Hollywood Executive Explains The Script Buying Process - Kelly Edwards

Film Courage: How many pitch  meetings would you schedule a day? Kelly Edwards, Staff Writer, Author,  Producer: We had them every hour on the hour.   More than likely we would do, so a typical Network  executive's day is usually a breakfast. These days   obviously not so much but I usually would start  my day with a breakfast then I'd have a 10 a.m.   because I was in the office by 10. Every now and  again like a Tuesday morning or Monday morning   we'd have a staff meeting at some point during  that week probably Monday or Tuesday where we   go over weekend reads so we go through all of  this material that it can't come in or it would   be a meeting so it would be a 10 a.m 11 a.m., a  noon, then we go to lunch come back and we would   do either 2:30 or a three o'clock, four o'clock,  five o'clock, sometimes a six. Sometimes those   six o'clocks would end up being…actually at UPN we  had seven o'clock meetings as well so we had those   were usually within the company but it might have  been a programming conversation with scheduling or   with you know it would be a budget conversation  whatever it was it was but we were stacked every   single every single hour you had something and  that's why I say when you got a chance to when   somebody canceled it was like because those every  single lunch was was a was a meeting and that's   another meeting right it's not just lunch it's a  meeting so when I when I had kids I would go home   I'd get home by eight and I usually had to lay  down for at least a half hour before I could   even be sane enough to see my kids who were about  to go to sleep if they hadn't already so it's a   it's a lot it's a lot and then there are also  sometimes you have dinners so it's a constant   churn of activity and within all of that you are  then the last 10 minutes before the end of the   last meeting or at the end of the last meeting  you 10 minutes maybe you can go through some   of your emails and go through some of your  phone calls and try to return calls and and   try to reply or read the next script or look at  somebody's credits who's coming in to pitch you   so there's always something to do there's always  something to fill your time it's exhausting   it's exhausting and then imagine you're managing  then the projects that you have already bought   so let's just say I've already purchased and  I'm going to say at at Fox we purchased 65   scripts to 85 scripts a year at UPN probably a  little bit less maybe but still probably in the   we're we're not talking a couple we're talking  50 60 Scripts so we're managing all of that   material and giving notes so some of those some  of those are notes calls they're not all pitches   so there's a lot and then we have to obviously  connect with one another to say okay what did   everybody think about this before we give notes  so there's a lot of stuff happening during the   day when you're a network executive and it  doesn't end on your weekends you're still   doing on the weekends so it's a seven day  a week job yeah I had to at EP and I had to   make a decision that Sundays were for myself  and my family but the Saturdays I would work   so I took one day this is even just after I got  married I needed to foster my relationship right   so I did make sure that I at least had one day for  reading material and doing notes or watching cuts   and giving those one cuts whatever that whatever  I was doing and sometimes you're you're writing   up the document right so it's not just like I'm  reading a script and verbally giving notes I'm   then writing a document or I'm reading a document  that someone has written and adding my thoughts   before we send it off so there's again there's  process and then at least one day for relaxation   and was it really relaxation or  you were always available by phone   no I was not available by phone I had to unplug  and that was again that was the stipulation   between when I worked at Fox for Tom Noonan who at  the time was a 21st hours seven day a week kind of   person and I would get these crazy calls so early  in the morning I was not prepared and I was like   and he had always read everything way before I had  so I had to be really really fast and at the time   at Fox I was also the person who had to collect  all of the the information this is so old school   but all of the information about everything that  everybody else was doing in town so part of my job   besides going to comedy clubs and doing notes and  all of this and reading scripts was also to Canvas   the town and do up a report that was well Warner  Brothers just bought these three scripts and   these are the auspices and this is the log line  and the status and it was a multi-page document   so it was terrifying because I was a person  who was like I’ve got to call so and so it   whatever and whittle the information out of them  because they didn't always want to give it to you   sometimes you call the agents but  you had this binder essentially of   information I will say packets of information  about what everybody's doing what overall   Deals they were having they were creating who was  getting blind scripts whatever it was I had to be   the router-outer of all things so it was but again  it helped me create a network of people I suddenly   had 15-20 people who were my regular contacts  that then exponentially again grows your network   can any writer that comes in is always represented  it's never a non-represented writer like someone   just cold pitching well if you well okay so  so things things are things are different if   I'm finding somebody let's just say I'm finding a  playwright they marinate it may not be represented   but the materials out there right so the  playwright is probably produced the play that's   how I probably know of that playwright so it's  not like it's anything that there's an issue with   me being able to bring that person in so  sometimes you have to go chase people who   aren't represented but for the most part  people are represented or they have legal   representation or they come in from a valued  source when I was at at HBO I because I was   in the diversity Department there was an  understanding that if you were coming to me   we didn't need you to be represented we didn't  need you we needed you to sign a release form   but we didn't need you to have all the bells and  whistles because we were discovering that Talent   and I think some a lot of places don't necessarily  operate that way I was lucky that I they allowed   me that chapter where people could could fall out  of my desk how many pitches would you listen to   before green lighting a show well the process  at a broadcast network it's not quite that   it's not really done that way like I said every  every year we would bring in a certain number of   pitches and that was was determined by the budget  that I had so let's just say let's just say I for   sake of argument I have a million dollars in my  budget and I'm purchasing scripts from a number   of different kinds of levels of writers so some  are basically getting scales or whatever it is   they're getting a minimum amount of money because  