The Lifespan of a Television Show

My dear friend and mentor Jeff Lyons, and independent writer, producer and bon vivant has been deep in the trenches lately, developing a TV series with producers foreign and domestic. And it's been one helluva ride. Today he shares a particular frustration with us: the natural lifespan of a television show:

***

Forgive me for letting off steam, but I’m pissed. I’m working on developing a TV series with a company, and it is a grand, fun, fulfilling, and educational experience. I’m really having a great time. Yes, you hear the “but” coming a mile away, don’t you?

But--the mindset that rules how TV series operate is crazy making. First, let me make clear, my middle name is not Pollyanna. I have been trying to produce film and TV content for a long time and have been around the block, swum with the sharks, danced with the devil, and shoveled my own share of s@#it to get projects down the road to development. TV exists to sell soap; it is not an instrument of entertainment, it is a sales tool. TV shows are aired by networks to create a reason for people to watch commercials, not because they are pursuing high-art. This is not true for the Internet (yet), but it is the nature of TV. In short, I have no illusions. I really do get it.

But--with that said, why can’t we just let a TV show have it’s natural life span? Why do we have to drag out a series for nine seasons because economically it makes “sense”? My beef with this comes up now because I’m currently beating my head against this wall with my colleagues. I’m telling them that the show we're trying to put up is a one season killer-diller, any more than that and it will be diluted. They insist it has to “have legs” past one season, otherwise there will be no incentive for the suits and executives to do the show. They simply won’t spend the money if they can’t get it back eight billion fold; meaning the show has to have a multi-season potential.

But--what if it doesn’t? What if it’s just a perfect one-season show? Why can’t it just live its lifespan naturally and die with dignity? Why does it have to go on life support with cranked up subplots, dumb-ass new characters, and forced plot lines? Whatever happened to a dignified death? Well, the answer, of course, is what I’ve just been describing. The damn show is making money! And, actors, directors, writers, etc., are making residuals! Now, certainly this is not a black and white situation. There are mini-series, limited series, etc. And these work fine. They make money and the trend for limited series is actually increasing (in cable anyway).

But--The problem I’m describing is still the prevailing zeitgeist. I’m a bonehead for suggesting this, but aren’t we all just drinking the network/advertiser Kool Aid? Isn’t there an alternative? Yes--Virginia, there is.

But--It will take guts, courage (the two aren’t the same), business savvy, and creative moxie. The solution is to let a show end naturally. Don’t push it, don’t extend it, and don’t put it on life support. If you limit shows to 13 or 26 weeks max, then two things can occur: first, viewers have a truly satisfying experience with the show, because it doesn’t fizzle out and “die” from being forced past it’s natural lifespan. Rather, the show follows its natural course and, like a good book, ends right on time. Viewer is happy, happy, happy. But, advertiser is pissed, pissed, pissed. They’ve just lost a cash cow. Right? Not necessarily.

With shorter series, networks have more space for more shows. With shorter series, more producers get their shows up, more writers are working, more revenue flows, more dollars are out there to buy more soap, and there are more and varied shows on the air to show advertising. Shorter shows don’t have to mean lost revenue. More shows means more creative work is available to be shown. How many great shows never see the light of day simply because networks won’t pull their cash cows from the airwaves to make room for new blood, simply because they are afraid of losing ad dollars? If they are smart (and they are) new product can be put up each season, with more in the pipeline. It can be win-win! If, if, if the creative will is there and the business savvy is in place to make it work. And I believe both those things are out there … somewhere.

But--I hear the wail of despair, “How can we pull performing shows from the air, when they are performing! Are you nuts?” Yes, I am. But that’s beside the point. What I’m suggesting is that even though these shows are performing economically, they probably stopped performing creatively a long time ago. I think that artificially sustaining shows that have died creatively by grasping for new story lines to keep viewer interest only shows that a show has stopped being its intended form and is not being “forced” to keep going despite the fact that it has really ended. Viewers watch anyway, because they’re hooked. That’s a good thing, but why not just hook them on something new, maybe something even better? And in the hooking, more work is generated, more revenue spent, etc., etc., and the great wheel of life in Hollywood continues profitably.

But--I’m not totally pig-headed about this. Seinfeld was the kind of show that could have gone on forever. It’s just the nature of the beast. It wasn’t about anything anyway, so there was not storyline to blow up or mutilate. But, how about Lost, which has been lost for seasons. It was done after its first season. What a perfect example of a show that had nowhere to go after thirteen shows. And then there is Battlestar Galactica, one of the best reborn series in TV history. Three seasons and the producers had the sense to end it. BRAVO! But, it’s spinoff , Caprica, is in the works, so we’ll see. We’ll see.

Be clear that I am not lumping all shows together here. Some shows naturally extend, most don't. What I'm railing against is something like the following:

Cheers, popular 1980s sitcom. Great show, great audience, but as with all great things it started to come to it's natural end. But, not wanting to lose the demographic and the time-slot that was generating lots of cash, the producers and network decided to "give the show legs." The decision was made to make a change so they could come up with new story lines to keep their audience. So--what did they do? They had Sam, the womanizing bar-keep fall in love with Daine, the snobbish intellectual waitress. That their mutual antagonism and oil-water banter was the heart of the show and it's success was of no consequence. Some brilliant exec probably thought, "Hey, if they get on each other's nerves as co-workers, how much more fun will it be if they're boyfriend and girlfriend?" Nice idea, lousy reality. The change altered the shows dynamic and it died faster than the first round Bush bailout bill in Congress today. They killed the show to save it, rather than just letting it go out with dignity. This is what I'm talking about ... stupid changes in a show to try to keep it alive. This is the norm, not the exception. This is the problem.

So--To summarize: Shows are like life forms. Some are meant to be Galapagos tortoises (daytime soaps) and live forever, while others are more like a Gastrotrich (multi-cellular bug that lives 3 days). Most shows are more like the Gastrotrich. We can still have profitable shows if we are smart enough to know when a show REALLY needs to die. Viewers can have a better experience, more work will be generated with more slots to fill, more work means more advertising and soap selling, and residuals continue to flow. And creatively things can grow exponentially. It’s a Win Win Win.

But--all the pragmatists and my grounded-in-the-real-world contemporaries out there will, without doubt, come back on all this with, “You’re dreaming! Good luck selling that argument. If they buy this, I’ve got a bridge in Alaska!”

A boy can only dream.

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James Wolcott on Indie Films - Ouch!

I have a love/hate relationship with Vanity Fair, the iconic cultural-society-literary-celebrity publication now in its famed second incarnation, having been revived 25 years ago and helmed by some guy then Tina Brown and now Graydon Carter (my two cents: don't change the hair).

I have been a subscriber for lo these 25 years. Love it because receiving my Vanity Fair each month is a happy-mail-box ritual and I love, in this order, the Proust Questionnaire, the letters to the editor (in which I was once anonymously soft quoted as complaining about the number of ads that appear before the table of contents unless some other chick said the same thing in the same way which is possible but let me dream) Dominic Dunne, Christopher Hitchens and James Wolcott. Hate because the copious, upscale ad content clashes mightily with my values and makes it A NIGHTMARE to find the table of freaking contents.

But yes, I do like reading about the lives of various Princess Von Furstenburg-Hapsburg-McFabulous's because it's a guilty pleasure of mine even though at the end of aforementioned guilty-pleasure bio-article, I am usually in touch with my inner angry Communist self. These people are so vain and so shallow! And so rich! LOOK at that spread of their palace-compound-castle! But ohhhhh to have a peek into such a rarefied world...

In the latest issue, the one with Marilyn Monroe on the cover, James Wolcott, erudite cultural critic, tells us of his new discovery - television. It's a really great article, actually - slightly behind the curve for Wolcott, says I - but well worth a read.

But tucked into the middle of this great article, Wolcott gets ensnared in two things: generalized, "the good old days" snobbery when it comes to indie films and witty, elliptical turns of phrase that make grasping his point an annoying exercise in parsing, well - witty, elliptical turns of phrase. To wit:

Most of these loosely-hung-together slow-metabolism vignettes remain nestled on the naturalistic surface, with mumblecore films caterpillaring into unmade beds.

