How do I commision a writer?

[sunsetdreams]

Hi, I just want to know how to commision a gay or team of gay writers to write a gay tv drama series? The drama is called 'Sunset Dreams' and I want a fun but interesting drama about a group of gay friends living in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Please advise.

[Jack Scribe]

Hi, I just want to know how to commision a gay or team of gay writers to write a gay tv drama series? The drama is called 'Sunset Dreams' and I want a fun but interesting drama about a group of gay friends living in Fort Lauderdale.

 

I suggest you check out some of the stories posted on this GA site and determine who has a feel for dialogue, character development, imagination and general skills in telling a story that match your criteria. We all have different styles in this literary cafeteria.

 

After you find authors that project a feeling you're looking for, contact them. Getting paid with real money would be a nice change.

 

Good luck.

Jack

[JamesSavik]

Pay Pal, cashier check or a simple briefcase full of cash would get my attention.

 

But seriously folks- there are any number of writers who could do this project. The trick is finding one [or several] who will.

 

Screenwriting is a quite different from the traditional forms that most writers here are familiar with. It is a brutal area to work in because you are writing for a team: producers, directors, studio peeps, actors, actresses- all of which WILL want to have some input into the process. Writing is usually a solitary task and many writers have great difficulty adjusting to what is, by necessity, essentially a collaboration.

 

Many writers of novels and short stories who see their work (mal)adapted to the big screen or television are horrified at the results.

 

Last year I was part of a collaboration called Collision which was a novel written in round-robin fashion. IMHO it worked fairly well because I did my home work and talked to other authors that had participated in past round-robins and learned from their mistakes.

 

I wrote a document called the Gameplan and the first chapter of the story (which was a mystery BTW).

 

the Gameplan established the setting, major characters and their relationships. It profiled the main characters, what they drive, hobbies, what they listen to, background, etc. The setting was very generic: a mid-sized US city named Springfield (yeah we stole it from the Simpson's ).

 

The first chapter kicked off the story, set the tone and set up hooks for the other authors to follow.

 

For any collaboration to work, guidelines are necessary to maintain order. No one author KNEW exactly what the answer to the mystery was. We figured it out one chapter at a time and it worked very well. [Collision is hosted at Awesomedude, CrvBoy and Deweywriter].

 

 

I would suggest a fresh approach to the series. BREAK THE SHIT COM MOLD! Destroy it. Set it on fire. Discard the ashes. The genre is a frequently beaten dead horse and everybody is sick of it. Slop-operas are pretty tired too. Many people avoid them because they are tightly woven and if you miss an episode, you are lost.

 

Rather than a shit-com or slop-opera format, I would suggest a PLAY HOUSE format.

 

The most well known play-house type series are the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. The "play house" is an hour/half-hour show which is essentially a number of loosely related short stories. I have never seen it applied to a drama but I think it would work quite well.

 

Create a set of guidelines that define characters, setting, maybe define plot elements that are static or dynamic over time. Basically set the canvas and invite authors to submit short-stories written within those guidelines.

 

The results will be quite different from anything that is out there now and that's exactly what you want: something that sets this apart from the competition and is not the same old formulaic shit that the studios and networks excrete.

 

If you look at what has been successful in recent years, it is the shows that are innovative, well written and dramatic. 24, Lost, Jericho: they are all serial dramas with strong characters, solid writing, and keep the audience spellbound.

 

 

Good luck and if you decide to go this way, I would be happy to contribute an episode or two. I'll even fore go the briefcase full of cash.I just wouldn't want to try to write the whole thing.

[Razor]

~waves~

 

As an author, I'd suggest posting up a specific set of terms... I wanna know how much cash is involved, how much of a commitment is involved, who I'll be working with, etc. Am I going to be bound by contract for a certain amount of time/episodes/whatever?

 

I'd also suggest a team of authors rather than just one. Truthfully, we all have our specialties. I write about the druggies, the outcasts, the forgotten kids, the ones with eating disorders, all that shtuff. Some others like to write about the happy ones, the preppy ones, the well off ones. Get my drift? I'm doubting one author is going to be able to write a tv series effectively without input from others. Or, possibly, you could have one main author who is actually responsible for writing and a group of people to put in their ideas for characters and events.

