' fall from government to Minority party in the last few Canadian elections.

Last week the Globe & Mail released tapes, and did a story on the sponsorship scandal and how the RCMP brought in one of their most skilled interrogators to get the key confession that would provide the proof to prove the conspiracy. 

The story of Corporal Greg Bishop's interrogation is a great primer for the real-life in the interrogation game:

The signs were homemade – six large computer printouts bearing the RCMP logo next to a picture of the federal Parliament building. Each sheet was labelled “sponsorship scandal – corruption unit” but had been given a different heading: analysis; police shadowing; investigations; co-ordination; proceeds of crimes; evidence.
It was Sept. 14, 2007, and props were needed to make an impression three days later when a man accused of defrauding the Liberal Party of more than $100,000 and accepting a $50,000 bribe would walk through the Montreal office of the Mounties’ commercial-crimes unit en route to his interrogation.
The goal was to be sure that Benoît Corbeil, former director-general of the federal Liberals’ Quebec wing, knew just how thorough the investigation into the sponsorship scandal had been and how serious the accusations he faced really were.
And the stage was set for Greg Bishop, the big, sympathetic corporal whose abilities are legendary within the force. “He looks like Yogi the Bear,” according to one insider, “but he is a formidable interrogator.”
Years of legwork had brought them to a critical point in “an exceptional case.” Now “a superior level of competence is required” to close the trap on the only Liberal Party official they felt they could prove had accepted money in exchange for a political favour.
They got their wish.

But even better than the story linked above, is the fact that the Globe & Mail has posted the tapes.  They're in French, but subtitled, so you can see how a superior interrogator actually manipulated a suspect into a confession. It's fascinating viewing for any screenwriter. 

The RCMP Interrogation tapes:

Part 2 - The Introduction
Part 3 - The Watergate analogy.
Part 4 - The Bad Cop
Part 5 - The Confession
Part 6 - The Second Confession
Part 7 - The Hug

For my part, it's that last part -- the hug -- that I find most interesting and compelling. All the histrionics we've seen in interrogation scenes, and we forget that sometimes the reality is a subtle, human need.  Keep that in mind next time you have to go into "The Box" in your script...

Do You Like Gladiator Movies, Billy? Or... a bit of experimentation.

STILL KICKING THE tires a bit on this new Blogger in Draft thing.  I know I tend to sometimes write long entries, and so I've been experimenting the last few with the new create a 'jump' feature.  This allows more entries on the main page, and means less scrolling for the casual browser, but means you have to click to read the full article.  Just like in Newspaper sites. Opinions? Yes/No? 

Domestic Partnerships are Nifty!

LIKE MANY PEOPLE living in Canada, I've been looking at this photo on and off for the last 24 Hours.

Have You Heard the News? There's Good Rockin' Tonight!

That's Chad Kroeger, the lead singer of arguably the most hated band in the world, Nickelback, with the Prime Minister of Canada  Stephen "Don't call me Steve" Harper, at the door of the Prime Ministerial residence, 24 Sussex Drive.

I don't quite know where to begin with all the things that are wrong, so very, very, very wrong with this picture. The one armed half-hug.  The pink shirt. (For those not in the Canadian know, the PM is the type of guy who buys his blue shirts & leaves the hanger in when he wears them.) During the last campaign, they put him in a warm and fuzzy sweater in front of a fireplace, and kittens everywhere started to explode.  This guy's about as warm and fuzzy as a glass of orange juice poured onto a canker.

Notes From a Screeny Weekend

THINGS GLEANED from a couple of solid days & one wonderful, lingering dinner with screenwriters & smartypants at the 2010 Toronto Screenwriting Conference.

1)  Ted Danson is apparently a Mensch.

2)  According to the Simpsons' Tim Long, who hails from the fine Ontario town of Exeter -- "the rule of thumb about how stupid Homer can be is that Homer Simpson should never be dumber than a dog, and cannot forget his own name."