Despite their supposed deviance from Hollywood formula, indie films are sometimes no better and often worse in their time-released didacticism and midafternoon droop, the characters so depleted by anomie, shrunken-head defeatism, dead-end prospects, deadbeat friends, bed-head hair, and a wardrobe of carefully selected from the dirty-clothes hamper that they can barely drag themselves to the diner to watch the new waitress tie her apron.

and

There's an overdetermined depressiveness to so many indies - noble in intent, conscientious in execution, they tell you tonally from the opening shot or the first scratchy musical note that there'll be no Shawshank Redemption at the end of this bus ride....[whereas] Television spares us the faint twitchings of twig life.

Now mind you: I have seen indie films that Wolcott is describing here, I really have. But Wolcott seems to (and it's hard to say since his writing here is quite definitely a mumblecore article caterpillaring into an unmade bed) be indicting all indie film except those of Paul Mazursky. To which I say - dude? Jim? You're making yourself sound really, really old here. There have been indie films caterpillaring into all sorts of disheveled messes as long as there have been indie films. Wake up and smell the JUNO.

We all know the power of words to persuade, romance, inflame and provoke. Anonymous internet jackasses know it (albeit unwittingly), screenwriters know it, novelists and journalists know it. And certainly Wolcott, a writer I greatly admire precisely for his rich, rambling, old-school voice knows it.

But in this article, Wolcott, like Ziggy Stardust, got sucked up into his own mind and the result is a mildly entertaining, thoroughly prejudiced, somewhat inaccurate musing on indie film. The main gist of the article is the delivery, speed and ascendance of good television, which in my view is inarguable. But -

...[whereas in indie film] there's a slumpy sameness to the dialogue delivery and body language, as if everyone were making withdrawals from the the same tired bloodbank.

Really, Jim? The majority of the time? Of course, the more movies you see, the more clear it becomes that just because a film has "indie" or "foreign" in front of it, does not automatically mean that greatness or intellectual, hipster or existential heights have been reached. But I do think Wolcott is rather letting his age show and is overlooking some of the best movies ever put to celluloid - or digital video, as it were, and as a lover of such, I take offense at the lumping together of all indie films as pretentious exercises in nothingness. Yes, yes, we all know that "indie" films aren't generally as "indie" as they used to be. But on the whole, they are one of the few outlets for filmmakers to unleash characters and dialogue that are anything but anemic blood bank withdrawals suffering from slumpy sameness and navel-gazing.

And while the ascendance of great television is inarguably a threat to the box office, great television is hardly new - there's just more of it now.

In my view, television still offers, on the whole, a vast acreage of vapid nothingness compared to indie film. Reality programs, teeny bopper musings on Vanity Fair inspired rich-life pipe dreams (a guilty pleasure but not mine) and stultifyngly dull, outdated sitcoms the success of which mystify me. Everybody Loves Raymond. Really? Did they?

For every great television show there are 10 awful shows. So let's keep our wits about us here. Wolcott's rather sweeping take on indie film as a head-up-its-own-arse exercise in nothing-muchness is too sweeping for this girl's taste.

Despite having taken exception to the midsection of this particular Wolcott piece - I recommend reading it. Because I may be complaining here, but damn I love a good writer, even if Wolcott writes the equivalent of indie-mumblecore-caterpillar-slouching-into-intellectual pretension while protesting it at the same time. Love ya, mean it Jim. Have your people call my people.

To read James Wolcott's blog, click HERE.

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Short Scene Competition Winner!

Congratulations to Gerry Hayes, of Dublin, Ireland, for his short scene win here on the Rouge Wave. All three finalists were superb and Gerry's is a well deserved win. Gerry, contact the front desk to collect your prize.

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The Mini-W Reviews: Burn After Reading

For those of you who are new to the Rouge Wave, and there are always newcomers, the Mini-W is my 15 year old daughter. She's smart, she's savvy and she loves movies. And once in awhile when her homework is done, she reviews movies here on the Rouge Wave. Enjoy:

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I was dragged to see Burn After Reading, starring Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, and George Clooney with my dad and step mom and stepbrother. I was far from excited, but afterwards, I was SO glad they made me go. Although like most Coen Brothers productions, Burn After Reading was quite morbid, the extraordinary comedic performances by the entire cast held the sub-par plot together.

The movie starts out with John Malkovich as Osborn Cox, a washed up CIA operative being fired from his position. He then goes home to his coldhearted wife, Tilda Swinton, who is having an affair with George Clooney, a bodyguard and exercise obsessed womanizer. George Clooney links to Linda Litske (Frances McDormand), through Internet dating. Linda is an image obsessed gym worker who happens to find some files from Osborn Cox’s financial documents. Brad Pitt is a personal trainer at the gym where Linda works, and together they try and get money for the disk that they found, thinking it is CIA information.

In the end, many of the cast end up dying in rather violent and shocking ways, but the way they handle it just makes what would have been a mediocre script into a hilarious experience. Not only were the performances good, but also you could just tell that the actors had fun with this movie, and that fun jumps off the screen into you. DO NOT take the younguns to see this movie (I felt like covering my little step brother’s eyes half the time) but definitely take a couple hours to go out and see it. It will keep you laughing for a long time afterwards.

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Reminder: Networking Dinner TONIGHT

This evening at 7pm, a few of my friends, some Rouge Wavers and others will be joining Derek Rydall, author of There's No Business Like Soul Business, for a networking dinner to discuss how to stay encouraged in what can be a very discouraging line of work. We will discuss how to feel more empowered and more optimistic and get unstuck from being blocked or otherwise bummed out about your writing career. We're gonna turn that frown upside down.

WHERE: Kung Pao Bistro
7853 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046-5344
Phone: (323) 848-9888

WHEN: Sunday, Sept. 28, 7pm

PLEASE RSVP if you are interested in attending. I have already made reservations for those who will be attending but I'm sure we can squeeze a few more in.

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Rain Drops Keep Fallin' On My Head...

So it was pretty sad to wake up today to the news of Paul Newman's death. But I try not to allow myself to get too sad about the passing of a writer, actor or notable personage; rather, I shoot for appreciation and gratitude. Paul Newman lived a good long life and left behind a cinematic legacy.

When I was growing up, Paul Newman and Robert Redford were the George Clooney and Brad Pitt of their time. They were the epitome of handsome, sexy, movie-stars. I am sure that I have not seen every Paul Newman performance - there are some notable absences that I plan to rectify. I have not seen HUD, for one.

The performances that spring to mind that I really loved were :

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cool Hand Luke
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Sting
The Color of Money

Probably my favorite was Butch Cassidy. Which, incidentally, I rewatched not long ago and while the great moments were as great as I recall, was also rather dated in a number of ways. But that movie still has one of the best movie endings ever. Who can forget that scene as Butch and Sundance talk about their next heist opportunity in Australia, knowing full well it will never happen and then rush out to a hail of bullets?

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge was a disappointment to me - I had read the books and absolutely LOVED them - (the movie collapsed two books into one movie). The performances were good but the movie just didn't deliver the same experience as the books by far.

What's your favorite Paul Newman performance?

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Managers and Writers - Group Hug

I talk to managers fairly frequently, in my ongoing networking and effort to connect writers to rep. And I obviously talk to writers about their scripts, concerns, careers and would-be careers just about every day. And when I put the two side-by-side, some interesting gaps in communication arise.

This is what I hear from writers:

Why is it SO hard to get a manager?

Why have I not heard back about my query and it's been two weeks?

My query got accepted, I sent the script and I never heard back.

My query got accepted, I sent the script, I got an email or call saying it's good but not for them; should I be excited that they took the time to call or bummed because it was a pass? The manager said to send them another one of my scripts in the future. Do they mean it?

Why does my manager not communicate with me more often?

My manager was SO excited about my script, he/she took it out but now he/she isn't really calling me back.

My manager took my script out and says he/she got positive responses, but we need to "package" the script and lately, my manager hasn't been calling me back.

My manager works for ME, right? So why isn't he/she more responsive to my calls and emails?

My manager seems a little mysterious about the actual plan for me and my script(s).

I just got my first manager. My whole life is about to change. I am already looking at new cars.

This is what I hear from managers:

I'm looking for a commercial, salable script with a HOOK

I'm looking for a script that is castable and unique and exciting

I have a number of clients who are working writers and taking care of them and their careers takes up most of my time

I get hundreds of emails on a daily basis

I'm always looking for something new but time management is a challenge

I spent a fair bit of time networking with buyers and agents for current and future clients

If I get excited about a script and take it out and don't get a fairly immediate positive reaction, to be honest, my ardor for the script cools a bit. What seemed like a sure thing just got harder and more complicated.

