jms: How Different Will T(EM)CBoS Be?

[b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu]

Subject: jms: How Different Will T(EM)CBoS Be?
 No.   DATE           FROM
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+  1: Apr  5, 1996: Blaise Byron Faint <faint at email.unc.edu>
*  2: Apr  7, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: Blaise Byron Faint <faint at email.unc.edu>
Lines: 43

On 4 Apr 1996, Jms at B5 wrote:

> Haven't run into Remember WENN yet, and don't know enough about the
> current state of radio drama to comment intelligently.
> 
> 
>  jms

  "*Radiodrama producers and directors, riding herd on a medium undergoing 
  its biggest growth in nearly three decades, are practically desperate for 
  writers who understand the all-but-lost science of radiodrama scripting."

  J. Michael Straczynski.  The Complete Book of Scriptwriting. 1981. preface.

Given that the new edition is due this fall, I'm curious about the 
implications of your post.  As you know, TCBoS consists of four sections:
Television, Radio, Film, and Drama.

You've mentioned that T(EM)CBoS has been extensively rewritten.  Obviously, 
there have been dramatic changes in media in the last fifteen years.  I 
assume you will add a section for "interactive media": CD-ROMs and games 
like Wing Commander IV.  Will the Radio section be dropped in favor of 
multimedia?  Will there be other new sections?  Will the organization be 
completely new?

I've read that WGAw is attempting to act as a liaison between its members 
and Silicon Valley companies for interactive projects, but is not 
insisting on union contracts, due to the newness of the medium (and the 
skittishness of interactive companies).  Will you address issues such as 
this (or the need for revision to rates of pay for cable)?

"I wanted to write the kind of book I wish somebody had written when I 
first started out in the business."

In 1981, TCBoS was more or less unique.  Today, there is an overabundance
of books on screenwriting, some fairly broad, others concentrating on 
specific media such as sitcoms or soap operas.

Have you checked out the "competition"?  Will T(EM)CBoS have a "recommended" 
reading list? A "NOT recommended" reading list?  For example, _Lew 
Hunter's Screenwriting 434_ recommends _Aristotle's Poetics_ and Lajos 
Egri's _The Art of Dramatic Writing_.  What are the criteria for evaluating
the more helpful guides?

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 14

Mainly, I tried to focus on the areas not covered by all the other books. 
And very few of them get into more than one area of scripting.

As for radio...I did include the revised chapter on radio drama, with the
proviso that the field itself is shrinking still, except for occasional
big projects which are off-limits to freelancers.  The main growth area, I
think, will be in audio books, which are getting more and more to sound
like radio dramas.



 jms


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