Friday Questions

Closing out April with more Friday Questions.

Poochie has one about the WGA-ATA dispute.

So what does this mean for those of us in the crowd aspiring to make it in the biz? Is the barrier for entry now easier or harder than it's been? And how would you recommending submitting/breaking in under these new conditions?

If you don’t already have an agent (even it’s one you fired due to the dispute) I would say it’s harder. I seriously doubt whether agents are taking on newbie clients at this time. And managers have enough work on their hands acting as agents for their clients to take on new people.

I would say just keep writing. This too will pass, and most important is you having a script that is a home run. There’s so much that’s beyond your control but writing a great script is not one of them. So use this uncertain time to just concentrate on your craft.  Best of luck.

From WLUP (a Chicago station I already miss):

I heard a Steve Dahl interview recently where he was saying that back in the old days, radio DJ's could make more money doing appearances at bars and such than they would make in the radio salary. Did Beaver Cleaver ever get to do in person appearances?

I did a few high school record hops and made a few hundred dollars, which was big money considering how little I was paid to be a disc jockey, but nothing significant. And I was usually fired before I could get a real foothold in any one market.

By the way, Steve Dahl answered the request line for me on TenQ.  I love that guy and have always taken great satisfaction in his success.

Now back to the answer...

The DJ’s who really made big money on the side were also concert promoters and in some cases managers of various rock groups.  The "first" rock n' roll disc jockey, Alan Freed, figured that out early.

Roger Christian, a longtime LA jock in the ‘60s moonlighted by writing lyrics to Beach Boys songs. On many early Beach Boys records you’ll see the writing credit as “Wilson-Christian.”

Dr Loser wonders:

Several of the more satisfying episodes of Frasier were basically Feydeau farce. (I count the aforementioned restaurant episode as one -- it merely substituted eels for frustrated desire.)

Feydeau farces only really work on multi-cam. Do you see a future for them?

The problem is they’re very difficult to do. You need terrific writers, actors with exceptional timing, and a skilled director.

They require precision at every turn. On one show I co-created we did an Feydeau Farce. It came out great. But the cast came to us after and said it was just too hard to do and requested we refrain from further farces.

Happily, the FRASIER cast embraced farces. And the show had writers like Joe Keenan and David Lloyd who could write the hell out of them.

I enjoy writing them… on occasion.

But John Cleese told me he only made a very few FAWLTY TOWERS because farces were so difficult to write and pull off. And Neil Simon maintains that his farce, RUMORS, was the hardest play he ever wrote and he vowed never to write another farce.

But boy, aren't they magic when they work?   I hope they're around forever. 

And finally, Frank Beans wants to know:

On MASH, what was the role of Stanford Tischler? I see his name in the show credits all the time. I know that he was a veteran sound editor, but what did he do on a working basis? Was it all post-production, or did he contribute to the music in other ways?

Actually Stan was our editor, not sound editor, and he was fantastic. Back in those days you still edited on film. You had to be lighting fast and crazy good to churn out 25 half hours a year under constant deadlines. He was often editing three episodes at once. How he kept them straight I will never know.  Also kudos to his assistant, Larry Mills. 

What’s your Friday Question?