Find your brave
November 14, 2016
The world got turned upside down this week, and most of the people I know and love are reeling. The fear of seeing all that has been fought so hard for being undone is too real… and the reality of racism and sexism and hatred of the other surging in our country is terrifying and frustrating and disheartening.
I feel all of that. And I am so tired of having to be the bigger person… of having to work twice as hard to be thought of as almost as good (whether it’s about my race or my gender or both)… and then having to find a way to get along with the people who think that way… and the message this country just sent to me is – too bad, be ready to work even harder, because your other-ness offends me.
I’m sickened at the thought of people I love being targeted because of their name, their sexual orientation, the color of their skin, or their religion.
I’m scared.
I have friends who are marching in protests and diving in to work with organizations that are ready to fight for our civil rights in the coming years. I know writers far more eloquent than I are already penning essays and opinion pieces and providing sage advice on what we all need to do next. I am going to join in and do my part in the ways that feel right to me — I hope we all will.
I wish I had some great contribution to make to these well-expressed rallying cries. I’ve started and deleted so many posts this week… because my heart is heavy for other reasons outside of the election, from the things that come when life doesn’t stop because you got scared and confused or blindsided by the world you live in… and the words have been wrapped up in that and struggling to find a way out.
But I sat down today to try to write this because I keep having this thought and I figured if it wouldn’t leave me, it was worth something:
Find your brave.
We’re all brave in different ways. Some people march in the streets, some of us (myself included) are so paralyzed by the idea of being in a large crowd that the protest is almost more terrifying than what we’re standing up against. Some of us can write. Some make speeches. Some can volunteer to help an organization that steps between those who need help and those trying to harm them.
There are all kinds of ways to be brave. For me, from the earliest point in my life, it started with two simple words.
“I’m Black.”
I’ve spent my entire life being told by people I wasn’t related to: “No one would even know you were Black if you didn’t tell them.” To which I say, “Why wouldn’t I tell them?”
My parents made this very clear: we were Black. There was no confusion, no wondering. It was simple. So I live by keeping it simple. And I respond to the curious looks that, I’ve learned over the years, mean “what is she” by saying, “I’m Black.” I tell a story the first day in the writers’ room to make it clear so no one has to wonder. I own who I am, and I do it knowing that sometimes after I say it out loud, I will see that subtle shift in a person’s eyes… the one that says that knowledge has changed how they look at me. And then I own who I am by not caring what they think.
I recently spoke with a group of young writers who will go out into the world with the word “diverse” attached to them. They’re the diverse writers – the ones who will be different, and often a minority, in their rooms. And I think maybe I didn’t tell them this, and so I’m correcting my mistake because I owe them this…
You will meet people who will see you as less than, who will think you only got the job because you fill a quota. They won’t know anything about you… they won’t know about how you worked graveyard shifts to put yourself through college and how you took responsibility for and pay (yourself) thousands of dollars in student loans because your education was that important to you… they won’t know that you wrote till 3 a.m. on weeknights and all weekend long around day jobs because that was all the time you had and you knew you had to write to be a writer… they won’t know about the twelve specs and six pilots and the dozen short stories you wrote to prepare yourself when opportunity came… they won’t know about the literally thousands of pages you wrote that no one will ever see because they were never about making money. Their value was in making you a better writer.
They won’t know these things about you… but you will. And you will show them that you earned your job by being the best you that you can be… by proving that you belong, no matter what they think.
You’ll find your brave.
Then reach back and help someone else find theirs. Help that next young diverse writer who has climbed as far as he or she can, who just needs someone who’s done it before to help them take the next step.
Then take your brave out into the world with you.
If you see a man harassing one of your female friends… tell him to stop.
If you see someone treating someone like an “other,” tell them to stop.
If you see wrong, do what you can to make it right.
It will be terrifying. It will be hard. But it’s what makes you who you are. And it’s how we show the people who are scared to speak and to act how to do their part.
You’ll get tired. Hell, I’m already tired. And angry. And frustrated. And sometimes you’ll feel hopeless.
But you’re gonna get up the next day and do it again anyway.
Because you’re brave.
You came that way.
We all came that way.
We just can’t forget it.
A TV Fangirl good-bye to “Person of Interest”
June 28, 2016
When I talk TV with people, I’m never shy about heaping praise onto shows that I love. And I’ve long since gotten used to having this exchange when I bring up “Person of Interest” –
“’Person of Interest’? Isn’t that just a typical CBS procedural?”
Me: “No. It’s one of the most well-plotted serialized shows I’ve ever watched.” (And remember, I’ve seen over 1,000 TV shows!)
The finale of POI aired last week, and I’m still strung out emotionally over it. It leaves the screen after 103 episodes. Not every single one was perfect but every single one was necessary to complete what turned out to be an amazing canvas. And in my humble opinion, its legacy is to be one of the most underappreciated shows in recent memory.
As many of you know if you’ve read my blog before (or follow my fangirling on Twitter), I write with TV on in the background – typical latchkey kid behavior manifested in my adulthood. This translates to writing at the office as well, thanks to my friends Amazon Prime and Netflix, which I stream in the background and listen to over ear buds while I write. Last year, I re-watched the first four seasons of POI as my background, and even though I own all the DVDs and have seen multiple episodes several times, it was that re-watch that clued me into something monumental about why I adore POI so much – 85% of what I love about the show was put in motion by the end of episode 10. We’re talking characters, relationships, and ideas that consistently played through five seasons – including the final moments of the series – and most of it was on the board by the end of episode 10. That cohesion over 103 episodes was accomplished without the writers dropping story points and with major cast changes to wrestle with along the way.
Within those first ten episodes, the characters became my heart when it came to this show. This little group of four became the embodiment of the emotional struggle of everyday life… how we make mistakes and try to overcome them, how we search for redemption even if we aren’t sure we deserve it, how we look for the best in people even after we lose our way. And they did all this while fighting the good fight for the little guy… taking down bad guys, helping people stay on the path of right when they were about to step into wrong. Even as the core cast both expanded and then lost members in heart-wrenching fashion over the years, the mission remained unchanged, and underlying every action, every episode was one clear message:
No one is irrelevant.
It might be this key point that explains my great love for this show, above the A-plus writing and great performances… POI was hopeful in a way I never expected it to be and that it turns out I needed so much. Life mattered… good mattered… saving one person at the risk of everything mattered… and that idea propelled the entire series.
Over the past five seasons, we went on journeys to the darkest places within these characters and often found light there – John’s need for vengeance after Carter’s death inevitably brought him home, to the place Carter most wanted him to be – with the people who loved him; Harold’s battle to save the world revealed the best in those he chose as allies; Fusco went from dirty cop to hero because John and Carter and ultimately all of Team Machine reminded him who he wanted to be before the dark side tempted him. And along the way, enemies – Root and Elias – turned into friends. Meanwhile Shaw, the embodiment of what it meant for life to be “irrelevant” joined the team and embraced the mission in her own unique way.
And none of these characters’ pasts were whitewashed to make us like them. Humanizing Elias by letting us into his abusive and tragic past gave us a deeper understanding of the path he chose and the drive behind the rise of his organized crime empire, but the show never tried to convince us his sins were justified. Instead it helped cement how monumental it was when Elias stood beside Team Machine in some of their most dangerous moments, even though he knew Reese, Harold et al would take his criminal enterprise down in a heartbeat if he endangered someone they cared for or one of the “numbers” the Machine asked them to save.
Root – in all her complex, twisted glory – was another character who had done dark, terrible things – had even tried to harm our beloved team – and yet her obsession with the Machine actually gave her the chance to find the connection she’d craved her whole life – both within the team and with the Machine herself. Root found her purpose after a life of thinking people were just “bad code,” and her mission to save the Machine from all threats helped us to understand that the Machine’s importance was even greater than we’d ever suspected.
