JaneEspenson.com

There’s another good option in town, Gentle Readers! I’m hearing good things, from several sources, about the new configuration of the
Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop. I used to hesitate to recommend this program since it charged money from its participants, but check out the details now – the only cost seems to be the application fee. Well, that just became much more appealing, didn’t it? The deadline is coming up: August 15, so you’ve got a little time to scrape together an application and I recommend that you do so.

They require at least one spec script “based on a primetime network or cable comedy [or drama] series that aired new episodes during the 2006 – 2007 television season”. They also allow you to submit multiple samples and to submit both comedies and dramas. Nice. (By the way, note that, according to that description, a show like The Sopranos, which was ineligible for ABC/Disney, is still kosher for WB.)

The obvious question has already been asked of me, by the way. Amanda in Ithaca wants to know if she can submit the same script to Warner Bros. that she already submitted to ABC/Disney. Well, I hate to go on the record with this in case I’m wrong, but I don’t see anything in the rules of either program to disallow this or that would make a submission or an acceptance to either program a disqualifying factor for the other program. If it was me, I would probably use the same script — whatever I feel is my strongest sample.

The Warner Bros. program is, clearly, more limited than the ABC/Disney Fellowship. It’s shorter in duration, in intensity, and it doesn’t provide a stipend. But it still can provide experience, contacts and bragging rights.

So get to work! Even if you’re going to regift your ABC script, that extra time should be used to polish, tinker and tweak! The nice thing about perfection is that you never quite get there.

Lunch: left over Chicken Piccata from Maria’s