Annoying Habits of Aspiring Writers

I just finished reading a few hundred scripts for one of those "searching for new talent" programs, where aspiring writers send in samples of their work in the hope of being one of the five or six chosen for the mentoring program.

It's a wonderful way to identify new talent among those who don't have "connections" in the business and over my years of doing it I've seen a sharp increase in the quality of scripts. When I started doing this, at least half were sub-par efforts, the work of people who seemed to think that putting dialogue on a page was the proper way to write a script. Now, the proliferation of books and classes about TV and screen writing has made hopeful writers much better at the basics. It still comes down to creative talent, can you capture the essence of your characters and tell a good story, but the great majority of the script now cluster around the mid-level of the scale rather than the bottom.

So, what's my complaint? The little things that just show you didn't do your homework or are careless. If you've read other entries in this blog, we'll call it "Jimmy Hendricks Disease." No one wants to hire a lazy writer and when I come to the end of an act on a "CSI: Miami" spec script and the writer types "zinger before the commercial to come" rather than actually creating a zinger, I'm tempted to just put the script aside at that point and move on. You're being judged on what you can offer, if you offer nothing, don't expect the judges to think, "well, maybe he/she can come up with something later." This is your shot, take it. To use a baseball metaphor, go down swinging, not looking.

I also read a "Grey's Anatomy" where the writer didn't think to check the name of the hospital ("Seattle Grey's" rather than "Seattle Grace") and a "Desperate Housewives" spec where Bree's children were labeled merely "Boy" and "Girl." Go on IMDB.com and check a cast list! Come on! Show me some effort!

This particular program was for TV writers, so I was amazed by how many people thought sending in something other than a TV script was proper. Even if the program allows other types of writing for the submissions, don't forget what you're shooting for. If you're allowed to submit two samples and want to show off your "range," submit a comedy and a drama script. You've entered the program because you want, in this case, to be a TV writer. Are you telling me you've never written a TV script? Then how passionate are you about this type of writing? Again, take the time to show me that you've made the effort.

Just in case you're thinking I might arbitrarily dismiss short stories, plays and feature submissions, I don't. In fact, some of them got passed along to the next level. However, if you're on the borderline, chances are an average TV script (showing that you've paid attention to TV enough to get characters, tone, story type and details right) will get higher marks than an average short story (which might be creative, but has no dialogue, so how can I give you good marks for that?)

The programs are looking for passionate, creative, driven individuals who want to put the time and effort into becoming a success in a demanding field. Show that you want it, not that you're just submitting whatever you've written lately.