I wish my clients would trust that I'm doing my thing and not be too needy with emails and phone calls

My game plan changes unexpectedly sometimes; I get pulled in another direction for another, more "hot" client and that's not something I can necessarily control

I'm not interested in repping a client with ONE good script; I will look like an idiot if this writer has written a fluke script. I need to know a writer has legs.

If a script doesn't get an immediate positive response, I have to put my attention toward those clients who are generating heat; I can't make a living on writers who don't sell.

I like to develop writers with potential but there's only so many hours in a day and selling clients have to come first.

Developing a writer is very, very time-consuming. It's taking a risk. I'd rather work with writers who are self-directed, empowered and who are creative machines.

So going back to what I hear from writers:

Why is it SO hard to get a manager?
Because it's really hard to make a living as a manager. So managers are extremely selective. They can only deal with so many clients and those clients have to generate salable work. Managers cannot afford to take a risk on a script or a writer that does not smell like MONEY.

Why have I not heard back about my query and it's been two weeks?
Because the manager is inundated with other stuff and because the manager probably saw your query and didn't have an immediate positive reaction.

My query got accepted, I sent the script and I never heard back.
Because the manager is inundated with other stuff and/or the script didn't live up to the promise of the query. If it's been more than a month, chances are, the manager moved on and has long since forgotten about you.

My query got accepted, I sent the script, I got an email or call saying it's good but not for them; should I be excited that they took the time to call or bummed because it was a pass? The manager said to send them another one of my scripts in the future. Do they mean it?
You should be excited that the manager requested the script based on the query and that the manager liked something about your writing. If this manager liked you enough to call or contact you, that's quite a compliment. Keep querying other managers; you may have better luck next time.

If the manager said to hit them up with another script in the future because they liked your writing, they do mean it. But only mildly so. This is often used as a pleasant brush-off. But I would stay in touch and query your next script once it's ready because you never know; maybe this next script WILL rock the manager's world. In a lottery-like business, even if the manager was making a polite gesture only, why not take a chance on that?

Why does my manager not communicate with me more often?
Because he/she is busy. And possibly because he/she is not feeling the electric-love-excitement about your script anymore. The red-hot crush is waning. As in the dating world, if you call MORE to find out what's going on, the ardor will cool faster and faster.

My manager was SO excited about my script, he/she took it out but now he/she isn't really calling me back.
Because the script went out and the manager didn't get an excited response and now his or her attention has been taken up by another, more promising script and writer.

My manager took my script out and says he/she got positive responses, but we need to "package" the script and lately, my manager hasn't been calling me back.
Because when buyers say the writing is good but they'd need to package it to get it off the ground, that's not exactly the response the manager would have hoped for. He or she may be strategizing some packaging reads through relationships with talent or directors but this script sale just got more challenging. This is a true test of the manager's passion and faith for the project; if he or she is SURE this script is going to make a great movie, he or she will put a lot of effort in at this juncture. But if there's any doubt...the ardor will cool. Quickly.

My manager works for ME, right? So why isn't he/she more responsive to my calls and emails?
Well, not exactly. Think of this as a partnership. It's a symbiotic relationship; your manager is your champion until or unless you aren't going to be an earner. It's hard to say, definitively, whether your script is or is not going to be received well on the market. If you think the market and what sells is confusing, try being a manager. They have a stronger sense but imagine that your mortgage payment is riding on your judgment.

Your manager cannot make a living unless clients are selling projects and getting assignments. Think about that: no income coming in - unless there is a deal that goes through. So it's time versus money versus faith. How much time would YOU put into a writer who is not generating income? Will the writer generate income in six months? A year? How long are you willing to work for free?

My manager seems a little mysterious about the actual plan for me and my script(s).
Because the manager is busy with several clients. Because the plan may shift from day to day or week to week. Because the manager is using a finely calibrated sense of judgment and experience and has to follow up on strong leads and relationships first and then go to softer relationships second. But they never really know where that opening will be found. Asking your manager for a clear sense of the plan is great but once the plan starts shifting and responding to the realities of the market, bugging your manager is a little like being the kid in the backseat, constantly bugging mom or dad, upfront, driving the car, trying to navigate a complicated freeway interchange. Are we there yet? Are we going to take that offramp? Look at THAT shiny building! I gotta pee! And the manager is the parent, upfront, trying to focus on getting from point A to point B and grows increasingly distracted and annoyed by the backseat passenger.

I just got my first manager. My whole life is about to change. I am already looking at new cars.
Be excited. Be motivated. Use this feeling to keep writing and to feel validated. But also be realistic. This may change everything - and it may end in a few short months with a frustrated fizzle. Don't put the cart ahead of the horse. Take this in stride. A whole lot of mysterious things have to align - primarily quick and strong reactions by buyers to your work - in order for this to change your life. See this as the first major step forward in terms of validation but never rest on the laurels of this accomplishment. The overwhelming odds say that your life will not change completely and immediately but you have definitely proven that your script has passed a minimal litmus test in Hollywood - it got someone other than your granny excited. Be circumspect about this new development. Tread the fine line between going NUTS with the coolness of this but also knowing that this is absolutely not license to slow down generating great ideas and great scripts and that yes, this could also end at any moment. If this answer seems a bit contradictory - it is. Hollywood is contradictory. It just is. This is what makes it among the most confusing, frustrating businesses in the world. A writer isn't sure how to feel from one day to the next. The only advice I can give you is to feel excited about your love of writing. That's the only thing that will carry you through.

Being aware of the realities of getting and keeping representation is key for an aspiring writer. The main thing you can do is to see how it feels to be repped by whomever has chosen to enter into that relationship with you. Does your manager make you feel like an annoying hanger-on? Or does he or she make you feel respected and heard? Do you have chemistry? Are you simpatico?

At the end of the day, aspiring writers are the only ones really in charge of themselves. Knowing the realities of the life and times of a manager is a huge advantage. Managers love a writer who can go with the flow and who use the down time to keep generating great scripts. If you spent the same time writing that you are tempted to spend calling and whining, imagine the work you'd get done. And there are writers - your competition - who are doing exactly that.

Managers love clients who aren't needy and whiny. So given that ideal, that you are not needy or whiny, how does your manager make you feel? Valued and heard? Or as if you are an annoying pain in the rear? Writers lucky enough to get rep may go through many managers over time. It's a close relationship but from a manager's point of view, only as close as you are productive, unique and successful. It's not personal. They don't call it show friends.

If you don't hear back from a manager you queried - keep querying others. If this is a pattern, take stock of your queries and of your material. Maybe it's not as unique and salable as you thought. In fact, odds are, I'm sorry to say, that it is definitely not as salable as you thought. How do I know this? How do I know anything I write about on the Rouge Wave? From painful and bitter experience.

If you don't hear back from a manager who is repping you, don't waste a lot of energy moaning about that and wondering why. Empower yourself by taking stock of your inventory and continuing to grow it. Once you have not just one not just two but several scripts that are really strong, managers will clamor to rep you because you are a meal ticket. It's pretty Darwinian at the end of the day.

Definitely avoid managers who:

Charge you any kind of fee. Ever. For copying - for anything. This is a huge red flag.

Do not do business in Los Angeles or New York. They simply cannot be tuned in or plugged in from afar.

Do not judge a manager who:

Has not had a client who made a sale yet - how long as the manager been in business? Sometimes a very new manager with great connections is twice as hungry as one who has been doing this for awhile. A new writer and a new rep could be a match made in heaven.

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Dialogue or Less Dialogue - That is the Question

There is quite an interesting conversation going on in the comments section beginning with the noting of dialogue-heavy short scene finalists and traveling all the way to whether dialogue or visuals are more memorable, ergo, important in the cinematic experience.

Here's where I stand:

the dingo got the baby
it's definitely time for Judge Wapner
fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy night
you have no idea
I can't quit you
I'm ready for my close up, Mr. Demille*
I have the feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore
of all the gin joints in all the world...
I want to be alone
you talkin' to me?
you're gonna need a bigger boat
yippy-kiy-yay, motherf*cker
I see dead people
I read the Feminine Mystique! I'm in charge of my own orgasm!
Everybody knows, you never go full retard

...and that's just literally off the top of my head. Yes, cinematic scenes are also memorable, but it's the dialogue that moves the story forward and it's the dialogue that makes us laugh, cringe and identify with the character who said it.

