coming up for air...
You may have noticed that I haven't posted in a while... okay, in a LONG while... ;-)
I've been doing my best to keep up with everything, and my apologies to those of you who keep checking here only to find the same old information. I don't suppose it will help to say that I'm just now coming back up for air after an intense (and challenging) couple of writing months? Or that my brain has been fried? Or that the dog ate my homework? Okay, okay, ya got me: I don't have a dog.
So here's what happened... at the end of July, we got notes. Notes are a usual thing you get whenever you turn in a draft of anything, be it the overall arc for the season, an episode beat sheet, a script, or the lovely little haiku you composed about global warming (note to self: network execs are way too busy to fully appreciate the glory of first-draft haikus on global warming). In a perfect world, the notes get less significant - and there are less of them - the more drafts of something you do and the farther along you are in the process. So, for example, the first draft of a beat sheet may (and probably will) get you significant notes that cause significant story and/or scene changes... by the time you write the first draft of the script, the notes are typically not story-changing but are focused more on character, story clarity, tone, etc... and then by the time you've done several drafts of a script, the notes are mainly dialogue polishes. Sounds perfectly do-able, right? Aaah, I can almost hear the birds chirping in my happy writing wonderland...
Except that we don't live in a perfect world...
In an imperfect world, all the execs are doing their absolute best to get us notes as quickly as possible - but sometimes things get in the way. Usually, those things are not a huge deal. For example, maybe you turn in a draft of a beat sheet but one of the execs who needs to give notes is on set for another show, or is traveling, or is buried under piles of paper in their office waiting for Search & Rescue to come save them. It would be nifty if you, the writer, could simply kick back with a margarita and your TV remote and just relax in your barcalounger until that executive is able to give his or her notes... but with preproduction deadlines looming and eight scripts to write, you don't have that luxury. So, you forge ahead with all the notes you do have - and then incorporate the new notes from the recently-rescued executive once you get them. See: Not a huge deal.
Except then there are times when the imperfect world is experiencing a full moon and mercury is in retrograde and toilets start flushing the opposite way and the hot water tap delivers cold water and some of the key executives have been - for reasons completely beyond anyone's control - unable to weigh in on any of the documents you've turned in until you're months into the project, with several scripts in progress, and the rest of the beat sheets in development. And then you get their notes... and the notes are significant enough that you have to go back to square one on your scripts... and on your beat sheets... all the way back to the characters' loglines in some cases... with only a month to go before the start of preproduction... and that's when you take a moment with your blankie, and you cry...
So, that was the world I marched into at the end of July. I'll be honest, it's been pretty stressful. No margaritas in my barcalounger... lots of coffee (yes, with vanilla creamer)... and a lot of missed sleep... The good news is that the overall arc of the season didn't change - meaning, where each of the characters starts the season and ends the season is exactly the same - but the paths they take to get there... their individual storylines that make up each episode... much of that was out the window.
But let me also say this: If this situation isn't exactly ideal for the writers, it's definitely not ideal for the executives either. Because when the writers have to go back to the drawing board on the first scripts of the season, the same preproduction deadlines are still looming... and the execs are waiting... and then all of a sudden the writer's fast and furious pace causes the executives (who, as you may remember, were just barely found by Search & Rescue) to be buried under a whole new pile of scripts and beat sheets and first drafts and rewrites... and then we need their notes to be able to continue moving forward... And did I mention this isn't the only show they're working on?
So now you're probably thinking to yourself: Yikes! It sounds horrible! The season must be a mess! Michelle must be in an asylum wearing one of those scary-looking white jackets! The executives must be bald from pulling their hair out! What will happen to Jen? What will happen to Sam? Will Chris and Kris ever stop dressing alike? And Crutch? And Emmy? What will happen to the 5-foot tall beaver mascot at the Beever Cafe? And...???
Never fear, friends... Things are actually in good shape - and getting better every day. Billy and I have been keeping an insane work pace, churning out new scripts and beat sheets at a speed that even makes our heads spin. The network pushed our start date by 2 weeks, which means that preproduction officially started yesterday (instead of two weeks ago), giving us that much more time with the scripts. And the changes we've made to the stories and scripts have been really, really good... For as challenging as the last few months have been, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to have made all these changes because the season will be all the better for it. Not that what we were doing before July 30 wasn't good. It was. We loved the stories we were working with. But hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and I think being forced to go back over everything with a different eye has really helped us pull everything into focus (wow - a lot of optometric analogies there!).
Anyhow, so that's where we are now... and where I am now. The production offices are up and running. Key crew members are starting their work. Episode 201 is being distributed around the office later this morning. Casting for recurring characters is underway. I'm already starting to wear my EP hat for production questions/concerns. And everyone is excited to get going. Including me.
Of course, there's still A LOT to do on this end before I can relax with that margarita... one more first draft needs to be written, a lot of rewriting needs to happen, and I haven't even thought about packing yet! But it's coming together... and getting a little easier with each passing day... and now that you've read the rough stuff, I'll share with you a very funny story of something that happened to me at my absolute low point in all this. It's very Jen-esque...
But you'll have to wait for the next post for that story... because if I keep typing, I won't have any typing-energy left for episode 208 later this morning... and I have writing to do!