Long also sounds like he's scored a coup with the opening episode of the Fall 2010 Simpsons' -- a musical ep featuring Flight of the Conchords & the cast of Glee; and he proved that in a wingman situation, he can get one about 40% of the way there without even breaking a sweat. The follow through, alas... is up to you.

And the Magazine geek in me will be forever in awe of Long just because he worked for a time at the great, storied, legendary SPY Magazine.

3) Rhett Reese understands EXACTLY how lucky he is that he and his writing partner Paul Wernick (who he's known since high school) were with Zombieland.  The movie started life as a TV pilot.  The first half of the movie is basically the TV pilot. The movie changed very, very little from their initial draft, except when it walked over from Sony DVD/TV Movie land to Sony Pictures (and when does THAT happen?) the director suggested the amusement park ending, now that they had a bigger budget.

Oh and apparently the scene that was written most was the Bill Murray scene -- for Patrick Swayze, Jean Claude Van Damme, The Rock, and about seven other people. And in the end, at the last minute... they come up with Bill Murray.

Ladies and gentlemen, THAT is lucky.

4) My interview with Robert Zotnowski (fmr. Sr. VP of CBS Drama Series Development, now Head of Development at Stars Road Entertainment (with Josh Donen & Sam Raimi) revealed much wisdom for the aspiring writer about how to effectively manage your relationship with the network.  When it comes to notes, always remember to "take the spirit of the note," and remember that your biggest friend is, "we'll take a look at it."  The sweet spot for getting your pilot script into the network isn't Thanksgiving, and isn't to play the "get in late after New Years'" game (by then you better have sheer genius, cause there's no time to fix anything.)   But I think one of the best things he had to say was about how a writer needs to approach that pilot script. “A pilot is not a show – is is an opportunity to have a show." he said. “The pilot process should be looked at as an audition for the people we are going to want to work with on a series.” 

How often writers forget that the first product they're trying to sell...is themselves! Oh, and one more from Mr. Zotnowski:  "the best series bible in the world won't help a weak pilot script get made."

Stargatin!

VERY COOL.  One of the best things for me, personally, to come out of the Toronto Screenwriting Conference this past weekend was a quick chance to chat with Robert C. Cooper, one of the co-Creators & Executive Producers of SGU Stargate Universe.

I was lucky enough to freelance an episode of this show early last year, and it finally airs this Friday on Syfy in the USA (Space in Canada).  Here's the promo for FAITH:




I've really been enjoying SGU, especially as it's gone on and the characters deepened. The last two shows, culminating with "Divided" last week, really shows the political complications of this group of people out there on this ship all alone.

As a freelancer, of course, my script was heavily rewritten, first by Carl Binder, and then I'm guessing by Cooper & Brad Wright -- but I was very pleased to see when I read the final script that my story survived, except, of course, everybody had made it MUCH MORE AWESOME.

I'll have more to say about the funny world of the freelancer later in the week -- but for now the best news was Cooper telling me that the show turned out REALLY, REALLY WELL.  I'm psyched to see it!

One other massive piece of trivia that came out of Cooper's Q&A with Karen Hill yesterday -- did you know that Stargate, after 15 years and 3 shows, has just about hit the milestone of generating a BILLION DOLLARS for the Canadian economy?

That's billion with a B.

Wow.

That and the Blue Jays home opener tonight = good mood for Daddy.

Welcome Back, Coco.

IF TBS starts outdrawing NBC, there's gonna be blood.

Treme & What It Means

THERE IS A moment of delicate, incredibly uncommon beauty that arrives near the end of the premiere episode of Treme, (HBO, 10pm) David Simon & Eric Overmyer's unabashed love letter to the damaged & ravaged city of New Orleans.
Clarke Peters, (so memorable as Lester Freamon in The Wire) plays a Mardi Gras Indian named Albert, who returns to the city as soon as he can after Katrina. His house is wrecked. His daughter, and later his son have shown up to try to convince him that there's nothing to return to, that his tribe is scattered to the four winds. They can't understand why he's being so stubborn. He asks for help and support but others won't help him, "You're not even in my tribe," says one sympathetic, but unyielding associate.
And then, out of pitch darkness, emerges Albert, moving slowly, ritually, with the chant full in his throat. He is decked out in his full outfit -- a stunning white Indian headdress. It makes the argument -- the plea for help, that New Orleans couldn't make itself using logic, or words, or economic models -- about why an impractical and ruined city below sea level must come back.
You're forgiven if there's much in the previous two paragraphs you don't understand. The opening song provides a map to the answer -- "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?"

