The Education of Shawna

Yes, I know, I keep popping in, even though I'm on "hiatus". I guess I just can't stay away.

I don't like blog posts that tease. You know, someone says 'I have this awesomely cool thing to tell you but I can't tell you so you'll just have to sit there wondering what it is until I can tell you and even then it might not be as awesomely cool as you thought it would be.' Or something like it.

I'm about to tease you. But really, I don't mean it!

It's just...it's hard, when you have weird, amazing things happening all around you...and you just. can't. talk about it. Not yet.

It's still progressing in baby steps. A little bit this week. A little big next week. But as I stand back and look at the whole thing, it's turning into an amazing journey. Lots of steps, taken together, that are going to make one hell of a story when I can tell it.

Let's just say, I'm meeting amazing, interesting people who like my work, and might even want to work with me. These are amazing, interesting people that I would NEVER get to meet in normal circumstances, but some of you may know that my circumstances aren't exactly normal. If you don't know what my circumstances are, go back to January on this blog and you'll figure it out.

For now, I remain bewildered. And it is so faaaaar from over.

Outside the Box

So, Michael over at Red Right Hand has already posted his thoughts and juicy tidbits from the "Breaking into the Box" event put on by the Writers Guild Foundation on Saturday.

I agree with him on several items, particularly on the value of the non-writers to the discussion. The agents, managers and execs add insight to this whole process of trying to write for television. The showrunners provide their learnings in the trenches and some of the nuts and bolts of running/writing television, but it's the agents, managers and execs that are the gatekeepers to this kingdom.

Stuff I'm thinking about

I haven't posted my own thoughts on things in awhile. A lot of what I do is report TV news and happenings, link to other blogs...but of course, what's a blog's worth if I don't blather on a bit myself? I might as well just have a news aggregator up and running.

So, the TV landscape is a bit of a mess, not that it's a big surprise. We all expected some turmoil coming out of the strike, but current events show there is a great deal of uncertainty out there, both for the networks and the writers.

Let's look at some of the recent events. NBC announces a "52-week" season. First, someone should tell Zucker that sounds silly to anyone not in television (and some of us who are in TV). There are no weeks were there's no TV. TV is already 52 weeks, and I get that he's trying to differentiate between fall season premieres and premieres that can occur all year round. But think about it. When was the last time you saw a network show premiere outside of fall? How about ALL THE TIME. So, this big, daring announcement really amounts to NBC saying "We're tired of pouring money into cool pilots that turn into crappy shows. Now we're just gonna skip the cool pilot step and just make crappy shows." At least, that's what came through on my Zucker-Interpreter Relay (patent pending).

Quarterlife bombed on NBC, big time. Worst ratings in the 10 PM time slot in 17 years. Quite an achievement. Here's the thing. NBC schedules the show for 10 o'clock. It's called *quarterlife*, meaning, 25 year olds. Who is your target audience for this show? I'm telling you, anyone over age 30 -- not interested. The people who are really going to be into this show are young, hence, popularity on the internets. And it's on late. On NBC. Which most young hipsters ARE NOT WATCHING. To me, this boils down to programming error. NBC misread the audience for the show, and didn't give it the timeslot it needed to build an audience. Well, that and I think the show is boring and inconsequential. And I liked "My So-Called Life" and "Once and Again". Bravo will now air this series, but there was a reason ABC didn't pick this up as a pilot ages ago. It sucked.

The new ABC/NBC wrestling match over "Scrubs". Funny how NBC is the focus of the first three items. Pattern, mayhaps? ABC is the instigator on this one. This is personal for Steve McPherson. He developed Scrubs at ABC Studios, loves it to death. He wanted it last season, but couldn't get it. When NBC didn't order the 6 episodes that were left for this season, opting to keep the series to 12, McPherson saw an opportunity. Of course, I think both networks are idiots on this score. Look, I know the show has a lot of fans still, but it's a show no one cares about anymore. ABC picking it up would just be another (very costly) mistake for the network. NBC keeping it just to spite ABC would be ridiculous, liking poking oneself in the eyeball hoping that people won't see *you* as a result. The show should get one or two episodes, promote the heck out of the end of the show (or better, just make it an hour-long finale), book it for end of sweeps and send the show off into the sunset. Instead, the show will probably get renewed one more time, and it will die a slow, painful death with minuscule ratings. I weep for Zach Braff.

