If you want to get a job writing for television, you can forget about polishing your resume, because that’s not going to help you. To get a job as a television writer, you’re going to have to prove one thing; that you can write for television. To prove that, you will need to write a couple of spec scripts.

A spec script is a sample episode of an existing television show. It isn’t written to be sold to that show, it is written to prove to producers that you have the skills and talent that would make you a good fit as a staff writer for their shows. They want to know that you can write within an existing show’s format and structure, reproduce a show’s tone, and write convincing dialogue for a show’s main characters. They also like to see that you can tell a good story; one that makes your spec script stand out from the rest.

Bill Lawrence— the co-creator of Spin City, creator of Scrubs, and co-creator of Cougar Town—explained that he was not aware of this when he was trying to get his first job writing for television:

“When I first got out to LA., I didn’t know anything about the process of getting staffed or what kinds of spec scripts to write. In fact, most people don’t. What you are really supposed to do is write an episode of one of your favorite shows, and it becomes a virtual resume for you.”

Most people who want to write for television have at least two spec scripts that their agents send out to producers who are looking for new writers to staff their shows (if you don’t have an agent, then your spec scripts can be used to help convince an agent to take you on as a client). Having at least two spec scripts is recommended because multiple scripts can demonstrate diversity in your writing skill, and make it more likely that you will have the type of script a particular show’s producers want to read.

Also, the more spec scripts you have, the less vulnerable you will be if one of your scripts becomes obsolete.  Even Joss Whedon—creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and the upcoming Marvel television series S.H.E.I.L.D— who was a third generation screenwriter with a degree in film studies, needed more than one spec script to get his first job on a writing staff:

“The first spec script I wrote was for a TV show called Just in Time. The show got cancelled before I finished the script…Then I wrote a few more scripts…That spec was what got me hired as a staff writer on Roseanne.”

To avoid writing a spec script that becomes obsolete too quickly, you should pick shows that are well established and very likely to return next season; but also make sure that the shows haven’t been on the air so long that the producers are tired of seeing spec scripts from that show. Many producers advise using a second year show that everyone in Hollywood is watching and discussing. It needs to be a show that will be very familiar to the readers, because even if they agree to read a spec script on a show that they’re not very familiar with, they won’t have enough information to know whether or not you captured the show’s format, structure, tone, and characters.

If you have a particular show that you would love to work on, don’t write a spec script for that show thinking you can use it to get a job on their writing staff.  There are legal concerns with writers sending spec scripts specific to a producer’s own show: They usually won’t read spec scripts for their show because they don’t want to be accused of stealing ideas. If there is a show you really want to work on, you should spec another show that is similar to it in format, tone, or style. But make sure that other show is one you really like and understand.

Once you have selected a show, now it is time to make sure that you understand the show at a deep enough level to write a convincing spec script. You can do this by watching as many episodes of the show as you can, reading the scripts of a few episodes (you can buy these online), and gathering background information about the show. Then, pick out three or four episodes of the show and watch them several times while taking notes on different elements of the show. The first viewing can be to increase your understanding of the show’s format and structure; a second viewing can be to focus on dialogue and the voice of the characters; and a third viewing can be done with the sound off, so that you can focus on the way the show looks. Keep watching until you feel that you have all the information you need to begin to write your spec script.

When you are writing your spec script, you should try to make it just like a real episode of the show. The fact that you are writing on a subject that the reader already knows is what makes the spec script so valuable in their effort to judge your writing skill. They know what you are trying to accomplish, and now they just need to see if you are successful. Therefore, you want to use the show’s main character and avoid bringing in outside characters for anything more than quick supporting roles. The readers want to see if you can write other people’s characters, not your own. Also, use the show’s existing sets so that they can imagine the characters in their usual settings. It is also important to write the spec so that it would be able to fit in anywhere within the show’s current season. And, above all else, make sure that your spec script doesn’t resolve the show’s central conflict.

