Well, I had grand plans to spend my mornings writing exploratory flash fiction pieces as part of a sort of mosaic introduction to the world of the feature that I’m planning to write right now. But, the universe it seems has other plans, good plans! I start a new job tomorrow as a writers’ assistant on a new FreeForm show. It’s a really cool, all-original world with some really interesting concepts and societal commentary baked into it. Excited to see where it all leads. Lots of preparation to do today, research, re-reading the pilot, etc. More to come… Though I’ll note upfront that my posts may be reduced in number this week, below my usual goals.
And, since I’m now off the previous show and all its details are in the trades, I think I can happily clarify that I was on Raised By Wolves - created by Aaron Guzikowski (PRISONERS, CONTRABAND, The Red Road) and produced/EP101-102 directed by Ridley Scott. They’re in production on EP102 right now, and will be in production through August. No idea when it’ll air though…
Reflecting on that experience, well, it was amazing to be honest. Like the room before that one, a very intimate and relatively small size (showrunner, 4 writers - 2x co-producers, 2x co-EPs) everyone with totally varied show/writing backgrounds and experiences. Also like the room before RBW, the showrunner came from a primarily features background so it was interesting to see Aaron’s style of story formulation. I have no doubt it’ll be a very different experience on this upcoming show with a more classic network schedule and TV-originated showrunner. If I had to sum up, I’d say that RBW taught me about creating an entire world from whole cloth, original and expansive, and how to prioritize the details of that world - knowing what’s relevant to the story and what can be ignored (and what can’t be, for logic reasons). I learned about how flexible character arcs and episode beats/climaxes can be — what can be flipped or transferred to other episodes, etc. Whether a secret identity plot-line can be the whole backbone of a show, or relegated to the periphery. I also took an entire “Show How-To” notes doc for myself as I took notes. One day I’ll organize it, what can be shared widely at least, and post it. The writers were all very wise in their own way, not to mention hilarious and a joy to work with. If anything, that notes doc serves as a reminder of all that.