I plan a much longer, much more comprehensive discussion of this topic after the first of the year, when the new season of shows has taken a more decisive direction on what will stay and what will go. Until then, here are the "hot" specs, as I have culled from multiple sources:
Drama specs:
- Grey's Anatomy (probably the #1 spec right now)
- House (probably the #2 spec)
- Desperate Housewives
- The Closer (keeps moving up the list)
- Rescue Me
- Medium
- Monk
- Boston Legal
Sitcom specs:
- How I Met Your Mother
- My Name is Earl
- Weeds
- The Office
- Everybody Hates Chris
- Two and a Half Men (popular show, but I don't know anyone who loves reading these)
Shows which can be specced but require a lot of extra effort:
- Lost
- Deadwood
- Supernatural
- Without a Trace
- CSI
- Law & Order: SVU or CI
- Cold Case
- Nip/Tuck
- Veronica Mars
- Ugly Betty
- Shark
- Jericho (tricky, but doable, unlike Heroes, which I still haven't figured out a way in to a spec for)
- Justice
- 30 Rock
- Friday Night Lights
- Standoff
- Brothers and Sisters (ugh)
- Dexter -- getting lots of industry attention
- Las Vegas
- The Ghost Whisperer
- Bones
- Prison Break (it's good, but I seriously doubt a spec will get you noticed)
- Invasion (it's gone, get over it)
- 7th Heaven
- Gilmore Girls (yeah, it's off the list now)
- CSI: Miami
- CSI: New York
- According to Jim
- What About Brian?
- The War at Home
- ER
- Big Love
- Close to Home
- Battlestar Galactica (as much as we all love it, no one seems to read these)
- Psych
- Saved
- Eureka (probably not a good idea)
- Smallville (I know it gets specced. I don't know if anyone is reading it)
Stay Tuned...
5 comments:
Good info. Agree w/ almost all of it.
Why CSI but not the spinoffs? At this point how can anybody stand to read another CSI Vegas?
The Closer and The Unit look good, but the scripts have been hard to get ahold of.
Ugly Betty and Shark look real strong right out of the gate.
just curious, why not spec Las Vegas? I have a great show idea I was working on for Scriptapalooza and would be a good one
Seriously? Because people will laugh at you. Okay, they won't take you seriously, but that's about the same thing as walking into a room wearing clown pants.
Say it with me boys and girls 'I will not spec shows which receive exactly zero critical acclaim or nominations'.
This includes 'NCIS', which I know is a top 20 show, but you will be wearing clown pants with a big floppy hat if you spec it.
I do this because I love you.
You don't mention Criminal Minds.
I'm doing a Criminal Minds.
But I suddenly have an image of myself with clown pants on :(
Have I been a fool in choosing this?
Criminal Minds is an interesting dilemma. It is a fine spec. I still think you'll be hard pressed to find anyone in Hollywood who has watched the show, but no, you are not wearing clown pants...decidedly no.
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