Monday, January 25, 2010

Still In the Game // Crazy 8's Update

We woke up yesterday to a charming email that started with the word CONGRATULATIONS. To our surprise and delight we had not won the fortune of a third-world widow if we would only send our postage fee of $20.99 to an Amsterdam address, or a seven night stay in if only we would consent to a month of timeshare selling meetings. We had, however, earned ourselves a spot in the next round of pitches for Crazy8s. This means that we have five days to perfect our in-person pitch.

I am currently waiting for a phone call that will allow me to schedule our pitch time. Most of the pitches will take place on Friday, however, since we will both be at work we are banking on getting one of the limited Saturday spots, for people such as ourselves who are required to pay bills and other such nonsense.

This is great news! It means that our video pitch succeeded in placing us in the top 40% of those who pitched. By how much, we may never know. Now the sweating, agonizing, and nausea that accompanies public speaking and in-person pitching can commence. Whining and nerves aside, we are ecstatic to have made it to this point. We will keep you posted with further developments. Pleas for luck wishing, finger-crossing, praying to the moon-gods of Jupiter, et al are continuously requested. Thanks for the support!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Just Ask

Since the dawn of time mankind has been...OK I'm kidding! Wait don't click away!

Many things have happened since our return from Christmas. Some exciting - sending in our pitch for Crazy 8s, getting a note of positive feedback on my half finished pilot. Some less exciting - waiting to hear back from Crazy 8s, still not completing my half finished pilot, putting an indecent amount of work into the day job. My mantra over these last couple weeks has been "It doesn't hurt to ask".

This may not be true in all situations. It probably would hurt to ask that Hell's Angel if you can take his girl to dinner. It would probably also hurt to ask your girlfriend/wife/friend with benefits if she's been doing some stress eating (yes) or the cop if you can try out his gun. I've heard handcuff aren't particularly comfortable, I wouldn't know anything about that! ;-). What I'm saying is that within reason, and in most situations, it doesn't hurt to ask.

I wouldn't be sitting where I'm sitting on this precarious and exciting ledge if I was afraid to ask for things. A query letter here, an offer to do some free work there. A quick email about pushing back a deadline, or a schedule change. I'm not a firm believer in "Ask and ye shall receive" (at least not strictly in a worldly sense) however I believe in "don't ask and ye shall never know". If the answer is NO, then it is NO and you can carry on. Wouldn't you rather know for sure?

Thursday, January 14, 2010

The Waiting Game

As I type, we are uploading our very first video pitch for a short film competition called Crazy 8's. We entered this competition last year and pitched in person, and though we didn't make it through we got some great experience pitching and connected with some great people. We feel confident that we've put together the best pitch we could with the time constraints involved (we returned home from the prairie-hood on January 2nd at 10:30PM and the pitch is due tomorrow - January 15th at 5:00PM.) We are now entering the waiting zone.

I know a lot of people who say "I stop worrying about it the minute it is out of my hands." I am NOT one of those people. So, rest assured my mind will be filled with my projected ideas of what the judges may or may not be thinking for the next ten days. I will also be thinking of things we could have, should have, would have added, had we only the time or inspiration to do so. Sometimes my family tosses around the phrase "hurry up and wait." I'm sure whoever coined that little treat meant well, but every time I hear it my eye twitches slightly. Patience and I are frenemies.

So if you're thinking of us over the next week, take a moment to cross some fingers, find a piece of wood to knock on (challenging if you're at Ikea, but fiberboard will do), say a prayer if that's your style, perhaps if Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and a pagan god or two all band together they can instill some patience into me (highly unlikely). If we make it to the next round, you'll be sure to hear about it. If we don't, well, there are plenty more hurdles to jump and I'll sit on the sidelines and eat my chocolate cake and watch you point them out to me.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Vanity Fair "America's Tweethearts" - Oh Dear

Yesterday, Vanity Fair published this article discussing the success of several female icons of the Twitterverse, including one of my personal role models Felicia Day. Unfortunately the light that the article portrayed these women in showed a distinct lack of understanding of the world in which us social media fiends live. Read the article HERE. What follows is my letter to the editor, sent this morning. I hope spellcheck didn't fail me on this one.

