Home » Archives » October 2007 » Get Back on the Horse, Just Not Right Now
[Previous entry: "Sweaty Clumps of Talent"] [Next entry: "Today: A Guest Speaker"]

10/09/2007: Get Back on the Horse, Just Not Right Now


So, I understand that some notifications are going out to Warner Brothers Workshop applicants who didn't make it through the first cut. If that's you, I'm sorry, but remember that this is a very small program, so there are undoubtedly many many future successful television writers, counting you, who just got that same letter.

All it really means is that you need to write another spec of a currently-existing show that you can use to apply again next year. Every year, I see people jumping too quickly to spec shows soon after they premiere. This is a mistake for a couple of reasons. Most obviously, it takes a while to find out if a show is going to even survive. Also, a show takes a while to settle down, to find out what its strengths are, which kinds of stories it tells well, which characters are clicking, and all of that stuff. You may love Reaper, or Chuck or Pushing Daisies, but at two or three episodes in, you may have yet to really see those shows in their final forms.

Watch the new shows, certainly, and start picking those that you think might fit your specing sensibilities, but keep your fingers off the keyboards until at least mid-season or even later.

Lunch: roasted artichoke soup and a roll