So.
This week I also started a class on Writing for TV, from the UCLA Writers Program. It’s online. And you’ll never guess who’s teaching this one. Erica Byrne, one of the writers of my all-time favorite show ever, La Femme Nikita. Our first assignment is to pick a current show and come up with a premise and logline for a spec episode. Yikes!!!!!!!!!! I’m in heaven. I’m in hell. Why, you may well ask, am I taking a class on writing for tv? I really think I’ll learn some valuable techniques, and maybe a different way of looking at story. And theme. And all those other elusive writer things that screenwriters do so well and so consciously. I believe tv writing might have a lot in common with writing genre fiction. Rules. Length. Parameters. Tightness. Pacing. But they really work at structure a lot more than we do. It’ll be interesting to delve into their secrets.
And did I mention I have a book due Dec 1? Well, I’m definitely not going to mention I’m stuck on chapter 4. In case my editor somehow finds and reads this. :D This should be an easy one. Sex and murder on the beach. How hard can that be? It should be writing itself. Someone tell that to my characters, please. ::sigh::
Yeah. And then it’s premier week on tv. Thank god for Tivo. More on that later.
