Trends in speccing

Did an informal poll at that West Side meet-up the other night. Turns out, everyone is writing web series. Almost all of the people I talked to are writing a traditional pilot and also working on web series at the same time. When I started to think about it, I realized that all of my TV-writing friends who aren't writing film scripts are dabbling in web now.

So if you want to keep up with the cool kids (and create a cool calling card for yourself) the web is seriously where it's at.

Don't expect to make a mint though. Even some friends with semi-successful series have not made any money writing for the web. Then again, how much money are you currently making with your traditional specs?

Another trend I've noticed lately is kids' TV. I've had a few friends mention that they're working on specs of Suite Life and are hoping to break in that way. How hard is it to cross over from kids' to grown-up telly? Anyone know?

How to write a spec(tacular) pilot: step five

Back to my monthly(ish) series on writing a spec pilot. Coincidentally, I have been taking about a month to do each of these steps myself. Which is pathetic. But anyhow, if you missed any installments, here they are:

Step One: Join a Writers' Group
Step Two: Have a Great Idea
Step Three: Heroes and Villains
Step Four: The Story

So now you're ready for:

Step Five: The Outline

I'll be honest, this is the part that kills me. This is the part that has me creating Excel documents and Powerpoints and using the index cards in Celtx and filling notebook pages with ideas and scratching my head and tearing my hair out.

Some people can just breeze through the outline, having lined up the whole story in their head beforehand, each nugget dropping neatly onto the page one terrific story point at a time.

I hate those people.

My process is more like throwing rice pudding at the wall, one splatted spoonful after another (but less fun). Most of that stuff does not stick, then you have a huge mess to clean up later.

So how does this help you?

Well, if you're struggling through your outline, at least you now know that while it might not be exactly normal, at least you're not the only one.

I can also toss around a few tips to help you out. Maybe.*

Do a beat sheet

A beat sheet is a little point-form compendium of the key moments in your script. It can take any form you want it to, as long as it helps you compile all the must-have moments that make up your story.

You might want to think about adding some character beats in here - ones that don't necessarily give the story a huge push forward, but will shed light on your characters.** This is a pilot, after all, and we want to know who these people are.

The most important beats (and therefore the most difficult) are the act outs. They need to be strong, attention-grabbing, edge-of-your-seat moments that will cause your audience to flip the page as fast as their little fingers will let them. The middle act out also needs to turn the story in a new direction.***

Do not. I repeat in bigger letters Do Not start your outline if your act breaks are weak. I speak from experience. I have rewritten so many outlines trying to find my act breaks and it's just not the way to go. Plan your act outs, and the rest of the story will be easier to craft. (In theory. To me, story is never easy.)

Be detailed
Like really, really detailed. Really. The best outline I've ever read was written by writer's group member Adam. It was the first thing he gave to the group as a new member. It was so full of tone and detail, it felt like reading a script.

It made me laugh. Out loud. It made me cringe when the characters were being embarrassing. It made sense and I knew at the end of it exactly what the script would be (in fact, the outline was so good that the script was only a slightly better read - and it's a great script).

My point is, be like Adam. Get your characters working, get your tone on the page, let your voice live in the outline, and give each scene a beginning, middle, and end.

Don't rush
It is so tempting at this stage to just write a damn scene already. And if you're stuck or tired of outlining, go ahead. But only enough to get the juices flowing. Then go back to your outline. Fill in the blanks and then fill in the blanks between the blanks. Read it backwards and forwards. Is your story working and making sense? Are your characters like actual 3D people? Is your tone and voice ringing through. No? Then... iron out the creases, steamroll the bumps, squish the rolled-up cookie dough down with the back of a spoon until your outline is smooth as a smooth thing.

When you're done the outline, it's going to be so detailed and crease-free that writing the first draft of your script should take, oh, about 5 hours (you know, depending on your WPM).

Then you'll spend the next six weeks rewriting. But I get ahead...

+++++++++++++++++++++++

*And then I hope you will add a few tips in the comments section to help me out. Lord knows I need it.
** A lot of people will tell you not to do this. No character moments for the sake of character moments, but I say, if you're writing that kind of pilot, go for it. What would Greek, or The OC, or Gilmore Girls, or even Buffy be without pure lovely character moments?
*** People talk about this a lot, but what does it really mean? To me, it means that something happens that you did not see coming. Something that makes your character rethink what they're trying to do, or gives them an idea for a new way to solve their problem, or adds layers to their problems they did not expect. This act break should make the audience say "No way!"