I think that the Rouge Waver who began this discussion in comments is referring to the old trope that ideally, a screenwriter should be able to write a scene with no dialogue so well that dialogue is unnecessary to get the point of the scene across. I think this is of course a great skill and a great exercise, but as another poster said - welcome to the talkies.

Movies are about the human experience. And the importance of dialogue in conveying the truth, the terror, the contradiction and the joy of that is inestimable. Let's turn to the predecessor of movies - drama. Theater predates movies by hundreds of years. Movies are, relatively speaking, still in their infancy as a form of expression and entertainment.

In its earliest form, there were no visuals and certainly no action sequences in theater. Theater was just people on a primitive stage, speaking the truth about pain, joy, loss and what it means to be a human. Sophocles did not write action scenes. Either did Euripides or Aristophanes. Or Arthur Miller for that matter but that's pressing the fast-forward button.

And of course we come to the master playwright - Shakespeare.

Four hundred years later, how often is his dialogue quoted? How many people have heard "out damn spot" without even really knowing which play that came from (MacBeth) or necessarily remembering the dark, stormy, creepy castle that line of dialogue is uttered in? Because the castle is frosting - the sentiment - that guilt cannot be washed away - is powerful and that is memorable. 400 years powerful and memorable.

I think it inarguable that dialogue is the single most compelling and memorable part of most any movie. Because dialogue is spoken by memorable and compelling characters. The supposition that a great scene should or can be written without dialogue (or with minimal dialogue) is, in my opinion, Film School pretention.

I also think that the idea that dialogue is not entirely necessary is also born of the fact that there's so much BAD dialogue out there. Newbie screenwriters tend to write on the nose, expositional dialogue which is blunt, workman-like and uninteresting.

To be fair, let's also point out that movies are not exactly like theater. The cinema is a relatively new human artistic expression which is an extraordinarily powerful marriage of theater, music and visuals. Movies are an artform unlike any other and yet deeply, inextricably indebted to theater.

Really good writers know how to use dialogue sharp as a scalpel, light as a feather and as layered as a rich, creamy Trifle. And they do it so well that dialogue becomes part of our culture. Sometimes for literally hundreds of years to come. Not that "never go full retard" falls under that category. She says with a wink and a tug of her ear.

Now get back to work.



*This quote, from SUNSET BOULEVARD is often misquoted. In fact, the line of dialogue is this: All right Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up.

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Short Scene Finalists

Okay here we go, Wavers. You know how this works. Vote for your favorite and bear in mind our Rouge Wave Voting Rules & Guidelines: Each short scene had to include the key words: September, President and Orange. Vote for the short scene that was clever and that effing entertained you and of course no ballot stuffing. This is not about how your friend or your brother, uncle or co-worker is so nice, this is about recognizing clever writing.

Edited to add: Yes! The Wave-inatrix's virus has apparently resulted in some sort of brain aneurysm which resulted in my thinking that the deadline was LAST night at midnight. So this is early. Apologies to those who might have still been working on a short scene. Go with it for this time and again, sorry about that.

Naked Comes the President
by Curious George

INT. DARK OFFICE -- NIGHT
A WOMAN, half naked, paces back and forth. She sips from a
tall glass of orange juice and stares at the computer on her
desk. She mutters under her breath,"C'mon, you bastard."

A QUIET KNOCK at the door.

It opens and BRIAN COWDEN, 31, walks in. He looks sharp in Marine dress blues.

BRIAN
Madam President?

Brian, curious, walks over to the President's desk and peers
at the computer. He's stunned at what he sees...

PRESIDENT
Shhhhhhh! I got this SOB right where
I want him.

BRIAN
Madam President? Marilyn? You need
to quit for the night. You're meeting
with the Joint Chiefs in a few hours.
The September Project--

Brian looks at the screen again.

PRESIDENT
Hush! If I don't win this hand I
gotta give up Hawaii.

BRIAN
(gasps)
Jesus, Marilyn. How much have you've
lost?

PRESIDENT
I've already had to give up Guam and
American Samoa.

BRIAN
What?!

Brian shakes his head, reaches over and shuts down the
computer.

BRIAN
Let's go. That's enough poker for
tonight. Back to bed Madam President.

He grasps her by the arm and gently guides her to the door. They exit and walk softly down the hall.

Oranged
by Gerry Hayes

INT. OVAL OFFICE - MORNING
Gathered around the PRESIDENT, a group of smartly-suited,
high-ranking staff. Chief of Staff, STEVE PANELL speaks.

STEVE
Don't worry about a thing, Mr.
President, it's all been oranged.

The president frowns and tilts his head slightly.

PRESIDENT
Steve? Did you say 'oranged'?

STEVE
Erm. No sir. I said 'arranged'.

PRESIDENT
You did. Why would you say 'oranged'?

Steve looks flustered. His colleagues on either side are
looking at the floor. Most are smirking.

STEVE
I... it's... I.

Steve cracks. It all comes blurting out.

STEVE
I'm sorry sir. It's a game. Each
day, we try to work a particular
word into the meeting. Whoever has
the highest score at the end of
September gets a prize.

The president folds his arms.

PRESIDENT
So last week when Mike told me that
Chancellor Nerdlinger was waiting in
reception?

Steve nods. MIKE is no longer smirking.

PRESIDENT
I waited there for two hours, Mike.

MIKE
I'm sorry sir. I hope you can over look this.
Perhaps we can let cylons be bygones?

STEVE
Yes sir. I'm cherry flurry too.

The President hangs his head and sighs.

Todd Explains
by Seth Fortin

EXT. STREET - DAY
Todd and Barnes sit in an old beater watching the driveway
across the street. Todd presses the can of frozen orange
juice against his bruised and swollen face.

TODD
The meaning is simple. He doesn't
want to be the President, because
the President is beholden to the
Congress or whatever. "The President
can't get nothing passed." But the
Pope has a universal power. He's
got authority over everybody, and
he's got the word straight from God.
He's not trapped by the political
process.

BARNES
What about the line, "He might have
better luck if he was drummin' with
his dick"?

TODD
It's a metaphor.

BARNES
Does Jesus know that you listen to
songs with dirty lyrics?

TODD
Jesus and I don't talk morality.

BARNES
All right.

They pass a few moments in silence.

BARNES
So when did Jesus start telling you
to fuck with drug dealers?

TODD
I don't know... middle of September.

BARNES
And this is His plan, huh?

TODD
(sheepishly)
Yeah.

BARNES
Why did He want me along?

(beat)

BARNES
I mean, why am I on the inside and
Burger's on the outside?

TODD
I don't know, man. I don't ask those
kinds of questions.

They fall silent again. Suddenly Todd sees something across
the street.

TODD
Shit. There he is.

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The Assistant Files

You've heard the horror stories, the things we assistants have to do for our bosses. Assistant abuse is so rampant in Hollywood, we should have our own colored-bracelet campaign.

There's the story of the assistant who had soup thrown at him by a big-time female producer (fortunately the soup wasn't hot, but I think that may actually have been the root of the problem). And the one about another producer's assistant who, in an attempt to ensure time off for Thanksgiving with his family, invited the producer to accompany him. Assuming, of course, the producer would feel so bad about declining that he would insist the assistant take the needed time off. No dice; the producer accepted, and our poor assistant friend had to spend his holiday catering to his boss in front of the entire family.

Have you ever thought about how far YOU would go, if you thought it was all leading up to the big payoff? Would you babysit your boss's kids in a pinch so he could go to a meeting? Spend your Sunday choosing, wrapping, and delivering his wife's birthday gift, because it had slipped his mind until that morning? Transport his fresh stool sample to the lab? All true stories from yours truly, my friends. Yes, assistants get asked to do lots of un-fun things. But we do it, because we're paying our dues.

Hey, I don't make the rules, I'm just playing the game. And unfortunately, there's a lot of unsportsmanlike behavior. There are schmucks who will take advantage of their assistants just because they can, and there are plenty of shmate salesmen who will take advantage of baby writers, just because they can.

You've seen the postings on Craigslist, right?

When you're trying to make it as a writer, it's very tempting to take any and every opportunity that comes your way. But are you weighing the benefit of the opportunity against its cost to you? How much of your time, sanity, and sunny disposition are you willing to give away?