Showrunner roulette. Lots of changes everywhere! The Dexter showrunner moves to Dirty Sexy Money! The creators/showrunners for Women's Murder Club -- fired! (Fear not, they'll be writing for Whedon on "Dollhouse"). Moonlight's showrunner -- gone! And worse, Joel Silver will oversee the last three episodes (what the heck does Joel Silver really know about running a tv show??) I don't know if all of these changes were needed or not. Some of them are probably good changes, others...I don't know -- I can't imagine it's spite on the part of the studios/networks. Sure the showrunners stood in solidarity with their writing staffs, but even though they shirked their non-writing duties to walk the line, it seems unlikely that a grudge would be held against them for that. But then, I'm not a studio/network person. I only have a Zucker Intepreter Relay (patent pending), not a Studio/Network Minion Mind Reading Device (blueprints available).

What to make of all this? I wish I knew. I'm personally waiting on the fence -- I reported (finally) that I have a pilot optioned. Now I'm waiting to see when my producer people will enter the fray with said pilot. Things are a bit jumbled at the moment. No one knows when "pilot season" will start again, or if it really will be a "52-week" season (thanks Zucker!)

Here's what I do know. TV will continue on. The networks may not be able to pull 15 to 20 shares on its shows these days (unless you are Idol or Deal or No Deal) but that doesn't mean they won't continue to try to find shows that can pull that kind of audience. So, we, as aspiring writers, soldier on, work on our specs, our pilots, our dreams.

I really loathe the word "Change" right now (overused by just about everyone). Things are constantly changing -- it's a matter of when you sit up and take notice that things aren't the same. Changes are happening in this industry. It's important to be on top of them, embrace them, meet them head on. Don't be afraid to try different things. Clearly the marketplace is wide open.

Let's see what we can do with it.

From my visit to the line today

A few photos from the main Disney gate. There was a show of force of major showrunners in the TV biz with press. At least 100 to 140 people (second number including press) at the main gate today.

Joss Whedon.

EVENING UPDATE: Looked through my photos again, and found one that caught Joss's sign in the corner!





Showrunners wore hats (United Showrunners) and carried signs with the name of their show. I'm sure that was to help the poor press.




One of the best signs today -- Carlton Cuse, showrunner for LOST. "Do you want to know what the island is??" (Damon Lindelof is on the left, Cuse is on the right)


Hey, Sonny this one's for you! (Clarification: Josh Schwartz, creator of THE O.C., CHUCK and GOSSIP GIRL)


Writers at the gate.

ETA: Hi Whedonesque and Fuselage visitors! Sorry I didn't have more pictures of our fave genre heroes. I'll try to get more in the future.

Some additional comments: I would have loved to talk to Joss or Cuse/Lindelof or Josh Schwartz, but press was swarming all over these guys. I'd say the event was a success to put faces to shows. The signs were a great idea to not only identify a showrunner and their show, but also to really drive home how many shows were impacted. You can see a few in this picture, but believe me when I tell you there were at least 40 shows represented (I didn't do a full count) at this gate today.

4:30 PM UPDATE -- This video hit Youtube. It's Damon Lindelof and Marc Cherry at the Disney lot today talking about why they are striking.

Breaking into the Box - WGA event recaps

Clark Perry has done a fantastic job recounting this event so far this week. Check out his posts here and here.

This event was held over the weekend, and I really wanted to attend -- showrunners, some of the best in the business spilling their guts -- why wouldn't I want to be there?? Sadly, my schedule prevented it.

I can guarantee that won't happen again.