From Brett Bydairk
I was listening to your latest podcast earlier, and a question occurred to me: how does one become a script doctor, those (usually) uncredited folk who rewrite scripts to polish them or fix mistakes?
Well first of all, there are not many of those jobs left. Shows would now rather spend the money for lower level staff writers than once-a-week consultants. There are arguments for both sides. Having a seasoned pro come in can really move things along or solve story problems during rewrites. When you’re in the trenches it’s nice to have someone you can really trust.
On the other hand, this now gives young writers more chances to break in and that’s a very good thing.
You get those jobs by spending years on staff and proving that you are good in a room – pitch lots of jokes that make it into scripts, offer story fixes that work, and present a positive energy that can keep the momentum going or jump start things when it's not.
Eventually you build a reputation, friends in the industry hire you, and you’re on your way.
Proud to say I’ve worked with three of the best: Jerry Belson, Bob Ellison, and David Lloyd.
From Mike Bloodworth
I've asked this about your plays, but it's also applicable to TV scripts. What's the best way to protect a submission from being plagiarized?
Copyright it. Register it with the WGA (you can do that on line). Make a copy and send it to yourself.
Registering with the WGA is probably the easiest.
Gareth Wilson is next.
There was a recent negative review of a Netflix show where the reviewer said the problem was Netflix doesn't have pilots. An entire season was ordered, filmed and released before anyone realised how terrible it was. Do you think the pilot system does a good job of filtering out obviously bad shows?
Every ten years or so a network will decide that making pilots is a waste of money. The result is they have a horrible development season, the shows they air generally tank, and the following development season the pilots are back.
Pilots are helpful. You can tweak as a result. Although shows do evolve and improve over time, you can tell from the pilot whether a certain show just isn’t clicking. No chemistry, the premise doesn’t hold up, the execution sucks, whatever. What sounds good in a meeting, and what looks good on paper sometimes doesn’t translate. Nor is a big star any guarantee of success.
Personally, I would love a series order without a pilot. But I would still really analyze that first episode (pilot) and make changes before charging into the season.
And finally, from Lairbo:
If you were to revive Big Wave Dave's, would you do a straight-up reboot or change it up with some sort of Next Generation twist (the kid Adam Arkin and Jane Kaczmarek find out their going to have now all grown up and in charge, or something)?
It’s not like anyone remembers this show or these characters. Truthfully, I would recast everybody but Kurtwood Smith as the ex-patriot. We would make the others younger and more age-appropriate. I say “we” because I co-created the show with David Isaacs who would join me in showrunning the reboot.
BIG WAVE DAVE’S is about three guys having a midlife crisis. We would have to rewrite and adjust the characters. Today’s 40 year-old is different from the 1990’s 40 year-old.
Meanwhile, no one is clamoring for a reboot of BIG WAVE DAVE’S despite the fact that I still have the sign.
What’s your Friday Question?
I'll watch anything with Kurtwood Smith in it. I first saw him as the domineering and strict father in Dead Poets Society. Then as the cold blooded killer in Robocop. Just as I was beginning to think he only plays horrible people, I saw him in BWD and was delighted to finally see him in a comedic role.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, under some alien makeup, Kurtwood Smith played the president of the Federation in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.
Delete"...Make a copy and send it to yourself."
ReplyDeleteApologies for what may come off as a bit of a rant, but the notion of mailing your work to yourself offers any real copyright protection is a myth, and one I hate seeing perpetuated.
At best, mailing a copy of your work to yourself can provide an indication of the date of creation. But it doesn't prove ownership. It doesn't prove that you created the thing inside the envelope. And, given how comparatively easy it may be to tamper with a sealed envelope, might not be considered authoritative proof of anything.
If you want to mail your work to yourself, go right ahead. But don't do so thinking it offers any real kind of copyright protection comparable to WGA registration or formal copyright application.
