"Wax Lion" and "Pink Flamingos" were stronger episodes IMHO than "Karma Chameleon" and "Wound-Up Penguin," but I liked them better bracketing the latter two.
Yeah, I agree, although I love "Karma Chameleon" a lot, which certainly seemed to be a minority opinion on TWoP. On watching it last night, I guess I could see how Jaye's self-absorption could be a bit grating, but I also related to her a lot in that episode.
Plus, it moves that hilarious phone call with Heidi closer to her actual appearance.
Ha, good point.
What you will see as episode two and episode four were shot as 10 and 12. To GO IN THE TWO AND FOUR SLOTS. I promise.
So Tim thinks "Pink Flamingos" should be episode four too? I agree!
It was funny to show my friend "Wax Lion" because I had suggested
Wonderfalls,
and she said okay, and I brought it over, and about twenty minutes into the episode, once the wax lion started talking, she said, "So, clearly, I had no idea what this show was about."
(Of course, then she asked me if it was still airing, and I gave her A Look.)
In unrelated news, I recently joined a writers group. We're meeting this weekend so people have been sending in their stuff to be read in advance.
One of the scripts is a Dexter spec. I start reading and there's this one subplot that seems somewhat familiar. I keep reading and now it's really familiar. So I flip to the end and sure enough. This gentleman and I not only wrote eerily similar subplots, the final scene in each of our specs is virtually identical. We both knew the other was writing a Dexter but he'd never read mine and this was the first I'd read of his. It was just some freaky hilarious coincidence.
This came in the same week that Cold Case did an episode that bore some resemblance to my Without a Trace spec.
I think it was the best laugh I've had in weeks.
Ha, Kristen. That's funny. Great minds, eh?
it is weirdto see Tim quoting Gus. I think about that whole thing every once in a while and wonder whatever happened.
Ha, Kristen. That's funny. Great minds, eh?
Exactly.
Or maybe it means I'm completely unoriginal. But I like the funny option better.
Me three. Especially since I still enjoy the TV Tropes wiki.
Or maybe it means I'm completely unoriginal. But I like the funny option better.
Let's go with that one!
Kristen, you've reminded me of something which has been rattling around in my head for a while. Are there any TV writers websites which provide, like, useful features? From the point of view of maybe being able to upload specs into a database so industry people can rifle through them, that sort of thing. Finding work, developing skills. I occasionally wonder about starting something along those lines.
I don't know of any TV-centric websites like what you're describing. TVwriter.com is probably the closest though I don't know the site that well so I can't speak to its helpfulness or lack theerof.
If you had a site that focused "developing skills," I think that could be very useful and probably immensely popular. There's a lot of great information out there these days. A lot of successful TV writers have taken to blogging and even a site that was nothing more than a central location for that information would be great. (Like a Whedonesque for TV writing.) The "finding work" and database idea is a little tricker for several reasons.
First is the legal aspect. IIRC, a writer recently sued a judge from a screenwriting contest, claiming that said judge stole their spec idea and used it on his show. While that might be an extreme example, accusations of thievery among pre-pros on the internet are not uncommon. So logging onto a database, filled with endless specs, could open someone up to a shitstorm of liability. I suspect anyone who works in the industry would be leery of that.
Next is the quality issue. I'm not sure what you had been planning but, if it's a place where anyone can upload anything, quality will probably be all over the map. There are some great writers out there who haven't found their way in yet. But there are also some not so great ones. With a database like this, I would think that you'll have to wade through a lot of less than stellar specs to find that hidden treasure. I don't see many people having the time or inclination for that.
The last thing, and I hope this doesn't come out wrong, is the need question. Obviously, the need is there for anyone looking to break in. But I'm not sure the need is there on the side of industry folks. There are already so many more writers than jobs in this town. Like, you probably have better odds of winning in Vegas than Hollywood these days. John Rogers has a whole post about staffing for his new show, in which he refers to "the writer apocalypse" and he's not wrong. 210 submissions for four slots. I'm willing to bet it's even crazier on the bigger network shows. (Joss probably needed an entire room for all the submissions he got on Dollhouse.) So when you're already being deluged by scripts from writers that either have a great agent, a recommendation, previous experience or all three, are you going to be at all willing to go look for more stuff to read?
That's not to say that it's impossible to break in.* People are looking for new voices. But I doubt that finding your way in will ever be as easy as hitting an "upload" button. Hell, staying in isn't that easy. You really have to be willing to bang your head against the wall until you break something. The wall, your cranium, every bone in your body, whatever.
Now with all that said, the prevailing wisdom in this industry is that there's no prevailing wisdom. So take everything I just said with a grain of salt because it's entirely possible that I'm wrong.
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* Read John August on why there's really no such thing as "breaking in."
Hmmm. That was a lot longer that I intended it to be. I apologize.