 

I'd also want to know more about your ideas. You've barely even given a setting... is the story developed according to plot? Is it more of a slice of life style thing? If developed according to plot, what is the situation? The complications? What sort of conflict are you looking for? Is there a specific type of climax you want the story to reach? How do you want it to end up? A little more information about your expectations would be nice.

 

This seems interesting if it's an actual commission. I'll be looking to see if anything develops...

 

EDIT: I'm with the play-house idea. Nobody wants to have to follow a show episode for episode just out of convenience... sure, they can be related, but I don't wanna have to know every detail to get the general idea. We don't need anymore sands in the hourglass, if you get my drift.

[sunsetdreams]

Im sorry you feel that way. Sunset Dreams is what you would call a typical drama/soapie style drama. The only difference is that 90% of the charactors are gay, les or bi. About ten charactors in total.

 

I am thinking of 13 x 1 hour episodes, with a total of 5 seasons and 65 episodes, this depends on how succeful it is in the ratings. It will be an ongoing storyline, so yes viewers will have to tune in week by week, however it only runs for 13 episodes and I feel many gay viewers would watch it.

 

I do like the idea of having a head-writer and then up to 3 co-writers who will come up with the ideas for each episode/season. It will not be as full-on as say queer as folk, but rather more like ugly betty a drama with a strong comedic feel to it.

 

The two main charactors are Dylan Mills a 26 year old gay nightclub manager and 18 year old Kyle McKenzie a country boy who moves from his small farm town to F Lauderdale after he meets Dylan on a gay chat room.

 

Dylan is trying to come to terms with the car crash that left his boyfriend Matthew in a coma for 2 years. Dylan falls in love with Kyle reluctantly though season one, the season finale is the awakinging of Matthew from his coma just as Dyaln and Kyle make love for the first time!

 

I hope this gives you an idea of what I have in mind. And yes I will pay good money for the finished 13 episode script. Fees can be disscused.

Edited February 28, 2007 by sunsetdreams

[adblue]

TV shows nearly always have a team of staff writers and seek those and other writers through agents. Because of that, I have the impression you're new at this.

 

Dylan is trying to come to terms with the car crash that left his boyfriend Matthew in a coma for 2 years. Dylan falls in love with Kyle reluctantly though season one, the season finale is the awakinging of Matthew from his coma just as Dyaln and Kyle make love for the first time!

 

Please don't start with a soap opera clich

[sunsetdreams]

TV shows nearly always have a team of staff writers and seek those and other writers through agents. Because of that, I have the impression you're new at this.

 

 

 

Please don't start with a soap opera clich

[Dio]

Im sorry you feel that way, but I actually like the idea of a gay soap opera 'parody' with a strong comedic feel. As I said this show is NOT queer as folk or the L word. It is meant to be somthing very different to all the current slate of shows.

 

Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh...

 

I'm with blue on this one. Inserting gay characters into a cliche soap opera setup is asking for trouble.

 

And before you say it, you don't have to be sorry that I feel that way because then I'd start feeling sorry that you're sorry and one of my new years resolutions was not to say sorry this year so yeah! It all makes sense in my head.

 

On another completely irrelevant tangent; what is the 'L' word?

 

Good luck!

 

-db-

[JamesSavik]

On another completely irrelevant tangent; what is the 'L' word?

 

Dio-

 

Not irrelevent at all. The L Word ~ a lesbian soap opera. I've never seen as it's not on any networks that I get. The "word" on the L Word is that the writing is a tab better than QAF. Both are "gay" soap operas which define a new genre.

 

Dio>> What do you think of the play-house methodology that I discussed? [Rather than a very rigid sequential soap opera, a series of loosely connected short stories that share setting, characters- examples: the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. Each episode can stand on its own, but fits in the larger framework. I've not seen it applied to this genre but I'd bet that it would make the series unique enough to sustain interest.]