Polish Notes

POL-ish, like what you do to scripts & furniture, not Polish, like Pope John Paul II or Lech Walesa.

Doing it now on the script, and I am reminded of a tic & a solve from mi Amigo Shelley Eriksen --

Go through your dialogue.  Take out the 'just'-s. 

If you have this tic, (and I do) it's a humbling exercise.

It's Foggy Anyway.

SO WHY NOT a little abject depression with your coffee?

Why are creatives alternately depressed & pissed off right now?  Well, let Will Dixon tell you.

And then there's the fact that the only place that IS actually spending money on Cancon just basically absorbed a cut that equals, oh, one series.

And The Great LOST Battle Royal Continues...

P.D. Days for Scribes: The 2010 Toronto Screenwriting Conference

WHEN I WAS but a wee snapper in grade school, I remember vividly being of two minds about what they called "P.D. Days."  P.D. stood for "Professional Development." Teachers would huddle in conference rooms (I suppose, I was never really sure) and we'd get an extra day off for fun and frolic.  There were a lot of P.D. days in the winter, it seemed, and they all involved tobogganing and snow down your snowpants.  I'm kidding. I was too cool for snowpants.  Not too cool for pneumonia, though.

 Sometimes I'd imagine the teachers and what they were doing.  At first I pictured them with a whole different set of kids -- rough kids, like crash test dummy kids, and their job was to learn'em. They'd learn to appreciate us more.  Then I got a little older and I just figured they went skiing or something.  Man, I hope they didn't have to play that trust exercise where they close their eyes and fall back and expect people to catch them. That one always creeped me out.

Professional development is important in any job.  You always want to be learning new and better ways to do what you do, to unlock unrealized potential, or shake off old patterns that might prevent you from stretching yourself, and doing better.

When I got older I'd hear talk of my corporate friends going to retreats at places like Deerhurst Inn where they hit each other with pillows and did the falling back thing.  It all seemed rather odd and exotic. And a little bit gay.

I don't mean that as a pejorative. I really mean "gay." If our culture has taught me anything, it's that adult pillow fights inevitably lead to same sex hookups. Not that there's anything wrong with that. That's what she said.

Alright. The point is, for writers, professional development is much like the profession itself -- solitary, and haphazard.  You're always looking for inspiration, and most of what training you get is from soaking up the world around you, and occasionally reading books.

Add to this: most writers are self-taught.  I don't mean that they don't take a course now and then, but the only way you really ever get good at writing is to be bad at writing, by yourself, for years, getting slowly better until you're not bad anymore and then you show selected people what you've done, and hopefully build from there.

What's interesting with that is that there are probably as many systems or tricks or tips or processes for being a writer as there are writers. And we rarely, if ever, get to peel back the curtain and see how someone else gets it done.  Maybe a stray quote in an article might hint at something, but you can't really follow up, ask for clarification, or just look the person in the eye and say, "Really? Ginger Ale, Oprah, and Animal Crackers?"

It's in this spirit that my agent, Glenn Cockburn, organized his first Toronto Screenwriting Conference, happening this weekend, Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11th.

"I am so excited to be a part of this event," says Cockburn. "I have found over the years there exists a large gap in the entertainment education and event market for experienced writers to continue to master their craft.  In starting the Toronto Screenwriting Conference the idea was to create a new annual event where experienced writers could come and share their expertise with working writers and the people who work with them like producers, directors, and network executives."

"Have a Take. Don't Suck"

YOUR WRITER CRACK of the day comes courtesy of Emily Nussbaum's excellent New York Magazine profile of David Simon (The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Corner, the upcoming Treme)

A tiny taste:

Simon and I sit on the bench outside, as he sips an orange juice and vodka. His cold has gotten worse. (Earlier, I’d heard him moan to Lippman on the phone, “God, don’t even talk about lung cancer while I have this cough.”)

