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drunkkenobi · 10 days

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Hi bb, ty for the prompt to write my thoughts!

So I can't get on tumblr at work anymore unless I go outside to get good signal on my phone so I have only been privy to what's going on here today from friends on discord. So maybe I'm missing some nuance or the what my mutuals think and I apologize in advance for that but I'm going to speak plainly.

This is the only way Watcher is going to survive.

The view counts have been steady through Mystery Files season 2 but they aren't, like, astronomical. A video with a million views nets a channel between $10,000 - $30,000. Guys. That's nothing for Watcher. They have to pay each of their 25+ employees a salary with insurance and benefits and for everything else their channel requires. Steven said in the video today that a season of Ghost Files costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don't think everyone is hearing that part and understanding how much money that is, especially compared to many other YouTubers they watch. I'm not an expert on other YouTubers but I look at the Sims people I watch. They are successful with views in the hundred k range because they are a company of one. Themselves and maybe paying a freelancer to help edit their videos. For one person, the stakes are lower and the potential for profit is higher! Especially for gamers that are filming in their homes. YouTubers like this, making niche content on the cheap, are who is going to make it in YouTube now.

Watcher is none of those things. They have, from day one, wanted to make high quality unscripted content. All of their shows are shows. They aren't just "Ryan and Shane do [thing]" or "Steven eats [whatever]". They are shows, like ones you see on cable TV or any streamer. And shows are not cheap. Unscripted is cheaper, sure, than scripted. But that doesn't mean cheap. Especially not with the sheer production value we've seen on all their shows, in particular Ghost Files (hundreds of thousands of dollars). That is how much something like Ghost Adventures costs, which is on Travel Channel, an actual TV network that puts up all those costs.

So. That's why Watcher has to pivot to survive.

I think it's a great idea, personally. And yes, I am in a position where I can financially afford it no problem, which I know is a privilege! I am very lucky in that regard. And I understand that many people are upset they won't see the boys as easily on YouTube anymore. That is valid! But they have openly said they are totally fine with password sharing and I think that's a great way to cut down on costs for some folks. Also right now there's a great deal on the yearly sub for early subscribers. $40 for a year is cheaper than any streaming service and it doesn't go to anyone other than Watcher.

I understand that people feel hurt and blindsided, but I think Watcher is also feeling this too. They have been so excited about this and being able to make whatever they want without having to worry about sponsors and now they're mostly seeing anger directed their way. Especially at Steven. Steven is not rich. You know who's rich? David Zaslav, a man who is single-handedly ruining Warner Brothers and making himself a billionaire while he's at it. THAT is the kind of person we should be directing our anger at streaming prices and quality of the media landscape at. Not one small business that is just trying to survive so they can continue paying their employees.

And one more thing. I've seen folks saying they'd rather watch more ads than pay and while I get that, that's not going to help Watcher make what they want. YouTube famously demonetizes videos with swears which is why I can't watch a video with DRAG QUEENS without every other line being bleeped and Watcher has been so good about not bleeping their content because they know we would hate it. And YouTube does this because of advertisers. Advertisers only want to appeal to the most broad of audiences so that means not supporting anything slightly left of center. Having to deal with ads sucks from the creator perspective and does not help them in the long run.

Anyway, this is all a bit rambling, but these are my thoughts on WatcherTV. I'm extremely excited to subscribe and make them make more Weird Wonderful World. I hope to see you all there.

#watcher #steven lim #ryan bergara #shane madej

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writergeekrhw · 7 months

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hi!! i'm sorry if you've gotten similar questions before, but i'm very curious. i've thought about going into writing for television but i don't know where to start, and i also don't want to cross picket lines/scab. do you have any advice?

Well, picket lines aren't a problem anymore, so...

Learn - Watch your favorite shows and movies. Break them down into structure. You can outline as you watch. Scene, Time of Day, Actions, Who Says What. Read great books, consider taking a class on TV writing at someplace reputable online (UCLA Extension is really good). Read about basic screenplay structure and format.

Write - Write the following: 2 spec pilots, 1 episode of an established show that's currently on the air. Maybe a feature. (You probably should buy Final Draft at this point)

Apply for programs: There are studio writing programs that train writers. Getting into one of these can definitely help. Here's a list: Fellowship & Writing Programs for Screenwriters Masterlist — The Writers Guild Foundation (wgfoundation.org)

Keep writing. I had a teacher tell me it took 10 scripts to get good. Have you written 10 full scripts? If no, keep writing. If yes, keep writing.

Consider moving to Los Angeles. Los Angeles is where you can get work as a Writers P.A. or Assistant. That's how you'll get to know writers. It's much harder to do that if you're not in L.A. But also keep in mind that Los Angeles is a very expensive city and you'll probably have to work a civilian job to survive until you get a showbiz one and that it can cost $1500/month just for a room in a shared apartment. So... consider...

Network with peers. Network with fellow aspiring writers you meet in your classes/online/etc. Join a writers group. Be a great person. Help each other. Hopefully you and your peers will all rise together and you'll be able to help each other out once you start getting jobs.

Keep writing. Never stop writing new things.

Rise through the ranks. Hopefully you'll get a Writers P.A. job at some point. Be a good person. Work hard. Make a good impression. Get promoted to either Writers Room Assistant or Showrunner's Assistant. Have a show that goes multiple years. Have your boss (eventually, don't rush it) read your amazing sample which she'll hopefully love. Get a script assignment in a later season. Write an amazing script. Have show go ANOTHER season, get promoted to Staff Writer. CONGRATULATIONS! You've made it.

