Tag: writing tips

LB: Untold Tales of the Animated SILVER SURFER TV Series Ep. 21

by Larry Brody

Over the past several weeks I’ve posted the scripts for Season 2 Episodes 1 through 7 of the FoxKids Network The Silver Surfer animated series I ran back in 1998 for those who wondered what all of us involved in the show had prepared for the world to see – if we hadn’t been cancelled.

Today it’s the turn of Season 2 Episode 8, Down to Earth: Part Three.  This one never got beyond “First Draft,” status because FoxKids and Saban had all but pulled the plug. They weren’t about to pay for any further development of the show and all of us were being moved to other projects or sent home.

This draft is dated May 29, 1998 and is the last work of any kind ever done for the series. The day I emailed this one to the company was a very unhappy one for me. Here’s hoping that the day you read The Silver Surfer, Down to Earth: Part Three is a much more joyful one for you.

Or, as Stan Lee said when I told him we were finished: “Lo, there has come an ending!”

Or something like that.

PREVIOUS SEASON TWO EPISODES:

THE END OF ETERNITY: PART TWO

SOUL HUNTER: PART ONE

SOUL HUNTER: PART TWO

REBIRTH

THE HUNGER

DOWN TO EARTH: PART ONE

DOWN TO EARTH: PART TWO

NOTE: If you’re new to TVWriter™ and/or to the original animated SS series, you have some backstory to catch up on. Fortunately, TVWriter™ just happens to have a section dedicated to The Silver Surfer. To reach it, CLICK HERE!

And now it’s time for:

THE SILVER SURFER

DOWN TO EARTH: PART THREE

(Formerly: “The Cosmic Way”)

(#2147-21)

WRITTEN BY

LARRY BRODY

FIRST DRAFT
MAY 29, 1998

TEASER

FADE IN:

EXT. SPACE OVER THE PLANET EARTH – (BEGIN RECAP – ALL NEW
ANIMATION OF SEQUENCES IN EPISODES 2147-19 AND 2147-20.)

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
Behold the planet known as Earth!
Here, on this otherwise
insignificant world, a cosmic
drama continues to unfold…

As THE WATCHER speaks, we SEE the SILVER SURFER and NOVA
reach the planet.

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
(continuing)
The players taking their cues from
the Silver Surfer and his
companion Nova, who came to Earth
seeking rest…

EXT. EARTH – HIGH IN THE SKY – NIGHT

The FANTASTIC FOUR fly in to attack Nova and Surfer!

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
But found only conflict. First
were they attacked by the cosmic-
powered “Fantastic Four”…

EXT. LOS ANGELES – MELROSE AVENUE – NIGHT

While the Surfer and Nova are interviewed before a crowd by
SIDNEY YOUNG, the police arrive and a riot begins!

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
And then were they misunderstood
by the authorities as well…

ANOTHER ANGLE

The Surfer uses his power cosmic to create an ENERGY BUBBLE
that separates the factions, and a HEALING BEAM to heal those
who have fallen.

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
Some on the planet saw the Silver
Surfer as a savior…

The crowd — and some police as well — CALLS OUT its praise!

BRODY SILVER SURFER 2147-21 FIRST DRAFT 05/29/98
2.

EXT. NEW YORK CITY – UNITED NATIONS BUILDING – DAY

The Surfer addresses the crowd here, with Young nearby.

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
A role he assumed wholeheartedly,
hoping he could be the leader to
rescue Earth from itself…

Suddenly, the Enervator fires a BLACK BEAM, hitting the
Surfer and knocking him off his board.

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
(continuing)
But when the Fantastic Four
refused to act against the Silver
Surfer this time, secret weaponry
was unleashed…

EXT. MONUMENT VALLEY – DAY

As TERRAX appears.

THE WATCHER (V.O.)
And while the Silver Surfer lay
neutralized, Terrax, new herald of
dread Galactus, arrived, seeking
redress.

READ THE ENTIRE SCRIPT HERE

WGA Rattles More Sabers at Hollywood Agents

More on the potential upcoming War on Agency Packaging Fees. Or, to be more blunt: On the absurd conflicts of interest that have influenced everything we see on TV and film while making the agents far richer than those they represent over the last 40 years:

Writers Guild Seeks to Reshape Talent Agency Business in Proposed Deal
by Dave McNary

Amping up its battle with talent agents, the Writers Guild of America has issued proposals to Hollywood agents aimed at stopping potential conflicts of interest.

“The Guilds’ proposals are entirely reasonable,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman. “If you review them closely, they read like a voluntary code of conduct that an agency would put up on their own website to attract writers and other talent. The proposals demonstrate a commitment to the fiduciary principles of law, always putting the client first and being an honorable representative.”

The WGA’s actions have raised alarms at major agencies, which are unlikely to agree to the proposals. Should the agreement expire next year, it’s uncertain what kind of oversight the WGA would be able to exercise over agents.

