Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

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  • #16
    Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

    I agree with Comic that editing today can be on the shoddy side, especially in the area of copyediting. I have been lucky that all of my books have had first-rate editors, and the one I'm working with now, for my 2019 and 2020 novels, has been superior to all of them, both in understanding the work itself, and in choosing excellent copyeditors. That said, I always try to submit work that is as perfect as I can possibly make it.

    As for getting an agent these days, very often an agent who has responded positively to your query will read ten pages. If they don't work for him or her, or are sloppily-written, you'll get a pass. Agents have reputations to protect as much as authors do, and they don't want to be known as the agent who sends unpublishable work around.

    Writing a novel-a good novel-is an apprenticeship. As I've noted here before, I wrote twelve novels before I was ever published. It takes time, it takes learning from rejection, and it takes perseverance.

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    • #17
      Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

      Originally posted by EnsconcedinVelvet View Post
      I found it far easier to get an agent and a book deal with a major publisher (and I didn't even live in NYC) than it's been to even get a manager for a TV pilot in L.A., and I live in Hollywood. I suspect my (female) gender is working against me in Hollywood. For me getting a book published felt more merit-based, as in they were much more concerned with the voice and content, whereas TV writing feels like it's about who you know, age, gender. Just my $.02

      TV is actually incredibly biased against men right now, not women. Many shows aren't even staffing white males. There's never been a better time to work in TV for a woman...you have a huge leg up.

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      • #18
        Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

        Originally posted by CthulhuRises View Post
        TV is actually incredibly biased against men right now, not women. Many shows aren't even staffing white males. There's never been a better time to work in TV for a woman...you have a huge leg up.
        Not true, though I can see how it might feel that way to a white man trying to break in. Straight white men are still the majority in rooms. It has never been better for women but don't mistake that for parity or a huge leg up, it was just severely unbalanced to start with.

        I suspect this thread is going to go downhill very quickly.

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        • #19
          Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

          ... and us, Slavs from Eastern Europe, are always screwed up most of y'all: while still a racial and cultural minority, and coming from much poorer countries, we're technically white, so we never get diversity points. Think about that sometimes.

          Back to the subject: I've published several novels in my homeland already, so I know the slog of it. They were never as commercial as my current idea, though.

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          • #20
            Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

            Originally posted by Northbank View Post
            Not true, though I can see how it might feel that way to a white man trying to break in. Straight white men are still the majority in rooms. It has never been better for women but don't mistake that for parity or a huge leg up, it was just severely unbalanced to start with.

            I suspect this thread is going to go downhill very quickly.

            Yes true. And actually, I'm broken in (thanks for your concern, but I have two 20M films shooting next Spring), and thus regularly have meetings where this is the company mandate. Of course it was unbalanced to begin with. That doesn't change my statement, that being at the moment, it is FAR easier to get staffed as a woman than a white man.

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            • #21
              Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

              Originally posted by CthulhuRises View Post
              Yes true. And actually, I'm broken in (thanks for your concern, but I have two 20M films shooting next Spring), and thus regularly have meetings where this is the company mandate. Of course it was unbalanced to begin with. That doesn't change my statement, that being at the moment, it is FAR easier to get staffed as a woman than a white man.
              What you are hearing is that they want a woman because they already have a bunch of men and they are not telling you about the jobs already filled, just the ones that need filling. Given how the vast majority of the showrunner and senior positions are taken largely by white men (as it usually takes a while to get up the ladder to those positions) they try to fill the rest of the slots with other people - so yes, it's far easier to get staffed as a woman... for those remaining staff jobs.

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              • #22
                Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                Originally posted by Northbank View Post
                What you are hearing is that they want a woman because they already have a bunch of men and they are not telling you about the jobs already filled, just the ones that need filling. Given how the vast majority of the showrunner and senior positions are taken largely by white men (as it usually takes a while to get up the ladder to those positions) they try to fill the rest of the slots with other people - so yes, it's far easier to get staffed as a woman... for those remaining staff jobs.

                Wow, didn't realize you were in the room with me. You seem to know my exact experiences (oh, the irony...)


                No, I'm speaking of new shows in addition to already running shows. Simply put, there are less women attempting to be writers and showrunners. That can and should be changed from the ground up. But it doesn't change the fact that when shows start staffing -- both new Pilots and already on-air shows -- they are first and foremost looking for women and minorities, to the point where often a white male will not even be considered. So yes, to the original point (which was it's harder to break-in to T.V. as a woman), that is patently false. It's the opposite.

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