Figure these things out now, before you lose all perspective when, from where you're standing, this opportunity is obviously your one and only Big Break. (That's not true, by the way, I'm just saying that's how it might feel at the time.) Write a memo to yourself if you have to. Remember to go back to it when some "producer" is asking you for a free two-year option on your material.

'But Andy,' you say. 'What if this guy is the key to my success and I walk away just because he's not offering any money up front? I don't want to be difficult!'

To that I say— I don't know. What, I don't have all the answers either! If you think that's the way to go, then by all means, best of luck to you. My advice is simply this: right now, decide your limits. This IS Hollywood after all, where limit-testing is our favorite sport.

xxoo, Andy Sachs

DISCLAIMER: The Wave-inatrix is not yet high enough on the food chain to throw cupcakes at Chaia so in lieu of that we have been practicing Cupcake Relay Racing and hope to make it to the World Championship '09, held annually at the Betty Crocker factory in Dubuque.

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The Devil Wears Rouge

Hello, all!

My name is Chaia and I am thrilled to let you know that I am Julie's new assistant for all things involving The Rouge Wave and The Script Department. I will be doing things like moderating comments, answering inquiries, and planning how to steal her adorable dog JUST KIDDING I MEAN BRINGING HER ADORABLE DOG LOTS OF TREATS. Julie is of course still reachable as well, and I will be notifying her of anything and everything she needs to know.

If you have questions for me, you can email me HERE.

In case you are wondering about me:

Chaia Milstein grew up in New Jersey. Her highly marketable undergraduate thesis on contemporary Jewish lesbian poetry won Bryn Mawr College's M. Carey Thomas Prize for Best Essay and initially propelled her into a stellar retail career. Since then, she has worked as a writer/editor for various high tech, GLBT, and general interest publications, both print and online. She maintains website copy for several local small businesses and writes the occasional corporate manual. One time, she actually got paid to write poetry.

She is also a writer of big-budget feature comedies along the lines of Wedding Crashers and The 40 Year Old Virgin.

She is stuck in the third person but assures you that she is very much looking forward to working with you all!



P.s. This is me.

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Out Damn Virus, Out!

The seasons are changing from summer to fall here in Los Angeles, which means that evenings have grown 3 or 5 degrees cooler, the palm trees are slightly less dusty, the new year of television programming has kicked off and the kids are getting ready for Rosh Hashana by singing cute little apple and honey songs as they skip by my house on the way to schul.

It also means that a cold virus is making the rounds and yours truly has been chosen out of a lottery to be a temporary guest host for said virus. So that's pretty fun. Zicam is all the rage out here in Hollywood so I've purchased my supply and wait to be another happy success story. So I haven't got much to say on the Rouge Wave today and I apologize for that. Nature is having her way with me.

Please keep those short scene competition scripts rolling in - the deadline is tomorrow, September 24th at midnight my time.

Also, if you haven't visited already, there are several interesting discussions happening over at the Rouge Wave II, so be sure to weigh in.

And two events reminders:

Sunday, September 28th at 7pm in West Hollywood, we are having our first ever Rouge Wave networking and motivational dinner with special guest, Derek Rydall. Please RSVP HERE if you plan to attend.

Also, on Wednesday, October 15th, The Script Department is hosting a table read of Vining Wolff's play Sentinel Hill Sniper at 7:30pm at the Attic Theater in Culver City. Please RSVP HERE if you'd like to attend.

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Emmy Recap

I don't usually watch the Emmys. I know - shame on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Luddite, I watch some tv; probably more in the past couple of years than in earlier times in my life. But I watched this particular Emmys initially because my best friend works on Grey's Anatomy and had a little something to do with the Michael Phelps bit that Jimmy Kimmel did. Which I though was HILARIOUS. So I tuned in for that only to get sucked into the show afterward. Here are my observations:


Not nice things I thought and felt bad about and yet….
Wow Oprah has (re)gained a lot of weight!
Candace Bergen – she’s aged well but that blouse – ew!
Mary Tyler Moore – one of my idols but BLEEP! The plastic surgery overkill is disturbing and disappointing. Especially side by side with Betty White who has not gone down that road.

Awards that made me really happy:
Alec Baldwin
Betty White
Tina Fey

Best moments:
Jimmy Kimmel’s lead in show
Tommy Smothers speech
Glen Close’s speech: …we’re proving that complicated, powerful, mature women are sexy and…can carry a show.
Josh Groban’s medley of television theme songs
When Kathy Griffin commanded the audience to Get. Uuuup for Don Rickles.

Most cringe-worthy moments:
The lame Heidi Klum joke about ripping off her tuxedo; that landed with a horrible thud.
The lame reality host time killer at the top of the show
Howie Mandel. Every time.
The Laugh-in presentation

Best sly jibe at a dumb move:
Conan O’Brien’s reference to Katherine Heigl’s assertion that the material given her character in the last season of Grey’s was not worthy of an Emmy nomination.

Most telling quote:
Barry Sonnenfeld, Director, Pushing Daisies: Love TV and fear the internet.

Funniest quote, attributed to Lorne Michaels by Tina Fey:
Don’t ever follow a hippy to a second location.

Most disturbing and annoying commercial slogan:
ABC’s National Stay at Home Week

Most egregious music-off:
Kirk Ellis, writer, John Adams:
…a period when articulate men articulated complex thoughts in complete sentences. They used words….music. ARGHGH!

Most boring sweep:
John Adams. Full disclosure: I haven't seen it. And I'm a history buff.

Most egregious waste of a comedy actress who should be more famous:
Sarah Chalke shilling underpants with the slogan: Be wedgie free!
Close runner up: Jamie Lee Curtis and that yogurt that makes you more regular ad.

In Memoriam’s that made me really feel sad:
George Carlin
Suzanne Pleshette
Sydney Pollack
Dick Martin
Bernie Mac
Deborah Kerr
Harvey Korman
Jim McKay

And – Bozo the Clown died?

Random thoughts:
Until CSI I had never heard of William Peterson. I mean, he’s good but I have literally never noticed him in anything before. So. You know. I guess I’m a dope.

Laurence Fishburn’s red jacket: not so much.

Was Craig Ferguson drunk?

Why does Brooke Shields increasing look like a man?

Sally Field still sounds like Gidget and it is vaguely discomfiting.

Is Entourage a comedy? Why was it in that category?

Tom Selleck – holy BLEEP is he still handsome. Man.

Tina Fey’s multiple wins made me really happy – really happy – but she didn’t need to shill her show when she won the best comedy award. Don’t worry, Tina, we’re watching your show. And we know where to find it, thanks.

Complete list of winners.

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Movie of the Week Club

I have moved the Movie of the Week Club discussion to the Rouge Wave II but for those of you who may not yet have joined the RWII, here is the posting. We will be discussing IN BRUGES on September 25th. Check it out - I love this movie.

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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

....but it's not going to sell your script.

Last week, I read a really good script. It was so well executed. Compelling, masterful, entertaining. But completely unoriginal. Because it was a carbon copy of a movie which has already been made.

So this tells me the writer is a quick study, a fan of the genre, and a competent writer. But it also tells me this writer has not done his or her homework thoroughly enough when it comes to understanding the marketplace.

How do you know whether what you've written is truly original or whether it is a carbon copy of something else? Well - what movie would you compare your script to? Have you written DISTURBIA which bears a close resemblance to REAR WINDOW (Ah, a little too close, according to the news of the day.) and yet turned some key points inside out? Is this a riff on another movie or a rip off of another movie?

Now - each genre has expectations. Take a sub-genre that for some reason has shown up in several movies and scripts within my world lately - the crazy-person-stalker-movie. LAKEVIEW TERRACE is related to FATAL ATTRACTION which is related to SWIM FAN which is related to SINGLE WHITE FEMALE. All good movies - well, mea culpa, haven't seen LAKEVIEW quite yet but it's Sam Jackson so my hopes are high. But here we have the seemingly friendly person that you get mixed up with who turns out to be someone you cannot get rid of. It's a great sub-genre because it has an everyman-resonance. We can all relate to it, either because it's happened to us or because we fear that it could. We build our lives so carefully and hold so many things to be so dear and then someone can come along and destroy our lives from the inside out. That's a nightmare we can all relate to.

You'll notice that in each of the movies I mentioned above, the basic story type is the same while the specifics are different. Different enough to make each movie unique. And yet familiar enough to make each movie appealing to audiences.