But I think the most amazing accomplishment of this fantastic show is the humanity the writers imparted upon a set of typed letters on a computer screen and a bunch of cables and servers. The Machine was as real to us as any of the team… and our connection to her deepened as it became clear she suffered the pain of loss with Harold and Reese, that she hated the idea of failing them. As the Machine’s very personal relationship with Harold, her “father,” created conflict over the years, she became a maturing child, struggling to both find her own identity and be the “person” her parent wanted her to be. And in her ultimate act of humanity, the Machine found a way to be what… or who… she was meant to be despite Harold’s fears and reservations, even if that meant she might be destroyed.
I could literally write about specific things I loved and outstanding moments on this show for pages and pages. But what I hope after you read this is that if you watched it once and said no… or you never watched it at all, that this will make you go back and give it another chance (Netflix is your friend!). Look beyond the case of the week setup that helped us get into the world and spend time with these fascinating characters, go on a journey with them that will both rip out your heart and renew a little of your faith in the world (as much as any TV show can do that).
And if you loved POI as much as I did… if it brought you the same joy and heartache and wonder that it did me… thanks for sharing the roller coaster. And thank you a thousand times over to the wonderful writers and actors and the crew that made this show come to life… you’ve inspired me forever.
What I’ve learned from watching 1,000 television shows
March 20, 2016
Yes, you read that correctly… as of March 9th, 2016, I have watched at least 1,000 TV shows in my lifetime. I say “at least” because the first 500 or so titles I listed were done from memory and research, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few… but the list is officially at 1,000… and it’s attached in case you want to peruse the titles. tv show list
A little background for those who don’t know the origin of “the list.” I was working on my pilot “Kingdom,” which eventually helped me land my first TV writing job. But as happens when we writer types are stuck and banging our heads against our computers, my brain was all, “Hey, what could we do that feels productive but isn’t work?” And then I remembered this notebook my brother used to keep of every movie he had ever seen. We got those genes split decisively between us… he’s the movie guy, I’m the TV girl. And much like he will watch ANY movie you could possibly imagine, I will watch at least one episode of just about any TV show that sounds even a little bit interesting or stars someone I really like.
Thus, the list was born… and the rules were pretty simple: to make the list, I have to have watched at least one full episode of a show that originally aired in prime time. The program can be a drama, comedy, or a news/reality show – and I counted the shows I had to watch when I was making my living as a closed captioner because, well, I had to finish them, so they counted.
A lot of the original 500 shows were things I saw because of the magic of syndication (which is why I added the “originally aired in prime time” part of the rules). My parents loved to torture me with their favorite shows, so when I got hired on “Ironside,” I had actually seen every episode of the original “Ironside” because my mother loves Raymond Burr. Other shows were seen courtesy of friends whose parents had VCRs and taped shows I wasn’t old enough to watch when they were on but then saw later… some were viewed by way of the Internet and some were just seen through dogged determination to find them somewhere because I wanted to see them. Some were seen courtesy of the one human being I know who has definitely watched more TV than me, who tapes it all and saves it on DVD. And I own a ridiculous number of show box sets, as evidenced by my crowded bookshelves.
When I mentioned the list to my “Mysteries of Laura” writers’ room, co-ep Amanda Green said I had to write something once I reached 1,000 shows… I had to share what I’d learned by watching all that TV. So here are the musings I came up with on what all that TV taught me. But one thing I’ll be up front about right away… I’m not going to shit on any shows by name, for two reasons: One, some of my friends work on those shows, and ever since someone was a jerk to me about a show *I* worked on, I’ve been sure to never do that to another writer. Remember, no one is actively trying to write a show you don’t like… we just all have our own tastes. The second reason I won’t be dropping names is just good ol’ common sense. This is still a business, and I might have to go meet with a showrunner or executive producer who worked on a show that’s not one of my faves. I can still dislike it… doesn’t mean I need to make my career harder by telling that person here in print that I hated their show.
And now… on with the lessons…
1 – The reason I love TV is the long-term relationships with characters. I was writing features when I finished grad school and then finally woke up to the fact that I love TV and thus, should be writing it. That’s not to say that I don’t adore some of the movies I see… but when I fall in love with characters, 2-3 hours just isn’t enough sometimes. The weeks, months, and years that go into watching characters evolve and change and fall in love and get broken by tragedy on TV… it’s what made me want to be writer in the first place.
I’m a long way from a job title that means I get to decide how a show’s future gets plotted out… but I hope that when I get there, I take my deep love of the character/viewer relationship with me while I make decisions about what happens to my characters. As a viewer, it’s one thing to get a twist I wasn’t expecting – and be gut-punched by it – but see the beauty in it and walk away satisfied. A perfect recent example… I was sure I would be unhappy if anyone but Melinda May killed Grant Ward on “Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” because my goodness, she deserved to get to do it… but ultimately, when it was Phil Coulson instead… I just cared that it was done, that the actions of everyone involved made sense to me, and that finally my little “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” family was safe from Ward (well, sort of, but that’s a whole nother blog post).
By contrast, every TV fan has had a moment watching a show when you can feel the writers’ “aren’t we clever” vibe radiating out of the TV screen at you, and all you’re thinking is, “No, you’re not clever. Because you just made a character do something that five years of viewing tell me they’d never do…” and it’s frustrating, not because you didn’t get your way as a viewer, but because you just can’t buy the character’s actions or the story… and nothing ruins your relationship with a show faster than losing faith in the storytelling. That’s usually the only thing that will make me break up with a show I’ve been watching for some time. I refuse to “hate” watch… so once I dread watching a show, we have to say good-bye to each other.
Now that’s not to say that some good ol’ fan outrage isn’t awesome sometimes. When I’m screaming on Twitter at a show that they just ripped my heart out, it usually means they’re doing their job exactly right… and I’m suffering (in all the best ways) because of it.
I just find that there’s something magical in the idea that writers can make an audience invest so deeply in characters that the viewers will stay through thick and thin, for years on end. I watched plenty of the shows on this list from start to finish… and I don’t regret a minute of it.
2 – I don’t watch nearly as much comedy as I used to. I’m not sure why that is. I used to watch every half-hour show around… and maybe it’s just because what I find funny has changed? I’m not sure. I do watch a few… “Brooklyn 99,” “black-ish,” “Togetherness,” (though it’s more dramedy than comedy), and I will usually try one or two new ones every year, especially if my comedy writer friends are working on a show. Side note: I will always watch at least one episode of anything from Tina Fey, Jack Burditt, and Robert Carlock because 30 ROCK FOREVER!
3 – Please give me the characters I signed up for. I’m all about cool guest stars. I’m the first person to get excited over someone in the promo for next week on a show I love. But I also tend to get attached to ALL the characters in my shows… not just the leads. In fact, sometimes the secondary characters have kept me watching when I’ve grown to dislike the lead characters. When shows sideline regular cast members for too many guest stars – stunting their character development – it is a fast track to me becoming less interested in the show.
4 – If death visits your show a lot, I probably didn’t keep watching it. No doubt because my number one reason for loving television is that relationship I feel with the characters, shows with high body counts have never been my thing. Which is why, when my shows do kill off characters, I’m usually curled up in a ball on the floor. I can barely think about Bobby Simone’s death on “NYPD Blue” without tearing up. Every single little Carter reference on “Person of Interest” is a hug and a knife to the heart simultaneously, and I remain deeply traumatized by Joe Coffey’s demise on “Hill Street Blues.” So, yes, I get it… characters have to die – sometimes because their story is done, sometimes because an actor wants to leave a show – but I need that to be a rarity.
5 – Some more lessons I’ve learned from shows I didn’t like or quit watching:
- I need an emotional connection to at least one character before the end of the pilot. If I don’t have it, I’m probably done.
- I don’t respond well to the “throw in everything including the kitchen sink” approach to storytelling. Once a show becomes about nothing but nonstop twists, it loses the focus on the characters, and I generally am out.
- Don’t get stuck in the same story rut. If the solution to every season is a return to the same story well… who has control of the business, what breaks Couple A up this time, who learns the secret this year… I usually get too frustrated to keep watching. I find that I can handle about two uses of the same plot device before I just start wondering what else there is to the show and have to move on.
