A friend of mine has a theory that Nickelodeon serves as the incubator for tomorrow’s best talent. I’ve been watching a show lately that convinces me that the “for kids” network is in fact the home of TODAY’s best.

Avatar: the Last Airbender is quality. It’s a cartoon, yes. But this show demonstrates the kind of writing I wish I could find more often in “grown-up” programming. The dialogue is sharp, and the story arcs are extremely well structured across each episode, each season, and the series.

AtLA takes place on “Earth” in what seems to be generic medieval-ish Asia. However, with fauna including a huge, six-legged flying bison, turtle-ducks, rabbaroos, poodle-monkeys, and lemurs that fly with their ears, we’re clearly in another world. The nations of the world are divided by their ties to the four elements, and certain of their populations are “benders,” born with the magical ability to influence earth or fire or water in martial arts-like displays. The Avatar is the one special individual (strongly influenced by the concept of the Dalai Lama) reincarnated into each generation with the ability to control all four elements, and through their mastery bring peace and balance to the land.

I tried to ask myself why this show comes across as so consistently entertaining. Much could be said for its sharp dialogue, modern enough to be accessible while not betraying the tone of its world. There’s a humor to many of the conversations that is funny to any age group. Another strong feature is the original world. Like the Harry Potter series, Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday an acquaintance was trading schedules with me, and he suggested we get together, “after the Holiday.”

It has, for some reason, become a real peeve of mine over the last couple of years when people refer to Christmas as “the Holiday.” No, I’m not offended as a Christian. I thought the “War on Christmas” bunk tossed about last year by right-wing talk shows was some of the most obnoxious use of airwaves in a long while. (Although I’m glad to hear that liberals finally get their own war on an abstract concept. Even if it was the Right who declared it for them.) Meanwhile, I certainly think it appropriate that all well-wishing messages this time of year go out with “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays.” Clearly, one never knows if one’s general audience celebrates Christmas or Hanukkah or Solstice or Festivus. Or nothing. The level of respect afforded by not wishing “Merry Christmas” to every stranger is important in this land of ours.

Nope, it’s the WRITER in me who is bothered by “the Holiday.” Read the rest of this entry »

I had the good fortune to attend one of America’s more prestigious universities. While there, I read an excellent column in which the author found the student body guilty of raised inflection when telling people where we went to school. It was a way of asking forgiveness, simultaneous with one’s confession of being an overachiever. I knew immediately I was guilty of the columnist’s accusations. To this day, when someone asks me where I went to college, I will try, “Northern California” or “the Bay Area” before, when pressed, admitting, “Stanford?” Note the question mark. You see, the first time you supply this detail of your personality to a new acquaintance, you hear one of two follow-ups. “Oh, so you’re a smart one!” or “Wow. You must be rich.” If my years at my alma mater taught me anything, it was that I was neither of those things. But if you really want to hear a stack of question marks at the end of a response, there exists another conversation topic, far more common, that strikes immediately at my nerve center of self-doubt: “So what do you do?”

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OK, normally I support networks giving TV shows a chance to find their legs. We’ve seen far too many decent show never given the chance to gel because they didn’t become instant hits.

And normally I insist that people not judge a TV show without actually giving the pilot episode a look.

However… I’m perfectly happy to see Daybreak go bye-bye after 6 airings.

I know Hollywood is heavy into recycling, but this non-idea has bugged me from the start. It’s Groundhog Day with guns. As an episode of South Park once so eloquently argued, “I mean, come on!”

Yesterday I posted that the time to really take a look at changing your script is when you start to hear more than one trusted voice providing the same opinion.Following my reading, there has been exactly one thing that more than one industry professional suggested I change in Fat Guy, Hot Wife. It concerns a section of dialogue that reads thusly:

What advice was I given about this snippet of dialogue? Too crass? Not enough action? Nope. What if Read the rest of this entry »

Any salt-worthy writer knows the value of another pair of eyes to go over his screenplay. Building a world and a group of people and a journey is a huge task, and the best of us can lose perspective. There comes a point where you need feedback. You have your wonderful story in your head, and you need to test whether it’s the same as the one you’ve put on paper.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of people out there with opinions. Getting someone to provide a useful opinion on your script is not like, say, finding a useful opinion on your doctoral dissertation on French impressionists. Most people watch movies and television. Even readers with no background who protest their inexpertise can be very valuable to you if you guide them with questions about whether this thing worked or that thing. Hopefully, you can build a set of people you can trust to be supportive of your work while still giving you honest feedback. And if you don’t have a writing partner or writer’s group or really wise spouse to turn to, there is of course no shortage of people who will provide you with feedback for a fee.

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