I've griped about this before, but why don't people realize laugh tracks no longer are used on multi-cams? Someone complained about a laugh track in a comment about "Carol's Second Act" at Variety. Don't people realize that unless a sitcom has extensive special effects, a la "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," a series with laughter is shot before a live audience? Younger folks trained on single-cams just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteI was actually in the audience for Carol's 2nd Act last nite lol. Another person in the audience said "I'm glad they don't use a laugh track on this one." Then, I told them that was the case 99% of the time and they were shocked. Smh. It's so annoying to see people write a show off or hate it because of something that isn't true. Complain about the audience laughing too much due to the environment hyping you up more than you would be at home (seeing your favorite actors live, the warm up guy, etc) but do not complain about the laughs being fake.
Delete"It’s not like anyone remembers this show or these characters."
ReplyDeleteYou could not be more wrong! Big Wave Dave's was my first summer love heartbreak! I cried when I found out it left me for good. My only summer love that ever worked out was Night Court. Damn I'm old and need to get out more.
So true about the pilots. You only have to look at Big Bang Theory where the recast Penny because after filming the pilot they felt the character of Penny needed to be sweeter and more approachable than the actress they had originally hired. Ken, I'm sure you could do a whole podcasts discussing roles that were recast.
ReplyDeleteRequest for a clarification:
ReplyDeleteIn re Kurtwood Smith's character on Big Wave Dave's:
How is he an ex-patriot?
Do you mean that he was once patriotic, but is so no longer (like many supporters of our current President - but that's another story)?
Or do you mean that he once lived in another nation, but only now resides in Hawaii, in which case the word you were going for was expatriate - except that would only apply if he'd moved to Hawaii from some nation other than the USA (at least since 1959)?
Full disclosure: I never got a chance to see Big Wave Dave's in its original run, which is why I don't know any of this.
Respond at your leisure.
Best wishes in all things.
I second that, John (Not McCain)!
ReplyDeleteJim (not Bakker)
My Friday Question - I love Patricia Heaton. I have tried to watch "Carol's Second Act". It looks terrible. It looks like a set. I can almost see the studio audience. My question, how does this get the green light? Doesn't anyone see how bad it looks visually?
ReplyDeleteVP81955 you are right to a point. With the technology available today, "laugh tracks" arent what they used to be. "Audio sweetening" and "added laughs" are probably a more accurate description of what is used on multi cams. Two and a Half Men" is a prime example. Remember when tv shows would have the star (ala Ted Danson) who would say "Cheers is filmed before a live studio audience". When was the last time you have heard that. TBH I think "Last Man Standing" has Tim Allen saying that in the intro, but thats probably it. Chuck Lorre shows ARE indeed, shot in front of an audience, but there are plenty of "added" laughs in post. I'm sure "Carol's Second Act" is similar. Raucous laughs and reactions to "not that funny" lines is a dead giveaway.
ReplyDeleteWow! Three out of the last four weeks. I am truly honoured. Although, you could have combined last week's and today's into one answer.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of you that think that Ken is showing favoritism, there are plenty of F.Q.s that he didn't answer.
As always, thanks Ken.
M.B.
P.S. How'd the play go?
P.P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR
ReplyDeleteM.B.
Sorry to go off topic, but laugh tracks have been brought up and I just ran across an old episode of "One Day at a Time". Oh my God. Every little remark is followed by a big fake giant laugh, I was cringing, couldn't believe how carried away they got with it, might be the worst offender ever
ReplyDelete@VP81955: While the term "laugh track" is overused, it's not unusual for sitcom material to be shot without an audience, even today. Seinfeld did a lot of scenes without an audience, in part because many episodes had a large number of scenes -- some of them as short as a couple of lines -- resulting in additional setup time that would not work well with an audience. How I Met Your Mother was shot without an audience because they found it easier to do it that way given how many flashbacks they had. Barney Miller was famous for dismissing its audience and shooting entire scenes with a laugh track because their tapings went on so long. Eventually they were doing more shooting without an audience than with, so they got rid of the audience altogether.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out Tony Scott of Variety wasn't a fan of Kurtwood Smith.
