I remember the first one, but when was that episode on the left?
Have you ever watched an episode of your favorite TV show, only to say to yourself afterwards, “I could write a better story than that!” It’s happened to all of us. Your favorite couple breaks up, someone does something you’d never have thought them capable of, or it’s just so boring that the ads are more interesting. Well, maybe you can write something better! In any case, you won’t know until you try!
“But,” you say, “I’m no professional writer. Sure, I know the friends on Friends better than those lousy Warner Brothers writers, but it was pure luck that I passed English Comp. I’ve never written anything longer than a note to my friend in the back of class, and those thank you notes my Mom makes me send my grandmother after Christmas each year.” But somewhere back there, there’s a TV writer just screaming to get out. Isn’t there? No? Oh, well maybe you’d be better off at TV Land. Still with me? Great.
Before we get down to business, there is one last caution: at this time, Star Trek: Voyager is the only series that accepts unsolicited material from unagented writers. So, though I’m going to try to be broad-minded, there will be several references to Roddenberry’s legacy. If you can’t stand Star Trek, just go straight to the Writer’s Guild of America and dig for your own information. OK, now let’s get going.
There are three main ways to get your ideas made into a TV show. A pitch session, a treatment, and a spec script.
A pitch session is an opportunity to share your ideas with one or more of a show’s writing staff. You, as the prospective writer, bring with you a few ideas to toss out, and they listen for ones that sound good. If you are invited to pitch, be ready to share both a short version and a long version of a story line. If they like the short version, they will ask you to go into more detail. Being able to think on one’s feet is important here. If they really like an idea, they’ll take it up with the big cheese – whoever’s in charge of giving the go-ahead on buying stories. Then you get to begin the longest part of writing for TV – waiting. You’ll eventually get a call telling you whether or not they are going to buy your idea, and if they want you to write out the first draft of the script. Another possible outcome of the pitch session is their telling you that, while an idea seemed good, it wasn’t developed well enough, and if you should happen to work on it more, they would be interested in hearing it again. That’s a good sign. They have to say if because of WGA rules; if they didn’t, they’d be asking you to work on it, and would have to pay you.
Another way that TV studios get ideas is through story treatments. A treatment is a short version of the script, summarizing the story in a couple of pages. More developed than a pitch, it leaves out many small details, focusing on broad descriptions of the scenes. You may include a few lines, just for the feel of things, but it is not a script.
A spec script is a much bigger deal than the previous two ways of getting your ideas across. But if you want to get your ideas on TV, at least as far as Star Trek goes, you must first write a spec script. A spec script is so called because you are speculating if it will be bought. Even if it is not bought by Paramount, it is still possible that you may be invited to pitch; the problem may be that they have already planned a show that is very similar, that they are planning to kill off one of the main characters in your story, that they feel one of the parts doesn’t fit with a new character development that’s in the works, any number of things other than your writing. It gives them a chance to see your style, and see if you’ve got a grip on the show. Here’s a hint: no big, expensive special effects, and no two-part episodes. If they should buy an idea from a pitch session later on, they want to know that they can trust you to write the first draft of the script. If you are asked to do so, even if you turn in a script with crazy characters and a $5 million special effects sequence, they still have to pay you. So the first spec script is insurance for them that you can, indeed, write well.
Which brings us to the question: How well can you write? Will it get your script on TV? Well, here are a few hints, mostly from the script submission guidelines for Voyager and the homepage of Dean Wesley Smith, the judge of an annual amateur writing contest. One of the most important things to do is to focus on the main characters. Duh, right? But it's easy to forget. If you introduce a new friend to Friends, or a new Alien of the Week to Star Trek, make sure that the main characters still have stuff to do, and get some character growth. They are why people are watching the show week after week. Start with something to grab the attention of the audience - and the writing staff. Never start a story with a character who is bored, sad, or getting out of bed, unless you can do it very, very well. It’s boring. Make sure that your characters’ lines are…what else, in character! To use Mr. Smith’s example of a poorly-written line: Captain Kirk said, "I’m just a little bit uptight today." Um, yeah. NOT! Also, watch for hidden tongue twisters and the like. Always remember that the characters, no matter how much you love them, must fail. Watch an episode of that favorite show, and see if this isn’t true. If they solved their problem right away at the beginning, the show would be over before the first ad break. Make sure your plot is original, especially if you’re writing for Star Trek: they’ve had three series, nine movies, and several seasons of Voyager at this point, so make sure that your script isn’t a repeat of anything. (Now that’s doing your homework.) Actually, the quantity of ideas that they need for original scripts each week is the reason they accept spec scripts from the unagented. They need all the help they can get.
As with any writing, two of the best things you can do are these: PRACTICE! and, set goals for yourself -- for example, writing five pages a day. Make sure they’re goals you can control. Don’t set a goal that depends on others. Having a script bought in a year is not reasonable; not only do these things take time, but your goal depends on others. How about a goal of having submitted one or two in a certain amount of time? And while you’re at it, make sure you follow the set guidelines. Don’t make scripts too long (as a general rule, one page=one minute). Include a cover letter. Bind it at the left, or whatever the rules are for the people you’re submitting your story to. Make sure that you check, and then follow the instructions exactly. Once you’ve sent it in, you get the priviledge of waiting. Don’t call every day to ask if they’ve looked at it yet. Don’t fly to Hollywood to check up on it. Just wait. And wait. And wait some more. And while you wait, try writing another. And another. Keep going till you hear back. And remember: never give up!
I hope this little tutorial has been helpful to you. For more information, visit some of the links on the previous page. I’ll be looking for your name in lights!