The standards for spec scripts are very high. If you are lucky enough to have someone read your specs, you want it to be the best you are capable of writing. You should show your scripts to a few people— such as friends, family, or members of your writing group—to get feedback before sending it out. It is important that the specs be formatted like the show’s own scripts, and that there are no typos or formatting mistakes. Bill Lawrence explains why this is important:

“No one realizes that when I get someone’s script, it is usually one of fifty I received that week. Even though this may sound superficial, my advice is that it better look right. I mean it better not have misspellings and it better look exactly like the shooting draft does of that particular show.”

Once you have your two spec scripts written, it’s a good idea to keep writing new ones so that your writing samples stay up to date. Many writers continue to write spec scripts even after they get a job on the writing staff of a show. That way, when they need to make their next move, they will be ready with fresh material that demonstrates the new skills they have picked up while working on the show. And, if you are just getting started writing spec scripts, writing a lot of them will undoubtedly improve your writing skills and your speed—which will come in handy if you do get that job writing for television.

Resources:

Created By…Inside the Minds of TV’s Top Show Creators, by Steven Priggé

Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box,

It’s likely that most of the 2012 television shows premiering this year have debuted their first episode. It is just as likely, you, the viewer, have already decided you will never watch “Are You There, Chelsea?” And if you haven’t, NBC decided for you.

In honor of 2012’s offering of winners and losers, New Show Studios takes a look back at 20 years of premieres you hated, forgot about or never even heard of.

1992 — Great Scott!, FOX

Nineteen-ninety-two was a good year for TV: George Bush threw up on Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa’s lap and Johnny Carson capped off a seminal, 30-year career as host of “The Tonight Show.” Oh, and FOX premiered “Great Scott!” starring a young Tobey Maguire. This dandy also starred Kevin Connolly, who has been just as unappealing as Eric in “Entourage” and Conor in “He’s Just Not That Into You.”

1993 – Class of ’96, FOX

Starring “Heavenly Kid” Jason Gedrick, “‘96” focused on seven students at Havenhurst College in New England. Although the seven had come from different backgrounds, circumstance led them to become friends. The series dealt with the differences, both in personality and social status, of the group of friends, the challenges they faced in their first year of college, and social issues such as racism and sexism. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

1994 — The Cosby Mysteries, NBC

“The Cosby Show” ended in 1992, and Bill Cosby began looking for ways to get audiences to not like him as much. He found a vehicle for this in “The Cosby Mysteries.”

1995 — The Office, CBS

There are people who prefer the BBC “The Office” and people who prefer NBC’s version. But how many times have you heard someone in a bar loudly arguing the credence of Valerie Harper’s “The Office”?

1996 – Homeboys in Outer Space, UPN

UPN is noted for passing on shows like  “American Idol,” and “Malcolm in the Middle,” which were both offered to the network before being picked up by FOX. Sorry Bryan Cranston, we’ll take our chances with Flex Alexander.

1997 — Hiller and Diller, ABC

You’d think this combo platter of delectable ’90s haircuts would have carried “Hiller and Diller” up until the arrival of millennial faux hawks. Best friends Ted Hiller (Kevin Nealon) and Neil Diller (Richard Lewis) are two comedy writers for a television show with two very opposite families. Just like “The Odd Couple,” but not funny, successful or appealing.

1998 — The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, UPN

Wikipedia: A black English nobleman named Desmond Pfeiffer (the “P” IS silent) is kidnapped by his enemies and sent to America on a slave ship. He eventually becomes President Abraham Lincoln‘s valet. In the show, he serves as the intelligent and erudite backbone of a Civil War-era White House populated by louts and drunkards. Wait, what?

1999 – Movie Stars, WB

This show stars Harry Hamlin. Thank you.

2000 – The Michael Richards Show, NBC

Two years after the success of “Seinfeld” and seven years before his racist tirade at The Laugh Factory, Michael Richards had his own show for a season. Michael Richards played a reality-challenged but successful private detective, Vic Nardozza, who gets the job done despite his unconventional methods. USA would make this concept work with Tony Shalhoub in 2002 as “Monk.”

