I spent a chunk of the summer teaching at the UCLA Extension school, in addition to keeping up with my writing duties on ABC’s American Crime. The class: Story Analysis for Film & Television – was, essentially about coverage (writing reports) on TV and film projects. One week, we got into a conversation about industry trends and the “importance” of keeping up with them. I put that in quotes because I think they’re of limited use to the aspiring TV writer. Yes, you want to know what’s going on in the marketplace – and it’s important to watch shows that are being made. But it’s also key to recognize that the industry is following the trends and the trends come from the writers.
Here’s what I mean: SEND ME, my web series, as you know, is about time travel and slavery. Several TV shows are on the air now that deal with similar topics: We seen a re-make of Roots, and the WGN series Underground covering the slavery angle and, premiering now, are a host of time travel programs: Timeless, Time After Time, Frequency and Making History. My series emerged out of my own genuine interest in the topic, not because I wanted to follow a trend. The trend, in fact, wasn’t in full swing (or very much in evidence at all) when I was writing my piece. Now, it may be seen as a happy accident that other creatives were thinking about some of the same things I was considering. But I believe my work would have suffered if I was simply writing to try to keep up with what other dramatists were doing.
If you’re a writer, YOU are you greatest resource. Your unique take on the world, from your own life experience, is the thing you want to mine most and most often. Worrying about what the trends are is not as important as connecting with what you’re excited about. If you’re a TV Executive, maybe it’s valuable to clock the trends, but as a writer – I say dig into your imagination and find the juicy bits that no one can forecast. That’s your work – no matter what it takes. (Meditation, long walks or music may spark you as it does me.) You may, eventually, find yourself part of a trend. When and if that happens, your work will stand on its own if it comes out of something that you’re really jazzed about – rather than just being an imitation of someone else’s good idea.
In these days of network TV premieres and entertainment journalists making their ideas and observations known, it may be easy to latch on to “What the industry is buying” as a way to guide your work. As far as I’m concerned, that’s backwards. Look within and find your next inspiration. Build your work from that connected place. Create your work from a genuine and unique place and trust it to make a difference in the world.
By all means, watch TV as the new season unfolds. And, at the same time, create your own new season.
If you need any guidance, help or support, I’m right here.