As a vendor shills barbecue, Simon tells me about other projects: a film about the Lincoln assassination he’s writing with Tom Fontana, a book about the drug trade, an HBO series about the CIA. He reminisces again about his years as a reporter, peppering a corrupt politician with questions. The guy derided Simon from the assembly floor, announcing, “This little person came up to me … ”

He loves the punch line, the politico privately telling him, “Thank you, Mr. Simon, for being fair.”

We discuss Lippman’s website the Memory Project, on which readers share childhood stories. Simon has long had a love-hate relationship with the Internet, that prime suspect in the death of newspapers. When I’d asked Simon how much he read comments online, he said he read sparingly: “It’s your job not to listen.” (Then I interviewed, separately, Overmyer and Treme producer Nina Noble. “I don’t read at all, and he reads everything,” Overmyer said, gesturing down the street at Simon. “Somewhat,” Noble said. “But not as obsessively as he does,” shooting Simon a glance.)

But lately, he’s been thinking about ways he can turn the web to his advantage.

“Fuck the exposition,” he says gleefully as we go back into the bar. “Just be. The exposition can come later.” He describes a theory of television narrative. “If I can make you curious enough, there’s this thing called Google. If you’re curious about the New Orleans Indians, or ‘second-line’ musicians—you can look it up.” The Internet, he suggests, can provide its own creative freedom, releasing writers from having to overexplain, allowing history to light the characters from within.

"Pugnacious D" is available online here.

Hipped to me once again by the vivacious Karen "Thrillkill" Hill.

Toronto Screenwriting Conference News

SO THEN, I might have mentioned that I'm moderating a Q&A at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference this weekend.  It's a very craft-oriented, nitty-gritty kind of conference. Less war stories than process stuff. Should be gold for writers. I'll have more up about it tomorrow.

But this afternoon I'm actually doing my pre-interview.  My session's going to be with a longtime, well-respected Drama development, current and production executive.  I've got a good handle on how I'm going to go in -- but if you have anything you've ever wanted to ask a Network exec about pitching, managing the relationship with the network, what makes a good meeting or a bad meeting, or anything else crafty that you'd like to get in there, leave it in the comments below. 

And like I said, I'll have more on the conference & its lineup tomorrow.

One Small Multitouch For a Man....

ALRIGHT, SO HERE I am sitting in the Orlando airport, waiting for my flight home to Toronto. I've launched Pages for the first time, and I've got the case set up on the angle to provide a platform to type.

My first blog on the IPad.

The keyboard isn't quite big enough to touch type but with predictive text and two blazing fingers of hunt and peck I'd say. I'm capable of about fifty words a minute which isn't bad.

for all the fooferal about the lack of multitasking what they haven't said is that it's third party apps. I can listen to music as I type. I'm doing that now. I can also download in the background. Switching between apps is blazing. my battery last night lasted about 13 hours.

I downloaded two books from the bookstore. Beautiful. Crisp and clear. The Amazon kindle book app is outstanding. They were ready. my favorite game is Scrabble. they did a great job on it.

judging by the ABC app, which I'll probably lose access to when I hit Canada, it kicks flashes ass. Hulu where I was staying was choppy. This is smooth as hell.

Did I mention it was fast?

This is easier to use than an iPhone. I'm as suspicious of hype as anyone else. But this really feels Star Trek to me.

More later.

Bodice Ripping Weekend fun

FOR THE RELIGIOUS this weekend has one meaning. For some it's just a long weekend.  For me, a lapsed Catholic, it means that I won't go to church (not with all that boy-touching all over the news) but I won't eat meat today (As I had a character say once in a script, "just because I don't believe in God doesn't mean I don't fear him. That's just common sense.")  Oh, and I'll spend most of the day thinking about the iPad I'm going to pick up tomorrow, so I guess, what, that counts as worshipping Mammon or something. 

