In the beginning there was...something?

Happy New Year! Hope you're all ready for another round...

Figured I'd start off 2008 by talking about the writing process. More specifically I'm going to talk about ideas, the initial concept behind a TV series (and you can take what I'm about to say and apply it to other mediums, cause it's all story).

First off, there are such things as bad ideas. These are the concepts that should have been Old Yeller'd long before they were committed to paper. Bad ideas are tricksome things, and it can be hard to tell a bad idea from a good one.

Bad ideas are dated. Boring. They're the shows that people will tune into and think to themselves: "Self. Haven't I seen this before?" Showbiz is always on the lookout for the newest, freshest, most original thing.

At least that's what they say...

And they may even believe it (sort of). For all of Hollywood's horrible "liberal-ness," it's awfully traditional. Everyone's risk averse, they want the sure bet. If something's worked in the past, then surely it'll work again? Right? Right?

Bueller?

This is why we have umpteen cop / doc / law shows (the holy trinity of television dramas). A bad idea is one that's just a retread of one of these old, tired concepts. A good idea is one of these old, tired concepts with a twist.

Life was a new cop show this season (criminally underrated by the by). Reason it works is that the hero is a Zen cop who's just been released from prison after being locked up for ten odd years. The Shield works because the "heroes" are all crooked cops rather than the noble protectors of the innumerable Law & Orders.

House uses a similar principle, take a hero who's normally nice (a doctor) and make him the most curmudgeonly asshole you've ever seen. Good ideas are made by taking old terrain and looking at it with a new perspective.

That's not the only important thing of course.

A good idea will have compelling characters. Characters who are recognizable (Tony Soprano the family man) but, at the same time, bring something new to the table (Tony Soprano the mob boss).

A good idea has a world that people want to spend time in. The world can be good (everyone wishes they could live like the kids on The O.C.), bad (life on the street in The Wire) or a mixture of both. Whatever it is people have to want to spend time there.

A good idea has legs. TV isn't like the movies. You need to be able to come back week after week, year after year, and still have stories to tell. This is why cop / doc / law shows are so popular. Every week you have a new case for your heroes to wrestle with.

These are the most important things any pitch can have. If your pitch is missing them, any of them, then it's going to fall flat and most likely wind up in the trash. Ideas are, after all, cheap...