Keep going. You need to continue to get promoted and staffed for multiple seasons to have a stable career and even then, it'll never stop being a hustle.

ALTERNATIVE PATH: Write the most amazing novel/play/youtube thing/graphic novel/podcast ever and have that optioned into a series and insist on being on staff as a condition of sale.

WARNING: Results are not guaranteed. The odds are NOT in your favor. Try at own risk. Los Angeles is expensive and breaks people. It can take 5-10 years from first script to first job. Or never. Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. Objects in the Rearview Mirror are Farther Away Than They Appear. Read about Survivorship Bias before taking any showbiz advice from anyone.

#ask me anything #tv writing #ask me stuff #showbiz #how to make it in showbiz #how to be a TV writer #hollywood hustle #don't try this at home #hollywood #faq

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spandexinspace · 6 months

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Mother Says

Querl visits his mother. This benefits no one. ___________________________________________

“Hello, mother.” The woman on the other side of the blue-tinted force field looks up. She has not changed much since the last time Querl saw her, tall and wiry with long blonde hair cascading around a face he can’t help but pick out every similarity in. She’s holding a prison-issued holopad, the kind the warden swears can’t be connected to any off-world network or used for anything illegal or improper, yet in her thin, sallow hands it looks as much a weapon as any blade or blaster, capable of wrecking as much havoc as she ever could with her freedom intact. He makes a mental note to question the warden about it later, to ask why someone like her, like them, is allowed near a device like that.

“Querl,” she says, her mouth twisting into a toothy replica of a smile. Her eyes remain fixed on him, still and cold, enough to send a chill up his spine. “I’m so glad you could come.”

“What do you want?” Querl crosses his arms, shifting from one foot to the other. He’d felt utterly confident when he’d first received her correspondence and had to justify the visit to his deeply sceptical friends, but as he stands there in front of her — awash in the reality of her presence — he doesn’t feel so confident anymore. What had seemed like a reasonable request at the time now feels like just another stupid, emotional mistake. He’s made a lot of those recently.

One of his thought tracks recalls those dreams he used to have as a child, the ones where she didn’t leave. Or the ones where she’d show up out of the blue to save him. In those dreams she was kind and caring, she’d listen and encourage him and smile ever so sweetly even though he could never quite focus on her face. He’d hated waking up from those dreams then, because waking up meant facing the reality of her absence. This feels like waking up.

“Is that any way to talk to your mother?” she asks, snapping him back to reality. “Now, I was reading the news the other day and came across this fascinating article about you and one of your little hero friends,” she continues, still smiling, but it’s the smile of someone who only knows how to go through the motions. Speaking in a noticeably higher voice than during their last meeting she lets it rise and fall like every word and sentence has been rehearsed a thousand times over. It itches at the back of his mind like a scabbing wound. He wonders why she cares.

“I fail to see how that requires my presence here.” As much as it had surprised him to find out that she was allowed to send messages — that she’d finally decided to do so now, after so long — he had figured she must have something important to say if she went through the trouble of doing so.

“Should your own mommy have to deign herself to reading meritless magazines to know what you are, what do the Terrans you love so much call it… up to?” Despite her well-practised enunciation the words roll off her tongue awkwardly, like someone has made last minute edits to her carefully practised script. He wants to tell himself that that’s good, that maybe she’s trying to improve and change, but it makes his skin crawl.

“Again, what do you want? You said it was urgent, and your sudden interest in my life could hardly be classified as such.”

She continues as if he’d said nothing at all.

"This friend of yours is human, is he not? How long do they live — one, two hundred years?” she says. ”Don't you think you’re being awfully selfish, stealing his entire life away while you give him only a fragment of yours? Remaining young and reckless as he grows weak and frail by your side, unable to live a normal human life because of you?" She rearranges her face into a mockery of concern. "Is that what he deserves?"

Querl grits his teeth, his hands curling into fists at his sides. Anger flares in his chest, hot and acidic. What an idiot he has been. Again. Of course she doesn’t have an actual reason to see him. This is just another game to her, a new angle to sow her misery. All she’s ever wanted from him has been for her benefit, there’s no reason for that to have changed now. The only logical decision would be to walk away and leave her alone with her poisonous words, to cut her out of his life once and for all and never come running at her call again.

He steps forward.

"As if you care."

She stands. Even now she towers above him, forcing him to tilt his head back to meet her gaze, no less imposing behind a force field and clad in prison greys. Her eyes narrow until the concern has been replaced by a sneer, but even that seems like a strange emotion to her, like something she’s heard about and only vaguely knows how to articulate.

"You care. You're as addled by your emotions as all the other mindless beings out there," she says. “And you know that my assessment is correct. You will outlive your friends and then there’ll be no one left to care for you and your fragile mind. And they will all suffer for it, as you walk alongside them and show them what the universe has denied them.”

His jaw aches, his body so tense it feels like it could snap. He imagines throwing himself against the forcefield, futilely pounding his fists into it until she stops talking. Pushing down the bile and urge to yell he forces his voice to remain steady, speaking in short and clipped words.

"Why did you ask me to come here?" he says.

"Sweetheart, mommy only wanted to make sure you're not getting in over your head." Once again her voice is saccharine, the very model of a doting mother’s voice.

He slams his fist against the force field. It makes contact with a dull thud and a jolt of pain that shoots out of his hand and into his arm. She doesn’t even flinch.

"Grife! Cut it out! We both know this is just another one of your acts. You’ve never given a nass about me unless it was for your own benefit.”