How to write a spec pilot in 10 (really hard) steps

I recently finished writing my first pilot.  Yay me!

How do you decide when a script is finished? For working TV writers, that's easy. Once there are no more scenes to shoot, there are no more changes to the script (except in the editing room, where they can do some dazzling story adjustments). For us speccers and wannabes, there's no finished. You might think every word in your script is perfect, but one really good note from someone you trust is enough to send that tumbling. You also might get the urge to change things around after you see new episodes of the show you specced, or after you learn more about the craft.

As tempting as it is to spend eternity making minute adjustments to your scripts, it's good to let them go, kinda like kids. That's why I enter competitions. It's not for the prize money or the glory (God knows there's little of that to go around). It's for that 'this script is done' feeling. It's a pretty arbitrary cut-off, but I like to think that that's my best work I'm sending off, therefore the script must be 'finished'. It also allows me to free my mind to concentrate completely on my next project.

Now that I have such vast experience in spec pilot writing (one=vast, didn't you know?) I am uniquely qualified to write posts on how to write a spec pilot. Okay, maybe not. But I am uniquely qualified to share my personal pain and joy with you, write about the mistakes I made and the things I learned, and hopefully we'll all get something out of it.

Being arbitrary yet again, I've chosen to discuss the process in 10 steps / posts. 10 steps which I have not yet decided upon. But when I do, watch out blog fans. Whew, it's gonna be so exciting!

10-Second Restaurant Reviews [in the Form of Silly Poems]

Elf Cafe

2135 Sunset Blvd, Echo Park (or is it Silver Lake? I never know)

Cramped and cozy 

cultivate a fondness for stranger's elbows

Always packed

patience your most precious gift

Best food ever

served by friendly green elves

No meat, no booze

it's all about chow

Who wants to go

right now?

Just pick one already

It's that time again. 

No, not Christmas. Not the vernal equinox. Not Loehmann's massive year-end clearance sale (isn't that all the time?).

It's time to decide what to write next.

My pilot is 89% complete. I just threw my first full draft at the mercy of my writers' group, but I've rewritten the first four acts a couple of zillion times in the past few months, so I feel like it's close. Plus, I need a break from it. It's in the 'yeah, whatever' zone at the moment.

My Bones is probably 96% done. But I want The Group to read it, too, since they're all remarkably clever and kindly helpful and will only make it better.

So, what's next?

I've got another, much darker, pilot idea I'm itching to try out. My first pilot is pretty light family fare. I wouldn't mind writing something with swearing in it, you know?

Then again, it's time to think about Disney and Warner. Should I be writing something sparkly and shiny to use in my application? A Pushing Daisies or a Chuck? I like the wordplay in PD and Chuck has lots of opportunities for the action-comedy one-two punch which is always impressive when you get it right. 

Then again, with my Bones, Ugly Betty, and my pilot, I have three solid specs. So, is it time to branch away from TV?

I could write a feature, but do I really want to spend the next eight months or so in features-land when it's not really where I want to live? I've also always wanted to write a YA novel. I know I said in my last post that I didn't want to write a novel, but I'm an unreliable narrator. Deal.

Oh, and there's also that idea I had for a possibly very funny spoof/novelty spec. No, I'm not telling you, or you'll want to write it. Get your own ideas. Geez.

I was also thinking of a blovel (if things start getting strange on this blog,  you may find I've swerved into the land of fiction), an online comic (note to self: learn to draw), a play (naaa, that's far to esoteric), then there's that album of silly love songs...

Thing is, I want to write all of these. Do I really have to pick just one? 

Artery Cloggery

The Write Girl monthly workshop, with a focus on screenwriting, was last weekend. There were about a dozen super-cool actors who performed scenes the girls had written. But this is about sweet stuff. All the volunteers brought dessert. Check out these pretty cupcakes someone made.

So that's why pilot season is so spotty

Hey kids, guess what? Writing a pilot is harder than writing a spec of an existing show.

Yes, I hear a chorus of "No duh's" out there. [No duh is a product of fear.]

But for those of you who've never written a pilot before, it's a lot harder than even the people who say it's a lot harder would have you believe. 

I was feeling like my outline – which I wrote and rewrote and rewrote with input from the smartest people I've ever had input from before – was pretty solid. Nicely plotted with room for creativity and change as required. So I figured "Hey, I'll bang out my first draft in less than a week, like I've done with my other spec scripts."

