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09/16/2006: Bad News for West and North Asian Writers


Well, I've got some hot news for those of you writing spec pilot scripts. The news comes from Nic in Germany, who has directed my attention to the Fox diversity program. I hadn't heard about this program before, but it sure looks good to me. And this exerpt from their site makes it clear that the admission standards are likely to include many of you out there:

"The emphasis in our Writer's Initiative will now be to support the development of original television series ideas by diverse writers, or by non-diverse writers who are writing about inherently diverse themes and/or diverse lead characters. African-American, Latino, Native American and East and South Asian writers are particularly encouraged to apply. You must be at least 18 years old to submit."

You can read more about the program here. If I were an aspiring writer with a spec pilot, I'd be casting an eye over it right now, looking to emphasize or add "diverse themes."

In other news, a letter from Heather at Harvard really made me smile. I wrote a line, years ago, for a Buffy episode ("Pangs"), in which a character referred to the fact his grandparents live on a farm just outside Huxley, Iowa. Heather's grandparents live on a farm outside Huxley. As you can imagine, she was tickled by the line. Hee! How funny is that? I love when stuff like that happens. Notice that this is one of the benefits of specificity -- if you give enough details, not only does a situation *feel* realer, but it's also more evocative for the people who are actually *in* that situation.

Lunch: a potato knish from Junior's deli. Mmm.