Hot Specs

Hey, you know how y'all are always asking me what the hot shows are to spec? TV Calling has answered your question.

I've skimmed it, and it all seems like sensible advice.

Details, Details

Q. I'm currently working on a spec Cougar Town. Cougar Town has a ton of recurring jokes and bits (Penny Can, the Japanese restaurant greeting, etc.). I'm trying to figure out how to strike a balance between writing a really great Cougar Town, recurring jokes and all, and not alienating readers who don't watch the show. Which side would you err on?

This is a toughie.

My first answer would be never to spec a show that showrunners are likely to be unfamiliar with. I don't know if COUGAR TOWN is a show everyone watches. Call a couple of agents' assistants and ask if execs and showrunners are likely to be familiar with it.

My second answer would be: this is one way that writing a spec is harder than writing for the show. You can't usethe recurring jokes as a crutch. You have to write the recurring jokes in such a way that they score anyway. If you can twist the jokes, or top them, then you get points from any reader and bonus points from the COUGAR TOWN aficionado.

Why Won't They Read My Unsolicited Spec?

Q. Do TV shows toss unsolicited scripts because of company policies? Or just because showrunners strongly prefer to read work that has been referred by someone else?

In other words, is it a strict rule or a guideline they abide by?

Companies toss unsolicited scripts for legal reasons. They may be developing a script with a similar concept. They don't want to take a chance that you will sue them for "stealing your idea." Pro writers know how common it is for writers to think of the same ideas, entirely honestly, but aspiring writers don't.

For example, Lisa and I were partly put out, and partly pleased, to see that HBO is coming out with a show about groupies called I'M WITH THE BAND. Put out, because we had a pitch for a show about groupies called I'M WITH THE BAND, and now it's dead. Partly pleased, because it means we were on the right track. I've had that happen to a script about Pretty Boy Floyd and a show about teenage models. I have a script that's "Moby Dick in Space." I was in the library yesterday and happened to notice a graphic novel which is Moby Dick in Space. We were working on a show about peacekeepers till we heard about ZOS. And so forth.

When it comes to spec scripts of the show they're producing, it is practically guaranteed that whatever you are sending in, if it is at all in the ballpark for the show, it's an idea that the staff has kicked around.

Aspiring writers may not understand that. There's a guy who sued George Lucas because the guy was convinced that he had invented Ewoks. Yah. Teddy bears with spears. There's an idea that only comes once a millennium.

If you're going in to pitch a show, on a meeting set up by your agent, then you probably understand that your ideas may not be original. You hope they'll give you a script to write anyway if your take on the story is more interesting. But that's a different process. You go in with a pitch idea, and the showrunner has a chance to say, "We didn't want to go in this direction, but I'm interested in this aspect of your pitch," and develop it from there.

STAR TREK: TNG was famous for being a show that actually did read specs, and buying a few of them. But I've never heard of another franchise doing it.

It is also very hard for a showrunner to read a spec script of his show. It is going to read slightly off. Or very off. It just is. I can't read a NAKED JOSH spec; they just irritate me. I can read a spec MODERN FAMILY and not get bent out of shape; I have no stake in the show. But if it's a show I was in the room for, then it's going to feel very out of the room.

Generally no TV show is going to read unsolicited scripts in the first place. But at least, if your agent is submitting your LIE TO ME spec to Hart Hanson, he doesn't have to worry that you'll think you invented the BONES episode they've been talking about for years.

WGA Noms

The WGA Noms are in:

DRAMA SERIES

Breaking Bad, Written by Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, George Mastras, J. Roberts, John Shiban, Moira Walley-Beckett; AMC

Dexter, Written by Scott Buck, Charles H. Eglee, Lauren Gussis, Clyde Phillips, Melissa Rosenberg, Wendy West; Showtime

Friday Night Lights, Written by Bridget Carpenter, Kerry Ehrin, Ron Fitzgerald, Brent Fletcher, Etan Frankel, Jason Gavin, Elizabeth Heldens, David Hudgins, Rolin Jones, Jason Katims, Patrick Massett, Derek Santos Olson, John Zinman; NBC

Lost, Written by Carlton Cuse, Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, Melinda Hsu Taylor, Damon Lindelof, Greggory Nations, Kyle Pennington, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Brian K. Vaughan, Paul Zbyszewski; ABC

Mad Men, Written by Lisa Albert, Andrew Colville, Cathryn Humphris, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Brett Johnson, Erin Levy, Marti Noxon, Robin Veith, Dahvi Waller, Matthew Weiner; AMC

