Here’s a long FQ from Jeff :)
Hi Ken, not sure if you've heard of the Masked Scheduler or not. He is apparently a former Hollywood executive and he has been posting his 12 Commandments of TV. I have a beef with one of them and wanted to hear your thoughts.
He argues that a show should be simple enough that it is easily digested in a 30 second promo. He used some examples of recent shows such as The Leftovers, Legion, etc. as shows that were discussed heavily on social media but didn't necessarily have great ratings. The takeaway seemingly being that simpler shows that are easily understood are better.
I use Game of Thrones as a counter example. Game of Thrones is a deep, political, complicated show. It would be very difficult to explain Game of Thrones in a 30 second spot. And yet it's ratings continually go up and part of it is because people talk about it constantly. Meanwhile I've seen promos for SWAT, and I understand fully what the show is about yet have not only never watched it, I've never heard of anyone who has. And even if you did watch it, what are you going to discuss about it? "Did you see how they caught that killer on SWAT last night? I didn't think they were going to catch him but then they did. So that's nice". Wouldn't you rather have a deep shows that takes actual thought to comprehend than being spoon fed the same old drivel?
Someone on the internet described GAME OF THRONES as:
Noble families across the realm of Westeros compete for control of the Iron Throne.
Even complicated shows can be distilled down to loglines.
There is so much product out there on so many platforms that to get your show noticed I think it’s a big advantage to be able to convey the premise and hook in thirty seconds. And then you can make your show as complicated as you want.
A mob boss is torn between his killer instincts and his conscience.
That’s THE SOPRANOS. Hardly a simple show.
I do believe that whatever your genre, you need to be able to articulate your show in just a few sentences.
Mike Bloodworth asks:
What is the easiest way to access your archives? As I've said before I've only been reading your blog for a short time. There must be a gold mine of information I've missed.
Look on the right column. You’ll find a section called “Blog Archive” along with years and months. Just click on a year and it will show you months. Click on a month and it will show you the posts from that month. Click on the post. Or click on the month itself and all the posts from that month will come up. A few are actually good.
David A. Mackey wonders:
What do you think it was about Nancy Travis that made working with her so special? I always hear a lot of great things about her and the work that she is done.
She’s a lovely person, super talented, and a real cheerleader on the stage. A total pro, always prepared, very unselfish as an actress. And when she has a problem with a script she presents it in an intelligent respectful way.
She’s a good sport and will try things. There’s something so warm about her. You want to be married to her or have her as your girlfriend or best friend.
And the camera just loves her.
Had the pleasure to work with her on two series. I would work with her again in a second.
Finally, from Stuart Best:
You said you left MASH because all the good ideas had been used up and wrung out. But the show continued for four more years. Did you think the writers after you added fresh ideas, or did they continue to bludgeon the same horse? I respect that you probably don't want to say anything negative about other writers, but I wonder how you think it was a mistake to keep going all those extra years.
I think did the best they could with what they had to work with, which was not a lot. We pretty much picked over all those bones.
There were some stories where I thought they were really reaching, but others where I said, “Damn, why didn’t WE come up with that?”
from By Ken Levine http://ift.tt/2A34FIl
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