More soon - I promise!
I've been doing my best to keep up with everything, and my apologies to those of you who keep checking here only to find the same old information. I don't suppose it will help to say that I'm just now coming back up for air after an intense (and challenging) couple of writing months? Or that my brain has been fried? Or that the dog ate my homework? Okay, okay, ya got me: I don't have a dog.
So here's what happened... at the end of July, we got notes. Notes are a usual thing you get whenever you turn in a draft of anything, be it the overall arc for the season, an episode beat sheet, a script, or the lovely little haiku you composed about global warming (note to self: network execs are way too busy to fully appreciate the glory of first-draft haikus on global warming). In a perfect world, the notes get less significant - and there are less of them - the more drafts of something you do and the farther along you are in the process. So, for example, the first draft of a beat sheet may (and probably will) get you significant notes that cause significant story and/or scene changes... by the time you write the first draft of the script, the notes are typically not story-changing but are focused more on character, story clarity, tone, etc... and then by the time you've done several drafts of a script, the notes are mainly dialogue polishes. Sounds perfectly do-able, right? Aaah, I can almost hear the birds chirping in my happy writing wonderland...
Except that we don't live in a perfect world...
In an imperfect world, all the execs are doing their absolute best to get us notes as quickly as possible - but sometimes things get in the way. Usually, those things are not a huge deal. For example, maybe you turn in a draft of a beat sheet but one of the execs who needs to give notes is on set for another show, or is traveling, or is buried under piles of paper in their office waiting for Search & Rescue to come save them. It would be nifty if you, the writer, could simply kick back with a margarita and your TV remote and just relax in your barcalounger until that executive is able to give his or her notes... but with preproduction deadlines looming and eight scripts to write, you don't have that luxury. So, you forge ahead with all the notes you do have - and then incorporate the new notes from the recently-rescued executive once you get them. See: Not a huge deal.
Except then there are times when the imperfect world is experiencing a full moon and mercury is in retrograde and toilets start flushing the opposite way and the hot water tap delivers cold water and some of the key executives have been - for reasons completely beyond anyone's control - unable to weigh in on any of the documents you've turned in until you're months into the project, with several scripts in progress, and the rest of the beat sheets in development. And then you get their notes... and the notes are significant enough that you have to go back to square one on your scripts... and on your beat sheets... all the way back to the characters' loglines in some cases... with only a month to go before the start of preproduction... and that's when you take a moment with your blankie, and you cry...
So, that was the world I marched into at the end of July. I'll be honest, it's been pretty stressful. No margaritas in my barcalounger... lots of coffee (yes, with vanilla creamer)... and a lot of missed sleep... The good news is that the overall arc of the season didn't change - meaning, where each of the characters starts the season and ends the season is exactly the same - but the paths they take to get there... their individual storylines that make up each episode... much of that was out the window.
But let me also say this: If this situation isn't exactly ideal for the writers, it's definitely not ideal for the executives either. Because when the writers have to go back to the drawing board on the first scripts of the season, the same preproduction deadlines are still looming... and the execs are waiting... and then all of a sudden the writer's fast and furious pace causes the executives (who, as you may remember, were just barely found by Search & Rescue) to be buried under a whole new pile of scripts and beat sheets and first drafts and rewrites... and then we need their notes to be able to continue moving forward... And did I mention this isn't the only show they're working on?
So now you're probably thinking to yourself: Yikes! It sounds horrible! The season must be a mess! Michelle must be in an asylum wearing one of those scary-looking white jackets! The executives must be bald from pulling their hair out! What will happen to Jen? What will happen to Sam? Will Chris and Kris ever stop dressing alike? And Crutch? And Emmy? What will happen to the 5-foot tall beaver mascot at the Beever Cafe? And...???
Never fear, friends... Things are actually in good shape - and getting better every day. Billy and I have been keeping an insane work pace, churning out new scripts and beat sheets at a speed that even makes our heads spin. The network pushed our start date by 2 weeks, which means that preproduction officially started yesterday (instead of two weeks ago), giving us that much more time with the scripts. And the changes we've made to the stories and scripts have been really, really good... For as challenging as the last few months have been, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to have made all these changes because the season will be all the better for it. Not that what we were doing before July 30 wasn't good. It was. We loved the stories we were working with. But hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and I think being forced to go back over everything with a different eye has really helped us pull everything into focus (wow - a lot of optometric analogies there!).
Anyhow, so that's where we are now... and where I am now. The production offices are up and running. Key crew members are starting their work. Episode 201 is being distributed around the office later this morning. Casting for recurring characters is underway. I'm already starting to wear my EP hat for production questions/concerns. And everyone is excited to get going. Including me.
Of course, there's still A LOT to do on this end before I can relax with that margarita... one more first draft needs to be written, a lot of rewriting needs to happen, and I haven't even thought about packing yet! But it's coming together... and getting a little easier with each passing day... and now that you've read the rough stuff, I'll share with you a very funny story of something that happened to me at my absolute low point in all this. It's very Jen-esque...
But you'll have to wait for the next post for that story... because if I keep typing, I won't have any typing-energy left for episode 208 later this morning... and I have writing to do!
More soon - I promise!
posted by MP at 3:59 AM
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