59 Marbles
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?
Robert Browning
I guess I was lucky that when I got accepted into the Writing for TV class because an über supportive interim prof was teaching. She encouraged me to develop a new burlesque series rather than an animation series that I'd already partially written. All I knew about the new series was that it was set in New Orleans, it involved a building, and it was called Burlesque Palace. I had my work cut out for me but what has evolved is a cable series idea set in the New Orleans that involves lots of music.
Today my regular prof is back and I got a talking down. First I was told that I had to tone the series down so that I could consider pitching it to Canadian broadcasters. This would involve cutting out much of the music, setting it in a Canadian city, and making it a little less racy. When I argued that doing so would unravel the series, she said, “When you graduate, you’ll be lucky to get a job writing other people’s characters. If you’re really lucky, after years of hard work, one day you might get a chance to pitch your ‘passion project’.” I sat and listened to her quietly then I suggested, “What about those outliers like Diablo Cody who come out of left field and hit the big time precisely because she wasn't the norm?” That got an eye roll as she responded, “You’d have better chance winning the lotto.” (I didn’t tell her that I sometimes buy lotto tickets too;)
Tonight I’m slightly peeved at my prof. I know she thinks I’m audacious to hope that as a novice writer, my series would be picked up when most well-seasoned writers don’t get past writing other people’s characters. But I didn’t start out with the intention of being audacious. I started out completing an assignment to develop my own original TV series. She was the originator of the assignment. Why design a class around developing original series when you’re just going to discourage your students from pitching them? In addition to my series, there are other series that I could see working if the students continued to hone them and continually edit, taking them to the next level.
As Indira Gandhi said, “Whenever you take a step forward, you are bound to disturb something” I just didn’t know that the something would be my teacher. She probably wants to shield me from disappointment, but she has no idea what my future holds.
My question is, “Who does she think she is?” I’m not asking her to make this happen for me. Nor am I asking her to project her life experiences onto me. I’m following my inspiration and instinct, my job is to see where they take me. I believe in infinite possibilities and to quote Yoda in Star Wars, “My ally is the force and a powerful ally it is.”
Do you ever come across the who-does-she-think-she-is energy? Is it possible that in stepping forward, you are merely disturbing something? Is it okay to be audacious? Can you come back to the energy of who you know yourself to be?
I guess I was lucky that when I got accepted into the Writing for TV class because an über supportive interim prof was teaching. She encouraged me to develop a new burlesque series rather than an animation series that I'd already partially written. All I knew about the new series was that it was set in New Orleans, it involved a building, and it was called Burlesque Palace. I had my work cut out for me but what has evolved is a cable series idea set in the New Orleans that involves lots of music.
Today my regular prof is back and I got a talking down. First I was told that I had to tone the series down so that I could consider pitching it to Canadian broadcasters. This would involve cutting out much of the music, setting it in a Canadian city, and making it a little less racy. When I argued that doing so would unravel the series, she said, “When you graduate, you’ll be lucky to get a job writing other people’s characters. If you’re really lucky, after years of hard work, one day you might get a chance to pitch your ‘passion project’.” I sat and listened to her quietly then I suggested, “What about those outliers like Diablo Cody who come out of left field and hit the big time precisely because she wasn't the norm?” That got an eye roll as she responded, “You’d have better chance winning the lotto.” (I didn’t tell her that I sometimes buy lotto tickets too;)
Tonight I’m slightly peeved at my prof. I know she thinks I’m audacious to hope that as a novice writer, my series would be picked up when most well-seasoned writers don’t get past writing other people’s characters. But I didn’t start out with the intention of being audacious. I started out completing an assignment to develop my own original TV series. She was the originator of the assignment. Why design a class around developing original series when you’re just going to discourage your students from pitching them? In addition to my series, there are other series that I could see working if the students continued to hone them and continually edit, taking them to the next level.
As Indira Gandhi said, “Whenever you take a step forward, you are bound to disturb something” I just didn’t know that the something would be my teacher. She probably wants to shield me from disappointment, but she has no idea what my future holds.
My question is, “Who does she think she is?” I’m not asking her to make this happen for me. Nor am I asking her to project her life experiences onto me. I’m following my inspiration and instinct, my job is to see where they take me. I believe in infinite possibilities and to quote Yoda in Star Wars, “My ally is the force and a powerful ally it is.”
Do you ever come across the who-does-she-think-she-is energy? Is it possible that in stepping forward, you are merely disturbing something? Is it okay to be audacious? Can you come back to the energy of who you know yourself to be?
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