COMEDY SERIES

30 Rock, Written by Jack Burditt, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Tom Ceraulo, Vali Chandrasekaran, Tina Fey, Donald Glover, Steve Hely, Matt Hubbard, Dylan Morgan, Paula Pell, Jon Pollack, John Riggi, Tami Sagher, Josh Siegal, Ron Weiner, Tracey Wigfield; NBC

Curb Your Enthusiasm, Written by Larry David; HBO

Glee, Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy; Fox

Modern Family, Written by Paul Corrigan, Sameer Gardezi, Joe Lawson, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker; ABC

The Office, Written by Jennifer Celotta, Danny Chun, Greg Daniels, Lee Eisenberg, Anthony Q. Farrell, Brent Forrester, Daniel J. Goor, Charlie Grandy, Mindy Kaling, Ryan Koh, Lester Lewis, Paul Lieberstein, Warren Lieberstein, BJ Novak, Michael Schur, Aaron Shure, Justin Spitzer, Gene Stupnitsky, Halsted Sullivan; NBC

If you spec one of those shows, you can count on people knowing them. And these are ones you should be watching:

NEW SERIES

Glee, Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy; Fox

The Good Wife, Written by Angela Amato Velez, Corinne Brinkerhoff, Ted Humphrey, Dee Johnson, Todd E. Kessler, Michelle King, Robert King;CBS

Hung, Written by Colette Burson, Ellie Herman, Emily Kapnek, Brett C. Leonard, Dmitry Lipkin, Angela Robinson; HBO

Modern Family, Written by Paul Corrigan, Sameer Gardezi, Joe Lawson, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O'Shannon, Brad Walsh, Caroline Williams, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker; ABC

Nurse Jackie, Written by Taii K. Austin, Liz Brixius, Rick Cleveland, Evan Dunsky, Nancy Fichman, Liz Flahive, Jennifer Hoppe, Mark Hudis, John Hilary Shepherd, Linda Wallem, Christine Zander; Showtime

How Long, Lord, How Long?

I know that you said a script is probably dead if you don't hear back within 3 months. If an agent does like the script, about how long should it take to hear back from him/her?

How long is a piece of string?

I can't really answer that, because the answer is: shortly after they read it. And they'll read it when they're not busy.

Some agents and producers are good at getting back really quickly. Some only get around to stuff later. I'm still getting calls from producers interested in stuff I pitched at Banff.

It also depends on who reads it. In a small agency, there's no process: the agent reads it, likes it, calls you. In a larger agency, they might have to get other people to read it, and then talk about whether you're a "fit" for the agency. That takes longer.

Generally though, if it's going to happen, it usually happens within a month.

Nom Nom Nom

The Emmy noms are out:

Best drama: Big Love, Breaking Bad, Damages, Dexter, Lost, House, Mad Men

Best Comedy: Entourage, Family Guy, Flight on the Conchords, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, 30 Rock, Weeds

Best Drama Writing: four (four!) MAD MEN scripts and one LOST.

Best Comedy Writing: four (four!) 30 ROCK scripts and one FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS

If you're wondering what to spec, it probably can't hurt to spec something with an Emmy nom. That's what network execs and showrunners are watching, in all likelihood. If it's been cancelled, of course, don't spec it.

Complete noms here.

No FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS? Really? No BATTLESTAR?

But They Make Up All Their Lines, Don't They?

Q. Do you think Friday Night Lights would be worth speccing? I don't know if I should bother trying to write a script for it since the reader will know that the actors are encouraged to ad-lib a lot of the time.

As far as I know, they're encouraged to ad-lib off the script, which they've memorized. That means they might change a few words in a line here and there, and add handles ("Look, ...") and hems and haws. But I guarantee you there are lines in them there scripts. Check'em out yourself.

As far as I know, FNL is a good spec these days. The tricky thing, as always with a serial, is how to fit your spec into their timeline. You can either try to squeeze one in between two episodes, try to make your ep relatively free-floating, or write a season opener. The latter will be tricky, because as you know, Coach is no longer coaching the Panthers as of the season finale, and who knows who's going to be in the show next year. (And it will do you no good to just make up a slew of new characters, since that's not what a spec script is for.) But that's another headache entirely.

Querying TV Specs?

Q. In your book you talk about querying before actually writing the screenplay to test the value of the hookCan you do the same thing for TV specs, to see if you should even bother writing it?

Er, no. You might query producers or agents about your spec feature to see if anyone's interested in the hook. But you're not writing a spec TV script in order to sell it. You're writing it to show you can write TV. A clever hook is a good idea, but producers and agents really need to see your writing chops.

