How do you like your stakes? I personally like them big and rare. But Broadcast Executives like them big and often.

So what are the stakes for the characters in your show? What do they need to accomplish and what happens if they don’t do it?

A well-written show will almost always have a reason that the characters need to get something done. And they generally need to get it done by a certain time.

If the characters don’t have stakes in the game, than it makes it harder for the viewers to care. And if the viewers aren’t going to care, the Execs aren’t going to either. …readmore

“Have I got a story for you!”

Story story story. Development Executives will tell you a good show is all about the story. “Story is everything. If you do not have a story, you do not have a show.”

And they’re right. However, you need a vessel to convey these stories to your audience. And those vessels are your characters. …readmore

Well it’s Halloween. A time for dressing up like things that should be so scary they make you lose sleep. Ghosts, and goblins and TV execs that ask you questions you don’t know the answers to!

There is one thing that separates a TV show idea from a TV show. Well, actually there a lot of things, but one of the first things is knowing what your show will look like from beginning to end, so that when you sit with an Executive and they say “So what happens in your show?” you can tell them, from start to finish. …readmore

In the previous blog, Give Me Control!, I wrote, “remember to make your show as thorough as possible, not leaving anything to the imagination”.

I’ve spoken about this before, but it was in the last 2 months that I realized even more how vital it is to know and understand why your show is like it is. If something is a certain way, you need to know the reasons for it, and the reasons why doing it differently would change thescope of the show.

And I know I’ve touched on this previously as well, but, these reasons are not part of your pitch, but you need to know the answer to the question, “Why is this like this?” before you take your show to market. Because the question will get asked later. …readmore

Remember the good ol’ days of writing? When you would type and type and type on your trusty typewriter only to realize that what you were writing was complete and utter crap? You would rip the page from the typewriter, crumple it into a ball, and throw it with disgust at the already overflowing garbage pail in the corner.

Never done that? Yeah me neither. …readmore

The elusive magical sentence that encapsulates your entire show and makes people want to hear more. This is why you should already be working on it.

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