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with guest
Richard Dubin
Topic: Writing 1/2 Hour Episodic TV
(also known as sit-coms)
During the Spring of 1997, visitors to the E-script website as well as writers in our workshops were invited to post questions to Emmy-nominee and Humanitas Award-winning writer and producer Richard Dubin (see bio below), on the topic of writing 1/2 hour episodic TV (aka sit-coms). We're pleased now to post Mr. Dubin's answers.
You can scroll through the questions and answers, or use the links at the top to jump to ones that particularly interest you. Our thanks to Richard Dubin for his time and, in every sense, good humor: you're in for one of the most entertaining and commonsensical Q&As yet.
If you'd like to know more about our online workshops in playwriting and screenwriting, click here. And if you'd like to be notified of upcoming Q&As, with top professionals in theatre, film or TV, why not join our mailing list?
Richard Dubin's long list of credits in television comedy includes Easy Street with
Loni
Anderson for Viacom/NBC (Writer-Actor-Dialogue Director); Who's The Boss
with
Tony Danza for Columbia/ABC (Writer); Frank's Place with
Tim Reid for Viacom/CBS (Writer-Producer-Director-Actor-Composer -
Richard's
work on this program was honored with an Emmy nomination and both Mentor
and
Humanitas awards); The Famous Teddy Z with Jon Cryer and Alex Rocco for
Columbia/CBS (Writer-Supervising Producer-Director); Doctor,
Doctor with Matt Frewer for Reeves/CBS (Director-Actor); Roc with Charles
Dutton for HBO Independent/FBN (Writer-Supervising Producer); Hollywood
Wash,
a pilot, for TriStar/FBN (Executive Producer); Hangin' With Mr. Cooper
(Writer) for Warner Bros./ABC; and Malcolm and Eddie (Writer-Supervising
Producer) for TriStar/UPN.
Before moving west, Richard worked as a writer and director in television and in the early Off-Off-Broadway movement in New York City. He has had long term business
relationships
('development deals') with MGM-UA Television and Columbia Pictures
Television. He is a member of The Writers
Guild of
America (WGA), The Directors Guild of America (DGA), Screen Actors Guild
(SAG), Actors Equity Association (AEA), The American Federation of
Television
and Radio Artists (AFTRA), The American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers (ASCAP), and The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS).
Questions on this page (1 of 2):
1: TV has
a reputation as a "writer's" medium -- a place congenial to writers, more
so than screenwriting. Is this true, or just wishful thinking?
2: Are sit-coms always staff-written? Do spec scripts ever crack the line-up (and if so, how?)
3: I'm always interested in learning how playwrights have made the transition between stage and TV (and, hopefully, back and forth again). Did Hollywood take notice of your off-off-Broadway experience, or did you go the spec-script route? Also, do you envision writing any more stageplays?
4:- I sometimes tell students that it seems to me TV writing is
as close or closer to writing for theatre (with its emphasis on
character-driven stories, the power of human emotion, etc.) as it is to
writing for the screen. Any thoughts on this?
5: Do I have to live in Los Angeles to pursue a job writing for television?
- This may sound a bit ridiculous to you but I was wondering if it's possible
to break into writing for sitcoms when you do not live in the Los Angeles
area
and have no intent to move there?
6: I've often wanted to take a course or courses in TV production at the university where I
teach. I've thought that if I could understand the mechanisms of TV production, then I
could better understand how to write for it. What do you think?
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Q: TV has
a reputation as a "writer's" medium -- a place congenial to writers, more
so than screenwriting. Is this true, or just wishful thinking?
A: Both! TV is a "writer's" medium in the sense that unlike the feature business where writers are "disposable," the exigencies of TV production make it essential that the machine keep rolling. That scripts keep coming to feed the process. That there be "creative continuity." That there be a consistent output of "pages." In that context TV needs its writers in a different way than movies do. After all, no studio NEEDS to make a movie (with rare "political" exception), and to the extent that they do need writing, they can use any number of writers in a serial way to get what they want.
