Anyone want to invite me, so I can ahem?
You know me! I'm like, "Go school! It's your birthday!" Or something to that effect.
Willow ,'Empty Places'
The Minearverse 4: Support Group for Clumsy People
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
BartlebyFink - Apr 08, 2006 3:37:42 pm PDT #9330 of 10001
One Hot Burrito!
Kessie - Apr 09, 2006 3:22:35 am PDT #9331 of 10001
The thing about life is :You can rehearse it all you want,
But nobody else ever sticks to the script. So why bother?
I´m aheming on mininova as I write this .... and I so wished I could have spec´d this show. *shakes fist against Fox*
Kristen - Apr 09, 2006 6:37:25 am PDT #9332 of 10001
I second that emotion. It would have an awesome show to spec. I wanted to do the (inevitable) Protected Witness is a Serial Killer episode.
I think Drive will probably be difficult to spec, in the same way that Lost, 24 and Desperate Housewives are difficult to spec.
Allyson - Apr 09, 2006 7:28:05 am PDT #9333 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
What would you spec for a show like Drive? It seems impossible to pick something similar enough in style to be able to prove you can write for it.
Kristen - Apr 09, 2006 7:34:46 am PDT #9334 of 10001
I would suppose that you would spec something more character based. Though I'm trying to think of anything on the air now that isn't a procedural but isn't highly serialized, and that people would be familiar with, and I'm coming up short. (Yes, I watch a lot of procedurals.) Maybe a Deadwood?
ETA: I know people have specced DH, Lost and 24. I just don't know of anyone who's had much success doing it.
EATA: Or, you know, just write the one-hour I Love Lucy...in which Lucy has an abortion...and it lives.
Matt the Bruins fan - Apr 09, 2006 10:38:11 am PDT #9335 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Do you have to write spec scripts for scripted shows, seeing as how the script itself isn't generally intended to be shot? From the description I'm wondering if writing out a fictional Worst Day Ever for The Amazing Race contestants might not get something of the necessary feel.
Topic!Cindy - Apr 09, 2006 10:44:33 am PDT #9336 of 10001
What is even happening?
Matt, do you subscribe to Jane Espenson's blog through your live journal (or otherwise). She's been talking a lot about spec scripts.
Website with blog: [link]
User info page for the feed to LJ: [link]
Kristen - Apr 09, 2006 11:12:09 am PDT #9337 of 10001
Do you have to write spec scripts for scripted shows, seeing as how the script itself isn't generally intended to be shot?
Generally speaking, yes. (Though there are some people now who only want to read pilots or features and don't care about specs for existing shows.) Specs are writing samples designed to demonstrate that a) you know how to tell a story and b) you can mimic someone else's voice.
aurelia - Apr 09, 2006 1:04:33 pm PDT #9338 of 10001
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story. Tell me a story.
I think Drive will probably be difficult to spec, in the same way that Lost, 24 and Desperate Housewives are difficult to spec.
Prequel.
Kessie - Apr 09, 2006 1:51:48 pm PDT #9339 of 10001
The thing about life is :You can rehearse it all you want,
But nobody else ever sticks to the script. So why bother?
I´d also take something character based, with humor and of course lots of drama. But since I hardly know anything about Drive it would be hard to do that. There are not many dramas out there which one could take, but I then I hardly know everything on US TV. Hm, maybe a Battlestar Galactica with a out of character plotline, since they aren´t exactly much jokes in show, I think? Honestly I have no idea. As for Lost, 24, DH I think you are right. For 24, for example, I can only think of starting a new day for a spec, which would be, lets face it, lame.