"You wound me,” she says, while actually sprocking pouting down at him like an insolent toddler. “Is it so impossible that I've changed, been reformed by the exquisite medical staff on this planetoid? Do you truly believe me incapable of that?"

“Yes! You've had two decades to learn to care and you told me you did everything in your power to achieve that before trying to kill me, why the nass would this be it? What could a pack of prison psychiatrists possibly have to say that you haven’t heard before?”

“Things and people change, Querl, you of all people should know that. You haven’t always been like this, have you?” For a second he hesitates, which is all his mind needs to catch up with him. The sudden burst of anger drains out of him like air through a compromised hull and he inches back from the force field, crossing his arms again once he comes to a stop. Had he not struggled for years himself, dealing with his feelings and trauma and the anomaly and implants and all that came with it? He’d become better with time, why couldn’t she?

“I know I have not been the best mommy to you, but I can assure you that being coupled with a human will only lead to suffering. I have had short-lived companions before, most of them did not see any longtime benefits from our relationship.” As she speaks her shoulders start to slump and she turns away from him, letting her hair obscure her face. Despite her stature she looks small. Small and lonely.

He hesitates before speaking. “I thought you said you couldn’t feel love.”

“I can’t, but they did. And it did them no favours.” She sighs heavily. “But I suppose all children need to make their own mistakes, even if they’re foolish ones.”

Querl inches backwards. This new side of her unnerves him, but as much as he rakes his mind for an explanation — desperately tries to look to her voice or demeanour for any sign of one — he comes up empty-handed. Where she’d been forward and mocking and saccharine before she’s now demure and small, a lonely woman in a restrictive prison cell. He doesn’t know if that’s the real her. If there’s any version of her that is truly real.

“I need to leave,” he mumbles.

“Thank you for visiting, sweetheart, I do get so lonely down here.” She blinks, her eyes still devoid of something. Querl retreats out the door, sighing in relief as the lock engages behind him.

------------------------------

Her words cling to him as he leaves, echoing through most of his thought tracks as he desperately tries to make sense of them. Any thought of speaking to the warden has been left behind for another day. He needs to leave. Needs to get home.

Even as he settles into a seat in the Takron Galtos shuttle, huddled in a too large coat with the hood pulled up to cover most of his face, lest he be recognised, he can’t get them out of his head. It’s not like he didn’t know. He’d always known, it just hadn’t mattered at first and then things had progressed so quickly and it had never come up. And it had been so easy not to think about it, to push any thought of age and life away, to just look at the next experiment or the next life or death situation or the next sweet moment of kisses stolen away between missions and work. Of Lyle’s warm hands against his face and of feeling like he finally belonged somewhere, too drunk on life to realise that it couldn’t last forever.

He used to think he’d die long before his ageing became an issue. His caretakers would tell him that people hated his family for what they’d done, that the galaxy was full of people who longed for the blood of a dead Brainiac on their hands, if only for a small piece of vengeance. He’d long ago accepted that as his end, that someone would eventually catch up to him. Even as he ventured out into the world and discovered its indifference he still held on to that belief. In recent years — after being lost and losing so much — he’d started to believe that he would in all likelihood die during a mission. The idea that he might die of old age had seemed preposterous.

Querl sighs and stares out the darkened window at the endless expanse of stars outside the shuttle. Perhaps she, despite her behaviour and everything she’s done, is right. Perhaps it is selfish to expect a human to live with someone so different, who can offer so little in return for a lifetime of commitment. His own experience with Coluan ageing is theoretical at best; he doesn’t know how his mental development will compare to a human, but he won’t grow old alongside them, that much is clear. Perhaps they will get another ten years together, maybe twenty. But eventually they’ll grow old, and he simply won’t. At least not for many centuries. Those who are simply his friends can presumably handle it well enough, distance themselves as needed and not be too affected by his perceived immaturity. But it would be irresponsible to put that burden on his partner. He knows it would. Querl knows he shouldn’t make his life difficult and what is making him live according to the standards of an entirely alien species, if not difficult?

The trip home feels endless, ships crawling across the stars as they slowly bring him closer to Earth. To home. He switches from the Takron Galtos shuttle to an uncomfortably crowded express ship to the inner Centaurus Arm, then to a local shuttle to Earth. It’s beyond late when he finally arrives on Legion World, and his body aches with exhaustion. But all through the journey his conversation with his mother reverberates through his mind, and he makes a decision.

------------------------------

Querl flings his coat onto the lone armchair in the living area of his quarters. It doesn’t add noticeably to the already messy state of the room, every flat surface littered with papers and holopads and mechanical parts and more or less abandoned projects he neither can nor wants to think about at that moment. He’ll deal with it later. Tomorrow. He has to do this while he’s still determined, before he can convince himself to keep living selfishly.

The door to the sleeping quarters slides open with a low hiss, revealing a considerably cleaner and sparsely lit room. Lyle is sitting cross-legged on his bed, dressed in a loose black bathroom Querl doesn’t remember owning with his still wet hair brushed back from his forehead. An abandoned holopad lies next to him on the bed, but he’s looking at Querl, smiling sweetly as his dark eyes glitter fondly. There’s a warm beauty to him that it took Querl far too long to notice, but it feels like it’s all he’s seen these last few months. The idea of losing it again makes him want to abandon every thought of doing what’s right, to instead lie down next to him on the bed and dive right back into being selfish and self-fulfilled. But Lyle deserves better.

