November 10, 2016: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try, try, try again!

In season 1, we had 12 of 13 scripts written by the time we went to camera.

In season 2, we had 9 of 13 scripts written by the time we went to camera.

As we head into season 3, it looks like we’ll probably have 8 of 13 scripts written by the time we go to camera.  And that’s being optimistic.  A couple of reasons for this:

1. SCHEDULE: We’re starting production earlier.  In season 1, we started in early January.  In season 2, we started in early December.  This season, we’re looking at a mid-November start.

2. THE ROOM: In our first year, Paul and I were joined by Martin Gero.  We broke all 13 episodes over the course of two and a half weeks!  In our second year, we managed to break 9 scripts.  This year, we succeeded in breaking all of 7 (ish) scripts – some more detailed than others.

3. REWRITES: Holy crap!  THIS is the biggest challenge of all.  Unlike other season where rewrites would mostly involve tweaks to the first drafts, these season 3 rewrites haven’t been brutal, big, and time-consuming.  5 out of our first 7 scripts have seen full passes.

We’re still in great shape; still ahead of the game.  I’ve heard horror stories of productions that have prepped off outlines and, in one case, a writer’s pitch (!). Thankfully, that’s a situation we’ll never face (I promise).  Still, it can be both frustrating and exhausting fielding 11th hour curveballs when you’re in meetings, prepping, revising, finishing off first drafts and, oh yeah, perhaps most importantly, have a fairly well thought-out narrative plan in place that you spent the better part of three months putting together.

Ah, show business.

Hey, wanna see something really cool?

Concept art by Henry Fong.