The thing I miss most about my days on Stargate is the writers' room: the camaraderie, the laughs, the heated discussions and, every so often, the occasional creative accomplishments. Don't get me wrong. It was hard, sometimes frustrating work but, when all was said and done, they were productive sessions that generated some great television.…
Notes on those white board notes!
MFB writes: "Since I like this kind of stuff I thought I’d share some boards that I’ve collected from writers’ rooms of other shows and one movie. http://imgur.com/a/tD2bJ?#0 About the Breaking Bad boards: The stories were spun and broken to cards in the room. Then the cards were taken off of the board and photocopied…
November 26, 2013: Projects on deck!
That Super Secret Project: The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Especially in the film & television industry. Particularly when legal departments get involved. Such is the case with this project that was humming along quite nicely until.... I was contacted, we had our initial discussions, I pitched out what Brad…
May 16, 2013: Jennifer Finnigan drops by! You sure you want me to read that?
Well, look who it is! It's my good buddy and former co-worker: uber-talented/super-successful actress Jennifer Finnigan. She's in town shooting a movie (with my other pal, Cas) and dropped by the other night to say hi, eat some rotisserie chicken and, of course, check out the Dark Matter comic book (soon to be television?) series.…
May 15, 2013: Worst. Pitches. Ever!
Over the course of my 11+ years on the Stargate franchise, I heard my fair share of freelance pitches - some of them good, most of them fine but not quite what we were looking for, and a few of them truly horrible. In the first case, kudos to those writers who were able to…
April 11, 2013: Sculpting the perfect script!
Someone, I don't remember who, once likened the writing process to the work of a sculpter. In this view, the writer isn't so much creating as attempting to free their vision imprisoned within. Somewhere in that hunk of stone, or deep inside the mind of the writer, exists the perfect version of what has been…
March 8, 2013: A word of advice! Campaganolo with Carl!
If there's a single word of advice I would offer anyone thinking of becoming a writer for film and/or television, it would be: "Don't". Don't do it. Spare yourself the aggravation. The endless waiting. The incessant disappointments. The interminable meetings that never seem to reach a consensus, even when it appears as though consensus has…
September 26, 2012: Spinning our creative wheels! Dark Matters! Days of Stargate Atlantis past! Midway!
My writing partner, Paul, came over for Day #2 of our spinning session for the new pilot script we're working on. Next to starting a script and, perhaps, passing a kidney stone, there's nothing more painful than outlining a story, especially in those first few days. Ideas are pitched. They're shot down. The story is…
June 22, 2012: Projects on Deck!
We handed in our second draft of the scifi miniseries the other day, paring it down from a robust 204 pages to a trim 194. We went through four different titles (including the cryptic Cogito and, my personal favorite, The Apocalypse Engine) before finally settling on the one they're going with. For now anyway. The…
June 13, 2012: Dark Matter at Comic Con! Save Lennox the dog! Days of Stargate Past, Atlantis! The Eye and The Defiant One! Vote on our favorite Stargate mid-season two-parter for a chance to win!
It looks like I will be in San Diego for Comic Con, signing copies of my SF comic book series, Dark Matter, at the Dark Horse booth (conveniently located steps away from where former Stargate scribe Remi Aubuchon will be overseeing the action at the Falling Skies booth). I'll have the space for about an hour…
May 29, 2012: The Bullshititude of Creative Writing Classes!
I know, I know. It's not what you want to hear. Eager young writers would love to know that there's somewhere they can go, someone they can pay money, to become a better writer. Well, the sad truth is that no one but you can make you a better writer. Actually, hang on. Back up…
May 19, 2012: Amateur Blogging Made Difficult: My Top Ten Tips for the Online Personal Journalerer. Er.
So, despite having done this for over five years now, I apparently break all the fundamental rules of successful blogging. I don't market my blog, make money off it through advertising, stick to a single niche or dedicated theme, and, perhaps worst of all, do not limit myself to the recommended weekly entry. Instead, my…
May 16, 2012: A Major Mailbag! Includes: The scoop on the Dark Matter trade paperback! T.V. thoughts! And where I would like to see the Stargate: Universe movie go!
Well, last night I received a call from my writing partner, Paul. It was the call I suspected and expected and altogether dreaded. He was a couple of days into his pass on the first four acts I'd written and, while things were going well, they were also progressing slowly. "I don' t know what…
May 12, 2012: 2 Acts down, 14 to go! And why not join our Supermovie of the Week Club?
The miniseries I'm presently writing has required a fair amount of research. Over the past few weeks, my online investigations have covered cyber-terrorism, computer worms and viruses, online anonymity, the NSA (National Security Agency), the FBI, Missile Defense Systems, nuclear power schematics, and the White House administration. In short, every google search sure to set…
May 5, 2012: Time flies when you’re having fun! But it’s just the opposite when you’re writing a 16 act outline!
They say that time speeds up as you get older. Conversely, I can now confirm that time actually slows down when you're trying to write up the 16 act outline of a miniseries over the weekend. I started at 8:30 this morning and finished at a little before 10:00 p.m., breaking only for a shake,…