The specific proposals were sent to ATA members and first unveiled Friday by Deadline Hollywood. The key proposal says, “No agency shall accept any money or thing of value from the employer of a client” — which would effectively end all packaging deals, in which agencies receive both upfront and back-end fees.

The WGA is also proposing that “no agency shall derive any revenue or other benefit from a client’s involvement in or employment on a motion picture project, other than a percentage commission based on the client’s compensation.”

The WGA has also proposed that “no agency shall have an ownership or other financial interest in, or shall be owned by or affiliated with, any entity or individual engaged in the production or distribution of motion pictures.”

“The agency’s commission shall be limited to 10% of client’s gross compensation, including client’s profit participation,” the proposal said. “Agency’s commission shall not reduce client’s compensation below MBA scale compensation. Agency shall not circumvent limits on commissions by charging fees for other services….”

Read it all at Variety.Com

Kathryn Graham: What Makes ClexaCon Special?

Wynonna Earp’s Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Waverly Earp) and Kat Barrell (Nicole Haught) having a laugh 

by Kathryn Graham

ClexaCon is an inclusive convention held in Las Vegas and London celebrating queer women on screen and behind the scenes. It’s the first of its kind, and that makes it unique in and of itself, but much more than that, here is what I found special:

Genuine human connection, a celebratory spirit, and powerful support.

From Kat Barrell (Nicole Haught on Wynonna Earp) crying about the isolation that older queer women suffered growing up without easy access to their community to Vanessa Piazza (Producer of Lost Girl and Dark Matter) stating outright that when you climb the ladder, you help others up; it’s an atmosphere that’s truly like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.

I’m out here in Hollywood, which isn’t as cutthroat as people make it out to be, but which isn’t exactly the most welcoming space. We have gatekeepers who are always looking at the bottom line (aka “The Business”). People who have firm beliefs that only certain types of characters can sell (prejudiced chicanery). You have to prove, hundreds of times over to many different people, that you’re ‘worth it’, i.e. that you can make everyone a lot of money.

It’s ultra competitive. It’s isolating, even among friends, as you’re always pitted against each other. Even people who enjoy your company can be so busy that you have to ask nine times if they want to have lunch. And it’s fine. It’s the way it is. This industry is demanding. People have other priorities. You have no control over who wins a contest or gets an agent or get staffed. At least not at my level. But that means that sometimes it can seem like no one cares all that much about you except you. You’re a drop in the ocean.

Not so at ClexaCon.

There, people see you. People care about you. They want you to tell your stories, and they want to help you make it happen.

That’s revolutionary.

As a writer, I always thought that queer female characters were a non-starter. Why wouldn’t I think that? For most of my life, we could barely get good roles for women on television (and feature films are worse), let alone main storylines for queer characters.

I expected that if I was ever lucky and dogged enough to get my original work sold, I’d be in long, drawn out battles to keep my main character and her love interest female. Because I knew I’d never compromise.

I believed that no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I improved my craft, no matter how the story came out, it wouldn’t matter because nobody wants to see queer women on television.

Then last year, ClexaCon changed all of that.

Last ClexaCon, Emily Andras (Showrunner for Wynonna Earp) told us that if we ever doubted there was an audience for our stories, then we should take a look around that packed room, and then never doubt again. This year, she reiterated that, and it was more poignant than ever. Because that room was three times the size and packed to overflowing.

Last year, in ClexaCon’s premiere year, I wrote a lot about the ethics of storytelling from panels led by Dr. Elizabeth Bridges and Gretchen Ellis.  A huge number of queer female characters had been killed off on television that season, and it was a depressing subject.

This year, as the panelists noted, there is more and more content – Black Lightning, Everything Sucks, Runaways – whose creators don’t even need to be told how to write queer stories ethically: they already know.

Last ClexaCon, for the first time in my life, I could look around and definitively say: here are my people. They get me, and I get them. This year, I was touched by creators and actresses who aren’t queer but who are as invested in these stories as we are.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have hope that I can reach so many others like me. How heartening it is to see people like my straight, male friend welcomed with open arms and to see his sincere interest in everything ClexaCon stands for. Just a few years ago, I would never have believed that there were so many queer women looking for content representing them. I would definitely have scoffed at the idea that so many people who don’t identify as queer would want the same thing.

So even if the world outside ClexaCon has so much further to go, at ClexaCon you can see where we should be. Because, in a world that can seem so uncaring and disconnected, ClexaCon is genuine love.

Also, bonus: no ‘con funk’ (a haze of body odor at… pretty much every other convention ever).

Photo Credit: Kathryn Graham

Check out more photos from ClexaCon on my Instagram: KateGrahamTV

Kathryn Graham is a TVWriter™ Contributing Editor and award winning writer. Learn more about Kate HERE

Most Viewed TVWriter™ Posts of the Week – April 23, 2018

Time for TVWriter™’s Monday look at our most popular blog posts of the week ending yesterday. They are:

Looking for TV Pilot Scripts?