2001 – That’s My Bush!, Comedy Central

There’s no amount of punctuation in the title that could make this show good. Possibly the only stinker Trey Parker and Matt Stone ever conceived of, “That’s My Bush” stars, and we use the term loosely, Timothy Bottoms as President George W. Bush.

2002 – Late world with Zach, VH1

Before “Between Two Ferns,” Zach Galifinakis hosted a talk show that apparently nobody laughed at. God bless VH1 for trying, though.

2003 — The Mullets, UPN

Short in the front and long in comedic value, mullets dominated the magnets and calendars of your unfunny coworkers for most of the early aughts. Leave it to UPN to spin gold into hair.

2004 – Come to Papa, NBC

Tom Papa stars as a reporter for a large newspaper who has bigger plans to become a comedy writer and move out of Jersey. Our guess is that Tom never got any farther west than West New York.

2005 — Jake in Progress, ABC

“Jake in Progress” was supposed to be a real-time comedy, paced in a way similar to the pacing of FOX’s hit “24.” But the thing about comedies is that you need a comedian, and “Jake in Progress” starred John Stamos.

2006 – Crumbs, ABC

According to Wikipedia, “The series was officially cancelled on May 13, 2006.” We’re guessing the decision to terminate this Fred Savage joint came five months too late for ABC.

2007 — The Black Donnellys, NBC

Created by Paul Haggis, screenwriter of “Crash” and “Million Dollar Baby,” this show was destined to succeed. But, it didn’t. The Black Donnellys starred Michael Stahl-David, who once guest-starred on “Numb3rs.”

2008 — Canterbury’s Law, FOX

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A television series centered on a tough-minded defense attorney who isn’t afraid to push boundaries in order to protect innocent clients.

2009 – Accidentally on Purpose, CBS

That oxymoronic title makes us laugh! And since the title was borrowed from a book of the same name, CBS and “Accidentally on Purpose” are responsible for 0-1 in the laughs scored from this stinker. Billie (Jenna Elfman), a San Francisco movie critic in her 30s, meets Zack (Jon Foster), an aspiring chef in his 20s, at a local bar and they have a one-night stand. She soon finds out that she is pregnant, and decides to keep the baby. Now we’re cooking!

2010 – Outsourced, NBC

Not since “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” (see 1998) has there been a more contrived commentary of the differences between ethnicities.

2011 — Mad Love

You’d think that show with that girl, who is the sidekick in every romantic comedy would have done better.

DOA, 2012:

Alcatraz, FOX

Are You There, Chelsea?, FOX

Awake, NBC

Best Friends Forever, NBC

Bent, NBC

The Finder, FOX

The Firm, NBC

GCB, ABC

Missing, ABC

Napoleon Dynamite, FOX

NYC 22, CBS

Remodeled, CW

Rob, CBS

Work It, ABC

Time-shifted viewing. What?!

It sounds surreal and slightly Sci-fi to me, but it is just another buzzword that reflects the way we watch television in a TiVo DVR era.

The article I link to below explains it all in great detail. You see, ratings change when we can watch what we want…when we want.

We no longer have to choose between shows that air at the same time. We can now laugh at the notion of having to make choices. We hold all the cards, time is on our side, scheduled broadcast times mean nothing to us.

Maybe we have to tread lightly around the water cooler and demand spoiler alerts when our pesky coworkers or neighbors are gabbing about something we haven’t watched yet. But beyond that, our technology make us the bosses of the TV universe.

Life is good.

It is particularly good for the many shows mentioned in this article, as they lead the league in shows whose viewership has the highest percentage of time-shifted viewing. Popular shows that have become even more popular when time is no longer of the essence.

While speculation is dangerous in the constantly evolving and time-shifting world of TV, it occurs to me that the ability to watch anything at any time has to, in some small part, level the playing field. Two great shows in the same time slot or overlapping slots no longer have to be in direct competition.