Dear Editor,

It is with stark disappointment that I compose this letter today, to address an issue on which you’ve no doubt already received a vast amount of feedback. I am writing to address to tone and assumptions made in the article “America’s Tweethearts”.

The women depicted in this article are successful, brilliant and extraordinarily dedicated. Their fastidious attention to their admirers, as well as their devotion to their careers has created a cohesive set of skills which has set them above so many who explore only traditional marketing and media outlets. The light in which they were presented in this article implies a severe lack of research and understanding of what it is these women truly do. It is also a wide misrepresentation of whom they are, as a collective, pawning off misspelled, uninteresting, text-like tweets onto them. This is not what these women do, nor whom they are.

These women are moguls. To those of us who have seen our stars rise beyond the throes of the old media regime, they are a beacon of hope, pointing out a new path to success, and not solely online. For anyone who desires to pen the words spoken by the Oscar nominated performer, or design the building that the runway show takes place in, these women offer an alternative method of marketing, which is quickly going to become the norm. They are a breath of fresh ocean air, ushering in the salty breeze of change from what has been to what will become, and for that we should commend them.

It is unfortunate that this article (incidentally written by a woman) tears down five driven, intelligent women, with such disregard for what it is they have achieved, and those who can open their minds enough to respect them. It is even more unfortunate that in the very same issue, five actresses are built up in a much more favourable light. This fact alone suggests an unforgivable lack of understanding into the world of social media, and the achievements of those who are brave enough to navigate a new territory.

It would be lovely to see an addendum published, showing further insight into the world that these women navigate, and a retraction to the mildly snarky tone that bleeds throughout this article. These women deserve our respect; it is likely that your readers will demand nothing less from the Vanity Fair establishment.

Thank you for your time and attention to this letter.

Yours very truly,
Rachel Langer

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Follow Up on Spec'ing

**Thanks to my friend Peter who posted an awesome response to my questions about spec'ing a series. With his permission, I'm going to re-post his response for anyone who may have similar interests or questions.**

From Typing Faster:

Rachel, a friend of mine, has a post up asking some good questions about writing a spec episode of an existing series. I started to post some answers in the comments section, but it was getting long and unwieldly, so I figured I’d move it all over here and expand on them a bit.

All suggestions are rules of thumb. There are always exceptions. Your mileage may vary.

So, without further ado, here we go!


1. How old is too old? I realize the show needs to be on the air, but is there a limit to what season it should be in? If its running into a fifth or sixth is it nearing an expiry date?

The sad fact is that specs have a shelf life. Once a show goes off the air, specs of that show are essentially dead. Showbiz doesn’t like to look back at the past, it’s always looking for the “next big thing.”

Spec’ing a show that’s coming towards the end of its run has some drawbacks.

* The older a show, the more specs of it floating around.
* The older a show, the less new and shiny it looks. The less buzz it has.
* The older a show, the more likely it is to end its run, go off the air, and be useless as a spec.

So, basically it comes down to two rules of thumb:

* Don’t spec a show in its first year. A pickup is never guaranteed, and the show is still finding itself.
* Don’t spec a show that’s more than four or five seasons old. Five seasons is the magical syndication number, few shows go past it.

Whatever’s leftover in the middle is the sweetspot.

2. How do you avoid bad buzz? Every source I’ve pestered for answers so far has used the word “buzz” in relation to a successful spec. “The show you choose needs to have the right kind of buzz.” The problem is that the geek world in which I so lovingly exist buzzes about a lot of things that the mainstream world doesn’t. How can I be sure I’m following the correct stream?

The only buzz you need to worry about is the industry buzz, drawing a slight distinction between writer buzz and business buzz, everything else is just useless noise. That holds especially true for internet fanboys (and girls). Don’t listen to these folks, they’re perspective is so biased as to be useless.

Writer buzz is basically whatever shows writers are talking about with other writers. Mad Men probably the quintessential example of a show like this right now.

Industry buzz is similar, but you expand it to include shows that are tearing up the ratings as well. Using this metric you’d add shows like NCIS to the list.

Best way to figure out what show’s have good buzz is to start reading the industry rags. Spend some time looking at the TV coverage on The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, some of the good television critics, or websites like TV By The Numbers.