On the other hand if you're talking about a spec pilot that you hope to sell, you can certainly pitch your TV show concept to people in the biz, to see if they warm to it, before investing in writing a spec pilot. You'll want to do this in person, so you see their reaction up front; also they'll be less likely to steal your idea; also, your concept will improve itself as you pitch it. I spent four days in the Rocky Mountains the week before last, pitching a couple of series ideas to producers. We've since had offers and we'll be optioning them shortly. Then we'll take the pitches to networks to see if they'll pay Lisa and me to write a pilot. So in that sense, you can query a TV spec pilot. But it's really a different thing.

What Are You Speccing

Every now and then, we at Complications Ensue ask you guys what you're speccing, and what you've heard people are speccing, so everyone can get a sense of what the hot specs are.

And it's that time again. Especially because the network, alas yes, pulled the plug on my pay cable series, and I'm debating between writing an hour spec or a half hour spec pilot.

What are you speccing, or what have you recently specced?

What have you heard other people are speccing?

Updating Your Spec

You've talked about how most readers aren't necessarily going to be fanatics of the show you're speccing, so you don't necessarily have to be completely up to date on where the characters' stories are in the show. But what about act structure? Like HOUSE. It used to be teaser and four acts, this season is teaser and six. Is this a change i need to re-write to?

I think you do. There has been a big movement towards 5 and 6 act structure. A four act drama is going to feel old hat to a lot of readers. And HOUSE in particular is a show that everyone specs, so your readers, even if they don't watch every HOUSE, will for sure know that the show has gone to 6 acts.

Coming up with new act outs is going to be a pain, but it's something writers have to do often enough, so consider it a worthwhile exercise, too.

Showing the Spec of a Show to That Show

A friend of the blog is in a bind because he's done several specs of a show -- let's call it TELEPORTERS, a show about interstellar luggage -- and the producer of the show just asked to read his stuff.

It is generally maintained that you can't show a TELEPORTERS script to TELEPORTERS. They will hate it, because, while it may appear to be a perfect TELEPORTERS show to viewers, the writers have all sorts of attitude about what they're trying to do on the show, and you don't know what that is.

I can verify that the few times I've looked at a spec NAKED JOSH, I found it irritating. And in the paid world, I have rarely read a free-lance script for a show I was staffing -- a free-lance script, not a spec, a script based on conversations with the writer and often even an outline that we wrote for the writer -- without the urge to fling it across the room.

On the other hand, Lisa pointed out just now that in every screenwriting book she's read, the author repeats the rule -- and then says "that's how I got my first job, but don't do what I did."

It's showbiz, Punky. The rules aren't really rules, they're just how things are typically done. They're the path of least resistance, and you don't want to create more resistance if you don't have to. But if you find yourself in a situation where the rules aren't helping you, and you can do it convincingly another way, go for it. You'll stand out from the crowd. And if you can't do something convincingly, it won't help that you're doing it the same as everyone else, will it?

I know one writing team that got their first break by snarking on an X-FILES website that Chris Carter happened to be reading. He asked them how they'd have fixed the episode. They answered. He asked if they had a spec. They said they did. And wrote one over the weekend.

That's definitely not how you get a break in showbiz. Except for them, it was.

What's been your experience? Have you ever got a break by showing a spec of a show to that show? Do you know anyone who did?

Never Write Down

Q. I'm disillusioned with the writing for the current season of HEROES. Generic dialog, bad plot logic, etc. Now I don't know what approach to take with my spec. Should I write the show I *wish* it was, or do I try to copy what the writers have done? I'm worried that if I imitate the current episodes too closely my spec will come off as badly written, but if I veer too far, I'll end up with a fantasy spec!

I would write for the best version of the show. Try to identify each character's voice and write him or her as distinctly as possible. You don't get any points for bad plot logic, so use the best plot logic you can. After all, only a slice of the people reading your spec are current HEROES fans.

Bear in mind, HEROES is a comic book series, so make sure your episode is packed with cliffhangers and high-stakes plot turns. The situations need to be big and the stakes outrageously big.

Never write down. The people writing HEROES are writing the show as best they can; that's true of almost every show. (Rarely, having a tyrant at the helm makes people stop caring.) They may have network notes you don't know about, that have to do with demographics or other unanswerable non-creative demands. They don't mean to be writing generic dialog. You shouldn't either.

They Used My Spec Idea!