they're brand new they've never done it before   or we're getting some super high-end people who've  already knocked it out of the park on it another   Network and they're coming in to do another  project for us so I've got a certain budget   the budget will run out at a certain point  usually around October for for the comedies   and or for comedies and dramas it depends again  on how much money you have in your in your kitty   and and then we would always Reserve something  because there's there was usually like a heavy   hitter that came in like at the very last minute  there would be always something super unexpected   that you go oh I really wish I had the money for  that so you reserve a little bit something in the   in your pot for that but when the money runs  out the money runs out so again sometimes it's   55 scripts sometimes it's 85 Scripts and based on  that you then get all your first drafts in or you   get all your all your scripts in by I could say  your final jobs in before the holidays so just   before Christmas break you get all your scripts  in you've already done a draft or two so what's   kind of what's looking good and what's not looking  good and then when January comes around and you're   back in business after the holidays that's when  you make your pickups and decide okay of all of   these I have enough to make maybe 10 Pilots or  13 Pilots or whatever the number of Pilots are   and at a certain point sometimes you might  not want to do a full pilot you might want   to do a presentation you might want to shoot  a few scenes to see if it's something but you   don't necessarily need to shoot the whole  thing there are times when you must shoot   the whole thing because it's the only way you're  going to really know if you got something so we   would decide oh we're going to do three pilots  and four presentations based on the money again   and then and then you'd make your pickups  based on those things that that panned out   and it's then you go you go into pilot  craziness and all of a sudden you're off   to the races with everybody else and you're  looking for directors and you're looking for   Studio space you're looking for your your  actors and your competing against all the   other networks that somebody might want to go to  before they want to come to you and you're doing   your best to scramble to get to get the very best  package that you can the very best team of people   and how are you choosing some of the staff writers  well that comes after you get the pilot done so   let's just say then the pilot gets shot edit it  you see the rough cut you they you go back and you   give your notes you polish it up and buy May when  the upright fronts were coming up you then have   you know which ones you were you're put putting  on your schedule and which ones you're going to   hold for mid-season as mid-season replacements  and then you go out and announce it to the world   and somewhere in that that April delivery of  the pilot and the pickup to series is a couple   of weeks where you pretty much know what's going  to end up on the schedule and you've you've sort   of tipped a hand to the people who are producing  those things and you go all right it's looking   really good you should probably start to read  some scripts and get some stuff or a you're not   it's on the bubble or it's not going to work out  and then yeah those that's the problem of the of   the showrunner to go assemble that team and start  reading people and because we've worked with a   lot of writers we will have an idea of kind of  who we would like to have in that group and if   the showrunner's amenable and meets and likes  those people then great and if they don't they   might have their own ideas it's a little bit of a  negotiation to decide who's going to get on staff   now that I've been a writer in a writer's room I  think I even know even more how important it is   to get the right group of people and how much the  showrunner really needs to rely on particularly   people at the top who are going to execute that  that goal even when they're not in the room I   knew about it before but it's like you really see  it in action when it's when you're sitting there   in that writer's room it's really important to  have the right mix that's interesting so what does   that mean when someone's not in the room and they  can execute so they can then give notes over the   phone or no no I just mean that when you're when  you're running a show as a as a writing showrunner   there's other things that you have to take care  of so you are also when you're launching your show   you're doing a press you're in the you're in the  edit bay doing post you're managing your talent   you are putting out fires left and right you're  talking to the network you're pitching another new   stories to the network and the studio so there's  a lot of other things that happen that's why the   showrunner is so important and then you might have  a head writer who is taking care of running the   physical room while that while you were handling  other things you may also be that person who   must dip back in you might have a non-writing  executive producer who might handle all that   so when I was executive producing a show it was a  drama series we handled a lot of the other things   we were in the writer we were in the edit Bay  all the time we were selecting the music We Were   doing the spotting we were doing the color  correction we were in the posts in the post   world but we were also dealing with well we had a  cast not a Cassidy a costumer who was cycling out   we had to get a new costume designer we had crew  changes or other issues we had to figure out what   it's supposed to look like so there's other  things other decisions that have to be made   that have to go along with the show  the physical writing of the show   so there's a lot of kettle's boiling sure I know  I'm mixing my metaphors like no no no no no now   I'm getting a better picture of it right okay  so you've got the writer's room they're there   14 hours a day I guess well they commit it like  it's a 10 to six kind of job okay all right maybe   maybe although there are legendary shows where  they just never went home like they went home   for like a minute to shower and then came back but  those are old stories sure sure so okay so maybe   eight to ten hours if we're lucky sure okay so  that's its own sort of moving part and then you've   got all these other decisions that you're making  whether it's the poster or press color correction   things like that yeah yeah okay interesting  yeah and managing the managing the machine.

Channel: Film Courage

Views: 6,002

Keywords: Screenwriting tips, screenwriting 101, screenwriting advice, screenwriting for beginners, screenwriting techniques, craft of screenwriting, selling a screenplay, how to write a script, how to write a story, writing a screenplay, Kelly edwards, the executive chair, studio executive, filmcourage, film courage, interview, how to make a better story, writing process, writing craft, pitching a tv show, selling a tv series

Id: zbx26LUbnpE

Length: 14min 28sec (868 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 25 2022