Hollywood legendary director

When I was young, I thought that TV was a conspiracy, and the TV stations worked together to make everyone stupid. Later I found out that this idea was wrong. It was not the TV station’s fault at all. It was the result of the audience's own choices.

——Steve Jobs.

Although in the interview, Jobs said this in a joking manner.

But it is also enough to prove that the TV station is definitely the most dedicated effort on the road to cater to the joys, sorrows and sorrows of the broad audience.

This is especially true for TV series, because it is broadcast weekly.

The decision to survive is entirely in the hands of the audience. When someone sees it, if it meets expectations, it will be able to finish one season, and there will even be a renewal season. No one will watch it, and basically cannot survive three episodes.

The trial broadcast system is a feature of American TV dramas.

TV stations spend a lot of meaningless funds on this every year.

Every project is cut, it means that the TV station will lose a copyright expenditure to buy and broadcast.

Because in the United States, the TV station first saw this project. After paying the advance payment, the US TV series will start shooting. After shooting two or three episodes, it will be sold to the paid one to see if the prospect of the show is worth continuing.

But TV stations are not always willing to buy projects, which requires the contacts of various production companies.

Some powerful gold medal producers, who are well versed in the needs of major TV stations and the preferences of their supervisors, pull out a team, even if they don't have a good idea of ​​the theme, they can still turn stones into gold.

For example, the famous Baum Gardner in the circle is an example. He has relationships with the media groups behind major TV stations. As long as the ideas he sells, they can basically be filmed and broadcast.No one does not give him a chance to test the waters.

And Charles took the same path. Lismanwish Pictures often reaped profits by contracting part of the series.

Furthermore, the length of the TV series is longer.

Therefore, TV dramas pay much attention to the plot and have greater demands on the screenwriter.

It is no exaggeration to say that the screenwriters who are absolutely disadvantaged in the film industry have achieved a great improvement in American drama.

The chief writer of most American dramas is equivalent to the production director.

The life and death of a character, and even the trend of the plot, is basically a very short time, the screenwriters quickly rushed out, and then the chief writer decides whether to hire.

A well-known joke in the circle is that a certain actor is not obedient, or his salary has risen too much, and as a result, there are endless examples of being written to death by the screenwriter.

Therefore, as an actor, if you are in the TV circle, it is best not to offend the screenwriter too much.

......

The script library of WB TV station.

Lehman took Thomas, Ryan, and sent a few employees from the screenwriting department.

Well, Nolan's younger brother Jonathan, after finishing the script of "Batman", joined Firefly Pictures, temporarily responsible for the screenwriting.

Several people stayed here for most of the day, all sifting through scripts.

Every year, even if the WB TV station is not so strong, it will receive a huge number of project ideas.

After all, opportunities are limited. When all TV stations add up, there are not many TV series that can be shown in a year. Compared with the huge number of screenwriters, the competition is more intense.

Therefore, everyone with an idea will vote for the creative script to N TV stations.

Anyway, they have included the protection of property rights in the relevant departments.

If someone plagiarizes the results and sue the court, it will be very troublesome.TV stations don’t do that.

In the huge collection room, every wooden cabinet is full of scripts.

Some have not been cleaned up, even dating back many years.

While he was busy, taking some time, Lehman had to answer questions about the script.

For example, who is optimistic about a script, Lehman has to review it again, but all of them are rejected by him.

The basic reason is that the story is too old-fashioned, the setting is not new, the subject matter is not prominent, or the shooting cost is too far from the expected market, and the risk is too high.

For these opinions, everyone is muttering in their hearts.

I said that I came to choose the script, but I didn't like any of them.

However, Lehman didn't explain much, and focused his attention on the screening script.

In fact, he came over this time, just to see if the ideas overlapped, which saved the future embarrassment.

After all, he basically knows the TV series that will be popular in later generations, just in case, shoot one from them.

I had to crash with a script written independently by a certain screenwriter.

Of course, other people don’t know about Lehman’s careful thinking, and they really worked hard to select the script with their own eyes. After all, Lehman talked about the scope of a subject, saying that he wanted to make a drama about prison escape. .

However, this kind of subject matter is almost impossible to find, and even the margins are rare.

After all, the hottest ones on the market now are family comedies, reasoning dramas, crime dramas, etc. The focus of screenwriting is also here.

And Jonathan still feels weird about Lyman's attitude of turning a blind eye to other subjects.When he saw a fairly good script for the third time and passed it over and was rejected by almost the same reason, he asked in surprise: "Actually, the subject of prison escape is not as broad as a crime drama. It’s the fifth season, and I won an Emmy Award."

Well, "Wire of Fire" and "Crime Scene Investigation" are both the main similar markets, and they all succeeded.

In any case, instead of catering to the market audience, it is indeed not so wise to pursue tirelessly themes that sound niche.

Even "Shawshank's Redemption" is powerful enough, and it was a loss when it was shot.

This is proven by the market.

"It's just too much homogeneity." Lehman was turning over the script intently. Hearing that he was even more surprised than Jonathan and raised his head, "Even if something similar is shot, it will be squeezed by the TV series itself. This is not what I want to watch. Arrived."

"Why? If it's you, it shouldn't be difficult to shoot something new." Jonathan shook his head with emotion.

In other words, "Bad Guy" is still the highest-grossing movie of its kind.

He guessed that this was the reason why Lehmann was reluctant to go the old way. The movie also changed the subject of each subject, and he did not expect to make a TV series.

Lyman stained his mouth.

His brother went to make a movie, and after Jonathan was all right, he was in the mood to make fun of himself.

But what Lehman wants is not just a high-end ratings, but a hot, or at least a hit drama, the one that ranks high.

Don't suppress Charles all at once and get rid of all his unnecessary ideas. I don't know what year the equity acquisition will be delayed.

Although Charles is very dissatisfied with him now, but it is not enough. The basic set has not been broken, and he still seems confident.

This will not work.

Reading continues.

It took two full days for Lehman to finally determine that he would not crash.

Actually, it seems that the originality of the show is a whim of the producer and pieced together. I never thought it would be possible to shoot so many seasons.The unfinished product is very serious.

————