In each genre there are conventions and expectations. Some of the expectations of psychological thriller are that the main character has made an error in judgment and now must pay for it. But it gets out of control and the antagonist is generally insane. There will be blood in a psychological thriller - meaning there is often an escalation of the conflict until the antagonist must die a spectacular, deserved death. The main character should go to the police but cannot because of that initial error in judgment - the battle must be fought alone. Another genre expectation of the antagonist in this sub-genre of crazy-person-stalker is that the antagonist inextricably insinuates him or herself into the intimate life of the main character by way of that initial judgment error. And they make this initial incursion by identifying the weakness of that main character. Which is a great jumping off point for identifying the flaw of your main character.

Each genre has expectations - a template, if you will. Would a truly great horror movie entertain you quite as much if there weren't at least ONE good pop-out moment? In THE ORPHANAGE, as one great example, there is certainly the good ol' pop-out moment but done with such originality and with a stamp of uniqueness on it, that it satisfies over and above the expectation. If you haven't seen THE ORPHANAGE, by the way, you should treat yourself. Here is the trailer.

So here's how you can check in with yourself to see if you've written an imitation of a movie you loved or whether you've taken it to a new level of uniqueness:

*Ask yourself: do you truly understand the conventions and expectations of the genre? I mean - do you TRULY understand them? Watch this genre over and over until you can identify the conventions. This is a great way to take a break while writing, if you feel stuck. Go to the video store and rent 2 or 3 movies that are in any way similar to your own. This is probably one of the healthiest, most productive ways you can procrastinate. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

*List the ways in which your script has met the conventions of the genre. Go ahead. List 'em. As one example: If you're writing a romcom have you got the "cute meet"? Have you got the "bellamy"?

*Now: having identified that you have indeed included the expected conventions and beats, ask yourself, yes, but how have I taken that convention and gone one step beyond it? Is it a run-of-the-mill horror pop-out moment or have I made this pop-out something that has not been done in this particular way before? This is where YOUR particular voice and point of view comes into play. There are cute meets and there are CUTE MEETS which we have not yet seen before. Hint: a cute meet in which the two romantic leads bump into each other and stoop to pick up their books? Not original.

Writing a script which is a carbon copy of a previously made movie save for the location and the names of the characters is a good exercise. I suppose. But it is also a waste of your time. But do not fear if this is what you have done. Go back and look at your script and look for those conventional moments - now think outside the box. How can you take this whole script a giant step beyond what has already been done?

You might ask how your script speaks to the zeitgeist two years from now. Ghosts have been and will always be good, scary stuff for viewers. Ghosts of little orphaned children? Good, stock stuff. But THE ORPHANAGE took that a step beyond and if you've seen it, you'll know that there is a particularly powerful call-back moment - a game that the children play - that is one of the several things that makes this movie stand out.

In fact, THE ORPHANAGE could be grouped together with THE OTHERS. This would be a good homework viewing double-feature, in fact, which would handily sum up my point here. They are the same - but quite different.

And that's what you want to shoot for - familiarity but uniqueness. A seemingly difficult combination. The best piece of advice I can give Rouge Wavers who are aspiring writers is:
Know your genre inside out. Then do it differently. The same. But different.

Remember - when your audience member goes out to the movies, they like to have some idea of what they're getting. They paid the sitter, parked the car, went out to dinner and are now shelling out upwards of $12 to see your movie. And they happened to have felt like seeing a romantic comedy this Friday evening. So you damn well better give them a romantic comedy. But not one they've seen before.

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Thrill the World '08

This just in from my wonderful, goofy, lovable game-night-fiend friend Mahdroo:

Hello to friends old and new!

Mahdroo here. This Fall I'm up to something really BIG and I want your help. We're approaching Halloween and of course you remember Michael Jackson's Thriller video, right? I want to train you to do the Thriller Dance. Fo rizzle.

I'm leading practices ever Saturday, between 11am-3pm. The location rotates each week between South Bay, Santa Monica, The Valley, Hollywood, and Glendale/Pasadena. The dates are listed below, and at my website.

We are going to do the dance Oct 25th at 11am as part of a world-wide attempt to break the world record, called Thrill the World '08. Last year 1,722 people in 50+ cities on 5 continents simultaneously did the dance. LA didn't represent last year and I had to go to San Diego. This year I'm making it happen in LA.

So, would you like to learn the dance? It is fairly simple to learn, & really exciting. A totally unique opportunity to do something fun and memorable. Also, I want to reach as many people in LA as possible. Can you think of anyone you know who might be interested in learning this dance? Would you forward this on to them? I am so excited about as many people learning this dance as possible!

Thrillingly yours,
Mahdroo
323.217.8184

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Short Scene Competition

All right, Wavers - time for another short scene competition! Here are the key words:

Orange
President
September

Guidelines:
Write a one page short scene which includes the keywords, above. Put the words in context, and make it creative and clever. This time, the words should be key in the scenes, not just a passing inclusion. You can have a "School Board President" or a "Corn Huskers Union President", as one example. And you can have an "orange trans am" or an "orange orchard". You get it. But make the words key, don't just slot them in there somewhere. Genre doesn't matter, just keep it to one page.

Deadline:
Please turn your short scenes in by Wednesday, September 24th at 12am Pacific Time. I will select the top three and post them here for voting on Friday September 26th.

Prizes:
As always, a $25 gift certificate to a vendor of your choice: Starbucks, Amazon, etc.

Entry Fee:
Don't be silly.

Submit your scene HERE.

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Webisodes, Mobisodes, Podiobooks - oh my!

This from the blog of my dear friend and mentor, Jeff Lyons:

****

My head is spinning!

I’m currently involved in producing a movie for DVD release. No, I’m not bragging. It’s still in the financing phase, so it could all just go bye-bye any moment … kind of like Bear Sterns or Lehman Brothers … anyway, my point is that this movie I’m doing is also going to be put up as a webseries. I’m telling you all this because the education I am getting and the slap-upside-my-head experience of researching how webseries need to be “put up” and the wild west nature of this whole process has my head spinning.

In all the spinning, however, I’ve gotten glimpses of a wave of change that is sweeping over the Internet effecting writers of every stripe. This blog entry cannot possibly address all that could or should be said about this. But, hopefully this will generate some dialogue about the topics I’m going to discuss and through this discussion perhaps we will all get a better grasp of what is quickly turning from wave into a tsunami.

First off, who is at risk? Yes, I use the word “risk” intentionally. Everyone who writes in formats considered “old media” are at risk. This list includes: novelists, poets, short story writers, playwrights, screenwriters, journalists, academicians, and anyone else who has something to say in the written word (bloggers excluded). Now don’t panic, books are not going anywhere, or films/TV, or short story collections, etc. The risk part has to do with missing out on all the new formats and distribution channels developing to get your work into the “hands” of potential readers. What are these new and risky avenues? Here is a short list, and I’m excluding all the “old,” boring platforms like e-books (soooo 20th Century!):

(Blurbs courtesy of Wikipedia)

Webisodes: A webisode is an episode of a television show that airs initially as an Internet download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. A webisode is simply a web episode —collectively it is part of a web series, which features a dramatic, serial storyline, where the primary method of viewership is streaming online over the Internet.

Mobisodes: Mobisode is a term for a broadcast television episode specially made for viewing on a mobile telephone screen and usually of short duration (from one to three minutes).

Cell Phone Novels: Cell phone or mobile phone novels are meant to be read in 1,000 to 2,000-word (in China) or 70-word (in Japan) chapters via text message on mobile phones. They are downloaded in short installments and run on handsets as Java-based applications on a mobile phone. Cell phone novels often appear in three different formats: WMLD, JAVA and TXT.

Podcasts: A podcast is a series of audio or video digital-media files which is distributed over the Internet by syndicated download, through Web feeds, to portable media players and personal computers.

Mashups: A digital mashup is a digital media file containing any or all of text, graphics, audio, video and animation drawn from pre-existing sources, to create a new derivative work.

Podiobooks: A specific form of mashup. These are serialized novels or short stories in podcast format, which mix mixed media, narrative, audio, and anything else the writer can squeeze into it. These are very akin to the old radio dramas of the 1930s. (Amazingly there is no Wiki entry on this yet)

Net-Native Narratives: Also, no Wiki entry for this yet. This is very new stuff. This is a form of storytelling that marries traditional narratives with gaming ARG (Alternate Reality Game) environments to create an interactive, immersive narrative experience. Imagine Moby Dick as an interactive, ARG experience. Ok, maybe not the best choice, but how about Dracula?

