Thank you Jeff Davis, the writer/creator for CRIMINAL MINDS, for participating in our Industry Professional Q & A!
1). When reading submissions for staff, do you prefer specs of existing shows or original pilots? Why?
I prefer original pilots because I like to see if the writer has a clear voice of their own. Mostly what I'm hoping for is to read a script that keeps me turning the pages. That is surprisingly rare. And I get submissions from people with very long resumes. Sometimes, however, I do like to read a script of an existing show. I hired one staff writer this season based on a Fringe spec in which he did a brilliant job of grasping the voices of the character and the style of the show.
2). Apart from what might be called "an undeveloped social conscience" do those with criminal minds lack a sense of humor?
If we're talking psychopaths, I think they probably have a fine sense of humor. What they lack is human empathy or the capacity for remorse.
3). In creating this series, what target audience did you have in mind? FOLLOW UP: Why?
Criminal Minds: The audience was any person, young or old, who enjoys a good thriller. I've often considered myself first and foremost an entertainer. If I wrote novels, they'd be the kind that you tear through on an airplane. For some reason, police procedurals seem to grab a large female audience so our demographic dips toward 18-49 females.
Teen Wolf: The target demo for MTV is a teenage audience, but on a wider scale 12-34 year-olds. In writing the pilot for Teen Wolf (and in casting it) I was certainly aware that young girls would be a large audience. However, when I sit down to write I always start with one audience member in particular: myself. If I can please myself as a reader or viewer then I feel that others will probably find something within the story to entertain them as well.
4). How many days a week do you write?
During production and our initial writing season I write every single day. In post production I try not to write at all.
5). What was the hardest part about starting out for you?
Having the confidence to persist. I truly believe that in Hollywood persistence pays off. You will make it in some form or other if you simply keep trying and keep working at your craft. You may not be the most successful writer to ever produce a TV show or movie, but you will get something produced.
6). What was your biggest break? And was there one particular thing that was the catalyst to that success?
Criminal Minds was probably my biggest break since it was my first produced project. The interesting thing is that I came to TV out of frustration with the feature film business. I was selling projects, but nothing was getting made. It was a very strange and frustrating position to be in. TV has a schedule to fill. At first it was simply to get something made. But then I realized how gratifying the storytelling was, that you could continue with that same characters over different arcs.
7). What advice would you give to up and coming writers?
Write the show or movie that you would want to see. Stop worrying about writing something that will sell. Stop looking for an agent. If you write a great script, people will be begging to represent you.
8). Is there a particular trend now that you see most new TV series are trying to follow?
There are new trends every season. It all depends on how the networks perceive themselves. USA is a blue sky network where the stories are light and hopeful. ABC used to direct the great majority of their programming toward a female audience. That may change now that Paul Lee has taken charge of the network. Some seasons you see a lot of science fiction. This year it looked like networks were hoping for a good horror show. It's always changing.
LOG LINE: What would you do if you were given three bullets and society says you have the right to kill someone who has wronged you? BRAYDEN ANORA is an Official in this society helping to maintain order when he comes across a killer who believes he has found a loop-hole. Has he, and is there a history between the killer and Brayden?
I'm not crazy about log lines that pose questions. You want to make a log line sound active. I also don't get a sense of what actually happens in the story. What does Brayden do? What does the killer do? Is this a story about the killer trying to kill someone with three bullets? Or is it about the aftermath? I also don't know what the loop-hole refers to. Does it mean that they get more than three bullets?
LOG LINE: Two young city slickers find their remote hideout farm is surrounded by a cannibal cult.
Hideout makes me think the two young city slickers are hiding out from something. (Their wives?) You also want to give an action to your log line. Consider it this way:
Two young city slickers who have gone off to a remote hideout farm to escape the troubles of modern life for a weekend end up spending the next thirty-six hours defending themselves from a ravenous cannibal cult intent on making them their next meal.