JaneEspenson.com

First off, a bit of exciting news. Many of you probably already know this from the Joss forum at fans4writers.com , but in case you didn’t, I’m pleased to announce that there will be a special day of picketing and celebration outside Fox Studios from 10 am to 2 pm on December 7th for fans of Joss Whedon and his shows Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and the up-coming Dollhouse. I’ll be there; Joss will be there… will you? Come join us! And while you’re waiting for the day to get here,buy a pencil, why doncha? I bought 50 boxes myself yesterday, and I plan to keep buying as this thing progresses. Let’s hope this thing wraps up before I’m a pencil pauper.

Now, you know I don’t like it when the faucet of writing advice stops running, so here’s a (very tangentially) strike-related pet peeve of mine. I recall that during the ’88 strike, someone had the idea of taking old Mission Impossible scripts and filming them with a new set of actors. Then, the strike resolved, so they ended up hiring a staff and creating new missions after all. I’m not sure how they thought the original scripts, with all their references to enormous reel-to-reel tape recorders and massive house-sized computers, were going to really work anyway without rewriting — perhaps the original idea was all a ploy to make writers feel unneeded. Anyway, the eventual new scripts reflected up-to-the-minute technology.

Except that they kind of didn’t. I distinctly recall the following line from an episode of the resulting series.

TECH EXPERT: I have a theory about videotape.

His theory was that older images could be recovered after they’d been taped over. Really? It seems to me that that’s either something that’s true or it isn’t. It doesn’t seem to me like something that the tech expert on the Impossible Mission Force would have a wild hunch about.

If someone in your script has to be tentative about asserting something, make sure it’s because that character would actually be tentative, not just because you find yourself at the edges of your own knowledge. It can be very helpful to let the lines blur between the writer and the character — to think of how you would express something as the starting point for how the character would express it, but this can’t be your approach when the character is supposed to possess specific expertise. Besides, I think I’d be more intrigued by what was about to happen if the guy had instead said:

TECH EXPERT: Hang on, guys. Watch this. Here’s the thing you never knew about videotape…

Lunch: the “famous tofu reuben” at Factor’s deli.

I’m back! I hope you all noticed that while I was away, the amazing Pencils For Moguls project swung into motion. This is a chance for you guys to provide a measurable, visible symbol of the thing the striking writers couldn’t readily rally or measure in 1988 — fan support. Buy some pencils! I’m a fan as well as a writer, so I’m going to buy some, too.

Since it’s been a while since I answered a question, I’m going to dig into the mailbag today. Dan in Pennsylvania writes in to ask about a technical difficulty that often occurs when you’re writing a spec of a produced show with highly serialized story lines, like Desperate Housewives or Lost or Heroes. He’s worried that his spec requires that the reader understand the point in the arc at which he’s placing his spec. He asks, “Could one actually write in their spec a ‘Previously on Desperate Housewives’ sequence in order to take care of the exposition.”

I’ve put off answering this question because I don’t have a definitive answer. My instinct is against scripting a ‘previously’ because I’m afraid it’ll look like you don’t know that’s not part of a standard script. It would be great if you didn’t have to provide any set-up at all, actually, if you could make things clear enough in the script itself that even a less-than-informed reader could infer what they need to know from the script itself.

But if you really think the story requires set-up, I would recommend keeping it as brief as possible, a little header across the top of the first page (not the title page). Something like:

Note to readers: This episode follows these events… [list].

But that’s just my instinct. The only people who really know the answer are the ones who read entries for the Disney and Warner’s Brothers programs. The people who run those programs have my email address… so if they want to write in with their opinions, I will report them. In the meantime, good luck, Dan in Pennsylvania. I hope this helps. And buy pencils!

Lunch: nachos and a small Caesar salad at the Rainforest Cafe

WOW. What a turnout today at Universal! Thank you so much, Battlestar fans! Our gate was bustin’ with fans and I hear there were crowds at the other gates as well! Nicely done! And I enjoyed meeting all of you!

I’m going to be hard to pin down on Monday — probably splitting my time between the Universal Barham Gate and the Colfax Gate at CBS Radford where there is going to be a confluence of female genre writers.

Then there is Tuesday, Nov. 20, your last chance to come show your support before the Thanksgiving holiday. This is the big March and Rally on Hollywood Blvd! The plan is to assemble at 1PM at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Ivar Avenue, with the march beginning at 1:30. This should be something and a half!

I’m about to run out the door for a long-planned weekend trip with my old friends from the Disney writing fellowship, so I’m not going to be posting over the weekend. You’ll have to keep an eye on things for me, okay, Gentle Readers? Keep watching UnitedHollywood.com — I’ve got a feeling this “Pencils for Moguls” campaign is gonna heat up!

Lunch: cheap sushi. Yuck.

Many thanks to the Amazing and Accomplished Ken Levine, whom I’m very proud to call a friend of the blog! Ken actually accomplished the one goal in this business that I most wanted to accomplish: he wrote for M*A*S*H. Ken has been kind enough to put a little piece by me up on his blog as part of the virtual book tour to promote Serenity Found, the book about Firefly/Serenity edited by me.

Thank you, Ken!

I’ve been asked to pass along the information that the fans of the new show LIFE will also be congregating at Universal tomorrow — at gate 5, also one of the gates along Lankershim Blvd.

This is in addition to these already-established fan assemblies at Universal:

Main Gate — Battlestar Galactica
Gate 1 — Desperate Housewives
Gate 2 — CSI, King of the Hill, Friday Night Lights
Gate 3 — Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, The Office (optional event for them)
Gate 5 — Ghost Whisperer, Bionic Woman, Carpoolers

Really, if you’re a fan of anything, I think it’s safe to say that you’ll have a good time and we’ll certainly be glad you’re there!

Also, another update on what we Battlestar writers will be doing tomorrow — I’m told now that we will be picketing starting at TEN, not nine, and that the rally itself will start at eleven. Just come on by… that’s all it really boils down to.

I spent today at Fox, with some Gilmore alums — it was simply too hot out in front, so we retreated to a shadier gate at the side — hi to those of you intrepid enough to find us there!

Lunch: bagel, lox, cream cheese

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