“You’re back. How did it go?” Despite Lyle’s smile there’s a wrinkle of worry between his eyebrows and a tightness in his eyes. Querl swallows through a suddenly too dry throat, trying to keep his own face and voice from betraying him.

“She didn’t want anything of importance. I should have expected as much.” Lyle eyes him warily and Querl can only hope his suspicion stems from his, and Ayla and Gates’, general disapproval of the trip.

“Figures,” he eventually says, pushing his holopad fully out of the way and stretching out his arms over his head. “And could have told you as much. But I’m glad it wasn’t anything serious, at least.” Lyle pushes himself off the bed and closes the gap between them in one swift movement, standing so close that Querl imagines he can feel the heat radiating off of him. He cups Querl’s cheek with one hand, gently rubbing a calloused thumb over his cheekbone. It’s warm and intoxicating and Querl tilts his head, lets himself indulge in the touch just one last time before grabbing Lyle’s hand and pulling it away. He takes a step back, remembering the door only as his back hits it.

Lyle blinks.

“Querl?” he asks, the worry on his face deepening. Querl steels himself and tries to concentrate on the thoughts that have been swirling in his mind since his conversation with his mother. He pushes away any thought of Lyle’s warmth, and of the guilt his expression makes him feel.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for us to keep doing this,” he says, voice strained.

“I- what? What this?” Lyle says.

“This, well, us.” Querl points between them, his hand numb. “It might be better for both of us if we just… if we just don’t.”

“How is that better?” Lyle steps back, face hardening. A treacherous part of Querl whispers that there’s still time to take it back, that he can lie his way out of this. He knows he shouldn’t.

“I don’t think our species’ ageing processes are compatible. Your lifespan will only last about an eighth to a fourth of mine and-”

“So, you want to break up with me, right now, because I’ll die in a hundred years or so and that’ll make you sad?” Lyle sounds, for lack of a better description, unimpressed. There’s not much worry left in his expression now.

“It’s not that,” Querl says, defensively holding up his hands in front of himself. “Being with me won’t be like being with another human. I’m not going to age alongside you and go through regular human life events with you.”

“Merde. Yeah, thanks, I know.” Lyle sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose. “You can be so dense, do you know that?”

“I’m no-”

"Yes, yes you are. Do you think dating for half a year means we have to spend our entire lives together now?” Lyle doesn’t wait for him to answer. “And I sprocking know. It’s not some big dark secret you’ve been keeping from me, it’s literally Xenobiology 101.”

“Ah.”

“Ah indeed.” Lyle rolls his eyes. “Where did you get this nass from?”

What just minutes before had seemed like logical reasoning lies irreparably shattered in Querl’s mind, a mess of thoughts and ideas that for some reason seemed so orderly before. But right here, right now, in the soft light of his room and with an angry Lyle standing right in front of him, they only seem utterly thoughtless.

“Querl?” Lyle says, slightly louder and with a deep note of irritation.

“My mother…” Querl admits, glancing down and away from Lyle, unable to keep looking at him as the reality of the situation catches up to him. The tips of his ears burn and he swallows dryly as a tense silence stretches out between them.

“Cool,” Lyle eventually says, voice strung tight. “And why have you been taking relationship advice from your mother who, need I remind you, tried to murder you for fun?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“It sure sounded like that!”

“Well, it wasn’t. Her actions don’t discredit everything she says, particularly not if she’s simply stating an objective fact.”

Lyle sighs.

“Look at me,” he says, voice sharp. Even though his stomach churns with anticipation of what he’ll face, Querl obliges. “Thanks,“ Lyle continues. ”You’ve got to stop acting like you know better than everyone else. People make their own decisions for their own reasons, you can’t make them for them and act like that’s for the greater good. And you especially can’t act like that because your unstable mum got into your head about something.”

“The thought had occurred to me before she mentioned it.”

“But you didn’t act on it before she said something. And, you know, you could just have brought it up like a normal person. It wouldn’t have been so hard to ask if I’d thought about it too, but instead you decided to be some kind of noble hero and try to break up with me for my own good.” If there’s one thing Querl doesn’t know it’s people. People are annoying and fraught with unstable emotions that threaten to spill over at any moment, there are few if any rules that govern their behaviour. Or at least so it seems, save for moments like this, when Lyle explains them with such ease that they might as well be second degree equations. It’s one of his many gifts, and perhaps the one that truly sets them apart. Querl resents it, at times. Times like these.

“Well?” Another flare of irritation.

“I suppose you’re correct…” Querl bites his lip. He didn’t do anything wrong. Except he did. But saying those two words still feels like admitting undeserved defeat. “I’m sorry.” He hates apologising. He’s not supposed to be wrong.

“Thanks, love the sincerity. Are you even taking this seriously?” He’s seen Lyle angry and irritated before, he’s even yelled at him at times. But this feels different, like there’s something unspoken hanging in the air between them, an electric current that makes his skin prickle.

“I am.”

“Uhu, and you still want to break up with me?” Lyle says, voice so calm and steady despite the edge in his words, sharp like a razor ready to cut.

“I didn’t want to break up with you in the first place.” Did he? No, he didn’t, he just had to, he only wanted what was best for them both. For Lyle.

“Could have fooled me. Actually, you know what, we’re done here. Be alone, if that’s what you want.” Just as quickly as he’d approached Querl he turns around, grabs his holopad and pushes back past him out of the room. For a moment their eyes meet and linger, Lyle’s still narrowed and glinting with suppressed anger. Querl isn’t sure what his own face says in return. Then the door slides shut behind him, and Querl is left alone.