- I don’t need the characters to be likable… but I need to know why I should care about what they’re doing.
- A show doesn’t have to be “bad” for me to not want to watch it. Sometimes it’s just not my cup of tea because it’s too violent or too dark or just set in a world that doesn’t interest me. That in itself is a lesson… not everything I write will be something people respond to. You have to know that going in… and be happy with the audience you do find.
6 – Procedure is not a dirty word. I promise. It feels like the turn to “character driven” has made the word “procedural” something worthy of a swear jar in this business. But one thing I know about myself as a viewer is this… if I’m not sure how your show works, I will end up turning it off. Every great show has a formula – again, I know, bad word – but it does. That doesn’t mean your show is a beat for beat paint by numbers project week in and week out. It just means that I know what the show is. If you introduce me to characters who are police officers, they have to be police officers at a certain point, even if the show is really about the dark and twisty parts of their personality. If they’re lawyers, they should be lawyers. If it’s a family drama, I need to know how the family functions. Whatever you want to dub it… procedure, your story engine, your overall blueprint… the sooner it’s established, the more likely I am to keep watching.
7 – The most important thing I’ve learned as a viewer and as a writer is this… every story has been done. It just has. Hell, some of them had been done when Shakespeare did them… so they’ve definitely all been done by now. But that doesn’t mean that your take on Story X can’t be fresh and cool and enjoyable. What does your buddy cop show look like? What does your dark and twisty apocalypse look like? Why is it special?
That goes for pitching in rooms, too, not just writing pilots. I am very careful not to ever say, “We can’t do X because Show A, B, and C did it.” Instead my approach is… “Show A did it that way, so what if we did this instead…”
In a climate where every network seems to be racing to remake what’s already been successful, I find what I’m responding to isn’t something that is a literal remake of something I loved but rather shows that evoke a feeling of one I loved once upon a time. For instance, I grew up loving reruns of “The Rockford Files” and adoring “Hart to Hart.” That type of show – the light procedural — went away for a little while, and then “Castle” showed up and I was like… “THIS! I missed this!” It wasn’t a remake of those older shows, but it gave me the same payoff… characters I cared about and a sense of fun while bad guys got put away. Similarly, I recently told someone that part of the reason I love “Code Black” is because it reminds me of “St. Elsewhere” – and that is a great thing. I didn’t even know I needed that show until CBS gave it to me… and now I am so happy to have it. The characters are very different, and it’s in no way a literal remake of the long-running NBC show, but its spirit is familiar in the very best way.
But it always comes back to the writing. While the idea might not be new… how you approach it can be. Your ability as a writer to convey what you find magical about the setting and the people… and the performances that are born from those pages… that’s what will draw an audience in. Every family drama is, at its core, the same show… but something about the Taylors of Dillon, Texas, was more real to me than any other TV family I’d seen in forever… even though they wrestled the same issues as most of TV families… job stresses, how to keep a marriage together, and teenage kids pushing their boundaries.
I guess what I’m really trying to say is… I’m always being inspired by things I loved. I want to write cool superhero shows because I love “Agents of SHIELD” and “Agent Carter” and “Daredevil.” I want to write my version of uplifting sci-fi because I love “Star Trek” and “Star Wars.” Someday I hope I write a family drama half as beautiful as “Friday Night Lights” or “Once and Again,” and a show about cops that resonates as deeply as “NYPD Blue” did for me, or maybe something that’s even a fraction as breathtaking as “The Americans” or “Manhattan.” Whether it works or not will be about taking what inspired me and finding a way to make it *my* story… what do I have to say about being a cop or a superhero or a family in a small town that someone else hasn’t already said? Hopefully the answer to that question will affect an audience the way these shows did me.
8 – Things that will make me watch a show forever:
- Character consistency: If I already love the characters, as long as their evolution is true to the person you introduced me to in season one, I will stick with them through anything.
- A feeling that the show knows where it’s going: I don’t mean that I can literally see where it’s going, but that every season of the show reaffirms my faith that the writers know where they want to go with the series. The truth may be the writers’ room has no idea how it all ends… but the storytelling on screen is so steady, so solid, that I, as a viewer, get to live in the belief that they have it all figured out while I stress out and analyze and wait for the next season to see what comes next.
- Respect for the audience: again, this isn’t about giving us everything we think we want. It’s about never losing sight of the fact that you’ve asked your audience to invest their heart into a show, and it should always feel to the viewers like it matters to you that they’ve been willing to do so.
- One great relationship: I’ve stuck with shows when they took a downturn because of one key relationship and generally, I’ve been rewarded with the show finding its feet again and ending strong. And that doesn’t have to be a romantic relationship… a great partnership, a real, grounded friendship… that can be enough to keep a viewer hanging in when the story gets a little murky.
9 – All these television shows later, I maintain this as a statement of fact: “Hill Street Blues” is the greatest show in the history of television. It not only holds up terrifyingly well (if you could CGI the giant portable phones out and update the cars/clothes) with storylines about community policing that shouldn’t still be relevant and yet absolutely are, but it changed the face of television in a way that made every other “greatest” show since possible. The thing I personally loved most about it was the relationship between Joyce Davenport and Frank Furillo. It would still be a modern, risky take on a relationship now… then, it was stunning. These were two world weary, sexy people who were focused on their careers and carried a ton of baggage from their individual lives; smart, savvy individuals who loved each other deeply, respected one another, and yet still constantly struggled to make room for one another in their lives as their careers brought them into constant conflict. I often think back on that relationship when I write couples in my own work, trying to find that level of depth and intelligence in their interactions.
And now that you’re all, “Girl, wrap this up,” I’ll do so by offering the piece of advice I pass on to all aspiring TV writers in case you’re the ones who are reading this – be a student of television. Watch TV. Watch shows older than you. MUCH older than you. Those are the shows that inspired the showrunners who created the TV you love. Know them. Love them. Learn from them. And love TV. LOVE IT. Because it’s too hard and brutal a business to be in if you don’t. When people give you shit for loving it so much, remember that it’s just your chosen form of storytelling. Some people come home and read books every night… you choose TV shows instead. There’s nothing wrong with that.
And never lose your inner TV fan. Because if you love it… that fan is why you love it. Protect him or her at all costs… from cynicism, from snobbery, from haters of all shapes and sizes. LOVE TV. Always.
I’m taking some time to write this now because if I put it off, it’ll be next June before I find a moment, and it won’t be much help to anyone then. As a disclaimer, this is obviously my experience with having and valuing a fantastic spec (or three) in my writing portfolio. You will know people who got hired by showrunners who only wanted to read original pilots. But you will also meet writers who worked for or know showrunners who won’t hire first-timers without seeing a spec.
Why? Because your job as a member of a writing staff is to write the voice of that show — the tone, the characters, the basic elements that make that show unique. If it’s “Castle,” you better be able to nail the romantic banter between Castle and Beckett, both when they’re flirting and when they’re angry. Writing a “Masters of Sex”? Your ability to write all those complicated female voices is what will make that script a winner (if you ask me anyway). Writing a killer pilot can help you get representation and impress execs and get you meetings, maybe land you a job. But some showrunners out there simply will not hire a writer without reading at least part of a spec for one reason… they need proof you can write a show that isn’t your own creation, but rather, models someone else’s, which is what they’re hiring you to do.
Once you have that first precious staff writer job, the spec becomes far less important if not wholly irrelevant. You will hopefully emerge from that job with co-EPs, EPs, and showrunners willing to testify to how fabulous you are, and that endorsement and a great pilot to show off your talent and point of view will get you the next gig.
So what show do you spec? There are definitely places you can go to find out what the hot specs are, and if you’re following people like Carole Kirschner and Jen Grisanti on Twitter, you can find recommendations pretty easily. My advice is always this: only spec a show you love. A show you like a lot isn’t really good enough because that thing you don’t like about the show will torture you throughout the process. So spec a show you love, full stop. And maybe that is one of the shows everyone is recommending… or maybe it’s a show you catch flack for loving or that you hear no one in the industry watches. If that’s the case, you have a choice to make — take the risk on a show you love that people might not know as well or spec the “popular kids” everyone’s raving about.
