The first-draft scripts for Season One are complete.
As of now, it looks like the running time for the entire season is 42 minutes. Of course, it can expand or subtract due to rewrites and editing, but I'm satisfied with that length. Shaundra and another friend will be reading what I have this weekend and contributing their thoughts before I start rewrites on Monday. From there, I plan to bring together several actors and have a read-through of the season, to hear the words being spoken and make further adjustments. Then it's on to official casting and the all-important fundraising.
The Facebook page for the show will be activated soon (I created a promotional graphic last night in Photoshop that might get tweaked before adding it to the page. There's not a lot there, but I'm interested in getting it up to build buzz and allow fans to follow along as the show comes together - casting announcements, shooting dates, etc.), as well as Twitter and YouTube accounts. In the coming weeks, we'll also be rolling out the official web page for the show, with the idea of making it an interactive experience where fans can communicate with the show's creators as well as Abigail herself.
I'm enjoying the forward momentum, and I feel we have something here folks will like. There's several other things that need to fall into place first (equipment, crew, locations, etc.), but I'm very confident we'll pull them together and bring this project to fruition. I look forward to sharing new details as they arise.
STAY TUNED...
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Life and Times of Abigail Waller Update #1
Things have been coming along well with the development of the show.
On the administrative side of things, a Facebook page has been established and will be activated in the coming weeks, with a Twitter account soon to follow. There's also been an addition to the creative team, with CME Business Manager Shaundra Ray officially coming on as Head of Sales and Marketing. I haven't gone out to anyone else yet for other key positions, but the addition of Shaundra is vital because she's done extensive research in marketing, both online and offline, as well as search engine optimization - creatively organizing websites to rank higher in search engines like Google and Yahoo. She's taken a look at the show's bible and some of the existing ideas for marketing and, combined with her expertise, will be taking the push to a whole other level, which I'm ecstatic about.
One the creative side, I knocked out the first the pilot episode, "Meet Abigail Waller" this morning, putting the finishing touches on the script as the sun was coming up. It's shorter than I would have liked - three pages - but it encompasses the goals of the first episode, which is to introduce us to Abby Waller and her less-than-tactful best friend, Tracy Johns, at their favorite hangout, as well as the major storyline of the first season - Abby's breakup with longtime boyfriend Darren (as I write this, I've had an idea for an additional joke). The script, of course, is a first draft; I'm thinking I'll go through and write the initial drafts of all the episodes first, then come back through for a rewrite - giving me a chance to get distance from the episodes and hit them with fresh objectivity. I'm planning on jumping into episode 1.2, "The Purge (Pt. 1)" later tonight (earlier if the Texans game isn't going well and I can't take it).
On a side note, Shaundra read the outlines for season one this morning and was very complimentary, going so far as to say that perhaps I should pitch more show ideas. It was a real bolster to my confidence, and something to think about. I definitely have more ideas, and I'm enjoying the freshness of this path.
It just plain feels good to have fun again.
STAY TUNED...
On the administrative side of things, a Facebook page has been established and will be activated in the coming weeks, with a Twitter account soon to follow. There's also been an addition to the creative team, with CME Business Manager Shaundra Ray officially coming on as Head of Sales and Marketing. I haven't gone out to anyone else yet for other key positions, but the addition of Shaundra is vital because she's done extensive research in marketing, both online and offline, as well as search engine optimization - creatively organizing websites to rank higher in search engines like Google and Yahoo. She's taken a look at the show's bible and some of the existing ideas for marketing and, combined with her expertise, will be taking the push to a whole other level, which I'm ecstatic about.
One the creative side, I knocked out the first the pilot episode, "Meet Abigail Waller" this morning, putting the finishing touches on the script as the sun was coming up. It's shorter than I would have liked - three pages - but it encompasses the goals of the first episode, which is to introduce us to Abby Waller and her less-than-tactful best friend, Tracy Johns, at their favorite hangout, as well as the major storyline of the first season - Abby's breakup with longtime boyfriend Darren (as I write this, I've had an idea for an additional joke). The script, of course, is a first draft; I'm thinking I'll go through and write the initial drafts of all the episodes first, then come back through for a rewrite - giving me a chance to get distance from the episodes and hit them with fresh objectivity. I'm planning on jumping into episode 1.2, "The Purge (Pt. 1)" later tonight (earlier if the Texans game isn't going well and I can't take it).