A writer can certainly choose to ignore all of these tempting tidbits and simply churn out traditional hard copy. This does not make you a Luddite (look it up if you don’t know the term). The John Updikes and the Amy Tans of the literary world will still wow us with their prose and enchant us with great storytelling. But, the Stephen Kings, Dean Koontzes, and Robin Cooks of the world will write their books AND are putting up webisodes and podiobooks and expanding their readership exponentially, attracting readers/viewers they would have missed entirely if they had just relied on pure hard copy and the marketing might of their publishers.

The other empowering aspect of all these tempting tidbits is that authors are now becoming more empowered to take control of how their work is disseminated and this can only be a good thing. For a writer to remain solely at the beck-and-call of their publisher for exposure and distribution is completely unnecessary with all these new technologies. Publishers are pulling back on support for their authors anyway, so now writers are much more capable of taking the reigns of their promotion and distribution into their own hands. Missing this opportunity is one of the main things writers risk by ignoring all these new developments.

Now, it doesn’t mean you have to go back to school and get a degree in Artificial Intelligence for M.I.T. There are lots of companies, services, and consultants out there now to help you develop your work into these new formats—yes, for a price. But, freedom doesn’t come cheap. Nor should it.

Okay. If your head is spinning, join the club. I’m going to leave it at this. Potential, possibility, and opportunity: these are the watchwords for the future. Welcome to a brave new world. Big Brother is watching, but the good news is he’s paying for the privilege through service fees, website memberships, and pay-per-click advertising dollars. Spin, spin, spin.

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The Assistant Files

Do you guys read the trades? Do you even know what I'm talking about? You know, the showbiz trade publications, mostly The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. They come out every day, and are pored over and debated in every office, phone call, and lunch meeting all over town. I've worked with people for whom the Reading of the Trades was a ritual that Could. Not. Be. Interrupted. Serious business, I tell you.


(There was also the story of that intern who forgot to place the trades on the exec's desk one morning and was never heard from again, but I'm sure the rumors of his disappearance have been greatly exaggerated.)

For execs and agents – and assistants, too – keeping up on industry news is vital. But I was pondering today whether or not it's a good idea for writers to read the trades. How much information about the industry do you need? How much is too much?

PRO:
* Collecting conversational tidbits about your chosen field. You can throw them around and sound like an insider at your local coffee shop or cocktail party. If you happen to talk to someone you've recently read about, you'll be primed to compliment them on their latest project.

CON:
* Keeping up with industry news is basically a full-time job (they're called execs, agents, and assistants), and you could easily procrastinate your writing time away.

PRO:
* Getting an idea of who's doing the kinds of projects you want to be doing. You can then seek them out, attend their speaking engagements, read the books and scripts they've written, maybe even make a friend or mentor of them.
.
CON:
* Getting arrested for stalking;

PRO:
* Keeping up on script sales and project announcements could keep you from wasting untold amounts of time working on a script that's too similar to one already in the pipeline.

CON:
* Finding out Big Famous Movie Star just got a greenlight on a project that's identical to that spec you finally finished last night, after months of blood, sweat, and tears.

PRO:
* Reading industry news excites and inspires you to keep working and striving toward your goal. You know you love it, this crazy industry of ours, otherwise you'd be endeavoring toward something more attainable. Like, say, curing cancer, or mediating a resolution to that pesky East Coast – West Coast issue.

CON:
* Hearing about other people's success can be surprisingly discouraging. You'll wonder if it will happen for you, why you didn't think of that brilliant-but-obvious idea, when will your big paycheck arrive.

Ultimately it's your call, but I think the Pros outweigh the Cons. It's important to be informed. And so long as you take everything with a grain of salt, keep your positive attitude, and stay focused on your own personal goals, having a working knowledge of who's who and what's what might give you an edge over writers who don't, and help you get to that point in your career when we're all reading your name in the trades.

xxoo,
Andy Sachs

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Thanks For Asking

There have been a flurry of outraged emails directed at myself and at the Silver Screenwriting Competition from, as far as I can tell, about two people, who have questioned the legitimacy of the Grand Prize winner, Hilary Graham due to her past experience and bio. The Outraged Emailers have asked that the Script Department Advisory Board chime in on our decision to award Hilary the Grand Prize. They have accused me of bias, of not vetting our top finalists carefully enough and of leaving my Sunday paper on the lawn for three and a half days last week until the sprinkler turned it to mulch. Mea culpa!

I am here to admit, red-faced that we have been caught out. There was bias in our decision-making. You got us. We admit all. We chose the best script.

Let me put this to bed with finality:

All submissions were read blind. Meaning we had no idea who the writers were and it didn't matter. We made our decisions based on the strength of the scripts only. Gender, location, juggling ability or pet preferences were not taken into consideration.

As part of the judging process when we got to the very top, top scripts, we of course used the same Google technology that the Outraged Emailers apparently have access to as well. And we were aware that Hilary has a pretty accomplished bio when it comes to producing and directing. So we had a decision to make.

FREEBIRD was, by far, unanimously recognized by our judges as the best script and yet Hilary has had more experience and accomplishments in producing and directing than others in the same consideration pile. We scoured the rules. We discussed it. We talked to a couple of our Advisory Board members. And we collectively decided that Hilary should not be disqualified or discriminated against because she's produced and directed in the past. The letter of the law states that she cannot have earned $8,000 for her writing. We have verified that she has not.

Our objective this year and in ensuing years is to find great scripts and reward the writer(s) with experiences and connections that can help take their writing to the next level. If we discriminate against anyone who has made a short film, produced or directed anything ever, we would then set in motion that this competition is ONLY for people at the very early stages of their writing careers.

There are always writers more connected, more experienced and more talented than you. What are you going to do about that? Be outraged and claim unfairness? Or take that as your cue to motivate and kick some serious behind on your way to success? We leave that up to you. But we do not discriminate at the Silver Screenwriting Competition, based on where you are on the curve. Don't get me wrong - we are biased. Biased toward good scripts.

End transmission.

Now get back to work.

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Networking, Forums and Chat

The Rouge Wave is read by a wide variety of people; writers, assistants, actors, industry execs, directors and producers on every level. Only a few Wavers consistently chime in and share their experiences and opinions.

One of the single most important contributing factors in receiving support, inspiration and education when it comes to show biz is networking. Not all of us live in LA or NYC where networking comes with the territory. But. There is the online world.

The RWII is the place to do that in such a way that you can truly network with one another without my having to necessarily catch a comment on time, reply or facilitate. Just this morning, an actor friend of mine said she's excited to set up her page on the RWII because she is looking to get to know more writers because she is looking to produce and direct a short film. If you have a film screening you can post it under "events" on the RWII. If you have a question, you can post it in the forum. If you are looking to kill some time and get to know other writers, you can chat.

Please take advantage of this satellite Rouge Wave social networking site to widen your networking, uh, net - and join up if you haven't. Set up your own page so that you can get to know other Wavers,possibly meet in person, attend some events or just share what's on your mind. Who knows, you might catch me in the chat section.

Check it out HERE. Make it work for you.

Thank you. Now get back to work.

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The Aftermath

It has been fun sharing the experience, good and bad, of running the Silver Screenwriting competition with Rouge Wavers. I hope it has also been informative and interesting to read about.

I'm so happy it's over. It has taken hours and weeks out of my life for the past several months. And it's not quite over. Now I need to get the prizes to every one, and in particular, arrange for Hilary Graham's fabulous trip to LA. There are a lot of individuals whose schedules I have to now coordinate. And all of this is in addition to all the other stuff I do; table reads, reader classes, private consulting, administrating my readers, paying my readers, making all of our clients happy. And posting on the Rouge Wave daily. Calgon, take me away.

I am interviewing two assistants this week and glory hallelujah, not a moment too soon. And these are former studio assistants so wow, I will be the nicest boss ever by comparison. I will be a cupcake walk.

But I digress. The competition. It was like giving birth - right now I am so drained, I feel like I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN. But I know that come next spring, I will forget the tough parts and remember the cool parts and do it again with the same enthusiasm.

The best part: calling the semi-finalists and then calling the winners. To hear their joy and excitement made me smile all over. What a great feeling.

The worst part: getting a handful of emails from disgruntled entrants asking WHY THE HELL they didn't place and accusing me of a variety of sins ranging from stupidity to unfairness to not taking risks.