Yeah. I'm probably screwed.

But hey, if you happen to be by your TeeVee on Easter Sunday night, you get a great old fashioned yarn done new with blood & guts and stuff -- complete with some fine Canadian artists working on it.  (Not writers, but hey, we'll work on that later.)


As the release put it:

BEN HUR is a gut-wrenching, action-packed drama about the struggle between the Roman Empire and its rebellious conquest Judaea, and two best friends caught in a terrible moment in history. This brand new, Canadian co-produced, two-part miniseries premieres on CBC Television on Easter Sunday, April 4 at 8 p.m. and concludes on Sunday, April 11 at 8 p.m.

Joseph Morgan (Alexander, Master and Commander) stars as Judah Ben Hur and Stephen Campbell Moore (Amazing Grace, The History Boys) is Octavius Messala, life-long friends on the opposite sides of a war for Judaea’s national identity that tests their characters to the maximum.

The stellar international cast also includes Emily VanCamp (Brothers & Sisters, Everwood) as Esther, Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill, Mansfield Park) as Pontius Pilate,
Ray Winstone (Beowulf, The Departed) as Quintus Arrius, James Faulkner (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Good Shepherd) as Marcellus Agrippa, Alex Kingston (ER, Law & Order: SUV) as Ruth, Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) as Tirzah, Lucia Jimenez (Butterflies and Lightning) as Athene, Ben Cross (Star Trek, Chariots of Fire) as Emperor Tiberius and Kris Holden-Reid (The Tudors, Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story) as Gaius.

 This is going to air in the USA too, but not til Christmas.  So Canada for once gets a show first!

Integration Evil

LAST NIGHT's IPAD integrated "Ipad" storyline on MODERN FAMILY made for the unfunniest episode of the season thus far.


And paradoxically, it made me want one EVEN MORE.


Sometimes I hate my gadgety weakness.


Oooh, and now there are reviews. Reviews! I say, and they're rapturous!


Shiny. Shiny. Shiny.


Two more sleeps.

Round Two on the CRTC's TV Policy

IT'S CALLED THE "kick it to the curb" hour -- where you announce stuff that's going to be unpopular just before the weekend, especially before a long weekend, and this is one they're really going to want to kick to the curb.

The CRTC's decision over the new TV policy continues to cause ripples a week later.  Jim Henshaw has his own patented (and pessimistic) view of the proceedings here.

One of the less talked about provisions in the new policy is the idea that Canadian broadcasters will now be able to demand blackouts on U.S. nets for programs where they own the Canadian rights, if they're not able to show in simulcast. This creates somewhat of a technological problem for the cable and satellite companies, who'd need to hire more people just to keep track of the blue bars all over the schedule.

Simultaneous substitution, of course, is the thing that the Canadian private networks built their fortunes on -- being able to piggyback on U.S. net publicity and show their bought & borrowed shows on two channels at once.

Well, in the spirit of last year's duelling commercials fight, Canada's top two cablers aren't going to make it that easy.  They're set to announce by end of business that they're pulling all U.S. network feeds from the cable packages in sixty days.  This will predictably cause outrage and hate from customers, which the companies will blame entirely on the networks, saying that pulling the U.S. signals was the only way that they could keep people's bills by going up by more than 10 bucks a month.  

"Don't blame us, blame the networks" is going to be the new mantra.

This pretty scorched earth policy was made clear in a press release that leaked a little early over Canada Newswire this morning.

The networks aren't down and out themselves, either.  The WGC is apparently learning that petitions to the CMF and the CRTC will seek to re-define as CanCon any program in which somebody tells somebody else "I'm sorry."

What a stupid fucking industry.

The Border Says Goodbye

LAST NIGHT IN Toronto, a group of cast & crew from THE BORDER gathered for a sort of informal celebration & wake for the CBC series, which was canceled earlier this month after three seasons.

The cancellation hadn't been too much of a surprise, as the series had spent its last season as cannon fodder in the extremely competitive spot of Thursday at 9pm, up against Grey's Anatomy, CSI and The Office.