On a side note, Shaundra read the outlines for season one this morning and was very complimentary, going so far as to say that perhaps I should pitch more show ideas. It was a real bolster to my confidence, and something to think about. I definitely have more ideas, and I'm enjoying the freshness of this path.
It just plain feels good to have fun again.
STAY TUNED...
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Introduction - The Life and Times of Abigail Waller
I mentioned this project in a previous post as one of the projects I'm currently developing, spurred on by the DOA performance of Lupus Moon and my mounting frustration with the spec route in general. I'm excited about what I have so far and the potential this project has.
Background on the Project
The Life and Times of Abigail Waller began as an idea for a TV show in August 2008. I've had a few TV concepts over the years, and like the rest, I'd jotted down the basic premise and shoved it in an overflowing zippered binder with countless other ideas and concepts. My first love being writing for movies, TV writing was something I never gave a lot of thought to - primarily because I didn't know much about it. Writing a movie is simple in theory: sit down, write a 95 to 120-page story, promote it, rinse and repeat. Episodic writing was a whole 'nother animal. I also knew the only way to succeed in it was to move to Hollywood, and I wasn't ready, wanting or planning to do so. But I had some ideas, so I stashed them. Who knows? Might come in handy some day. Never say never.
The idea to do "Abby" as a web series came earlier this year, after attending an industry event where the creators of the web series Pink were on hand to talk about their series. Even before this event, I'd heard about people going the route of producing their own shows, but it just didn't click with me. I was too busy working on one screenplay or another. But after listening to their story, I was intrigued by the possibilities, so much so that I started rummaging through my mental rolodex of ideas for something that could be turned into a series. "Abby" was one of the first concepts that came to mind.
I was hot on the concept for a while - even coming home and jotting down quick notes, episode and promotional ideas and filling out a character bio sheet on the protagonist. But then I got sucked back into whatever feature script I was working on at the time (probably Lupus Moon), and Abby languished on the coffee table in my office for months. But now, thanks to recent events, she's front and center.
So What's It About?
The Life and Times of Abigail Waller (or "Abby," for intents and purposes) follows the adventures of a 31-year-old professional Black woman as she juggles work, family and relationships. I'm pitching the concept to people as "A Black Ally McBeal," but I could use a number of shows to get the point across. Throughout the life of the show, there's several topics I'd like to address, including women choosing bad men for relationships, the debate over natural versus permed hair (Abby will be natural, BTW), being a Black female in White male corporate America, dealing with messy and jealous “friends,” interracial dating, and self-image (“Oh, big lips are sexy ‘cause a white girl like Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson has them, but they weren’t when the sistas had them? Suddenly big butts are sexy because J. Lo and Kim Kardashian made them so? I guess the millions of sistas throughout history were invisible”).
The show will be classified as a dramedy, and it will be shot here in Houston. I'm aiming for 7 to 10-episode seasons, with five seasons planned, but I'd love to do more if I can keep the show fresh and entertaining. The first season's episodes are planned out, along with several episodes in the following seasons. My target demographic is the very underserved group of Black women, age 22-50, and the working distribution schedule is one episode every two weeks, with vlog and blog entries from "Abby" in between - effectively doubling the length of the season while keeping the viewer engaged. To my knowledge it's something that hasn't been done, but there's a ton of web series out there and many have GREAT ideas. I've also put together plans for promotion, funding and tie-in merchandise, so I'm looking to do big things with this series. It's all a crap shoot - but at least it's my crap shoot.
Last Looks
There's a lot that needs to be done to get this project off the ground, but I'm enjoying each step of the process. If things go well, there's another web series or two I'd like to launch. Who knows, maybe the episodic format I was leery of all along was the one I was supposed to follow - the one that finally winds up opening doors for me...
I guess we'll see.
STAY TUNED...
Background on the Project
The Life and Times of Abigail Waller began as an idea for a TV show in August 2008. I've had a few TV concepts over the years, and like the rest, I'd jotted down the basic premise and shoved it in an overflowing zippered binder with countless other ideas and concepts. My first love being writing for movies, TV writing was something I never gave a lot of thought to - primarily because I didn't know much about it. Writing a movie is simple in theory: sit down, write a 95 to 120-page story, promote it, rinse and repeat. Episodic writing was a whole 'nother animal. I also knew the only way to succeed in it was to move to Hollywood, and I wasn't ready, wanting or planning to do so. But I had some ideas, so I stashed them. Who knows? Might come in handy some day. Never say never.
