Monday, May 08, 2006

I spent the morning wondering what I should be writing, in between phone calls and emails trying to set things up at Banff. And then I realized, what am I thinking? I'm going to be pitching a series in a month in front of 5-10 network execs and about 200 people in showbiz. And at Banff's prices, and general isolation, not too many of those are going to be "aspiring" or "emerging" showbiz people. Gee, maybe I ought to concentrate on my pitch for Banff?

Which, y'know, I was kind of doing already. And enjoying it very much. The show I'm planning to pitch is, of all the series pitches I've got in my bag o'tricks at the moment, the one I'm fondest of. It's the only supernatural one, for one thing. It will likely be the hardest to write. And it is the only one that addresses Big Metaphysical Questions (which is where the supernatural comes in).

When you're on a show, it's easy to prioritize. The show is your whole priority. Anything else you do, you better be doing for relaxation.

But when you're writing at home, it's possibly to spread yourself too thick or too thin. You're spreading yourself too thin whenever you're not making the things you've already worked on as good as you can make them. Sure, you're allowed to abandon projects if you realize they don't work creatively or have no market -- I almost never do, but there's a feature film for which I have a 20-page treatment on which I haven't gone to draft because I don't know who I could send it to. But if you are sending out or showing something that isn't 100% because you have something new you're working on, you're spreading yourself too thin.

You're spreading yourself too thick when you only have the one project you continue to work on past the point where you're making it better, and you're now only making it different. When you've made it as good as you can, and sent it to everyone who can give you good comments, and you've executed those comments, and now you're only hoping that the biz will change its mind and want your project now. You're also spreading yourself too thick when you don't know what you're working on next.

So I hope I'm spreading myself juuuuuust right. I've got four new pitches for Banff, one project that's waiting for responses, one old project that needs a new home, and some spec scripts that are ready to go...

9:23 PM

1 Comments:

I really hope something dynamite comes of this rather expensive trip to the mountains, Alex. I really do.

By  Kelly J. Crawford, at 7:56 PM  

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