I wasn't able to attend the soiree since I'm still on vacation in Florida, but send out a bunch of good wishes to my friends & former colleagues.

A couple weeks back I ran into series lead James McGowan (Major Mike Kessler) at a local restaurant and we shared a drink and a wistful toast to the show.

Good people & and good work.

This morning, series Executive Producer Peter Raymont sent out the following email:

It was heartwarming to share a drink and a hug with so many cast and crew members at last evening's Border get-together at C'est What. What a wonderful family.

When listing the 25 countries around the world that are now broadcasting The Border in 11 languages, I neglected to mention the many nominations and awards our series has received:

19 Gemini nominations and 2 awards for Seasons One and Two, and likely many more to come for Season Three;

4 DGC nominations and 1 award;

An award at The Banff TV Festival;

8 nominations at the prestigious Monte Carlo Television Awards.

Stephanie Gorin also calculated that she has cast 217 visible minority actors in The Border, some of whom were getting their first opportunity to perform on television. This is wonderful. The Border reflects Canada's great cultural and ethnic diversity more effectively than any other TV show.

Millions of Border fans around the world will be enjoying our series for many years to come.

Lindalee always envisioned a family of like-minded artists who'd bring all their diverse skills and passions together to create The Border. I am delighted that we fulfilled her dream.

The 38 episodes of The Border stand as an extraordinary achievement in creativity and excellence. I hope you feel great pride in what we accomplished.

We look forward to working with you all again soon on a new drama series.

I left The Border at the end of Season 2 on my own terms, having learned much & had a whole lot of laughs.  I was more than pleased to see the show continue in Season 3 with many top flight episodes.

On the surface, The Border's passing really does seem to fit into a larger narrative... born in an immediate post-9/11 world, the show occupied a similar if not the same place as 24 in terms of what it was and what it represented.

Except that at its best, the show was also more than that.  Not a day goes by when I walk down the street in the city I call home where I'm not reminded that the borderless, globalized world is alive and well in Toronto.  Interracial couples kiss & hold hands and no one blinks, beautiful children with mixed features beam out from every school photo; a pass through the downtown Dundas Square will net you snatches of conversations in dozens of languages.

That brings challenges to a society, to be sure... and unlike 24, where minorities often filled only the role of faceless threat, The Border brought you into family units under pressure, trying to find their way in a new world.

Hating on Toronto is a national pastime in Canada.  But I have to say that one of the things that makes me proudest, and that makes me uncomfortable when I go to some other places in Canada -- is the loss of the teeming rainbow of faces I take for granted.  I'm a city person; a New Yorker by birth, a Torontonian by habit.  Homogeneity scares me a little bit.  It's ironic that a show about Borders came closest to showing the world I live in, where the real barriers may still be invisible, but the borders are wide open.

R.I.P. David Mills

SO LONG,  Undercover Black Man.  You'll be missed, and admired forever.  Alan Sepinwall has the most appropriate and heartfelt eulogy here.

Somebody Always Finds a Way

WAY TOO MUCH sunshine to waste. So today let me just share a thought.  When I saw "Unforgiven" I thought, "clearly nobody is ever going to be able to make a Western that's any good ever again."  And then Milch made Deadwood. And I thought, "Okay, now everything's gonna be a retread." And then Graham Yost channels Elmore Leonard and comes up with Justified.

Similarly, I thought when I saw "Shaun of the Dead" that that had to be the last zombie movie ever.  Cue  Zombieland.  And I hadn't even read World War Z yet.  Now AMC's got a new series coming up called Walking Dead from Frank Darabont (based on a graphic novel, I know.)

Vampires were utterly played out for me, especially the My-Little-Pony-Tweelight kind, and then I saw Let the Right One In.

Whether it's modern dress Shakespeare, or a teen romcom or a costume drama or vampires or a buddy picture, just because 90% of everything is derivative, and just because most of the time knockoffs suck, doesn't mean there's no way to do something with a fresh take. There's always a way.

So...are you going to find that way? Or settle for being a hack?