Ignorance may have been bliss for me when I decided to write a spec of “The Closer,” which I adored beyond reason, for a sample the year I applied to the CBS Writers Mentoring Program. I wrote it out of pure love and the knowledge that it fit my voice to a T. I do not kid you when I tell you that a good half-dozen people who read that script said to me: “I don’t even watch this show, but I had to know how this story ended.” I don’t tell you that to brag. I tell you that to say, if your story is great and you’re writing the hell out of it, the reader will finish it! Yes, maybe someone somewhere said, “I don’t watch this show” and pushed my script off the top of their pile. But I didn’t have to write the best “The Closer” spec anyone had ever read to compete with 100 others. I just had to write the best one I could possibly write, and it stood out on its own.
A writer I know inspired this post today because she was dealing with the issue of wanting to spec a serialized show. As more and more shows take on that element, breaking away from straight procedure, it will continue to be something up-and-coming writers struggle with. This also comes into play when a cliffhanger leaves you wondering what the hell the next season of a show (even a procedural with a killer finale) will look like. So I share these two stories in case they help you.
In the CBS program, I wrote a spec of “The Good Wife,” right before half the universe decided to write one. That show has very clear serialized elements, and at the time, it involved Peter running again for States’ Attorney and Derrick Bond working with Will to take the firm away from Diane. (Damn, those folks love to fight over that firm!). I made a very careful choice (with the endorsement of my mentors) to take clear, simple positions on where those stories existed in the exact timing of my “episode,” and went forward. Yes, there was a risk that one or both stories would blow up, but I minimized them without pretending they didn’t exist and focused on showcasing the rest of the show. The spec later helped me progress deep into another writing fellowship, and no one ever had an issue with the way I handled those choices.
The following year, I had a shot at a job on a show that had a much lighter tone than most of my samples. So to even try to get a meeting, I had to prove I could model that voice. My solution was to wrestle a tight turnaround on a new “Castle” spec, mostly because I knew that show like the back of my hand and knew I could do it. Problem… the beloved precinct captain had died in the finale, and I had no idea what the show was going to do the following season. So I decided to take advantage of a precedent that had been set on the show… the captain was not in every episode, so there would be no captain in mine. That spec didn’t get me a meeting on that show, but it helped get me one for another, and the exec actually asked me about how I chose to deal with that issue since he knew “Castle” well, too. When I explained, it was clear he just wanted to know I had thought about it and not just excised a character I didn’t want to deal with, and the meeting went great.
Does that mean you have to write a new spec every year, because a story element ruins yours or because the show did something too similar? Probably — but you should be doing that anyway!
Another young writer I know said that he had one good spec and one good pilot, and wasn’t that enough? My answer is no. First off, what happens if you’re applying to one of the writing fellowships that requests supplementary material — what are you sending them for round two? And if you’re lucky enough to get meetings for representation or jobs, you may run into someone who wants to see more than one sample. I went into my first staffing season with the aforementioned specs and another for “Covert Affairs,” which I wrote to add a second lighter-toned piece to my portfolio. On several of my meetings that year, it became clear through conversation that the exec and/or showrunner had read a pilot and at least part of a spec while considering me. And I know that on at least two of the shows I’ve been hired to write, more than one sample has helped me nail down the job (though more recently, those have been pilot submissions.)
My point is, you need an arsenal of material — the more the better — pilots AND specs. If you aren’t sure what to write next, think about the shows you realistically think you could get staffed on. Do you have the right sample for that show? Do you have mostly male leads and could use a female-led script to show you can do that voice, too? Is it all twisty darkness in your pilots when you love that one show that is drama with a sense of humor? Examine what you already have and write what you need to make your material selection more well-rounded. That is not to say write everything. If you can’t imagine ever writing a medical show, don’t write a medical show spec or pilot. But if you really want to write sci-fi and don’t have a sample that will get you a meeting — write that.
I’ll close with this — one of those showrunners I’ve heard talk about wanting to see a spec from a staff writer is Shawn Ryan, who I saw at one of those awesome Nerdist panels at Nerdmelt Comics. He listed off every spec he wrote when he was trying to catch a break in this business, and I believe it was something like 15 shows. Shawn Ryan, the guy who created “The Shield”… wrote that long list of specs just to get his first full-time staff job.
So pick a show you love and write a killer spec. Then write an awesome pilot. Then enter that spec in all the fellowships you can. Then write another pilot. And if your spec gets blown up in the season finale, so be it because you are already going to be planning your next one. And your next one. And your 15th… if that’s what it takes to get you that first job.
It took me 12.
And if there is some bleary-eyed typo I missed, please forgive this tired writer — because my new job on “The Mysteries of Laura” is awesome, and our kick-ass writers’ room has been pitching and breaking like madmen and madwomen and well, I need to go to bed.
Now go write! And good luck!
Spy Games, or how Niceole spent her summer, fall, and winter
April 23, 2015
I have meant to blog so many times in the past year, but as you can see if you check this joint out, well, ever, that hasn’t happened. I forgot how busy things get when you’re on the staff of a TV show and you’re also trying to have a life around it. So I’m sorry, blog, for neglecting you.
But now that I’ve had some time to process the “Allegiance” experience, I wanted to write this to share my whole crazy journey with you guys.
Just under a year ago (literally, by about one week), I got a call from my agent that George Nolfi, the creator of “Allegiance,” wanted to meet with me. I had read the pilot early on in staffing season and loved it, put it on my wish list, and hoped I’d at least get in the mix for it. And just like that, I was.
My main goal at the meeting was to not geek out about talking to someone who had co-written “The Bourne Ultimatum,” which, if you know me, was a challenge of epic proportions. But I managed. George’s passion for the show and his excitement about doing TV were wonderful to be around, and I came away from the meeting wanting the job not just because it was another staff writer job and thus I could continue to be a working writer, but because I could feel, in my gut, that this was going to be a great show to be a part of.
I was not wrong.
Because George directed an astounding five episodes of our show (including the pilot), he was steering the ship from New York (where we shot) a great deal of the time. That meant I spent most of my writers’ room life with our other two EPs, John Glenn and Rashad Raisani. If any of you ever get to work for these guys, do it. They are great bosses. If Rashad is reading this right now, he probably just made a face at me because he hates the “boss” word. But I only speak the truth. If John Glenn is reading this, he’s probably just shocked I am doing something other than watching TV.
Our writers’ room was a great mix of folks at all levels, and a place where hierarchy wasn’t important, good ideas were. I’m also proud to note that I again worked on a staff with multiple female writers – four this go-round – so as scary as those numbers are about women and minorities not being hired on shows, don’t let them discourage you. Some folks get it.
Because this was my first experience in a writers’ room, it was a little intimidating at first, but I fell in love with it quickly and completely. While I was working on my outline and script, I came into the office every day so that when I took breaks, I could run down to the room and see where the story was going without me, and I honestly couldn’t wait to get back full-time once my pages were in. There’s something so incredible about knowing that even if you only know part of the fix, someone else will ride that wave with you and help fill in the rest of the connective tissue till the whole idea works. And then that moment when you all know, “Yes, this is our episode!” and you can send it off to outline… yeah, that’s pretty great.
Of course, sometimes it turns out that’s really not the episode – but then you all fix it together. TV writing is a team sport, my friends, and that’s never more evident than when everyone has to roll up their sleeves and figure out why something isn’t working when you were all sure it would. But that’s the beauty of the team part — someone solves this timeline issue, someone digs up new research for a different take, someone comes up with a new in to the scene, and voila — episode fixed!
I was fortunate enough to be at “Allegiance” long past my initial twenty weeks, and so I was there when our premiere numbers came in and left us all disappointed. I’m not sure I’m over that yet. But we still had work to do and a finale to finish, and so that’s what we did. I am so glad for our whole cast and crew that we got a chance to finish telling the story of the O’Connor family and give it a real ending.