Q. You've commented in the past that a good spec should last a few seasons, but what happens if the show uses one's premise? I had the lovely experience of watching "House" last night, only to find that the show used the same disease and unusual treatment as I'd used in a spec I wrote over the summer. The episode's B-plot was a conflict between House and Foreman about Foreman's career development; I included a similar conflict in my spec. Granted, the reason I wrote the spec was to submit it to fellowships over the summer, which I did, but now I worry that I can't use the script going forward.

I know most readers won't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the show, but the last thing I want is for my spec to land in the lap of someone who does and who then thinks I recycled an episode. Am I worrying over nothing? Or should I just suck it up and resign myself to another spec, another month of medical research so all-consuming I wander around muttering to myself about the distinctions between hypoperfusion, hypoxia, hemoptysis, and hypotension?

Hmmm, interesting question.

I'm torn. I doubt that many agents watch HOUSE consistently, or pay close attention to the medicine when they do. I would worry more if you have the same patient. I'm not a big HOUSE fan myself, but I think the attraction of the medicine is to watch HOUSE fence with the patients. The memorable moments probably aren't the medical ones. You can probably still use it.

After all, I doubt there are very many ailments HOUSE hasn't used by now. And showing your chops as a researcher -- though it sounds like you have great ones -- is less important thanshowing that you can catch the voices and reproduce the template of the show.

But you're right, it has gone down in value. I wouldn't spec another HOUSE though. No one's going to read two HOUSE specs from you. I'd spec something else next -- something character-based, not procedural.

Any agents care to comment on this?

Do Canadian Shows Want Specs or Pilots?

Q. I've been reading a lot about shows and agents generally looking to read original materials (spec pilots, etc) as opposed to spec episodes.

I was wondering how (or if) that trend is carrying though in Canada? Are Canadian agents/shows looking for spec episodes or original material? If they're still looking at spec episodes, is the preference Canadian shows, or American shows?

Canadian shows were traditionally more willing to look at spec pilots than American shows, so now the Americans have just caught up.

But you're still better off showing one spec episode (of a hit American show) along with your spec pilot. I can't tell from a pilot if you can write my show. I only know you can write your show. And I don't know how long you've been working on your spec pilot. Maybe years. An up-to-date spec means you can write in a reasonable amount of time.

Season to Taste

McGrath has a brilliant solution to the classic conundrum of how do you spec a serial show.

Headline: write the first episode of a new season.

How Many Scenes?

Q. How many scenes on average make up an act in half-hour comedy?

It depends on the show.

If you're writing a spec episode, get your eyes on a few scripts from the show you're speccing, and count the scenes. That's how many you should have.

If you're doing a spec pilot, get some scripts from a show with a similar format (single camera comedy, sitcom, faux-reality, etc.), and count the scenes.

It's a good idea also to take a look at how many interior scenes there are vs. how many exteriors; how many scenes on standing sets vs. scenes on swing sets or locations; how many scenes have multiple characters vs. how many two-handers. Don't be utterly hogtied by these averages, but use them to check how close you are to what you're seeing on TV.

A Marginal Question

Q. I'm currently on my second draft of a "Pushing Daisies" spec, aiming to submit it to the Warner Bros. Workshop and the Disney Fellowship. From the three sample scripts I've got, it seems they use narrower margins for dialog than other shows, I'm guessing to accommodate the show's narration, which otherwise might bloat the show's page counts.

In this instance, should I mimic the produced scripts to a 'T', or am I running the risk of being thought guilty of "margin-tweaking" in the interest of hitting a desirable page count? Or is this just a judgment call?

Offhand, I'd say that only writers working on PUSHING DAISIES are familiar with the margins the show uses. And you're not going to be showing your spec to them. So I would stick with regular margins.

Anyway, they're not reading your spec to see if you know what margins you use. They're reading your spec to see if you can get the voices and the template right.

But good eye to detail!

Q. My writing partner and I were advised by a writer in the industry not to mimic the specific [formatting] idiosyncrasies of any show because it could throw a reader off. Thus, our PD Narrator isn't bolded or italicized.

Sounds like good advice. See above.

Can I Use an Hour Sample for Half Hour?

I am an aspiring comedy writer, but have chosen to write one of my specs on the NBC show "Chuck" because I know and love the characters. It is an hour long, but entirely different from most dramatic television, it's more of an action-comedy. Is this spec useless to me as a comedy writer even though it has so many comedic elements? Should I not show it to people interested in my work and just crank out a "Two and a Half Men" like so many other people in LA?

Think about it from the showrunner's point of view. If I'm hiring comedy writers, and I get a stack of 12 sitcom scripts, and an hour comedy, who am I going to pick?

