Raining on the parade…
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Okay, I hate to rain on your parades here. But I have a few opinions on the subject. I’m not some ignorant yahoo. I was writing a book about LEXX, so I’ve actually interviewed people about the writing and production process. Prior to getting the opporunity to write the book, I’d submitted two spec scripts as well as the book proposal and at least one of the scripts made it all the way to Paul or Lex’s desk.
As I understand it, LEXX writing isn’t easy to break into.
Prior to the start of a season there’s an extensive writing, story development phase. In the second season, for instance, this seems to have taken place in November/ December, 1997. Same or similar in the third season.
Hirschfield described the fourth season writing, outline process to me. Essentially, prior to production, all the writers got together in Halifax for a few weekends, spun ideas, worked out an outline for the season and went away, never to reunite.
This is where most of the series stories and ideas come from, these opening sessions. Now, there are episodes cut for time or production costs, new episodes come in, episodes, even planned ones are written on the fly. But the circumstances where they are put to doing these new episode scripts, to fill holes, leaves them relying on their established writers and not looking at spec scripts.
On top of that, LEXX has always been a fairly closed tight shot. In the first three seasons, it was only Donovan, Gigeroff and Hirschfield. That’s it. And they all knew each other prior to the series.
The only other people who had any input into the writing and stories then were all serious insiders. Andre Haines, who assisted on Brigadoom’s lyrics was Gigeroff’s brother. Wolfram Tichy who contributed three story treatments to season two was the German co-producer. Willie Stevenson, a creative producer and FX producer on many episodes also contributed ideas, but he was practically in house at Salter.
In the fourth season, three new writers came in. Tom De Villiers, who appears to have been tightly connected to Silver Light productions. And the duo who delivered the unholy mess of Midsummer’s Nightmare. The duo were discovered through the internet.
My impression is that all the new writers were british. So, their presence probably had a lot to do with the fact that this was a British co-production.On top of that, there’s a creative bottleneck. In LEXX, all the creative decisions were being done by Paul Donovan,
with assistance from a small handful of extremely overworked people. Spec scripts
were coming in at precisely the time they were all working 18 hour days. Guess what,
they don’t even have time to look, even if a spec script gets through the readers process.Finally, LEXX morphs so radically from season to season that it’s almost impossible to anticipate. Star Trek or SG 1 are much easier to submit spec scripts for, because each season is like the one before, the format and storyline is stable. Watch LEXX season two and try and write scripts like that, it goes nowhere for season three or season four. In order for a script to even get off the ground, you’d have to know something about what the season is about. But by the time you’ve found that information out, unless you’re a deep insider, then it’s probably already too late.
Just for the record, here’s the process that you’d have to go through to submit a spec script.
1) You need a release from Salter, or they won’t even look at it. The release is just a document saying that you will not sue them if your script happens to look like one they produce. There are a limited number of ideas out there, and they don’t want to be cut off from their own ideas just because you submitted a ‘lets have Kai fight an evil female divine assassin who is tougher than he is.’ story. To get that release, you have to contact Salter or someone who has a copy of Salter’s release. Good luck.
2) Once you’ve got your release, the script has to be in professional format. No excuses. There’s a very strict script format.
3) Send it, with the release, with a stamped self addressed envelope to facilitate quick rejection.
4) When it gets to Salter, it will be opened by the secretary, who will look at it, note it down. It then goes to a non-creative functionary, some assistant or a line producer who will do a quick review to determine if its professional, if it has the release, if it is even readable and conforms broadly to LEXX requirements.
5) If it gets through him, and he’s got a million other things to do before he gets to it, then it will go off to a ‘reader.’ Someone whose job is to read the script, but again, who isn’t involved deeply in the creative end of the show. The readers job is to assess the script, decide whether it is a good script, decide whether it conforms to LEXX’s format and requirements, etc.
6) If the Reader approves, it would then go to either Paul or Lex, to look over and decide if they liked it, if it fit into the production schedule, if it was feasible to produce given the time and budget available, if there were holes in the schedule it could be put into. Some of the questions they’d be asking themselves is ‘who is this person’, ‘will they be demanding, difficult to deal with’, ‘is there any sort of track record here’?
7) It would most likely go to Lex because Paul was so busy. But if it went to Lex, it would eventually have to go to Paul in the end for final decision.