The idea to do "Abby" as a web series came earlier this year, after attending an industry event where the creators of the web series Pink were on hand to talk about their series. Even before this event, I'd heard about people going the route of producing their own shows, but it just didn't click with me. I was too busy working on one screenplay or another. But after listening to their story, I was intrigued by the possibilities, so much so that I started rummaging through my mental rolodex of ideas for something that could be turned into a series. "Abby" was one of the first concepts that came to mind.
I was hot on the concept for a while - even coming home and jotting down quick notes, episode and promotional ideas and filling out a character bio sheet on the protagonist. But then I got sucked back into whatever feature script I was working on at the time (probably Lupus Moon), and Abby languished on the coffee table in my office for months. But now, thanks to recent events, she's front and center.
So What's It About?
The Life and Times of Abigail Waller (or "Abby," for intents and purposes) follows the adventures of a 31-year-old professional Black woman as she juggles work, family and relationships. I'm pitching the concept to people as "A Black Ally McBeal," but I could use a number of shows to get the point across. Throughout the life of the show, there's several topics I'd like to address, including women choosing bad men for relationships, the debate over natural versus permed hair (Abby will be natural, BTW), being a Black female in White male corporate America, dealing with messy and jealous “friends,” interracial dating, and self-image (“Oh, big lips are sexy ‘cause a white girl like Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson has them, but they weren’t when the sistas had them? Suddenly big butts are sexy because J. Lo and Kim Kardashian made them so? I guess the millions of sistas throughout history were invisible”).
The show will be classified as a dramedy, and it will be shot here in Houston. I'm aiming for 7 to 10-episode seasons, with five seasons planned, but I'd love to do more if I can keep the show fresh and entertaining. The first season's episodes are planned out, along with several episodes in the following seasons. My target demographic is the very underserved group of Black women, age 22-50, and the working distribution schedule is one episode every two weeks, with vlog and blog entries from "Abby" in between - effectively doubling the length of the season while keeping the viewer engaged. To my knowledge it's something that hasn't been done, but there's a ton of web series out there and many have GREAT ideas. I've also put together plans for promotion, funding and tie-in merchandise, so I'm looking to do big things with this series. It's all a crap shoot - but at least it's my crap shoot.
Last Looks
There's a lot that needs to be done to get this project off the ground, but I'm enjoying each step of the process. If things go well, there's another web series or two I'd like to launch. Who knows, maybe the episodic format I was leery of all along was the one I was supposed to follow - the one that finally winds up opening doors for me...
I guess we'll see.
STAY TUNED...
Sunday, March 14, 2010
State of the Marque Address - 3/14/10
My friends and fellow Americans...
Scrap that.
With Lupus Moon in its waning pages (see what I did there? Moon? Waning? Lol. I know...), I'm eagerly looking forward to what's next. There's some interesting things brewing...
I'm chomping at the bit to get to work on Sistas Ain't Havin' It! - and adaptation of a stage play I wrote that was originally conceived as a screenplay. Talk about coming full circle. Although I'm upgrading the characters to adults with jobs (the original takes place in high school) and drastically changing the story, it will remain a relationship revenge comedy about a womanizer who meets his match. I wrote a screenplay version of Sistas Ain't... in 2000 and was lucky enough to have it reviewed by DreamWorks (I have the letter from Steven Spielberg's assistant to prove it - it even says they wanted to read the script PER HIS REQUEST!), but in retrospect, I should've never sent that script. It was horrible. Deplorable. Just plain trifling. But hey, I was a baby to this screenwriting thing and I've gotten better now. A shitload better. I can't wait to get reacquainted with my old friends; this is the project I'm currently eyeing as my feature directing debut. There's been some concern with the title and whether or not folks will discount the quality of the film based on it, but I like the title and I'm willing to bet the fact that it stands out will catch more folks than turn away. We shall see.
On the "write to sell" track, there's Hardwired, a crime/action joint. There's already a script written (based on a concept from an actor friend), but I'm going to rewrite it and make some fundamental changes to the protagonist's life at the start. I ran the ideas by Shaundra and she loved them. It's gonna add some much-needed heart to the story and make us care about the lead, Harvey, that much more. At least that's the plan.
Jillted, my slasher piece, is more or less on moth balls for now. I look forward to working on it, but it's not a part of my immediate plans. Sistas Ain't Havin' It! is my independent front-runner. Lupus Moon and Hardwired (which could be an indie joint as well) are my mainstream, commercial attempts. If neither of those do anything on the script market, I'm not going to want to take the time to write Jillted when I could be working on the next project for the "indie track." Basically, Lupus Moon and Hardwired are my final attempts to sell a screenplay to Hollywood (at least for a while) before I decide to say "fuck it" and focus strictly on projects I'm gonna do myself.