Right now there is no shortage of qualified staff writers. You're competing with writers who have credits. You have to really grab people to break out of the pack. Anything short of "you nailed it" equals fail.

That's not to say you can't send it out. A great CHUCK is better than no script. A great TWO AND A HALF MEN (if that's what people are speccing for half hour) is better with a great CHUCK than without it. Your agent might know about a relatively more action-y, more dramatic half hour. And of course, your great CHUCK will be useful for other comic hours.

And maybe you don't want to be a half hour writer, y'know? Maybe if you love CHUCK so much you should consider yourself an hour writer. John Rogers worked on COSBY, and now he's running a one hour heist drama. I guarantee there are laughs in it. I wouldn't worry about CHUCK being sui generis. BUFFY was an action-comedy, too. If you can write action and laughs, there may be hour jobs out there for you too.

Write an Alternate Finale?

Q.  As a fan of the show Stargate Atlantis, I wasn't entirely happy with the recent season finale. I'm thinking about writing an alternate finale as my submission to the ABC/Disney Fellowship.

This is risky for a couple of reasons.

One, Stargate: Atlantis is not a show you can count on anyone having read. It's just not one of the shows that show people are watching. That's why you call agents' assistants to ask what shows people are speccing. You should spec one of the shows everyone's speccing, because those are the shows people are watching.

Two, it's really hard to write a satisfying season finale. Much harder than writing a "center cut" episode. There's just a lot more work to do resolving story arcs and tying up loose ends, while creating a convincing hour of television. So you're raising the bar for yourself.

Finally, the season finale is the culmination of the whole season. You're trying to show how you can pay everything off better than the showrunner. But the reader may not have even seen more than one or two episodes of the show you're writing. You can rely on any decision maker to have seen BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, but you can't count on him knowing every last detail of which Cylons are "out" as Cylons to the humans, and which are secret, and what Baltar did on New Caprica, etc. A season finale is more dependent on detailed knowledge of the season than any other episode. Readers who aren't fans won't get it; readers who are fans may have very strong opinions about whether your approach is canonical or not.

Now these are only risk factors. If your Stargate:Atlantis alternative finale reaches a big S:A fan, and it sings to him, then you have broken out of the pack. High risk can bring high gain. A highly competent CSI may not grab anyone who's had to read twenty other highly competent CSI's. Anything you can do to set yourself apart can work in your favor.

(But I still wouldn't do this for S:A. I just don't think it's got enough buzz.)

What to Spec, Part N

Q. I feel like I know 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and would be best writing a spec for that particular show. But is it a good show to write a spec on? It's successful and a lot of people know the show, but the humor is pretty off-beat and unique. Will agents/producers be able to find the good writing in it and be confident that I could write for a more standard comedy, or should I just pick a show that uses the standard sit-com formula?

The standard wisdom is you write two spec episodes of hit shows that everyone's watching -- ideally shows that have survived their first year but haven't been overexposed. These days many people are asking to read spec pilots.

I just spent a couple of weeks reading about 40 writers for my writing room. I was looking for fresh thinking, so what most grabbed me were the good spec pilots.

The second thing that grabbed me were convincing episodes, spec or not. I read a dead-on ALIAS that could easily have been an episode of the show. I read a cop show script that really played with my sympathies and surprised me. And it had heart.

Most of the spec episodes I read did not impress me. They were plotty police procedurals, and lacked heart. The writers might have been able to do more with a pilot close to their heart. On the other hand, they could easily have failed worse. Nothing is harder to write than a pilot, except possibly a second episode I've done six or eight passes on my pilot for this pay cable show. Certainly if you haven't written much TV before, learn how to write an episode of something on the air before you attempt a pilot. If writing a spec episode is like flying a plane, then writing a spec pilot is like flying a plane you just built yourself from scratch.

So I think you're right to start with a spec episode. And right to spec something that's not a procedural. It's surprisingly hard to show off your special wonderfulness with a CSI.

Now, how about CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM? It's offbeat, it's semi-improvised, not everyone gets it... but it has distinctive voices. And you love it. Yeah, go for it.

Because ultimately what I or anyone else hiring is looking for is great writing. You can really show off your writing in a CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. So much of a police procedural is about procedure, the voices can get lost. (If you are writing a spec police procedural, make sure the voices don't get lost. And make sure the show has heart!)

Spec what you love to watch. You'll have a better sense if you're getting the characters and the template right; and you'll enjoy yourself. If you're not enjoying yourself writing, we probably won't enjoy reading you.