#brainiac 5 #querl dox #losh #dc comics #lyle norg #invisible kid #querllyle #my writing #not 100% happy with it but I'm done #done enough #will edit more before ao3 tho

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emblazons · 1 year

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As much as I dislike that we will probably get a delayed season (in most likely 2025 lets be real), I also would not want a rushed sort of production or writing for the show's last season. Also the strike is important.... and i think it does extent the writers but also that other production staff is involved too. Idk, i definitely get some ppl's frustration but also that it is a needed strike.

I mean (and this isn't directed at you, but generally)...I get the frustration as a consumer, but as a young professional and often creative worker, I say let them go as long as they need to for the protections they deserve. I don't mind waiting two more years for my favorite show if it means writers and showrunners get the professional respect they need to not struggle to live—especially given how they've dedicated themselves to a job that so many people enjoy constantly, despite not valuing it as much as they should.

sidenote: I know a lot of people outside of this anon will probably read this, so I've included links to things explaining/detailing the points I've made here, just in case you're new to writer's strikes or how the ST production staff fits in.

That said: given that this strike means that writers and showrunners won't be on set for shows still filming, in the editing room or the sound stage, I'm fairly certain the production on Stranger Things will come to a clear halt beyond a few scenes they might want to get done that don't require much oversight from The Duffers—especially given that Matt and Ross are both WGA members on top of being writers and showrunners, and therefore are literally bound not to do work while the strike is on (x)

We also know for a fact that M&R do writing while on set and filming (see: the scene they added with Jonathan in the SBP being written as filming was happening)—

—which they aren't allowed to do anymore either...leaving Stranger Things especially in a clear "this has to halt" place, given that the masterminds/primary storytellers behind ST are obligated not to do their job right now.

While it does give a bit of comfort to know that ST is so deeply tied to The Duffers themselves as storytellers as much as showrunners, networks have historically tried to have everyone from novelists to novices outside the WGA write scripts during writer's strikes—hence the clear drops in quality in shows throughout the 2007 strike (iykyk), and why there is still some concern on my end should this strike go on long enough for Netflix to get antsy and start trying to get back to production on one of their most popular shows.

The UK Writers Guild has announced their solidarity with American writers in the hopes that they won't take on US projects to accommodate networks as the WGA strikes, but. If this goes on for a long time, I don't think it's impossible that several shows people love won't be cancelled or extremely delayed, or that Netflix won't get testy with ST. If networks start doing what they did the last time though, we might get some really shitty TV (and really bad seasons) for a solid year before we recover from the damage of the strike...even outside of anything that goes on with Hawkins lmao.

That said, Stranger Things is in the (blessed) position to have already had 9 months of writing + being ready for filming as soon as the strike is over, so. For most of us here, it's just going to be a waiting game....which. I mean. Like I said before, I'll take another three year turnaround if it means the quality of the show stays high, and The Duffers (and their wider writers room) get to "stick their landing" the way they've talked about before.

This got long sorry lmao. But still—given what's probably going to happen to a lot of shows during this strike, I'd day we're rather lucky as a fandom, so long as we're open to being patient.

Thanks for the ask!

#yes. yes I I did do deep dive research on this to soothe my nerves yesterday lmao #also dying that the dash is yelling about cheating mike and I'm just like 'BUT THE WRITERS STRIKE' lmao I'm somewhere else entirely #asks #do the write thing

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gaykarstaagforever · 5 months

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This is a list of scripted ABC shows from the last season. I haven't heard of most of them because I'm not 63 so I'm going to guess what they are about from the titles and then check and see how right I was. Or if my idea is better.

1. The Conners was that reboot / sequel of Roseanne. But then Roseanne was insane and racist in real life so they kicked her off of it. I assume it was retooled to now be about the family becoming private eyes and traveling from town to town in a gadget-loaded super RV, solving mysteries.

You should all note before I go on that most of what I know about network television comes from the 70s and 80s. Back when it was also cheap and lame, but at least fun.

2. Abbott Elementary. Probably just Community / The Office, but in an elementary school filled with a diverse cast of quirky characters who only seem to date each-other. I bet they do a lot of jokes about helicopter parents and people getting offended by seemingly innocuous things. There is probably a sassy brown person whose culture is played for light-hearted comic relief.

3. Station 19. Firefighter show, where all the firefighters look like soap opera actors. Most of the show is people having arguments and making out, then like 3 times a season stunt people in face-hiding fire gear fight a big fire inspired by some thing that happened in the news around the time they were filming the show. I bet the tag line is "And you thought the hottest action would be the fires!" Occasionally old actors from 80s movies will cameo as someone's parents. I am falling asleep just typing about it.

4. Grey's Anatomy. Oh my god. In real life these people would have retired from being bad doctors by now. Or be in jail.

5. The Rookie. I looked this one up due to the last post. Nathan Fillion plays a 50 year old rookie LAPD officer. Because they wanted to do a cop show with him but he's too old for that, without the premise. He probably has to learn about diversity and drugs or something. No one ever gets shot and they don't show LAPD white supremacist cop-gangs doing dog fights or anything. Wasted potential.

6. The Goldbergs. I've heard of this. It was some writer's Everybody Hates Chris about his 80s secular Jewish family. Obnoxious old people watched it to be reminded about how they just don't make good rock music like that anymore, man, because they are too old and lazy to go find new music they might like via streaming platforms. It has been cancelled. Good, if only to spare me that recurring conversation with people I don't like.