[Insert sound of screeching tires post-slamming-on-the-brakes here. Or that sound they use on ANTM of, like, a needle being scraped across a record.]

I started to write, but as soon as I got to the dialogue, I realized there are no little actors' voices in my head, delivering the lines as I write them. There's no internalized show rhythm, defining how long the scenes should be. No produced scripts telling me what style the action lines should take. No audience familiarity with the characters to replace carefully worded descriptions.

All of a sudden, zillions of new decisions must be made. And they must be made by me! Yikes!

Artery Cloggery

I'm dying for a Black Eye Shake from The 101. Which is why I better find time to go to the gym today.

Which way's gravity, ma?

Still plugging away at my Grey's Anatomy. Seems like I will never be finished, though I only officially started it exactly one month ago. I'm reaching the point where I'll have to send it off to be read by my many TV addict friends, and my Mom. I just can't look at the words with any sort of objectivity any more.

I'm actually pretty excited about finishing it because then I get to write Ugly Betty, which has much more room to be kinda playful and fun, and the characters are much bigger (= easier to nail). I still haven't thought of a good story yet though. Not that I've really tried.

Finally, I'm rolling around spec pilot ideas in my head. I've got my setting and my main characters mostly worked out, but I want to come up with a unique style a la Betty/Battlestar/Ally McBeal (even though I didn't really like that show). Something that sets my script apart. Hmmmm. Mull.

Sorry to everyone, this blog was all me me me. Who cares right? You're just here because you're supposed to be writing but instead you're scouring the internet for various tidbits to keep you from thinking about your own less-than-satisfying life so far. Yikes, I think I just started channeling Douglas Coupland a little.

As my gift to you for getting this far in this post, let me recommend a little blog that I just heard about for the first time yesterday. Things I've Bought That I Love written by Mindy Kaling aka Kelly from The Office. How can you resist tidbits like this: "I find myself zoning out at work while people are diligently coming up with Jim-Pam storylines and thinking about my legs in these shorts."? Go there now and stop wasting your time on my boring blog!

Slacker excuses
Spent the day at Six Flags on Tuesday. Thought I might be too fraidy to go on the grown-up rides, but I did them all. Tatsu is pretty freakin' cool, but my favorite was Riddler's Revenge. Oooh, and X turned my world upside down - literally.

Get me outta Chinatown

Time just slips by, doesn't it?

I now have completed my second first draft of my first ever screenplay.

Why a second first draft? Well, I don't feel like it's good enough to be called a second draft yet. That is, I wouldn't even let my Mom read it in the state it's in. But at least it makes more sense than the first first draft. I'm definitely moving towards something approximating good.

While I've been rewriting, I've also been doing a lot of reading. Or skimming anyway. You guessed it. Books about writing. Yay the library for being free!

While some books have been largely a waste of time (Mr Field, no disrespect because I know you practically invented filmic structure, but everyone else stole your ideas, and I've already read their books) others have been amazingly enlightening.

Especially the AFI affiliated Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV, by Dona Cooper. She eschews some of the more commercially friendly ideas (which I can't afford to ignore as a spec writer), but she also delivers more on theme and emotion than I've seen anywhere else. She's also one of the few author who doesn't rely solely on Action or Thriller flicks for her examples.

Start of mini-rant
Writers of How to books take note: Action examples are easy to think of because they're usually so flippin' obvious. Try to dig deeper and bring an example that has some complexity and depth to it. And if one more person quotes Chinatown at me I'm gonna skewer them with my chopsticks.
Mini-rant ends

So anyway, thanks Dona for sharpening my dramatic focus and offering a different viewpoint from your mostly male associates.

My other brilliant discovery is Crafty TV Writing by Alex Epstein, who's also the man behind the Complications Ensue blog. The book is so terrific on so many levels. I'm so sad that it has to go back to the library that I'm going to actually shell out the cash to own it.

Between Epstein and Espenson, I'm convinced. My destiny lies on the small screen.

They say you should write down your goals, so here they are.

1. Spit and polish my screenplay into second draft status by the end of April.
2. Write three shiny TV specs by the end of August.
3. Find an agent in the fall.
4. Get on staff next staffing season.

No problem. Right? Right?

Slacker excuses:
TV TV TV. It's my job now, so I guess catching up on three seasons of Battlestar and Grey's Anatomy doesn't really qualify as slacking anymore. Hooray! I love TV.