Amidst that, I'm also working on a TV pilot called BRAT with a college friend (I need to get permission before I use his name). The concept is all his, and it sounds like it could be a great show. Using a narrative structure that's a combination of The Wonder Years and How I Met Your Mother, the show focuses on the life of Mandy Reese, the middle child in a military family in the 90s, coping internally with growing up while externally, the United States prepares for what will become the Gulf War. I'm looking forward to working on this as well, as we're at the point of writing the pilot. We're looking at this going to free cable, though I'm sure if the broadcast networks came calling...
There's other things in the mix as well. A friend of mine is making the leap into directing his first short and I'll be helping with that any way I can. In addition, after watching last week's Oscars, a few friends brought up the idea of combining forces to produce something. And in a week and some change one of my scripts, a romantic comedy, comes back to me after the option on it expires. If the new story for Sistas Ain't Havin' It! doesn't work, then this "prodigal script" becomes the odds-on favorite for my directing debut. All in all, there's a lot on the horizon.
This is gonna be fun.
STAY TUNED...
Scrap that.
With Lupus Moon in its waning pages (see what I did there? Moon? Waning? Lol. I know...), I'm eagerly looking forward to what's next. There's some interesting things brewing...
I'm chomping at the bit to get to work on Sistas Ain't Havin' It! - and adaptation of a stage play I wrote that was originally conceived as a screenplay. Talk about coming full circle. Although I'm upgrading the characters to adults with jobs (the original takes place in high school) and drastically changing the story, it will remain a relationship revenge comedy about a womanizer who meets his match. I wrote a screenplay version of Sistas Ain't... in 2000 and was lucky enough to have it reviewed by DreamWorks (I have the letter from Steven Spielberg's assistant to prove it - it even says they wanted to read the script PER HIS REQUEST!), but in retrospect, I should've never sent that script. It was horrible. Deplorable. Just plain trifling. But hey, I was a baby to this screenwriting thing and I've gotten better now. A shitload better. I can't wait to get reacquainted with my old friends; this is the project I'm currently eyeing as my feature directing debut. There's been some concern with the title and whether or not folks will discount the quality of the film based on it, but I like the title and I'm willing to bet the fact that it stands out will catch more folks than turn away. We shall see.
On the "write to sell" track, there's Hardwired, a crime/action joint. There's already a script written (based on a concept from an actor friend), but I'm going to rewrite it and make some fundamental changes to the protagonist's life at the start. I ran the ideas by Shaundra and she loved them. It's gonna add some much-needed heart to the story and make us care about the lead, Harvey, that much more. At least that's the plan.
Jillted, my slasher piece, is more or less on moth balls for now. I look forward to working on it, but it's not a part of my immediate plans. Sistas Ain't Havin' It! is my independent front-runner. Lupus Moon and Hardwired (which could be an indie joint as well) are my mainstream, commercial attempts. If neither of those do anything on the script market, I'm not going to want to take the time to write Jillted when I could be working on the next project for the "indie track." Basically, Lupus Moon and Hardwired are my final attempts to sell a screenplay to Hollywood (at least for a while) before I decide to say "fuck it" and focus strictly on projects I'm gonna do myself.
Amidst that, I'm also working on a TV pilot called BRAT with a college friend (I need to get permission before I use his name). The concept is all his, and it sounds like it could be a great show. Using a narrative structure that's a combination of The Wonder Years and How I Met Your Mother, the show focuses on the life of Mandy Reese, the middle child in a military family in the 90s, coping internally with growing up while externally, the United States prepares for what will become the Gulf War. I'm looking forward to working on this as well, as we're at the point of writing the pilot. We're looking at this going to free cable, though I'm sure if the broadcast networks came calling...
There's other things in the mix as well. A friend of mine is making the leap into directing his first short and I'll be helping with that any way I can. In addition, after watching last week's Oscars, a few friends brought up the idea of combining forces to produce something. And in a week and some change one of my scripts, a romantic comedy, comes back to me after the option on it expires. If the new story for Sistas Ain't Havin' It! doesn't work, then this "prodigal script" becomes the odds-on favorite for my directing debut. All in all, there's a lot on the horizon.
This is gonna be fun.
STAY TUNED...