Balloon Phrase

When you let an inflated balloon loose before you tie it off, it flies around madly. You call that a __________ balloon?

"Loose" feels like a balloon that's floating away. This is one that shooting away wildly.

"Show Runner"

I was just interviewed by SLATE for an article about the origins of the word "showrunner." Google Books traces the word back to 1991, and my friend Lee Goldberg things it goes back to at least 1988. But it doesn't seem to go back any further than that. Nor does anyone seem to have consciously coined it.

It's a funny title, because it isn't a credit. You don't get a "showrunner" credit, you get an exec producer credit, and so do some other people who aren't the showrunner. That's like Head Writer, for which the actual credit can be anything from Exec Story Editor to Supervising Producer.

Does anyone know any lore about the origins of "showrunner"?

What's a One Sheet?

Q. What's a one-sheet?

As far as I know, this term means two things. The term "one-sheet" means a 27" by 40" movie poster, the kind you see in a movie theater. Billboards have things like 20-sheets and 40-sheets.

But I've also heard "one sheet" used to mean an 8 1/2" x 11" glossy with the promotional art for the movie (i.e. a mockup of the poster art), with a synopsis on the flip side, with the bankable elements (director, stars) prominently displayed.

If someone is asking you for a "one-sheet" of a film, that's probably what they mean.

PS Writeups of my Banff master classes are coming. Really, they are.

Episode Beat?

A reader asks

A producer asked me for an episode beat... what is it.

It sounds like it might be a breakdown -- the basic beats of the A story, B story, etc., but not interwoven into a full beat sheet.

Does anyone know for sure? Anyone heard the term?

What's a Two-Percenter?

Daveednyc asks what a "two-percenter" is.

It's a reference that, theoretically, only two percent of the audience will get. But they will really, really dig it. (That's why you put them in. Also to amuse other writers.) Hence the ref to the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria in the previous post.

A well-crafted two-percenter isn't a story point -- you need 100% of the the audience to get those. It's just flavor. Ideally it's written so that they get the point even if they don't know the reference.

Writers are often fighting with network execs over two-percenters. Writers often think the audience is at least as smart as they are; execs often seem to think that the audience is much stupider than they are.

FRASIER somehow managed to be a hit in spite of being chock full of two-percenters, suggesting that perhaps some execs oughtta lighten up.

Pilot, Premise Pilot, Backdoor Pilot

Carl P writes:

Greetings from Austria, where the Europe Cup is driving everyone crazy. I am writing my masters thesis on serial narration in childrens literature and I need to work with the term "pilot" or rather different types of pilots (backdoor, establishing etc.) but I can't find any definitions.

A pilot is the first episode of a series.

Traditionally, networks shoot the pilot, and then make their decision to pick up the show or not based on how they feel about the results. There are drawbacks to this system. You can write a kickass pilot that paints the series into a corner; since the networks don't commission more scripts until they've shot the pilot, they won't find that out right away. Also, you spend months waiting to see if the network likes a pilot, then you have to jump into your story room on short notice and start cranking out scripts. In Canada we usually don't pilot (only the CBC goes to pilot). Instead you write a bunch of scripts and the greenlight decision is based on them. That means the writers have some scripts in the bank when the greenlight decision comes down. On the other hand there's no opportunity to recast after the pilot as there is in the American system.

A premise pilot is a first episode that sets up the circumstance of the pilot. In the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot, the Cylons attack and the Battlestar Galactica goes on the run. In our NAKED JOSH pilot, Josh returns to McAllister University as a professor. In the BUFFY pilot, Buffy comes to Sunnydale, which turns out to be infested with vampires.

I've heard that you should try to avoid a premise pilot if you can. It's hard to re-air a premise pilot because it is often quite different from the regular show. The SEX & THE CITY pilot is just an episode of S&TC; no explanation how Carrie met the other girls, or how she got her column. The WEST WING pilot starts with Josh about to be fired. However, often you can't avoid a premise pilot. You need to explain who the Cylons are and why the Battlestar is running from them. You need to explain what the LOST island is and how all these people got stranded there. Often, too, it is easier to introduce characters if one of the characters is "coming into the family." Cop gets a new partner. Betty gets a new job. We see the characters through the new person's eyes, whether or not the new person is the hero.

A backdoor pilot is a feature film or TV movie that is made with an eye to an eventual television series. It works as a feature film, but also sets up the characters and situation for the series. If you have a TV series you haven't been able to get off the ground, one possible approach is to write a feature using those characters, that ends up more or less where your series starts. If the feature is a hit, or even well liked by the right people, you can go back and repitch the TV series. TV execs may dig your concept more if they can see it in action.

Outline, Synopsis, Pitch, Treatment

Q. I've received a positive response from a film company regarding a query for my new script. They want to see a one-page outline before receiving the script. Not wanting to put a foot wrong, I was wondering if you could define the outline vs. synopsis.

An outline usually implies something you're planning to write.

A synopsis is usually a summary of what you've written. In practice the terms are used both ways, along with "pitch" and "treatment."

A pitch is an outline written as a sales document. Typically it's heavier on the setup, and may entirely gloss over the finale. You write a pitch to get people to read your script -- if they insist on one. If producers ask for a synopsis, always send a pitch.

A treatment is an outline written as the first stage of a commissioned script. There is no functional difference between an outline and a treatment. Often you have to write a pitch to get a producer interested, or to get a funding agency to cough up the dough. You are not allowed to write a treatment without getting paid. There's a bit of contradiction there, but what can you do.