7. Home Economics. A rich white homemaker lady gets divorced and has to get a job as a home ec teacher at a public junior high to make ends meet? And she slowly learns to laugh and love again, while also coming to realize that poorer people are good for more than just mowing your lawn. There are hijinks about her wearing $600 shoes that get covered in cake batter. She has to rent part of her house out to an Indian immigrant family. Starring Delta Burke from 1995.

8. The Good Doctor. Ha ha ha. That show about an autistic doctor, except Hollywood doesn't know what autism actually is so he's just a deranged lunatic who gets away with shitty behavior because he's good at hearts.

But not in the fun, House MD, way.

9. The Rookie: Feds. This got cancelled so that means it was bad, even by low network TV cop show standards. I don't even know how to do that. Uh...some 50 year old TV actress I probably wouldn't recognize quits being a crime professor to become an FBI agent, after her son FBI agent goes missing under mysterious circumstances? And it ended in a cliffhanger when she got attacked by a polar bear in the middle of the jungle.

10. Not Dead Yet. My Name is Earl, but if Earl was a nice zombie. He has a best friend guardian angel played by Jaleel White.

...This actually just sounds like Highway to Heaven, if Michael Landon had been a zombie. And instead of brains he eats Jell-O, and he can take his limbs off and send them into air ducts and up drain pipes to help people, like trained rats.

...I'd watch a couple episodes of that, I guess.

11. Will Trent. Oh give me a break.

Okay. There is guy named Will Trent, who is on the run from the...CIA, because he was with them but then someone framed him for killing the Speaker of the House with a poisoned lapel pin. He now travels from town to town, helping average people and their sexy sisters out of jams, while also trying to figure out who framed him and what their master plan is, to clear his name.

The last season ended with it looking like the real villain is the First Lady, who belongs to some ill-defined anti-America cult.

It's probably based on a book series from the early 2000s that only the loudest uncles read.

12. Big Sky. Some cowboy thing, probably. Where all the cowboys are hunky stoic white men who are millionaire ranch owners. But you are still supposed to sympathize with all their "we gotta keep a-hold of this land at any cost" violent toxic male shit, because you are a postmenopausal my mother and want to have sex with these men.

It's one of those shows that just "accidentally" has zero POC cast members, who aren't one-shot drug-runners or coyotes or thugs hired by rival ranch owners.

One-shot because that is how all of their characters are killed.

It probably got cancelled when some writer got smart and tried to do a thinly-veiled anti-Trump allegory and all the Evangelicals turned on it. Tucker Carlson probably got mad about it for 3 minutes, before he interviewed some Russian politician about how the Ukrainians hate Jesus.

13. The Company You Keep. Black women try starting and running a bakery. It quickly devolved into a romantic melodrama. Black audiences never cared and white audiences wanted more sexy rich cowboys.

I don't know. It's ABC. Every seasonal lineup has at least a couple token shows starring POCs that get immediately cancelled after one season, because they aren't serious attempts at anything outside of the politics and so never connect with an audience.

Also all of them are still written by white men, so what chance could any of them have, really?

14. Alaska Daily. Northern Exposure, but the protagonist edits a news blog when not busy solving quirky small-town mysteries. The Janitor from Scrubs might be in it.

...Well. WAS in it.

This Twin Peaks thing is hard to pull off in a compelling way unless you are willing to go kookoo-bananas with it.

15. A Million Little Things. This one "ended," which means the cast wanted too much money after so many seasons, so "the producers had always planned from the beginning to wrap things up after 5 seasons."

It was probably one of those shows that just follows a "typical American family," which happens to have soap opera problems every week based on things the writers heard CNN say people in the Midwest are mad enough over to vote for Trump again.

It probably had a regular cast of like 16 people, and was on the giant TV in the showroom of every US car dealership at least once. Until someone changed it to that show which is just Kitchen Nightmares, but Gordon Ramsey has been replaced by a balding round man who lacks his charm and good heart and is just an asshole to struggling restaurateurs.

You know the one.

Or, at least, your parents do.

Update: The Conclusion

#abc #network television #no I'm not tagging all these shows

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dynamoe · 1 year

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I wrote a Hipster Animals pilot script in 2011, but no one cared.

In 2013 with two co-writers/business partners (w/ way more clout), I rewrote it into an animated sitcom pitch called Busyburg. We had real meetings in depressing boardrooms of IFC, FX and Cartoon Network.

Adult Swim liked the idea enough to pay us to write a pilot script, which took three months. Then the head of the network changed and the new guy said "fuck this!" We got money to go away (a "kill fee").

After that, I came up with a different Hipster Animals show idea called Wild Wild Life (an animated sketch show) and started to pitch that, but then a publisher wanted a book instead of a show.

The business partners came back and said "Now that it's a book we can pitch again!" but I said nah, this idea feels tired. Hipsters don't really exist anymore. I wanna stop.

That's showbiz!

THE LONG VERSION of the STORY

(I checked with my writing collaborators on this project who said it was not tacky or pathetic to share failed pilots on social media, so I'm going for it)

It's been 10 years now so I can tell how Cartoon Network optioned Hipster Animals to make into an adult-audience animated show, the closest I've gotten to Hollywood success.

In 2013, Hipster Animals was just a slightly viral blog with a couple of year's worth of animal designs on it and good press. It wasn't making money off it; no ads or anything. I hadn't done anything with the designs, just a couple times a week I'd upload a new character.

Within the first year of posting I was already trying to get a narrative in it. I found scripts going back to 2011 and I think I sent a vague pitch for a show around to people I knew in New York but there was not much interest.I had no TV writing credits, just years of doing comedy in NY. (My credits doing the Mad Men illustration & book were irrelevant to pitching.)

