Writing Life: Specs, Specs, Specs

It's workshop/fellowship season, so that can only mean one thing: spec scripts.

I don't mean scripts that are written on spec (i.e., written in the hopes of selling it/getting staffed off of it), but writing an in-continuity episode of an existing show, a "spec script."

These days, very few people — showrunners, representatives, etc. — even want to read spec scripts (versus original pilots), but some do. And for writing workshops such as the Disney-ABC Writing Program, NBC's Writers on the Verge, or the Warner Bros. Television Writers' Workshop, spec scripts are a requirement as part of your submission.

I've never applied to one of these writers' workshops before (this will be my first year) and while I've written several original pilots, I've never before written a spec script. It's been a unique challenge: trying to remain consistent to your own voice while remaining true to the voice and tone of the show that you're writing. (It's a good exercise for those who want to be staffed on a show: can you make your script sound/read/feel like an episode of a show that's not your own? Can you blend your voice with the writers'?)

I've been working on a spec script for a streaming show for which there are no available scripts to read. (Like I said, it's a challenge. But I like challenges.) Looking at scripts definitely helps in terms of nailing the voice/tone and the format of the show. Does the show you chose have act breaks? How many act breaks does an episode have? What are the naming conventions for the various locations that the show uses? These are questions that you can answer by delving into episodic scripts for your chosen series. But when there are no scripts available to read? You're sort of on your own. You can watch (and rewatch) episodes to guide you but ultimately you have to stick to your guts.

The idea with a spec script is to create something that works within the confines of the show, feels organic to the world and its characters, and does something different. What I've realized is that it's a very tricky thing, a tightrope walk where you have to showcase your ability to tell a story using someone else's characters and remain true to their sense of identity and narrative but also prove that you can bring something new to the show. A new way of looking at the characters or their struggles, a new theme to explore, a one-off that doesn't alter the continuity but explores the world of the show in an unexpected way.

After outlining fairly extensively, I finished the first draft of my spec this morning... and plan to reread it later in the week and begin revising. That's my process: speed-writing to get that vomit draft on the page and then fixing things up, tweaking, and rewriting. It's a sprint and a marathon in one.

It's too soon to tell whether I'll be pleased with the results of my efforts. But in the 18 months or so, I've achieved things I never thought I would: I wrote my first pilot scripts, my first feature script, and now my first TV spec script. I've placed in 20 contests over the last few months. But I choose not to look at these as milestones or major accomplishments. They're route markers on a long journey. And there are many, many miles still to go...