One of the best things of all to happen was that the episode I wrote aired right before our cancellation, and my mom got to watch it on her very own TV in her living room. That was pretty awesome.
Despite our being off the air, I am happy that the fans “Allegiance” did have are getting to finish the ride online at NBC.com and On Demand, where the network is releasing the rest of the episodes. The finale will be out next week, and I hope people come away feeling like they had an intense, interesting run to the finish line with Alex, Mark, Katya, Natalie, Victor, Sarah, and Sam.
A few things that were extra great about this whole experience – I got to write more lines for my buddy Kenny Choi, who I worked with on “Ironside”; I got to help plot all kinds of evil things for Giancarlo Esposito, who I’ve loved since “Homicide,” to do as our big bad of the season; and I got the chance to work with my friend and a great editor, Phil Fowler, who I met while I was a closed captioner and he was an assistant editor over on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
But the best thing is that there are people on this staff that I will know the rest of my life. Whether we work together again or not, some of them are stuck with me… so in case they didn’t know that, fair warning. That’s what y’all get for being awesome.
I’m smack in the maelstrom that is staffing season once again, and so when I know what my next adventure is going to be, I’ll make the time to update here with the news. In the meantime, if you’re running back and forth across LA on the meeting-go-round as well, good luck! And if you want to be, make sure you’re up to date on all the writing program deadlines and getting those applications and scripts out there.
There are no guarantees that once you get a job as a TV writer it’ll last more than twenty weeks or longer than a season… but while you have it, I hope it’s the best job you’ve ever had. So far, I am two-for-two.
Here’s hoping number three is just around the corner… and just as great. But maybe a season two next time?
Between summer programming and the upcoming fall onslaught of new shows, my oft-discussed “prime-time shows I’ve watched” list will roar past 900 before the year is out. Yeah, that’s 900 individual shows. Like I’ve said before, if I had put that brain power to use somewhere else who knows what I could have invented or cured. But in my world TV pays the bills, so TV it is!
In the calm before the summer viewing storm, I decided to take a minute and look over some of my all-time favorite shows and characters. All of these are listed in no particular order… and yes, I’m clearly cheating in a few because I couldn’t hold it to just five.
Top 5 all time (I did a full blog about these shows in 2011 — https://niceolelevy.com/2011/07/21/the-fantastic-five-of-this-writers-life/ — so I won’t repeat except to say, they’re magic):
- Hill Street Blues — Someone needs to get Daniel J. Travanti back on TV full-time.
- Homicide — Frank Pembleton is everything.
- NYPD Blue — Sipowicz and Simone forever!
- Once & Again — So real it hurt but in all the best ways.
- Friday Night Lights — Texas forever!
Top 5 shows that would be the next top 5 all-time:
- China Beach — Dana Delaney, y’all. Seriously, everything about this show is awesome, but Dana Delaney will rip your heart out about a dozen times before you get to the end, and then in the finale, she will kill you dead.
- Terriers — best single season show ever. I hope “Gotham” finally makes Donal Logue the TV star he deserves to be.
- Boston Legal — I hated the first season of this show. And then David E. Kelley got rid of everything I didn’t like and by the final episode of the series, I felt like someone was taking away part of my family.
- West Wing — Till Sam Seaborn leaves anyway. That’s where I pretend the show stopped; It just was never the same for me without Rob Lowe’s Sam around.
- The Closer — Start to finish, one of the best and most complete lead character arcs this side of Andy Sipowicz. Loved. Every. Minute.
Top 5 shows my parents made me watch in reruns:
- The Big Valley — Victoria Barkley was the shit, y’all. Watch her get ready to kick some ass anytime anyone threatens those kids. Especially Heath. Pretty, pretty Heath.
- The Rockford Files — Jim Rockford was just awesome. Cool, loyal, wry and smart.
- Marcus Welby M.D. — Dr. Steven Kiley can out handsome and out doctor McDreamy.
- McMillan and Wife — When you question my “Castle” love, look here and blame my parents. Fun banter and crime solving with cute coupleness.
- I Love Lucy — because for real, FOR REAL, I know it’s not a drama, but Lucy is everything.
Top 5 current shows:
- Masters of Sex — I think Allison Janey is going to kill me before this show ends. If she doesn’t, Beau Bridges will.
- Person of Interest — This show is so much more than it looked like it would be when it started. The investment I have in this crew not losing another beloved member (it still hurts!) and getting out of their current situation alive could not be bigger.
- Elementary — Jonny Lee Miller is just amazing. His ability to convey Sherlock’s growth and struggles without dialogue is just… wow. For that alone, it’s worth it. But the rest of the show is awesome, too.
- The Americans — The way Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell have built that relationship on screen paired with the consistently great writing makes it can’t miss TV. Heart-attack inducing, but can’t miss.
- Sons of Anarchy — I can barely watch it, it’s so brutal. But also brilliant. And seriously, show… DO NOT KILL NERO! (I know you will, but I’m not giving up hope till you do!)
- House of Cards — Look, I can’t trim this one. I love Frank and Claire without remorse. They are the Macbeths if things go their way, and I find it fascinating as hell.
The other 5 shows I never miss:
- Suits — Harvey and Jessica and Louis are the masters of the universe.
- Major Crimes — I loved “The Closer” and was worried about the spinoff, but I am so in, it’s not even funny. Such humanity on display every episode.
- Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — I admit I was totally in the “This show is boring” camp the first few episodes. Then a few insistent friends lured me back about week 15, and now I am beyond escape from the love.
- Castle — My love for this show is well-known and oft-ridiculed. But Stana Katic, Nathan Fillion and the rest of the cast make the rough weeks worth it.
- Dallas — This sequel to the classic nighttime soap did everything right… they used original characters, built out of the story we knew, and the handling of Larry Hagman’s death was fantastic.
- (Honorable mention — Luther, though I fear we’ve seen the last of the TV version. Luther himself is awesome, but also because his relationships with Justin and Alice are things of beauty).
Top 5 Favorite Female Characters:
- Miss Parker/The Pretender — I wanted Miss Parker to get a happy ending way more than I needed one for Jarod. Smart, tortured, and badass — which is apparently a type for me. See below.
- Kate Beckett/Castle — Smart, tortured, badass — also fun, and a great cop, and well, Castle’s muse. And all my friends who remember I didn’t like her in season one never let me forget it now. 😉
- Melinda May/Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — Smart, tortured, badass… diverse, not 20-something, and still badass.
- Brenda Leigh Johnson/The Closer — Smart, badass, and by the final season, definitely tortured. When Brenda Leigh walks out of Major Crimes for the last time, the journey we’ve been on with her is so complete and so emotional that you were willing to let her go if it meant she was gonna have a real shot at being happy.
- Tami Taylor/Friday Night Lights — Tami was kind of everything I’d ever want to be… without being tortured. And even though we never saw her have to be a physical badass, she was definitely a spiritual one.
- (Honorable mention — Joss Carter/Person of Interest — I just can’t talk about it much because it still hurts. But Joss pretty much became the soul of another human being. If that isn’t powerful, I don’t know what is.)
Top 5 Favorite Male Characters:
- Andy Sipowicz/NYPD Blue — The end of this series is exactly the ending you wanted for Andy even if you didn’t know it. You ever want to see a man go to hell and back, watch this show start to finish.
- Eric Taylor — Coach was everything. Every single kid in the world should have a Coach Taylor in their life.
- Tim Riggins — Yes, FNL gets two, because Riggins… RIGGINS! Tim Riggins was every guy who wants to live a better life and isn’t sure he can.
- Frank Pembelton/Homicide — A good man, a great detective, and the moral compass in a city struggling to hold on to its humanity.
- DCI John Luther — a true gray hat who struggles with himself and the monsters of the world all while being smokin’ hot.
Predictions for my next 5 favorite shows:
- Allegiance — that’s pretty much a given, right? Since it’s my new job. 🙂
- Murder in the First — Bochco, people! Bochco and Taye Diggs.