I asked my old bosses from Modern Humorist (who were in Hollywood and had worked on several animated shows already) what I should do with it. They had tons of credits and clout. They thought Hipster Animals was a sell-able idea and came in with me as writing partners. Through their contacts, they got a production company attached to help sell it and now the head of that production company was also pitching it. (If you go to a network with the idea AND a way to make the show already together it was that much more appealing for them.)

Our angle on the pitch highlighted the parallels to Richard Scarry's children's books (which had been made into children's cartoons)— a large cast of animal-people living in a community. Crack open What Do People Do All Day and you'll see the hipster ideal: a walkable city with no chain stores where animal-people work as independent craftsmen in local self-owned businesses The title became BUSYBURG, after Scarry's Busytown + Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the ground-zero of American hipsterism (even though by then the hipsters had been priced out of Williamsburg and moved to Greenpoint.)

Calls were made. PDF packets with sample art were emailed. Eventually, real in-person meetings were booked. I was living in NY so I flew out for the week to go to FX and Cartoon Network and IFC and maybe other places I can't remember. We had at least three in-person pitches, but all the empty boardrooms we sat in looked the same so it was kind of a blur. (Streaming platforms only kind of existed and none were commissioning original shows at that point). I had pitched shows before in New York a little bit but this was the first time I ran the gamut of doing the same spiel at multiple locations, movie montage style.

Cartoon Network got back to us and wanted us to write a pilot script (and paid us money), which we did over the next 2-3 months. I have to say, writing a script with three people vs. writing it solo is a drag. Even when all parties were reasonable; it's just too many points of view and we're not in the same room so we can't even tell if the jokes were funny. Very hard way to work. Then the script had to be passed by our producer and then to Cartoon Network. We did multiple drafts for them.

Then there was a shakeup at Cartoon Network/Adult Swim where the CEO of one became the CEO of the other. I don't even understand what happened, but a new boss came in, said "what's this shit? get it outta here" and we were awarded a kill fee. That was the death of Hipster Animals: the Animated Series at Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.

On my own, I re-formatted the idea from an animated sitcom to an animated sketch show, now titled WILD WILD LIFE (after the Talking Heads song about blow). Then I learned from a producer you're never supposed to say "animated sketch show" in a pitch, but rather invoke the Simpson's episode 22 Short Films About Springfield.

I also learned that artistically competent character design is a huge NO in writer-driven adult-audience animation. Only children's animation can look good. Adult shows must look like Family Guy or they are perceived as too childish... that's why they all look the same.

After that I was contacted by Three Rivers Press about turning the blog into a book (Hipster Animals: A Field Guide) which was a whole other kettle of shit I won't get into.

Modern Humorist came back and said "Since there's a book now we'd be in a stronger position to pitch it again," but I said with all honesty, this idea feels really stale now. Bojack Horseman had already premiered which felt too close to our "hook" of animal-people doing socially destructive adult things.

And that year they sold a sitcom pilot to CBS now on its third season so they're set for life.

#hipster animals #how NOT to make a cartoon #animals #character design #cartoon #animal art

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fratboykate · 11 months

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I have a dumb industry question. When you write for tv show/movies do you write a storyline and then someone else takes it and turns it into an actual script? Or do you present the script to people write of the gate? Or does it just vary with the level of involvement?

no? and yes? it's a complicated answer and it varies by which medium you're talking about. this is all going to be a gross oversimplification because no one wants to read all that. somewhere on my blog i did a bigger explanation of writers room. i don't think it was that long ago. it should be in the same tag??? anyway...

when we're in a tv writer's room everyone breaks the character arcs, season, episodes, etc together. once the studio/network/steamer approves of the work we did then the showrunner assigns people to go write each individual episode. but at that point we basically have what could resemble a paint by numbers of each episode and the individual writer is just going in and coloring stuff with predetermined colors we've already discussed. even what scenes are in the episode would have been broken down in the room. the writer is simply going in and pretty much filling in and expanding what we all agreed would happen into action lines and dialogue. so in tv there's more of a "we write the storyline as a group under the guidance/following the vision of the showrunner and then we as individual writers take it and turn it into an actual script".

in films, it's different. unless it's writing partners, in the vast majority of cases there's a singular vision from the writer. obviously we're ignoring shit like marvel here where they micromanage everything and basically tell you what bullshit to write. there's different ways a feature can come to be:

-a writer writes a "spec"...an original script no one asked them write. just something they wanted to write in the hopes of selling it later. you know the myth of "there's no original ideas in hollywood anymore!" only exists because studios have stopped buying specs since they're now only focused on IP and reboots. so now specs are simply starting to stockpile in writer's metaphorical drawers because we're never going to stop writing them. no writer wants to only adapt or reboot some old property. we all got into this because we want to tell original stories.

-another way you can sell an original idea is by writing a "pitch". it's basically one step short of a spec. you're selling your "spec" idea to someone so they can pay you to write the actual script. you have all the details, characters, and world fleshed out but you just didn't do the weeks/months/years of work to put together the actual 90-120 page screenplay yet.

