writing for tv

Daily Creator E.D. sent this link out via the TSOA LA listserve but I thought all the artists on this site might be interested in reading what the Creator of ABC's IN CASE OF EMERGENCY has to say about "killing your babies" a phrase that is tossed around in TV and Film development like a water balloon. You might catch the darn thing or you might get soaked.

But mostly I included this on our site because he talks about writing for yourself, writing what you want to write WHICH IS THE ONLY PART OF THE BUSINESS WE ACTUALLY CONTROL!

We thank E.D. for bringing this to our attention. The full text of his letter is below and here's the link where you can download the original pilot script: http://abc.go.com/primetime/incaseofemergency/index?pn=pilotscript

Howard J. Morris:

It is said among writers, that one must "kill your babies" when going from your original written script that you cherish to a full production of that script. (The phrase is just a particularly gruesome way of saying that you always cut your favorite scene.) It always happens. And it's always the scene everyone who read the original draft told you was the best scene in the damn thing. The one scene you proclaim to anyone who will listen, "I'LL CUT ANYTHING BUT THAT SCENE!"

And so it was with the scene in the original pilot script between Kelly and Harry's little boy, Dylan, in which the boy uses a simple knock-knock joke to devastate Kelly's sense of herself and causes her to look at her life in a whole new and dramatic way.

Yeah, we had to cut that.

For a variety of reasons -- mostly time, time, and more time. A television comedy these days is not even twenty-two minutes anymore! But to be frank, we didn't really need the scene -- another painful realization. And oh, right, we also switched actors for the little boy when we went to series, so we wanted to limit the first little guy's screen time in the pilot.

But production changes everything. And it's often for the better -- especially when you have brilliant collaborators as I did on this pilot and do on the series. We couldn't shoot the original ending of Harry sitting on the stoop, gas-lighting Maureen when accused of stealing her lithium. So during shooting we came up with a better ending that involved all of the main characters. Yes, in cutting and sharpening the script some things are lost, but most things got better. And I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. I have a reputation for loving my original drafts. In fact, some writer friends named my fantasy football team, "The Original Drafts".

And as that team faded, so do the painful memories of everything you couldn't put in the show. I am forever indebted to Emile Levisetti and Jon Favreau for helping me cut it down and telling me when something wasn't working -- "even though it's funny, Howard."

But the original draft of In Case Of Emergency will always be precious to me, not so much for my own words, but for what it meant to finally take back some control of my career and what I wanted to write -- never once concerning myself with what "they'll" like, and trying to hit that ever elusive moving target. I wrote the script on spec at a time when I needed to write something that I believed in and could relate to. I wanted to write about the people in my head. And what it's like to feel desperate and alone when you're approaching forty and everything's a mess. And I wanted it to be funny. And I didn't want it to be about a forensic pathologist. Or a cop. Or a forensic pathologist cop. Good god, who knew Quincy was so ahead of his time?