UNPRODUCED GOODNESS N' STUFF
Can't seem to get enough Firefly? How about an unproduced script by the show's story editor (and fellow Carl Sautter alumnus) Cheryl Cain?
Firefly: "Dead or Alive"
Hey, how about John August's kick-ass pilot for Ops.
Ops: "Blood and Oil"
Also, this hilarious script that had been making the rounds last year about a group of terrorists that are just diggin' the sweet, sweet infidel life a bit too much.
The Cell: "Pilot"
This kind of goes to a topic Jane Espenson had been talking about recently. The novelty spec script. In her examples, they were mostly reconstructions and deconstructions of classic TV shows. In this case, it's just a damn funny script that no network would have the guts to actually touch, but it got these guys a lot of attention.
I've been trying to decide if I want to potentially waste my time with doing one of these novelty scripts. Yes, it does have the advantage of maybe grabbing the eye of a showrunner looking for something other than Cold Case and Desperate Housewives specs, but there seems to be the split on whether or not it should be some kind of pop culture deconstruction piece or of one should really just nail the show and do a "lost episode" kind of thing.
And then, would I even have the guts to let that script go out when I know I've got perfectly good specs? Or maybe one of the pilots would cover that "something different" angle.
What would I write? I've got it narrowed down to Hogan's Heroes, Moonlighting and Remington Steele.
I'm not doin' it.
Probably.
Firefly: "Dead or Alive"
Hey, how about John August's kick-ass pilot for Ops.
Ops: "Blood and Oil"
Also, this hilarious script that had been making the rounds last year about a group of terrorists that are just diggin' the sweet, sweet infidel life a bit too much.
The Cell: "Pilot"
This kind of goes to a topic Jane Espenson had been talking about recently. The novelty spec script. In her examples, they were mostly reconstructions and deconstructions of classic TV shows. In this case, it's just a damn funny script that no network would have the guts to actually touch, but it got these guys a lot of attention.
I've been trying to decide if I want to potentially waste my time with doing one of these novelty scripts. Yes, it does have the advantage of maybe grabbing the eye of a showrunner looking for something other than Cold Case and Desperate Housewives specs, but there seems to be the split on whether or not it should be some kind of pop culture deconstruction piece or of one should really just nail the show and do a "lost episode" kind of thing.
And then, would I even have the guts to let that script go out when I know I've got perfectly good specs? Or maybe one of the pilots would cover that "something different" angle.
What would I write? I've got it narrowed down to Hogan's Heroes, Moonlighting and Remington Steele.
I'm not doin' it.
Probably.
3 Comments:
The other approach I've been thinking about revolves around the erstwhile rule to never write a script for the show you want to work on.
Turning that on its head, I'm thinking why don't I write a novelty script for the show I never want to work on? Seeing as I never want to work on it, I can go a bit crazy. So far it's as much fun writing as I've had in a long time.
Thanks for that link to The Cell, I have been hoping that would turn up! Well done!
cheers
Dave
I do think that it's a real gamble, at least if you don't have two or three traditional specs that you've really nailed. So big risk, but potentially great returns if you really do it well. Good luck!
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