Failing Better
Due to some sort of alien sabotage, my server has exploded with a resulting loss of website and email.
Mr Scott is hard at work in the depths of the engine room trying to get it fixed even as we speak, but I don’t know how long it’ll take. Or how long the artificial gravity and air will hold.
I’ll be in my quarters comforting the beautiful alien princess. If you want to get in touch with me over the next couple of days, use this email address: piers.beckley@gmail.com.
I’ve moved through Denial and am now onto Anger.
I mean, seriously London, WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?
Did you just suddenly wake up STUPID yesterday?
I am so angry about this, I’m in serious danger of Godwinning myself. Oh no, wait, LONDON’S ALREADY DONE THAT FOR ME.
Right, that’s it London. Just don’t talk to me until I’ve calmed down.
This just in from the Guardian:
Being Human, the flatshare-with-monsters show that I raved about along with Oli, Jason, Rob, and David has been commissioned to series.
Not only does this prove that we are all gentlemen of exquisite taste, but also that quality genre series have a home on British TV, and that willing something to happen really hard can make it occur.
For the next demonstration of my psychic powers, not only will I get scripts for a new TV series of Blake’s 7 commissioned, I will make it happen yesterday.
[concentrates REALLY HARD]
There.
John Rogers is a rather fine screenwriter. His works include the vastly under-rated The Core, and a pilot for a Global Frequency TV show (which, sadly, wasn’t picked up).
He also wrote one of the drafts of Catwoman, and was unfortunate enough to have his name on the finished product. But he’s really sorry about that.
Anyhoo, he and Dean Devlin have received a 13-episode order for new series Leverage from TNT.
Nice.
But the best bit is this: not only is he blogging right now about the nitty-gritty of running a writers room, he’ll also answer questions left in the comments section.
And for another perspective on what goes on in a writers room, check out showrunner Ron Moore’s podcasts for Battlestar Galactica. Not only does he do commentaries on all the episodes, occasionally he’ll take the recorder into the writers room and you can hear the writers break the episode.
I tell you, the Internet is full of goodness.
Gah. Haven’t posted a thing on the blog for a couple of weeks. This must stop.
Lest Stuart Perry decide that it’s Karma Payback Time and swing by for a drive-by commenting, I have a new plan.
Reprints.
As popularised by Danny Stack, the plan is a simple one. Should I not have anything interesting to write about, or be stuck behind a rapidly approaching deadline, or just be having too much fun elsewhere to write a full blog post, I’ll reprint stuff I’ve written before.
Odds are that it’ll be new to you though.
I spent most of a year living the dream in Los Angeles. I had some redundancy money, enough to support me comfortably for six months, and had decided that it was time to shit or get off the pot and spend some time trying to make it as a writer.
Having done the sums, I calculated the cost-of-living for LA versus London.
They were the same.
So I got a visa, and off I went.
I took with me the following:
And I had a hostel on Hollywood Boulevard booked for the first week after I arrived.
I was in Los Angeles for most of a year. And every few weeks, I’d email how it was going to whoever had asked to be kept updated.
So, that’s the background. Next time I’m feeling lazy or overworked, expect to see a reprint of the emails I sent instead of an introduction.
Because as a way of not having to write a blog entry, this one would have to be counted as a bit of a failure.
The first time I’ve ever been interviewed, and it’s out now.
You can read my witterings about how the state of modern SF is affected by the times in which we live in this month’s issue of SciFiNow, available from all good newsagents.
Every time I think about it, I still get slightly surprised.
So, apparently Internet Petitions aren’t worth the photons they’re written with.
Which might be considered a shame if, like me, you’d signed one recently in an attempt to get a second series of Being Human commissioned.
Oops.
This phenomenon is known as Slacktivism.
It’s like activism, only it doesn’t require you to get your hands dirty, and it doesn’t work. It’s the warm fuzzy feeling you get from forwarding an email to help collect first names for a school project or not buying petrol on May 15th, despite the fact that these things absolutely will not work.
Isn’t it great? You can make a difference, without actually having to do anything! Give yourself a big hug! You deserve it!
Well, if you really want a place to go and ask for a new series of Being Human, here’s how to do it:
Unfortunately, it takes a few more clicks than signing an Internet Petition.
On the plus side, it’s guaranteed to be read by someone at the BBC, and a summary will be forwarded to the channel executive.
That would be Danny Cohen, the man who actually has the power to make a decision whether or not it gets recommissioned.
I’ve made up for my earlier slackassery.
So if there’s some feedback you want to give the BBC – about anything – door’s open.
Jonathan Coulton is playing his first ever UK gig at Dingwalls in Camden this coming Thursday.
If you don’t know JoCo, he’s behind some classic tunes including Re: Your Brains, a rather fine cover of Sir Mix-a-lot’s Baby Got Back and the, frankly, heartbreaking love song Code Monkey.
Not to mention the fact that he did the magnificent closing song for Portal.
A lot of people on the Internet right now are talking about the 1,000 true fans that, when you have them, enable you to give up the day job and make a living from your art. Well, JoCo is living proof.
If you hurry, there are still a few tickets left.
Just bought my ticket for this years Screenwriters Festival.
There are 15 Early Bird tickets left as I post – save yourself thirty quid by picking one up now!