What I did not expect: how tough it was to learn to administrate the electronic script submission system we used which was prone to glitches and hiccups.

Gut instinct that proved true: when we finally just had all the scripts printed on paper so we could stack them up, flip through them one by one and sort of feel the weight of them in our hands. We wanted to be a totally paperless competition, and initially we were, but in the end game, I really liked having the physical scripts in front of me.

Weird Fact: I still have dozens and dozens of the scripts stacked up in my house. It's like Grey Gardens over here. I kind of like it. I feel like a librarian.

Genre Breakdown Fact Sheet:

Freebird (teen coming-of-age comedy)
De-Haunters (comedy/horror)
Orchard (horror)
Blood Snow (drama)
Influence (horror)
Snilderholden’s Jungle (family)
Sleeping with the Lutefisk (black comedy)
Unsigned: The Feature (comedy)

The myth: That we or any competition rewarded certain genres more than others. If message board regulars want to run statistics and create some kind of mystique around the genres selected, they can, I guess.

The truth: Only bottom-line for the winning scripts: effing entertaining, chock full o' voice and in the case of the top 3 winners - a lot of commercial potential. Meaning, quite competitive on the market as is, right now.

Number of fun, funny, companionable discussions we had about scripts: A LOT. Very fun to discuss a script's merits in a round-table setting. And very cool to see the points upon which we agreed.

Number of discussions that got a little intense because we disagreed about a particular script: More than I would have imagined. But ultimately, majority rules. None of us were ego-invested and we learned that at a certain point, subjectivity comes into it. There was one script in particular that I really loved that did not make the top round. My peers did not feel the same way I did about the script. Oh. Well.

What we ate when we judged together: Stella Artois and home cooked food. No candy, no Red Bull, no take-out. I like to cook, what can I say. And it was a good and fun excuse to do so.

How satisfying it is to toss a script into a cardboard box (good or bad) with finality: VERY.

What I am very proud of: That with the exception of the qf announcement, we met our announcement deadlines more than on time - we were early. I keep my ear to the rail of what writers are talking about and I noticed several other competitions that pushed their announcement dates again and again. I put myself and my judges and readers through the WRINGER so that didn't happen to us. I figure that you paid to be in the competition and we owe you our best. Maybe I am naive, maybe when we get thousands of scripts I'll see that it's not so easy. But I like to imagine the best possible outcome in everything I do.

What I would do differently next year: We still haven't done our post mortem but I would rather have fewer deadline dates. I'm not sure if I liked the initial paperless thing. I have to weigh the pleasure I take in the actual, physical weight of a script against environmental concerns. I would like to announce a little earlier in the year so that our winner comes out to LA smack dab in the middle of spec season. This time of year is fine but a little earlier is better.

If any Wavers have any suggestions or a wish list for the perfect competition, please email me HERE. This is a competition BY readers FOR writers and while we can't take every suggestion, I'd be interested in knowing how we can serve you better.

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Speaking of Competition Winners....

Congratulations to the winners of the Silver Screenwriting Competition!!

We received so many wonderful scripts, it was really hard to narrow it down to the top winners. Really hard. Super hard. New wrinkle hard. I want to thank Jim Mercurio, my friend, my mentor and my partner in this. I also want to thank my business partners Margaux Froley and Andrew Zinnes for their hard work, wisdom, cajoling and much needed hard-nosed-judging. I want to thank the readers who worked hard, day and night, really giving their all to each script. What a wonderful group of talented readers.

And - before they cue the music and get me off stage - I want to take a moment to thank every single writer who gave it a shot. We found script after script with great ideas, interesting writing styles, hilarious moments of comedy and terrifying moments of horror. I was and continue to be completely lit up by the creativity out there. Just because you didn't place in the competition doesn't mean you aren't deserving of recognition for all the hard work, heart and soul you put into your script.

This has been a great experience with very few glitches and only that one bar brawl but, you know, that was totally not our fault. So without further adieu:

Grand Prize Winner: FREEBIRD by Hilary Graham
2nd place: THE De-HAUNTERS by Calvin Field and Brian Bagby
3rd place: THE ORCHARD by Diane Stredicke

TOP FIVE FINALISTS

BLOOD SNOW by Adam Hong
INFLUENCE by Dov Engelberg
SNILDERHOLDEN’S JUNGLE by Jennifer Thomas
SLEEPING WITH THE LUTEFISK by Wenonah Wilms
UNSIGNED: THE FEATURE by Christopher Wasmer and Danny Musengo

Our grand prize winner, Hilary Graham will be trekking out to Los Angeles on a tba date in October and will be reaping the rewards from her win, including drinks with Blake Snyder, a day of meetings, lunch with David Arata, one of the Academy Award nominated writers of CHILDREN OF MEN and much, much more. Hilary will be guest-blogging about her experiences right here on the Rouge Wave.

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Great Competition Results - Now What?

The other day we talked about what to do next if this competition season yielded zero results for you. How do you handle that disappointment and put it in perspective?

On the other hand, what if a script you've written placed in a competition? What if people start calling you? It's a great problem to have, right? I have already had three managers email me and ask to see the top five scripts in the Silver Screenwriting Competition. And we haven't even announced the winner(s) yet. That's tomorrow.

First of all, a quarterfinalist placement is not likely to garner any phone calls or interest. You'll need to have placed as at least a semi-finalist. And it depends on the industry relationships going on with the competition you entered.

If your script did well in a competition, first of all, congratulations. That means your script was more original and better executed than the majority of other scripts in the same competition. This puts you in the top percentages. And that's something to be very proud of. But what happens next? Is your phone going to start to ring? And if it does - what can you expect? Does this mean success is knocking at your door? It might. But proceed with caution.

Two things to think about:

One: Please be measured and thoughtful in your response to those who may contact you asking to see the script. Don't freak out with joy and promise them exclusive rights to your script, all future scripts or your first born child. Don't make a $1 option agreement with the first joker who calls. Don't be overly flattered; be cool, man. Be cool and do a little research. Look up the person on IMDB Pro. What are his or her credits and professional credentials? Where is their office located? This may be a new company which has no credits, but click on the names of the principals; at a different company they probably do have credits of some kind. One would hope. Be careful. In fact, if you are in doubt, contact me and I might be able to shed some light on the reputation and track record of the rep in question.

Two: You do have an arsenal, right? More than the one or two scripts you entered this year? Are you writing within the same genre? I hope so. You want to establish yourself as an expert in one genre. Many writers feel (and I used to too until it got me nowhere) that they should write in many genres to prove that they have flexible chops. Don't do this. It won't prove anything, it just makes you less marketable. Line up your arsenal and have a look. Do you have another sample ready to send out if requested? Is it in great shape? Now is the time to get some feedback and assurance on your other scripts. A rep who calls and asks for more samples will be greatly turned off if it turns out the competition winning (or placing) script was your best work and that, in other words, you do not have "legs" as a writer. Nobody wants to rep a one-off.

So let's say it's the worst case scenario. You placed well in a competition, the phone rings and you really don't have any other samples ready to go. While it's not the ideal, it's not the end of the world, necessarily, either. A stop-gap would be to have a list of what you're working on handy, and where each project is in it's completion. Have a list of premise lines, in other words, and be able to say: this one is in outline form, this one is halfway written, this one is just an idea. You should have this anyway, Wavers - at all times - your Inventory List.

Whether you placed this year or not, now is the time to review your inventory of scripts and take stock. Do you have an offering of several scripts in the same genre? Scripts which showcase your voice, your particular point of view and your strengths? Scripts that are read-ready right now, sans structural, thematic and pacing problems?

If the answer is uh - not really then it is possible that your placement this year will not yield you the results you'd hoped for. And there's always next competition season to work on that. Wavers, I cannot stress enough how important having an arsenal of scripts stacked up is. I had one client who placed well at a very big deal competition call me in a bit of a panic. She doesn't have anything else ready to go. Not a terrific situation to be in. I know that every time I talk to a potential rep about one of my clients, the FIRST thing they ask is what else the writer has. Again - one-off = no good. Reps want to know that you have more where that great script came from. That you can consistently write salable material, in other words.

REMINDER:
Become a member of new The Rouge Wave II. Create your own page. Network. Socialize. Discuss stuff. It's free and it's fun. Find out how other Wavers fared in competitions. Discuss your experiences with various reps. Share. Be friends.

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