Hollywood Executive Explains The Script Buying Process

Hollywood Executive Explains The Script Buying Process - Kelly Edwards

Рет қаралды 9,775

Жыл бұрын

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As HBO and WarnerMedia’s SVP of Talent Development for seven years, Kelly Edwards oversaw all of the emerging artists programs for HBO, HBOMax, and Turner, both domestic and abroad. Edwards’s career spans both television and film, having served as a key corporate diversity executive at Comcast/NBCUniversal and a creative executive for both film director Garry Marshall and producer Laura Ziskin. After moving to television, she spent six years as a senior executive at Fox, where she developed Living Single, Clueless, and The Wild Thornberrys. As SVP of Comedy Development at UPN, she developed Girlfriends, The Parkers, and Malcolm in the Middle. Edwards also produced the movie of the week A Christmas Detour for Hallmark, and the one-hour drama series Sex, Love, and Secrets. She holds a BA in Theater from Vassar and an MFA in Screenwriting from Emerson. Edwards has served on the Annenberg Inclusion Board, the UNCF Leadership Council, the ATAS Diversity committee, as a Trustee for NALIP, and is a 2019 Sundance Episodic Lab fellow. Kelly's book The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide to TV Series Development is now available (via Michael Wiese Productions).
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Пікірлер: 48

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for getting Ms Edwards take on Network TV. She was clear & your questions were excellent. It sounds like a grind, because it is, but the nice thing is you always know you're working. This is pretty much what we do at a basic cable channel or an affiliate, minus the budget.

@cmonz9 Жыл бұрын

No risks taken. Only inside script writers who keep churning out garbage.

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

Yes. It's a machine & the machine is broken.

@beinteractive3207 Жыл бұрын

When Studio Executives spy and actively chase down other studio scripts is how twin movies get made. This interview also reveals why the industry is in a creative slump. Everything is a copy of a copy because everyone is over worked and isnt given the time to think creativly, nor can afford to take risk to "manage the machine" that keeps churning out soulless plots and characters created out of machine learning algorithms. 😔

@peepsicle Жыл бұрын

You summed it up very well, and explained the problem. I’ve always wondered why Hulu, Netflix, and then also the big established movie studios, all have such similar movies come out at the same time. It’s tiresome. The viewing audience gets bombarded with the same movie about the same subject, and then gets to decide “who wore it best.”

@BigJackGameplays Жыл бұрын

All that trouble and they still get shows so bad they feel like teenagers made it. I may be totally wrong, but I think they Hollywood execs would have the same amount of great shows if they picked scripts at random... That being said, it was an insightful conversation, and, as always, the quality of the video was beyond excelent!

@marquissaint-germain4482 Жыл бұрын

It's a tough gig, but the pay is good and you learn a lot if you're in the right company.

@justbe3713 Жыл бұрын

Ms. Edwards did a great job of explaining the hectic world of scripted television. It’s a circus and “the show must go on!”

@chapeworks5148 Жыл бұрын

“..in the diversity department..we didn’t need you to be represented “.

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

That's actually a GOOD thing. Not everyone has representation. They need to expand that policy. It would help a LOT of artists.

@HollywoodNobody Жыл бұрын

“So straight white males may not submit without representation. Black transsexual writers confined to a wheelchair, send us your stuff!”

@NA86737 Жыл бұрын

@@cinemathequerouge317 Absolutely and honestly just focusing it on the diversity department honestly makes diverse writers seen as not as good.

@wexwuthor1776 Жыл бұрын

Thing is that some has to voucher for you to the studio. Tons of people have scripts. Most of them are no good. Not enough time in the day to go through all the bad scripts. Some gatekeeping is needed.

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

@@wexwuthor1776 Not really Wex. Some of these people the gatekeepers stop are in some form or fashion IN the industry NOW. Did you know you can actually work for a network, produce shows for them at the local or regional level and not be able to get a meeting with a decision maker? Also, getting representation is a nightmare. You can work for a major media company, have graduated film school, maybe even owned a small post house or recording studio and not be able to even get a rep on the PHONE! No one is talking about taking random people off the street.

@tonykono5225 Жыл бұрын

Managing the machine. Whether dozens of people or thousands, the Executives are crucial in making everything work.

@sunlightpictures8367 Жыл бұрын

Very interesting perspective. I'm glad I'm an indie filmmaker.

@filmcourage Жыл бұрын

What did you like about this video?

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

It filled my Film Courage fix as I work & listen in the background

@randomspirit Жыл бұрын

I appreciated the insights to what goes on behind the scenes and what's involved in getting something made into a movie or TV show. Thanks!

@jameskelly6039 Жыл бұрын

I liked hearing how “the other side of the table” sees it. While the pitcher views it as their only shot to get heard and could be the make or break moment of their career…the exec in the room is on their 14th hour with a billion other things going on and you’re the 6th pitch they’ve heard that day. It makes sense why they may not seem enthused to hear your idea or have time for unpolished pitches. Really puts the focus on making sure if one should get their chance to pitch to be prepared, don’t get shaken if they don’t seem overly enthusiastic, and most of all be thankful for their time.

