Douglas Marland's How Not to Wreck a Show
Aug. 21st, 2007 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxSince I mentioned it earlier, thought I would post the late Douglas Marland's words in their entirity. They are indeed words for TV producers to live by:
How Not to Wreck a Show
* Watch the show.
* Learn the history of the show. You would be surprised at the ideas that you can get from the back story of your characters.
* Read the fan mail. The very characters that are not thrilling to you may be the audience's favorites.
* Be objective. You have to put your own personal likes and dislikes aside and develop the characters that the audience wants to see.
* Talk to everyone; writers and actors. There may be something in a character's history that will work beautifully for you, and who would know better than the actor who has been playing the role?
* Don't change a core character. You can certainly give them edges they didn't have before, or give them a logical reason to change their behavior. But when the audience says, "He would never do that," you have failed.
* Build new characters slowly. Everyone knows that it takes six months to a year for an audience to care about a new character. Tie them in to existing characters. Don't shove them down the viewers' throats.
* If you feel staff changes are in order, look within the organization first. Producers who have worked their way up from staff positions know the show.
* Don't fire anyone for six months. I feel very deeply that you should look at the show's canvas before you do anything.
* Good TV is good storytelling.
How Not to Wreck a Show
* Watch the show.
* Learn the history of the show. You would be surprised at the ideas that you can get from the back story of your characters.
* Read the fan mail. The very characters that are not thrilling to you may be the audience's favorites.
* Be objective. You have to put your own personal likes and dislikes aside and develop the characters that the audience wants to see.
* Talk to everyone; writers and actors. There may be something in a character's history that will work beautifully for you, and who would know better than the actor who has been playing the role?
* Don't change a core character. You can certainly give them edges they didn't have before, or give them a logical reason to change their behavior. But when the audience says, "He would never do that," you have failed.
* Build new characters slowly. Everyone knows that it takes six months to a year for an audience to care about a new character. Tie them in to existing characters. Don't shove them down the viewers' throats.
* If you feel staff changes are in order, look within the organization first. Producers who have worked their way up from staff positions know the show.
* Don't fire anyone for six months. I feel very deeply that you should look at the show's canvas before you do anything.
* Good TV is good storytelling.
