E! is getting into "scripted" programming. This shouldn't be that surprising because whatever the hot trend is in Hollywood and entertainment, E! is always 50 years behind it.
Kinda like how they passed on the pitch for "Survivor" and a bunch of other reality shows that became huge, and were only dragged into the 21st century by the genius, innovative minds of Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian.
They sent out a press release last week touting the new scripted stuff they have in development. Some of it was very strange - not that they were bad, it was just you'd have a hard time imagining that type of programming on E! "And after an all new Chelsea Lately, it's a period drama about the Vanderbilts!" Come to think of it, I can't think of anything good coming after "Chelsea Lately", except for maybe a gun going off in my mouth.
But one little nugget struck me. Not because it was amazing, but because it seemed to be the perfect summation of an idea that a TV executive would think was good.
So when you're thinking up show ideas, please remember this:
Dorothy: The drama focuses on a girl from Kansas City, who falls for a man and moves with him to the Emerald City to work at his Emerald Hotel. "What we loved about this is that it's such a fresh idea about an ingenue coming to the Emerald City, which is an overlay of Los Angeles, and what that's like," notes Berger. The hour-long project, which is inspired by the books
"Dorothy" and "The Wizard of Oz", comes from writer Natalie Krinsky and Warner Horizon Television.
"such a fresh idea..."
The show is called fucking Dorothy! It's about a girl in fucking Kansas who goes to the fucking Emerald City!
Where do these dream makers come up with this stuff?
This made me laugh because it reminded me for the millionth time that they don't want fresh ideas. They want ideas that they understand, and that they've heard before. A fresh idea would scare the shit out of them.
They're so confused about this that they think a show called Dorothy about a girl from Kansas transported to the Emerald City is fresh. It makes sense in their head, I guess.
But I think it's an important thing to remember when pitching. Don't reinvent the wheel.
It makes me so mad that I didn't pitch them my show about this naive girl named Alice who goes to Wonder Land (New York) and meets peculiar creatures (blacks, puerto ricans, whites).
Wait a minute...that might be good, that is fresh stuff! I even have an idea for a spinoff, it's called The Matrix.
3 comments:
Far be it from me to defend E! television, but I think you're being a little harsh here.
What constitutes a fresh idea in television anymore? There is nothing on that isn't durative of something that came before. "Dorothy" might not be a fresh idea, but it could be a fresh take on the idea.
And is it really the executive's faults for wanting ideas they understand? Many of the really inventive shows get horrible ratings while things that fit the mold audiences know stay on the air forever. Look at the "Community" vs. "Big Bang Theory" debate. An executive can put something on the air and have the show's entire audience think it's ground-breaking and incredible, but if that audience is 50,000 people, the show is gone and so is the executive.
I think the bigger lesson here isn't that the people you pitch to are talentless hacks. More that a fresh idea has to have accessability as well. A good example of that would be the "17th Precint." Ronald Moore's follow up to "Battlestar Galactica." I was shocked that they filmed a pilot but the series wasn't picked up, until I watched that first episode. No accessability. It was an amazing world he created, but it was too far out there for a general audience to grab onto. Too bad because there were some great ideas in that show.
i agree with you, too harsh. but i just thought it was pretty funny to call a show "fresh" and original when it's called Dorothy and about a girl from kansas who goes to the Emerald City. that is all.
Yeah. The wording was piss poor. No wonder that person is an executive and not a writer.
Post a Comment