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

@@jameskelly6039 It also shows where some weird idiosyncratic biases creep in. I remember talking to an HR person who hated applicants who used high quality resume paper. Another HR person had a bias against plain resume paper. Still another scoffed at any resume paper but off white. I had a reel, years ago before they were online, that was on DVD, which had a film reel printed on the label side. A lot of people liked it. One interviewer was very impressed & said it showed attention to detail. Another said it was a major turn off. There are a lot of idiosyncrasies that creep into the process. Plus, you might have a perfectly polished pitch for one executive that might not resonate with another. Worse still, even though you did research & found out the company desperately wants an action show pitch, the boss might have dropped a directive on her desk that morning to "Find SitComs, pronto!!" And you're the 6th action show pitch she's sat through. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it. The system is hopelessly broken, so try not to take any of this too personally. Put your best foot forward & hope for the best.

@GregorioGrasselli1972 Жыл бұрын

Hey, this story would make a movie!

@BigJackGameplays Жыл бұрын

I'd argue this makes all Hollywood movies ;)

@littlecaesar1842 Жыл бұрын

thats why "hollywood" is prospering every year 👍🙃

@wexwuthor1776 Жыл бұрын

All that work and the product on the screen is so often lacking. There must be a better way, but I don't know it.

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

That proves the gatekeepers are not effective. If it worked we wouldn't have so many bad movies.

@corpsefoot758 Жыл бұрын

We just need more execs with a creative background, not a business background We’re selling human experiences here, not crates of bananas

@cinemathequerouge317 Жыл бұрын

@@corpsefoot758 Your lips to god's ears.

@wexwuthor1776 Жыл бұрын

@@corpsefoot758 Hollywood Exec: We've got all these bananas. If chimps like them maybe lions will too. Anyway, the vegan diet would be better for lions. Let's market bananas to lions. Agreed? Rest of Hollywood: Agreed.

@GregorMima Жыл бұрын

Soo many scripts, and in the end shows and movies are so crappy and cringy nowdays. Maybe abit more quality and less quantity.

@G360LIVE Жыл бұрын

When there are so many scripts, the problem isn't the quantity of scripts, it's the quality of the execs choosing the scripts and giving good feedback. Also, the studios have boxes that need to be checked, a lot more boxes than in the past, so that's a distraction for anyone looking at scripts: They're reading to find those boxes checked rather than reading for quality storytelling and character development.

@GregorMima Жыл бұрын

@@G360LIVE Yep that´s also true.

@andrecato2261 Жыл бұрын

No 7 days a week

@intercontinentaltv5525 Жыл бұрын

How good the script dose not matter in fact , Stupid scribblings might get a better chance if it has super excess

@theonebegotten Жыл бұрын

lies upon lies

@matttholl6004 4 ай бұрын

I've written so many novalas..where...lol..can i..lol..have someone look at my ideas lol...

@bobdroll6381 Жыл бұрын

Film and TV execs get a bad rap, but productions are extraordinarily expensive, so they can't greenlight the fleeting artistic whim of every fly by night Marcy Carsey wannabe. It is a business, after all.

@corpsefoot758 Жыл бұрын

Why do so many shows coming from these supposed business-geniuses get cancelled, then

@bobdroll6381 Жыл бұрын

@@corpsefoot758 Babe Ruth's batting average was .342. Because no one's perfect. Because audiences are finite. Because they can't all be hits, by definition. Understand?

@corpsefoot758 Жыл бұрын

@@bobdroll6381 What is the “batting average” of airline pilots getting their passengers safely from Point A to Point B? And why should I take baseball analogies any more seriously than pilot ones? If a baseball average is good enough for movie execs as well, then why are NONE of them celebrated as much as Ruth was? Do you realize how goofy you sound right now?

@bobdroll6381 Жыл бұрын

@@corpsefoot758 Because Babe Ruth is celebrated as an unusually successful figure in sports, despite "only" having a batting average of .342. Btw, every professional baseball player is a success in their own right, no matter how long or well they played, but most won't become household names. AGAIN, Ruth is special; his "baseball genius" isn't in question despite not getting a hit on every at-bat. Meanwhile, no-name pilots carry on with the workaday task of flying, not crashing, their planes. That's the expected outcome. Nothing anomalous about it. Like a dentist filling cavities. Or a plumber fixing leaks. Now that I've explained analogies to you, let's talk about your incredibly obtuse assertion that film and tv execs should only be considered competent if every single one of their productions become A HIT (get it?). Actually, let's not. Because it's an assertion already absurd on its face; the vagaries of the viewing audience, the imprecision and unpredictability of creative and collaborative mixology, cast chemistry, on and on and on. There are many moving parts in film/tv production that have to work harmoniously before your favorite shows come into fruition and remain on the air, so the idea that having cancelled shows on one's ledger necessarily equates to executive incompetence is what's truly goofy.

@kuritheking Жыл бұрын

If everyone’s making sh!tty movies then I’m not watching lol