 

Sunset>> I'm not hating on your idea. I like the idea of a series that portrays gay people living life. I just think that the situation comedy and soap opera have been done to death and need a new spin. If you think about it, the BIG winners that always deliver are unique and innovative. Star Wars was so very different from anything that had come before that a lot of critics doubted that it would fly. 24 introduced the unique concept of real time drama (despite the occassional contradiction you might spot if you pay close attention).

 

Another quality of the big winners, which seems to contadict unique and innovative, is that the big winners WIN with the very same elements that the ancient Greek playwrights used: strong characters in dramatic conflict. While Star Wars was a highly unique and innovative when it came out in 1977, it is still a heroic saga- a literary form thousands of years old.

 

Just my opinion- if you want to succeed with this concept, it has to have a special sauce [something unique] to set it apart from the competetion. I'm not sure what that might be and it won't please everyone. If it pleases enough people however, you'll have a hit on your hands.

 

Bets of luck.

[TalonRider]

Does anybody besides me remember the sitcom "SOAP"?

[NickolasJames8]

I think that you could get away with doing any style show you decide to do as long as it's a quality show with good acting, writing and a believable plot. Also, I think that there's a shortage of good GLBT shows on TV, so people would be willing to follow it show by show through the entire season, if it's good. Go for it man, but I agree that you'd need more than one writer for the joint to be succesfull

[Jack Scribe]

Does anybody besides me remember the sitcom "SOAP"?

 

Vaguely. Didn't Billy Cristal play the role of a gay son? The show was pretty good. Speaking of which, generically I don't have a problem with soaps (the camophflaged night time variety) if the writing holds up and the characters are convincing. I consider "24" in this category. "Jericho", "Brothers and Sisters" (with its gay subplot), and "Desperate Housewives" are all soaps with a budget.

 

The gay brother in "B & S" is basically a man who happens to be gay and can't get his romantic s**t together. I recently found the gay LOGO channel on my cable choices and was really intrigued about the way gays and lesbians are portrayed - sometimes terrific (check out the Dean Cain movie set in WeHo, "Latter Days" and "Trick"), sometimes camp amusing ("Jeffery"), and many times boring/stereotypical ("Adam and Steve").

 

As long as we are portrayed as part of the human tapestry, I don't have problems with dramatic stories that are gay-themed. Sure, throw into the mix some hair dressers, actors and interior designers ( ) but don't forget to include truck drivers, construction workers, lawyers, clerks, doctors and politicians.

 

One final thought. Most screen plays and major television shows produced are written by more than one person who work together like a football team. There's a quarterback calling the plays and the line protects his ass. A writing team is just that...a group of talented, creative wordsmiths, usually lead by a head writer, who can run the plays together and successfully get from point A to point B. It only takes four yards at a time.

 

Jack

[Graeme]

Does anybody besides me remember the sitcom "SOAP"?

Vaguely. Didn't Billy Cristal play the role of a gay son? The show was pretty good.

I remember it very fondly . Yes, Billy Crystal played the gay son, and he was the most normal one of the lot! His boyfriend was a closeted football player, which caused Billy a lot of problems because he wasn't closeted. Billy's big brother was a major defender, especially when Billy's dad tried to put him down.

 

Of course, the big brother was involved with the mob... and not on their good side. To settle a debt he had to married the daughter of the mob's boss -- who was an absolutely hellion!

 

Then there was the other family in the show...

 

I really enjoyed it. It was a good light-hearted comedy and, as I said above, Billy's character was one of the sanest and most sensible characters on the show.

[Bondwriter]

I like James' idea of a loosely connected set of stories. With a good team of writers, what would really rock would be to have these connections building up to produce a really interesting subplot (or topplot if I may), a bit like in Altman's adaptation of Carver's Shortcuts. And most really successful and interesting TV shows do not work on a formula. I'm thinking of some of HBO's series, that appeal to many people whereas the executives from a lot of networks would turn down the mere idea of them seen on paper the first time around.

[x Trevor x]

I wouldnt mind comming up with some ideas for your writers but I wont require payment just seeing my ideas on tv is enough! Lol I will say this though dont make it anything like Passions even though I adore the show and love it to death it isnt high at all on the rateings what many complain about is that it takes months for one complete day on passions so definatly keep the speed up and dont drag things out to much