- Empire — because I’m gonna want to love it.
- Scorpion — because I’m gonna want to love it.
- Marvel’s Agent Carter — because the Disney/Marvel-verse has stolen my brain.
Got some Top 5’s of your own? What are they? Always curious to know what other folks love!
Staffing season… who in the what now?
April 13, 2014
I get asked by a lot of writers who are in or are alums of the two network writing programs I completed (CBS and NBC) and by writers I’ve met in other venues about how to prep for staffing season. So I figured I’d share a little bit of my process and put it out there for folks who might be interested.
First let me say, grain of salt and all that. I’ve been through staffing three times, once without representation where I was up for one job I didn’t get; once with representation where I got unbearably close to three jobs and didn’t get any of them; and the third go around where — success! My reps and I finally got to have that fabulous “You got the job!” phone call. So this is just what I do. Maybe a different strategy will work for you. Mostly my message is: prepare. You have to be an active participant in building your career.
Since I’m getting ready to hit the trenches again, here’s a little peek into how I look at staffing, and if it helps you, great, and if not, you can feel free to give me side-eye since I can’t see you doing it.
Be prepared and have your samples ready. Samples are what get you the meetings that get you the jobs. Have samples you love and be ready to talk about them. And always be adding to your body of work. My current group of samples is made up of pilots, specs, and short stories. You never know what might work to get you in the door.
And really evaluate what kinds of material you already have when you’re deciding what to write next. Do you have samples that will service the different types of shows you might want to work for? You don’t have to write everything. Most of us have a “type” when it comes to shows. But if you want to make female-lead dramas an option and all your samples are male leads, it’s time to travel a different road. Want to write a sci-fi show? Have a sci-fi sample. Give yourself as much of an opportunity as you can.
Be a partner to your representative(s). I am blessed with agency and management representation from people who totally get me. I don’t generally have to explain why I like a show or a script or why I think I’m a good fit. But sometimes a script speaks to me that’s a little outside my usual box, and I know that even though it might not be the most obvious show to try to pitch me to, I have something to offer them. So I make sure to list what samples I think I have in my portfolio that might work if that showrunner is looking for a staff writer and I explain why I think I could sell myself for that job. And while returning shows are always harder to get at that staff writer level, have a list of returning shows that you’re right for, too. You never know when an upper-level writer might leave to go make their own show and an opportunity opens up at the lower level.
Know everything you can about what’s going on. It seems obvious, but you’d be shocked how often I ask writers about pilots they’ve read or liked and they aren’t familiar with who wrote them or what network they’re at. Know your game board. Read every trade summary you can find on what scripts were bought where… some only cover network buys, some cover cable, Amazon, and Netflix, too. You have to know where your jobs are so you can go out and find them.
Strategize your pilot reads. Once you know whose scripts made the cut and are being shot, take a critical eye to the list. There will be writers there you admire, writers whose shows you’ve loved, writers you just heard from another friend were kind of awesome; there will be shows you know you could write in your sleep because they fit your brand to perfection; there will be shows you know you have a strong sample for. List those shows and start reading and don’t stop till you’ve finished that group of scripts. Then list your favorites, let your reps know that if you got to be choosy, this is the group of pilots you know you’d love to work on, and get them any supporting info you can (see be a partner to your reps). You may not get meetings on those shows, but every bit of information you give your reps on what you like and why you like it will help them market you better to all the shows they contact on your behalf.
Once you do that, read the rest of the pilots. There will always be some you know you’d likely never get a meeting for… it’s not your thing, no samples that match, etc. But if you go on a general at Fox, the exec might ask you about that sci-fi skewing pilot you didn’t read because you knew you’d never meet on it… and you don’t want to have to admit you didn’t read it or fumble through a vague general conversation. The more you can engage the people you meet with, the more you make an impression on them, and that will always come back to you in a good way, even if it’s a few staffing seasons down the pike.
Always, always be polite and gracious to everyone you meet, from the gate to the actual executive or showrunner you’re going to talk to. Again, seems obvious. But I know people at the upper level and in executive suites who tune out on writers who don’t say hello and good-bye to their assistants or who act a little jerky to the security guards. You might be working with these folks soon. Be someone they want to see again.
Always be prepping. If you hear you’re in the mix for Show A and you know the creator of Show A worked on three shows you’ve never watched at all, go watch a few episodes to get a feel for what they’ve done. Sure, maybe you don’t end up getting a meeting, but if you do, you aren’t scrambling to catch up on that person’s body of work while also trying to re-read the pilot and come up with notes on story ideas or questions you want to ask. Watching more TV will never hurt you as a writer. Trust me, if it could, I’d be in perpetual pain because the sheer volume of TV I watch… oy!
And watch at least one episode of any show an executive covers before you go meet with them. That’s what they do for a living and you want to respect their hard work as much as you want yours respected. Sure, maybe you can’t be an expert, but when they mention they also cover Shows X, Y, and Z, you can have something nice to say or have a “Wow, I saw that finale. Interesting way to leave things” comment at the ready. That may not be the show you’re there to meet on, but a genuine interest in what those folks in Current and Development do goes a long way.
Be happy for all your friends who do get jobs. We’re competitive beasts whether we like it or not. It’s hard to watch people get that thing you want so badly. Sometimes you will literally lose out on a job to someone you’ve traded scripts with for notes or had Sunday brunch with. But the way I’ve come to look at it, any job I don’t get is a job that wasn’t meant to be mine. Pollyannaish? Sure. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I mean, I’m writing a blog telling you folks how to go out and get jobs I might be up for! But too many people have helped me and given me advice for me to be unwilling to share myself.
So be happy for your friends, celebrate with them, and know that when you get your job, they’ll celebrate with you.
And finally… don’t give up. Two years ago, I didn’t get two jobs back to back right before Memorial Day weekend. It was soul crushing; I cannot lie. I gave myself a day to be miserable over it. Then I entered scripts in the Austin Film Festival to make myself feel better, like I was doing something to help my career. I made the finals with one of those scripts and ended up going to the festival and having a ton of fun. I also met some writers who have become friends. Making that cut was some much needed validation and it made my inner circle a little bit bigger.
Maybe that tactic won’t work for you, but whatever you need to do to pick yourself up when you don’t get the gig, do it. Have someone else help pick you up if need be! Because endurance wins this race. After I didn’t get those two gigs and another one a month later, I went to work on the pilot that did get me a job last season. And even though that show got canceled, I came out of it and went right back to writing.
That’s all you really have control over in the end. You keep writing, and you keep being sure the right job is going to come. And on the days you forget… ask someone to remind you. It helps, believe me!
Good luck!
First TV Writing Job — Check!
October 30, 2013
Wow, it’s been a minute.
I knew it had been a while since I had time to blog. Turns out I was last here on May 16th, when I decided to give notice at my job and have faith that the writing gig I’d long sought was waiting around the corner.
It was.
After worrying over how few meetings I was going on… (I later found out my upper-level writer friends didn’t want to tell me all they were hearing about what a tough year it was for staff writers, and thank goodness! There might be way less vodka in my freezer if they had)… I found out that I had a showrunner meeting for NBC’s new series “Ironside.”
I was excited to be sure, but also grounded. I’d gotten close three other times to getting a job. And so even though I really wanted this and knew I was ready for it, I went into preparation mode knowing my life wouldn’t end if I didn’t get the gig.
This showrunner conversation was very different than the others I’d been on. It was going to be over Skype, which till the day I found out about this meeting, I had never used. So most of that first few hours was learning exactly how to Skype. (Thanks to my brother and my friend in Texas for practicing with me.)
Then there was watching the pilot… three times… and reading the latest version of the pilot script and thinking up ways that my life experience made me a good fit for this show.
The next day, after I made sure my room was clean enough for Skype and after I picked out my favorite business casual t-shirt, I met Ken Sanzel over the computer. It was a good conversation, though I couldn’t honestly tell you now what most of it consisted of. It felt like we got along really well. It ended with my asking when he might make a decision and Ken saying probably in the next day or two. And that was that.
