Tuesday, October 23, 2007
UPDATE
So it's been a year and a day since I last posted.
I took Chris Lockhart's class at L.A. Valley College, and Peter Russell's Story Analysis class at UCLA Extension. Good experiences.
I read Ellen Sandler's The TV Writer's Workbook and Alex Epstein's Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box. The Sandler technique has been particularly useful for sitcom specs.
The good folks at Write Brothers finally came out with an updated version of Movie Magic. I bought MM6 a couple of months after it came out, and it's worked like a dream.
The work that I've done this year has brought my skills up to the level where I may actually be employable. This is satisfying and frightening all at once.
The pre-strike slowdown has made agents unwilling to take on new clients. No one knows for sure if a strike can be averted. The smart thing for the producers would be to make a deal with small but significant concessions.
I don't think the issue is strictly money. The real issue is control. As one experienced observer noted, there really is enough money for everybody. Given a choice between making more money and getting more power, multinational corporations will typically choose power. The producers want the writers to knuckle under, to fall into line like good little workers.
The producers have the weight to ultimately triumph no matter what. A long, ugly fight will leave everyone bloody, and that works against the producers' long term interests. I'm not hopeful that the producers will have the wisdom and strength of character to make the necessary concessions.
On the off chance that the producers will show some uncharacteristic judgment, I'm forging ahead with new specs, and researching agents with an eye towards staffing season.
So it's been a year and a day since I last posted.
I took Chris Lockhart's class at L.A. Valley College, and Peter Russell's Story Analysis class at UCLA Extension. Good experiences.
I read Ellen Sandler's The TV Writer's Workbook and Alex Epstein's Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box. The Sandler technique has been particularly useful for sitcom specs.
The good folks at Write Brothers finally came out with an updated version of Movie Magic. I bought MM6 a couple of months after it came out, and it's worked like a dream.
The work that I've done this year has brought my skills up to the level where I may actually be employable. This is satisfying and frightening all at once.
The pre-strike slowdown has made agents unwilling to take on new clients. No one knows for sure if a strike can be averted. The smart thing for the producers would be to make a deal with small but significant concessions.
I don't think the issue is strictly money. The real issue is control. As one experienced observer noted, there really is enough money for everybody. Given a choice between making more money and getting more power, multinational corporations will typically choose power. The producers want the writers to knuckle under, to fall into line like good little workers.
The producers have the weight to ultimately triumph no matter what. A long, ugly fight will leave everyone bloody, and that works against the producers' long term interests. I'm not hopeful that the producers will have the wisdom and strength of character to make the necessary concessions.
On the off chance that the producers will show some uncharacteristic judgment, I'm forging ahead with new specs, and researching agents with an eye towards staffing season.