8) Meanwhile, Lex, Paul and Jeff would be looking at this foreign script and trying to decide if they wanted to give up one of their own completed or planned scripts written by one of them, to let the interloper have a shot.
So, it’s theoretically possible to send them a spec script and have them buy it. But it would have to be a great script, and it would have to have a series of incredibly lucky breaks to get through all the stages to arrive on Paul or Lex’s desk at the right time. It’s about as likely as winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning three times in the same storm.
Frankly, the best that you’re likely to do, submitting spec scripts, is to make such an impression that they might keep you in mind and maybe take a chance on you sometime in the future.
And that’s all.
I’m not speaking from bitterness or cynicism. This is simply the reality that we deal with. There are good reasons for writing LEXX or LEXX spin off scripts, the pleasure of doing so, as a learning or training exercise, paying tribute to a show you love, even buying that lottery ticket.
But let’s be realistic.erm, while i like hearing about how lexx eventually ends up on my tv, i think this forum is more about people getting to be creative, and if something comes of it, so much the better [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]i don’t think anyone here at sadgeezer.com meant to give the impression that this was the way to break into the film industry [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]…but thanks again for the background, valdron; i always stop to read a post with your name on it,because i know i will always learn something new…fx
quote:
Originally posted by Valdron:
Okay, I hate to rain on your parades here…
Are you kidding! Thanks man! That’s excellent info!
This forum couldn’t actively develop future scripts because of the copyright and confidentiality thing. However, some of us are pretty keen on playing around with the idea of developing a new series/story arc etc and this forum is to help people with resources and provide a place where they can meet others with similar ideas.
I sincerely hope that venerable peeps such as yourself pop in sometimes to impart advice and ideas.
As the SadWriters section develops, there will be a FAQ and other pages that will provide a guide for posters to this category. but everything is a little new yet.
Thanks for the info, Valdron, but I think you misunderstood our intention here. These forums are for people who enjoy creative writing, and it’s divided into sections according to the interests of the people who post here. Lexx is merely the starting point, as I’m sure others will want to write fics for their own favorite shows.
The screenplay forum is a place where people who want to try their hand can practice and maybe get some practical advice.
As for breaking into showbiz, or getting published, I’ve been well aware (painfully so) for many, many years how difficult it is. Presently, I’m collaborating on another, original, science fiction project that may or may not get off the ground, and in the meantime, helping to moderate the new forum here. No dreams of glory here. I’m just doing this for fun.
quote:
Originally posted by Valdron:
2) Once you’ve got your release, the script has to be in professional format. No excuses. There’s a very strict script format.
Valdron, could you elaborate on this professional format. If you have had a script make it to Paul’s or Lex’s desk, you must know the format. Care to share it with us?
dgk, I recommend a very simple book titled “The Writer’s Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats”, ISBN 0-89879-293-2. It has formats for every type of writing: book manuscripts, magazine articles, short stories, cover letters, proposals, queries, plays, movie, AV, and TV scripts, etc.
I’ve got an extensive personal writing library, and from time to time in these forums I may post short excerpts (properly credited of course, to satisfy the copyrights). That is, if people are interested.
Thanks dgrequeen, I will check out that book.
quote:
Originally posted by dgrequeen:
dgk, I recommend a very simple book titled “The Writer’s Digest Guide to Manuscript Formats”, ISBN 0-89879-293-2. It has formats for every type of writing: book manuscripts, magazine articles, short stories, cover letters, proposals, queries, plays, movie, AV, and TV scripts, etc.I’ve got an extensive personal writing library, and from time to time in these forums I may post short excerpts (properly credited of course, to satisfy the copyrights). That is, if people are interested.
There’s a good book by J.M. Straczynski before he became famous with Babylon 5.
It’s readable, intelligent and quite engaging.You might also want to check out the following site:
[url=http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/]http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/[/url]It has basic formatting information and
some intelligent advice.Thanks Valdron [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
quote:
Originally posted by Valdron:
There’s a good book by J.M. Straczynski before he became famous with Babylon 5.
It’s readable, intelligent and quite engaging.You might also want to check out the following site:
[url=http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/]http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/[/url]It has basic formatting information and
some intelligent advice.
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