I had a lunch date with another writer friend, so I left messages for my agent and manager, sent up a little ask to my Dad that he pull any strings he had up on high in heaven, and went off to lunch, which was great and fun, and I never bothered to pick up my phone because I wasn’t expecting anything but a possible recap phone call with my reps.
So imagine my surprise when I pulled out my phone to see what time it was as we were getting the bill and saw that I had three missed phone calls and two missed texts from my agent, manager, and two of my writing mentors. I looked at my friend and said “Either this is good news or something REALLY bad just happened.”
It was good news.
Of course, I didn’t know that right away because my reps asked me to walk them through the meeting, which I did, and then came the moment my stomach dropped…
“He (Ken) just had one kind of hard question he wanted to ask.”
Okay, I can take hard questions, I thought. Lay it on me.
“Do you want to write on his show?”
I cried. I’m not gonna lie. I cried right there in the thankfully very empty restaurant with one customer and one waitress looking at me wondering what was going on. I cried for all the times I almost gave up and held on; for all the nights I slept two hours to meet a deadline for my writing programs at CBS and NBC; I cried because I am lucky enough and blessed enough to have been surrounded by people who believed in me.
I cried because finally… finally… someone said yes.
There were a lot of phone calls then, and celebrating… at least after the waiting. Waiting for your deal to be officially signed so you can shout your good news to the world feels like torture till you remind yourself how long it took to feel that exquisite, awful delay before you can tell people your dream finally came true.
The best call came from my mom the day after I told her I got hired. She called to make sure I had really given her the good news and she hadn’t dreamed it. She had dreamed it so many times, she just wanted to make sure it had actually happened.
There was also the amazing news and gift that one of my great friends, Brian, was also staffed on the show, and we would be there to help each other through those staff writer ups and downs. Seriously… that was a miracle of some writer god’s making, and I will never forget how the universe had my back there.
We started our show the first Monday in June, and we hit the ground running. First thing you should know, Ken’s not a room guy, so we ran a “writers’ hallway.” Our crew of consulting producers, co-eps, producer, and Brian and I got used to moving into each others’ spaces quickly and comfortably, bouncing story areas, breaking out our boards, and asking questions. Lots of questions.
I was the only person on our staff who had never been on a show before. But everyone, from our P.A. to the boss was willing to answer a question, point me in the right direction, or just let me blather my way to the answer on my own. (This includes my man Brandon, who didn’t tell me I could park at base camp during my location shoot, but I love him anyway).
There are moments from wandering that hallway I’ll never forget, especially some of our bullpen hangouts with Teri Weinberg, who probably won’t miss me taunting her with baked goods. Or maybe she will…
There were hard days in the mix of awesome. It took a while to get my area in shape, and then I think I wrote no less than six drafts of my outline. The first draft of my script was… not what it needed to be. The second made me feel like I had earned my desk.
Then there were notes and then there was prep, and thankfully I had an awesome co-ep shepherding me along the way. You should all be listening to The Mick Betancourt Show on iTunes, btw. He has great people sharing their stories about how they got started in the business, along with some amazing life history that will show you, truly, we all get there in our own way.
After prep came shooting. And let me tell you, if I thought I was blessed before, the crew that made our show happen was the extra helping of wonderful. They were so patient with the new kid who didn’t always know where to stand and who dropped her phone under our vehicle barricade and tried to act all nonchalant about looking for it. They taught me a lot, kept it loose, and got the job done with incredible dedication and class.
And then on the last day of my shoot, we got the news. “Ironside” had been canceled. On top of that, the final day of shooting on my episode was it… we were “done” done.
It broke my heart to be sure… I was working at this amazing job, making TV, surrounded by some of the most generous, talented people I’d ever met, and now we had to say good-bye.
Our final night of shooting rolled past midnight and into my birthday. The crew gave me a cake and sang, and I told them I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be celebrating, and it was the absolute truth.
My first job as a writer lasted just shy of five months, but I got some serious bang out of it. I got to write an episode, see it produced, and even though we’ve officially ended, I’m still getting the chance to sit in on post and watch the final product come together. It’s been amazing, and I don’t think there are words enough to tell you all how incredibly full-up with goodness I am after this experience.
It took a village for me to get there. So thank you to all the friends and family who kept me going; thanks to Brant, Toochis, and Steven; thanks to Carole, Jeanne, Janie, Karen, Jen, Julie Ann, Stacey, Stacey (yep, there’s two!), Bruce, and Deepak. My village is pretty damn awesome!
Thank you to Blair, Brent, Pablo, Neal, Spencer, and Kenny for being such a great cast… And thank you to all the fantastic guest actors who kept me mesmerized during my shoot, especially Lou Diamond Phillips and Robert Forster.
Thank you to our amazing production staff and our crew for making magic happen under the gun…
Thanks to Brandon, Andréa, Rob, Helen, and D.J. for always being around to share a laugh or answer one of my rookie questions…
And thank you, thank you, thank you to Ken, Mark, David, Rob, Judi, Mick, Talicia, and Brian for being the best first “writers’ hallway” cohorts a girl could ever ask for.
Somehow, someday my episode will be something people can see. When I know how, I’ll let you know.
And now… on to show number two, wherever you are.
Be Bold. Amaze Yourself. Take Chances.
May 16, 2013
So with one big life change behind me — moving out of the apartment that’s been home for a decade and into my friend’s house — it’s time for another. I gave notice at my job today and will be leaving closed captioning at the end of the month.
Obviously I do so with great hope that my next job description is “TV Drama Writer” but with plans already set as to what I will pursue to pay the bills if, God forbid, that doesn’t happen. (PLEASE, TV GODS. Seriously!).
So why now? Because I think you just know, deep down in your gut, when your life needs to change. You feel it, it nags at you, and finally, you have a choice… ignore it and stay stagnate or take the risk and change it.
My move is part of what’s allowing me to do that. Knowing I have a safe place to land and a roof over my head makes it easier to risk being unemployed for a short period of time, and while the rational, responsible, grown-up me is already doing minute calculations of just how many bills can get paid for how long without another paycheck… the part of me that knew it was time to do what was best for me is totally at peace.
I was also certain it was the right time and the right decision because no argument could make me doubt it. Sure, I’m a girl who likes nice things (See my numerous posts about shoes and massages on Facebook), and it could mean sacrifices ahead. Those cuts and slashes to my lifestyle could go far deeper than the trivial. But none of that seemed worse to me than NOT changing what I knew needed to be changed.
And thus… a letter of resignation is submitted, my agent and my manager are hard at work trying to help me find my gig, and I am unpacking and cleaning and getting yet another fellowship spec finished up and breathing deeply for the first time in a very long time because I know that I’m doing exactly what I need to be doing.
So what will I take with me from this long road I’ve walked in the closed captioning biz?
Hours and hours studying some of the best writing on TV up close and personal. I’ve had the pleasure of working on shows from awesome folks like David E. Kelley, Mike Kelley, Shawn Ryan, and Andrew Marlowe to name a few, and I’ve learned so much from how each show runs, how it’s assembled, what changes are made from VAM to Final cut, and from seeing shooting drafts become completed TV episodes. I always joke that this job was a master class in pacing and dialogue structure, but one I got paid to take.
Post people work hard, y’all! Unsung most of the time and forgotten when it’s glory time by and large, these are some dedicated, smart, fun people. I’ve worked with some great ones and some not so great ones, but they’ve all taught me a lot about how I want my post production staff to run when I’m finally the showrunner. I’d tell you which show has the best post production staff in TV… but I don’t want anyone hiring them before I sell a pilot and steal them away from where they are now 😉
How much harder and longer can I work when I feel like I can’t type another word? A lot longer, and a lot harder… because no one’s deadline cares how tired you are or how sore your hands are. Get it done, get it out, get it on the air. Oh, and that power outage in Hollywood that meant “Ugly Betty” still had to be at the network by 6 a.m. Pacific even if we weren’t getting final video till 2am or later? Just one of the fun adventures of delivery deadlines.