ReplyDelete"An overdone character, Jack Lord (Kurtwood Smith), appears at the Hawaiian shop, but his idiosyncrasies aren’t funny"
https://variety.com/1993/tv/reviews/big-wave-dave-s-1200433064/
I do have a question about the timing of the show. Considering it aired from August 9 through September 13, 1993, was that the plan, or did CBS not know what to do with it so they just burned it off before the new season started? After all, it replaced Love & War for six weeks, then Love & War came back for the new season on September 20. So whataya know? Jay Thomas got his revenge after all.
Friday Question:
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time you felt that you were in the presence of greatness? Not talking about checking out reviews or other post-viewing encounters. I’m talking about a growing realization that this was something special that happened whil you were watching it. Two works that stand out in my mind are Fargo and John Sayle’s Lone Star. What’s yours?
Scarletnumber,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting a negative review from 25 years ago. The pilot is on YouTube. I invite everyone to judge for yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbCPaKYU-fU&t=51s
Ken: Here is a Friday question involving a joke I heard a standup comedian do years ago on the Letterman show. "My wife and I met online. We didn't think our parents would understand so we told them we met at the University of Phoenix." My question is would the joke be better or worse if the punchline was: "... so we told them we met in college... at the University of Phoenix." Please analyze, if you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteHow about a list of over-rated but dead sitcoms or over-rated plays by otherwise decent writers?
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I frequently subscribe to a local amateur theatre group (several actually) as their offerings are usually more entertaining than the professional production of #LetsPromoteCulture about #DifficultTopicX (more artsy than commercial, however well produced). And we usually like them well enough. Rarely is there a "bad production" although some are better than others.
However, we consistently like the humour in Norm Foster plays. It's not high brow, has a familar delivery to them, but we saw one last night and it was poorly written, technically challenging for anyone (20 scenes), and the actors were still struggling after three weeks of performance (multiple flubbed lines by more than one of the 4 actors). There was even a complete misdirection by one actor who emphasized the wrong word in a scene, and everyone expected a pay off that NEVER came. Lots of grumbling after the show.
Yet, as I said, I normally love Norm Foster's work. Curious if you have had similar experiences -- someone everyone loves or even who you have loved previously, see their latest and greatest, and it is more "oh gawd".
P.
Did you know (or hear of) this guy?
ReplyDeletehttps://lostcoastoutpost.com/2019/sep/17/memorial-fund-established-surfer-who-died-north-je/
re: Pilots
ReplyDeleteThe pilot for the Dick Van Dyke Show had basically the same characters and premise, but was totally recast and renamed. It's interesting to watch the pilot and see the fledgling characters played by others. It was originally titled Head of The Family, and can be seen here:
https://youtu.be/Tliu2av5ufY
Tom in Vegas
A pet Peeve
ReplyDeleteRecently watched "the Blues Brothers" (original) on Satrz a supposedly "premium" channel.
No commercials but they played a version that had been butchered for commercial TV
The cuts that I noticed, as a casual viewer, included cutting John Candy's introduction to the movie with the outside shot of Wrigley field, Carrie Fishers speech of how for the good of humanity she must kill the blues brothers, the illinois n---'s ( yu know the proto gop) car falling off of the bridge. These were just what I a casual viewer could spot.
They replaced them with black outs and next scene as if a commercial had been removed.
How can a so called premium channel claim that status when they serve up the same butchered films that commercial tv shows.
An entertainment attorney told me that copyright is by far the best way to go. It imparts a lot of legal advantages that registering with the WGA can't offer. If there is any chance of litigation, copyright is the far better choice.
ReplyDeleteFriday question: MASH had a laugh track but not every joke featured the same level of laughs, i.e. some jokes got louder or longer laughs than others. Who decides how big of a laugh each joke should get?
ReplyDelete