LB: Where Did THE FALL GUY Live?

Top TVWriter™ Posts of the Week – April 16, 2018

LB: Untold Tales of the Animated SILVER SURFER TV Series Ep. 20

‘The Following’ Season 4 was Cancelled by Fox Because the TV Series Became a Victim of Lazy Writing!

And our most visited permanent resource pages are:

Writing the Dreaded Outline

PEOPLE’S PILOT Writing Contest

THE BASICS OF TV WRITING: Overview

SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED SECOND SEASON ARC

The Logline

Big thanks to everybody for making this another great week at TVWriter™ . Don’t forget to click above and read what you missed and re-read what you loved!

Bri Castellini: Fame, Branding, and Chubby Women – @brisownworld

Image credit goes to Marshall Taylor Thurman, who has the unique ability to get incredibly unflattering photos of my giant arms.

by Bri Castellini

Been thinking a lot about branding recently. It’s a topic that comes up a lot in indie filmmaking, because it’s important that all of your projects’ assets follow similar themes, colors, etc so that people can easily tell what accounts and posts are yours. It’s also something pretty integral to my ambitions in the media and entertainment world, because online, personal brand is everything.

I know how much me and my personal identity entangles with my work and the promotion of it. I know I’m one of the most Google-able (if not THE most Google-able) person in my casts and crews. I’m the only Bri Castellini on the internet, baby, and you can basically find my entire life story in the first few pages of search results. Plus I literally run all the social media and email accounts associated with my projects (as well as the social media for one of my friends) and at this point people are wise to that.

I’m also not ashamed to type here in my decade-old personal blog that I want to be famous. Whenever anyone asks what my plans for the future are, I say “get very famous,” and I’m only a little bit kidding (because my actual plans are to get MASSIVELY famous). With fame comes power, and with power comes the ability to be creative full time and pay my collaborators the crazy amount of money they’re absolutely worth.

I want to be famous, and therefore I spend a lot of time thinking about my brand. I can’t just be “Bri Castellini, person.” I have to be “Bri Castellini, pre-famous filmmaker and writer,” and that’s distinct, even if only subtly. This means I also have to be conscious of the kinds of projects I’m developing, because if I make things that are too dissimilar from each other, it’ll be hard to leverage my existing audience that I fought so hard to attract. Granted, that audience is pretty tiny right now, but it’s not nothing.

I’m very curious to hear what y’all think my “brand” is, so leave thoughts in the comments if you have them. In my mind, based on the projects that have been successful/gotten me my teensy audience, these are the Bri Castellini keywords I’ve come up with:

  • Millennial woman
  • Comedy
  • Profanity
  • Asexuality
  • Mental illness/anxiety/depression
  • Zombies

Looking at this list, struck me today that despite it being a pretty obvious option, I haven’t really leaned into the chubby facet of my identity. While I use my struggles with mental illness and my asexuality a lot in my work, further strengthening the “authenticity” of my brand as it relates to my creative endeavors, I haven’t really explored weight. Both Alison Sumner and Sam from ‘Sam and Pat’ are chubby because they’re me, but their weight literally never comes up in their stories. I have often wondered if this is a mistake.

You don’t see chubby women on screen very often, especially not as “women.” Chubby women are reduced (hah) to their weight, or to the undesirable comic relief character, and rarely find opportunities for lead roles or roles more complex than “fat lady trying to lose weight.” So even though it wasn’t really my intention or a part of my development process, the fact that Alison Sumner is a chubby girl with a voracious sexual appetite and a romantic arc never once mentioning her weight is kind of amazing. The only example coming immediately to mind of a chubby women on film getting a romantic arc without her weight being mentioned is Sookie from Gilmore Girls, although that show (and it’s creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s writing in general) has its own weird issues with weight and fat people.

It’s weird that such a massive (hah) part of my own identity literally never occurs to me when writing. Maybe it’s internalized fat-phobia from having never seen fat female protagonists on screen. Who can say?

I guess the question is… is that bad? Am I doing my chubby sisters a disservice by not mentioning the weight of characters I play? Or by explicitly writing characters with a little more junk in the trunk? Or is not mentioning the weight of chubbier characters the more nuanced way to approach this and promote further positive representation? Is this a part of my brand I should be leaning into to reach my full (HAH) potential as an independent artist, or is “loud depressed asexual feminist” enough?  Am I missing out on a significant potential audience? DOES ANY OF THIS REALLY MATTER? (probably not)

I don’t know the right answer here. Boiling myself down to my base keywords is a weird way to spend an afternoon, and a weird way to think about my online activities as they service my overall ambition of incredible fame and fortune. For the record, this isn’t an invitation to weigh in (HAAAAAH ok I’m done), especially if you’re of the male persuasion, but if other similarly sized ladies have thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

Bri Castellini is an indie filmmaker and Community Liaison at Stareable, our favorite web series hub. Watch Bri’s award-winning web series, Brains, HERE This post first appeared on her seriously cool blog.