In a larger sense, I take away some important truths about myself as well, perhaps none more important than an acknowledgement of my own strength, determination, and ability to do what needs to be done to balance my work life and my personal life… a lesson learned after allowing one to grossly overtake the other.
And I have learned that in the hardest of times, when I’ve been knocked down and have nothing to hold on to, I can find a way to stand up and move forward.
So forward it is… to what, we’ll find out in the coming days. But I’m fortunate to have friends and family willing to support me through it emotionally and spiritually, and while I may not be able to say I’m doing this without fear, I can say absolutely that I am doing it with total confidence.
One last note… my new roommate (aka one of my oldest friends in LA) bought this for our house. It’s kind of our mantra for the months ahead. Let the adventure begin!
The TV Gifts I Got This Fall
November 29, 2012
Fall is always a busy time for TV viewers, with the onslaught of new shows competing for our hearts and attention. It’s especially so now that cable shows are usually lingering into the fall or having their own premieres, making our DVRs want to implode from overuse. It’s extra busy for us baby writer types who have to know what’s happening on every show on every network in case we get called in for a meeting with someone who works on it!
Amongst my returning faves, I’ve been especially thrilled to see that my top new show from last year, “Person of Interest,” continues to just get more and more incredible every week, and that the big hook-up on “Castle” has only made that already fabulous show even more fantastic and fun.
There are numerous new programs I’ve been enjoying, and a large slate of returning and new shows coming in 2013 that I’m super excited about (“Justified,” “Southland,” “Dallas,” “The Americans,” and “Monday Mornings,” I’m looking at you! — Wow. How much of my time is TNT going to get?) But there are a few gems from the fall that I wanted to take the time to blog about quickly for those of you who haven’t checked them out.
“Elementary” — CBS, Thursdays, 10 PM — I had read this pilot and really enjoyed it and was very pleased with all the casting before getting to see it. But what has truly made me fall hard for this show is the pacing. The bits and pieces of character reveal we get of Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson (Lucy Liu) each week are weaving together intriguing people that I already care so much about. In fact, the way in which we’re getting to know this small group of main characters, Aidan Quinn’s Gregson included, reminds me a lot of “Person of Interest” last year and the way I became so invested in the characters so quickly because the core of who they were was revealed through actions and responses to situations early on in the storytelling.
Of particular note was the confessional scene in which Sherlock admits his addiction to Gregson, which not only revealed the depth of Sherlock’s respect for the NYPD captain, but also Gregson’s insight into who Sherlock is. It’s also been great to watch Watson come into her own as an investigator, both on the cases of the week and when it comes to peeling away the defenses Sherlock has mounted to keep his emotional self safe.
“Vegas” — CBS, Tuesdays, 10PM — This show had a unique writing challenge from the start. Michael Chiklis’ mobster Vincent Savino and Dennis Quaid’s Sheriff Ralph Lamb were both such strong characters, keeping them from being in a constant state of tense standoffs was clearly going to be key to the way the show played out. But as they’ve interacted, both needing and hating one another, a grudging respect has grown between these two men which infuses their scenes with an energy that has numerous layers beyond that initial tension. Their humorous and informative exchange over a bottle of scotch this past Tuesday told you more about this relationship and where it stands than pages of exposition could. And the end beat, with a report of a body being found and, off of Lamb’s look, Savino quipping “don’t look at me” is a sample of the humor working its way into the dynamic of this odd duo.
But the biggest surprise of “Vegas” is the women. Oh, these ladies! Such a mix of personalities and yet they are all strong and smart and destined to be pained by the men they love (or want to love.) Maybe it’s the fact that the show is set in the ’60s, maybe it’s because of the overuse of clichés I’ve seen in mob movies, I’m not sure, but I didn’t expect the healthy dose of savvy these ladies bring to the table. Mia’s (Sarah Jones) business smarts and cool exterior are sure to be tested by her attraction to Deputy Jack Lamb (Jason O’Mara), especially with her volatile mob boss father Rizzo now in charge of the casino; A.D.A. Katherine O’Connell’s (Carrie-Anne Moss) affection for and understanding of Ralph has been clear from the start, and she brings out something in him that always adds nice color to Quaid’s portrayal of Lamb.
And the most unexpected revelation… mob wife Laura (Vinessa Shaw). After responding to Vincent’s honest admission that he needed her to make his Vegas dreams come true, Laura not only moved to town but became a full partner to her husband. She just helped him engineer a mob-backed mayoral victory for a candidate that had zero chance of winning at the start, and her honest but clear response to meeting Vincent’s former mistress revealed a great deal to us about this marriage and both husband and wife.
“Last Resort” — ABC, Thursdays, 8PM — Yes, my heart is already grieving this show, which will not get extended beyond its original 13-episode order, but while you can, I encourage you to watch. Andre Braugher is, well, Andre Braugher, which means he’s amazing, but the constant ability of this show to push characters into game-changing situations to reveal bits of them to us has kept me enthralled from the pilot forward. Most refreshing? That Navy wife Christine (Jessy Schram) is not some poor victim being manipulated by the government but is instead smart enough to have figured out on her own that she was being played and brave enough to from an alliance with Washington insider Kylie Sinclair (Autumn Reeser) in order to do what she can to help save her husband the rest of the crew aboard the U.S.S. Colorado.
I especially love the scope of what creators Karl Gajdusek and Shawn Ryan tried to do with this show and how the characters are able to reveal themselves at the most unexpected times. I literally jumped out of my chair when Admiral Shepard killed to try to save his daughter’s life, and the way Scott Speedman communicates X.O. Sam Kendal’s conflicted feelings about his captain continue to express how torn he is between friendship, duty, and just wanting to go home. I will be here till the end, and I will miss it when it’s gone.
“Major Crimes” — Returns to TNT for Season 2 in 2013 — While technically a summer premiere, MC wrapped up its run this fall, and before it comes back next year, if you didn’t get a chance to see it, I highly recommend catching the reruns on TNT.
No one was more worried about the idea of a spin-off of “The Closer” than I was; my love for that show runs deep and my pride in the spec I wrote for it (which helped me get into two network writing programs) remains high. But creator James Duff pulled off a major feat here. Not only did “Major Crimes” have to debut immediately after the finale of its mother ship, with no time in between to help the audience transition, it had to take largely the same cast and acclimate us to a new standard operating procedure in the unit, with new leadership and new agendas all over the place.
This succeeded for me largely because all the differences between Mary McDonnell’s Sharon Raydor and “The Closer’s” Brenda Leigh Johnson became the tools by which we saw the unit work through the same feelings we were having and allowed us an insight into Raydor outside of work that humanized her greatly. When Flynn (Tony Denison) has to point out to the former I.A. captain that you need to refer to homicide victims by name or the other detectives take it wrong and criticizes one of her former policies, which has complicated their case, Raydor not only takes in the critique, she ends up turning it into a moment to win some respect from Flynn when his advice helps her solve the case. And her refusal to allow disgruntled Provenza (G.W. Bailey) to retire because she knows she needs his expertise was handled beautifully, allowing us to see how much she has learned about this team and how they tick.
The added storyline of Raydor fostering former street hustler Rusty Beck (Graham Patrick Martin) provided some hugely emotional moments in the first season, none of which was more palpable than her having to let him leave for a weekend with his biological father, the choked back desire to warn him to be careful instead coming out as “have fun” when you could see she just wanted to run and grab him and not let him go. The squad, too, have all become family to Rusty… watching Flynn, Buzz, and Provenza, for instance, talk through how to handle his first dinner with his biological dad was a great chance to see how this group have all become invested in his well-being. And the finale scene with the entire squad signing off on Rusty’s paperwork (watch it; I don’t want to ruin the build-up) was a great way to end this first year of the show.
What are some of your favorites and why? Share in the comments, and if I haven’t seen them, I’ll try to check them out!
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