We merely have to have a suggestion that something is worth watching and then give it a shot at our leisure. An inconvenient time slot, on a night when we are busy or engrossed in some other show, is an obstacle no more…

It makes the idea of waiting for a rerun seem rather archaic. And just maybe, thanks to time-shifting, good shows will have a better shot at capturing loyal viewership and decent ratings.

Until Next Time….

http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/07/31/tivo-s-20-most-time-shifted-tv-shows-of-2011-12-mad-men-fringe-more.html

Will streaming video sink Blu-ray? No

It’s unlikely streaming-video services will kill off Blu-ray. But there is indisputable evidence that companies like Netflix, iTunes and Hulu — who all provide online-viewing services — can hinder Blu-ray sales.

According to Bloomberg:  “Online movie viewing in the U.S. will exceed digital video disc and Blu-ray use for the first time this year, according to researcher IHS Screen Digest. Legal online viewings of films will more than double to 3.4 billion this year from 1.4 billion in 2011, IHS said … in a statement. Physical viewings of DVDs and Blu-ray discs will shrink to 2.4 billion from 2.6 billion, according to the forecast.”

Bloomberg makes a credible case for a declining Blu-ray market, but certainly not the total annihilation of the medium. So, more consumers are streaming TV and video. OK. But are fewer consumers buying Blu-ray currently? Not necessarily.

USA TODAY reported earlier this year that “the number of U.S. homes with Blu-ray players grew to 40 million, 38 percent higher than in 2010.”

“Consumers want to consume different movies in different places,” says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and DEG vice president. “There are consumers who are more interested in (only) having movies in the cloud. They can actually start that collection today. That doesn’t mean physical discs will go away completely.”

With conflicting statistics that can easily be manipulated to support either viewpoint, what’s the takeaway? Well, VHS didn’t destroy movie theaters. TV didn’t eliminate radio. And Internet news has not (yet) killed hard-copy news.

There will always be consumers who desire to own something tangible: a record, a Blu-ray, a newspaper. So while a shift in consumer statistics may indicate that the way we consume media may be changing, it is not indicative of a complete elimination of large demographics of buyers.

According to CNET, here are the top 40 movies that should be viewed on Blu-ray:  Click Here

Source:  http://smarthouse.com.au/Gaming/Industry/G6U7U2T3

Irna Phillips was often called the “Queen of the Soaps,” but earning that title was anything but easy for her.

Phillips had a clear idea of who she wanted to be and always knew it was an actress. In college, she dreamed of beginning her acting career, but some of her school administrators doubted that her looks would get her very far in the industry. This caused her to turn to teaching. She taught in Dayton, Ohio for five years teaching drama and theater history. All the while, she never forgot about her dream of acting. Phillips performed several acting roles for radio productions at WGN in Chicago. While teaching, she realized she could never be happy being a teacher for the rest of her life, so she quit.

Irna pursued her dream and landed a job at WGN as a voice-over artist and actress. Soon after she was hired, the station asked her to create a daily program that was “about a family.” That’s when she came up with Painted Dreams, which premiered on October 20, 1930. This show is recognized today as radio’s first soap opera.

In the years to come, Phillips wrote several successful radio soap operas, including The Guiding Light. By this time, she had given up acting all together to devote all her time to writing.  In 1943, just over ten years from her start, she had five programs on the air and she was putting out over two million words a year. Irna pioneered many of the clichéd devices used today, such as organ music to blend one scene to the next, and cliff-hanger endings. She was also the first to address social concerns in her storylines.

In 1952, she reluctantly brought her creations to television with the premiere of The Guiding Light. Then on April 2, 1956 As the World Turns had its first show and would eventually become her most successful show. Although those are some of the most noted shows, she wrote other popular shows like, Another World and Days of Our Lives.

All of these shows were Irna’s heart and soul. Some people say that she even tried to live out the life of some of her characters. She led the way for many writers who dream of one day being as successful and as innovative as she once was.

“None of us is different, except in degree. None of us is a stranger to success and failure, life and death, the need to be loved, the struggle to communicate.”   –  Irna Phillips