From a "creative" writer's POV, "show biz" leaves a lot to be desired. All
work for hire is business before pleasure. Gary Marshall said it all when
responding (in nasal Bronx tones) to a young writer's deeply felt creative
concerns: "If you want to do Art - go home and write poetry. On the other
hand, if you wanna buy things---" Mr. Marshall is both funny and wise.
Are sit-coms always staff-written? Do spec scripts ever crack the line-up (and if so, how?) A handful of freelance scripts are bought regularly. As a matter of fact the WGA has rules that require a certain number of freelance pitches and buys. By and large these freelance assignments are "auditions." A producer reading a "spec" (almost always of a show other than his or her own) is impressed and meets a new writer (or team), they hit it off, and are invited to pitch and are ultimately given an assignment. (Scripts done on spec and submitted over the transom, or even by the most powerful agents, are virtually NEVER bought. It just doesn't work that way.)
When an "outside" script comes in, it is rewritten by the staff at least a
few times before it goes to "the table" to be read by the cast at the start
of a production week. While in rehearsal and production it is rewritten on a
daily basis. On most shows there are afternoon and evening tapings (or
filmings) on "show day" (the fifth day of the production week). It is not
unusual for a rabid staff to be working on a script on stage between the
early and evening runs. That, my friends, is how the pages get stained with
catered food of questionable quality.
The story of my many life changes is one I've told many, many times. It is (he says immodestly) fascinating stuff. It's liberally sprinkled with great names, rich events and takes some exciting twists and turns. And, it's been honed over repeated tellings. In this biz you are always meeting new people (if you want to stay in it), and how better to demonstrate your ability to tell a compelling story than to tell your own compellingly. It usually takes me an hour to tell the short version.
To answer the more pointed questions:
I think you're right. TV writing, particularly the 1/2 hour form (sit-coms in the main) are plays in front of camera and audience much more
than they are film. Even when they are done on film. It's still
multi-camera covering a "play."
The single camera shows, the hour form (mainly dramas of various stripe) are
done more like films. There is no audience (obviously), and they are
produced like movies. The scenes are shot out of order, there are multiple
takes for coverage etc. So, even though, as you correctly point out, the
seminal figures in long form TV were theater writers (e.g., Paddy Chayevsky -
my personal favorite, hero, and inspiration), and the shows were "stage plays
with cameras pointed at them," the form has evolved in a filmic direction. Do I have to live in Los Angeles to pursue a job writing for television?
Yes. I couldn't resist. There's a lot you can do to ramp up to writing TV while living somewhere other than LA. But the network TV comedy business is in LA (with some very few exceptions), so eventually you'll have to follow the swallows and take a right at San Juan Capistrano. NOTE: There have been several questions about living in LA [see below]. I, a born and bred NYer, thought for a long time that LA was the last place on earth I'd want to live, and passed on many opportunities based on that attitude. As it turns out, LA is ok, maybe even cool, and just a stone's throw from Bakersfield This may sound a bit ridiculous to you but I was wondering if it's possible to break into writing for sitcoms when you do not live in the Los Angeles area and have no intent to move there? With the advances in modem (however they really work) technology and telephone conferencing, isn't there some way to write and re-write and attend story and rehearsal conferences from another area of the country? I live in Philadelphia and find I'm able to work with producers on movie scripts with no problem; however, I realize the nature of episodic television is quite different. In a word "no." Movies are different. Well, that's a wrap.
By the way, I love Philadelphia. It's the birthplace of our nation. (I only
mention this because it's important for writers to know a little history, or
else they'll be doomed to repeat mistakes.) Pal, if you're having success in
film and enjoying life in the home of incredible cheese steak hoagies,
Bassett's ice cream and scenic Roosevelt Blvd, just stay put and
fergitaboudit, hunh!
Good idea. The more you know about the TV beast the better. I would seek a course that provides a comprehensive overview as opposed to a nuts and bolts
approach. But, on second thought, maybe nuts and bolts isn't such a bad idea. Especially
if the emphasis is on the "nuts."
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