3. Where should my story fall? Is it imperative that my spec fall chronologically in time with the show’s most recent episodes? Are there any downsides to writing an episode that fits into, say, the second season instead of the fourth? How do you choose the acceptable time to insert your spec?

Serialized shows are a pain in the ass for a variety of reasons. They’re tough to spec, because you have to fit the story into the existing chronology of the show. They go out of date a lot quicker than a straight procedural does, because the show’s evolving season to season. If you spec a serialized show those are the challenges you’re going to be going up against.

Now, relating it back to your specific question: Where should my story fall? Make it as current as possible. If you set it earlier in the show’s chronology you’re just dating yourself and your script. People will assume you haven’t been keeping up with the show. Also if the show’s changed dramatically between seasons your spec won’t be current.

4. How much leeway do I have? I’ve been told that creating a new character is a no-go unless they are restricted to the one episode. How much leeway do I have with other creative devices? Ex: Using a narrative VO when the show doesn’t usually have one?


DO NOT CHANGE THE SHOW. I can’t stress that enough. If the show doesn’t use voice over, then don’t use voice over. If the show doesn’t feature a character, then don’t introduce that character (obvious exceptions would be a murder suspect in a procedural).

The point of a spec is to show that you can write the show as it is, not your own version of said show. The more you change it, the further away you get from that goal.

Writing a spec around a guest star is probably the most common example of this mistake. Usually a writer does it because the guest character’s a lot of fun to write. The problem is that the character often winds up taking over the entire script, regular characters disappear, and you wind up with a spec that looks nothing like the show you’re trying to spec.

In other words, you have no lee way.

5. How important is genre? Drama is my passion, and therefore I am choosing to spec a dramatic series. Is it arrogant to also write a comedy spec as a fallback? Some forums say choose a lane, others say try everything. Am I shooting myself in the foot by appearing undecided with a mix of genres?

I think this really depends on what you’re trying to do, and what your immediate goals are.

If you’re trying to land an agent, then having a drama and a comedy spec would be an asset. It means that you can write both genres, shows your versatility, and thus there are that many more jobs they can put you up for.

If you’re trying to land a writing gig right out the gate, then showing a lack of focus might be detrimental. Say you’re up for a drama, they read your first drama spec and want to read something else. Unfortunately you only have a comedy to send. It’s may not be a deal breaker, but it’s probably not the greatest thing.

Personally I usually recommend a focused approach when choosing what to spec. If your primary goal is to be a one hour writer, but you want to show off your comedic chops, then I’d write a one hour drama with a lot of comedic elements (Chuck, Bones, etc). But the answer to this one is really kind of up to the individual.

Anyways, hope those answers help!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Five Questions About Spec'ing a Series

It's a Tuesday morning, I have my coffee and exactly 17 minutes and I'm going to milk you for answers. Here are five questions I have while preparing to write a spec (or two?) of an existing television show:


1. How old is too old? I realize the show needs to be on the air, but is there a limit to what season it should be in? If its running into a fifth or sixth is it nearing an expiry date?

2. How do you avoid bad buzz? Every source I've pestered for answers so far has used the word "buzz" in relation to a successful spec. "The show you choose needs to have the right kind of buzz." The problem is that the geek world in which I so lovingly exist buzzes about a lot of things that the mainstream world doesn't. How can I be sure I'm following the correct stream?

3. Where should my story fall? Is it imperative that my spec fall chronologically in time with the show's most recent episodes? Are there any downsides to writing an episode that fits into, say, the second season instead of the fourth? How do you choose the acceptable time to insert your spec?

4. How much leeway do I have? I've been told that creating a new character is a no-go unless they are restricted to the one episode. How much leeway do I have with other creative devices? Ex: Using a narrative VO when the show doesn't usually have one?

AND FINALLY

5. How important is genre? Drama is my passion, and therefore I am choosing to spec a dramatic series. Is it arrogant to also write a comedy spec as a fallback? Some forums say choose a lane, others say try everything. Am I shooting myself in the foot by appearing undecided with a mix of genres?

So help a newbie out. Dish out the dirt. Everything you know about writing a spec of an existing show. I'll bake you cookies!