-then you have OWAs (open writing assignments). those are more of the "they bring the idea to you" types. like once a month all the different departments at studios/streamers will send out long docs to agents/managers that look like this:

it's a long list of the shit they want to develop but have no writers for. mostly these tend to be all the books they own rights for that they're wanting to get into development, all the reboots they want to launch, etc. so either agents/managers go "i know the perfect client to tackle this" or they just distro it their clients (like one of my reps does) and say "look this over. let me know if any catches your eye." so, for example, if i saw universal bought the rights to a queer book i could go "get me a meeting on that!" and my agent gets on it. i read the book before the meeting with the execs and come in with my "take" on the adaptation. basically what i would do to it, what changes would i make, how i would take it from page to screen, etc. sometimes they have multiple writers giving "takes" at once. sometimes you might be the only one who responded to a book. then they either decide to work with you or not. if they do then they drag you along for years of free development where you turn their ip into a script or a pitch to take out to buyers...and then they kill the project because "mandates" changed and you just wasted two years of your life for zero money. IM NOT TALKING ABOUT MULTIPLE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OR ANYTHING NOT AT ALL lol. if you go on twitter, one of the things writers have been talking about changing post strike is that no one wants to take OWAs anymore. at least not unpaid ones (which 99% of them are). they'll dangle the "you'll get paid if we sell it" carrot and then the vast majority of them never happen so you're just giving them free labor for your entire life. and you're working on multiple of these at the same time hoping one of them goes so you can finally make SOME money.

#those are the very basics of how things get done these days #so many good fucking specs floating around and they want to make Fast Cars Crashing 12 #its so fucking dumb #and y'all are partially to blame #y'all will watch anything so they will make anything #anonymous #answers #rants #hollywood

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chalkrevelations · 2 years

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If Vice Versa was attempting to engage at all with any of the larger questions created by its world-building, I’d like to think we’d get some examination of this idea about Puen wanting to “steal” Tun’s life, because in some ways he does want to keep what Tun has/had, probably most particularly his family. But I also have to question whether what Puen is living, at this point, actually is entirely Tun’s life anymore - and whether what Talay is living is entirely Tess’s life. Puen wants to keep the building blocks of Tun’s life, the building blocks that are missing from his own life, that would provide some kind of foundation and safety net for him. (I ... need to think some more about where and how Puen’s emotional and psychological makeup might mirror a street kid’s, where selfishness over resources is a literal survival technique. That’s for later, though.) Anyway, they’ve been there now for what? almost two years now? And what they’ve built in that time, they’ve built. They’ve created a network of friendships, a professional screenwriting company that now has two wide-release films under its belt, and careers for two guys who were - before Puen and Talay got control of their meatsuits - a stunt singer in a bar carrying around his unsold script in his backpack and a dilettante rich boy who seemed to be known mostly for his ability to make trouble.

Whose lives are these, at this point? I feel like they’re so inextricably wound up in these tangled messes of Puen-Tun and Talay-Tess that it’s actually hard to start picking that apart. YES, the honorable thing to do is to give Tun’s body back to him (along with his new improved life); YES, it’s perfectly understandable that Talay misses his own family and friends and wants to go back to them, but also? I’m not asking for Talay to be AS bound to this other life as Puen is, because he doesn’t have the same kind of emotional trauma and issues that Puen does with life back home, but I am saying that if he can walk away from all of this without missing at least a little bit of it - without at least missing Up and Aou and Friend Credits and maybe Fuse and Kita (I can’t speak to Tess’s parents, who have noticeably disappeared completely since he’s been out of the hospital, despite their presence in the opening credits) - well, that’s frankly kind of cold, man. I don’t have a problem with him chivvying Puen to accept that the right thing to do, in the bigger picture, is to go back home, but I do kind of fault him for not ever seeming to express any understanding of or sympathy for what might tie Puen to this universe. And, no, he doesn’t need to know Puen’s history to do that, he just needs to understand that you get attached to your friends.

But anyway, the show isn’t doing the greatest job engaging with any of the larger questions created by its world-building, so here we are. (Also, I continue to roll my eyes at the emphasis on what Puen should want to do re: staying or going, when I think the guy’s allowed to have some feels + we continue to have zero indication that whatever his feels are will actually engage the portkey mechanism to do fuckall, anyway, as there is zero reliable information on how to make it do anything the other than whatever the fuck it wants to do at any given time.)

#puen x talay #vice versa #liveblogging ep 10 apparently #sort of

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charmingly-evil · 1 year

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Hey again! Thanks for your reply. I’m sorry to hear life (and the show especially) are getting you down. I know TV should be enjoyable, so definitely take a break if you need it. I just went back to the episode because I’ve been wondering about why that scene was edited so poorly, and I’ve come up with a theory. The editor is actually listed in the credits at the beginning, which means he is “above the line” and basically knows what he is doing. TV shows have to go through multiple levels of approval. The first edit will be the editor’s cut, and then the director comes in and makes changes or not. For TV, it also has to go to the executive producer or show runners, the studio (Wolf Entertainment) and the network (NBC). My guess, and this is just a guess, is that the promo was how it was finished at the producer’s cut and probably the studio’s. They shot the same script multiple different ways and they landed on the hug vs the separation. I think that the network (or studio, but my feeling is network) came in last minute and said they wanted more tension in the scene. Between the two takes, the visual separation of them gives more uncertainty and means that they can drag out the incredible angst that these two actors create when they’re together. I think they figured the hug gave too much relief and comfort that they weren’t quite ready for. It shows me that they are hoping to be picked up for future seasons and that they don’t have to bring them together quite yet. I know it’s horrible what they did swapping the edits, but I think that is likely why everyone is being quiet, and why they’re trying to delete the promo online. We will see what Chris says on Monday, or if they totally ignore it. Obviously, if it was an NBC-level decision, then nobody will want to say anything against it. I hope this helps clarify a little or at least can help add to all the theories going out there. Try to take it easy and what I do is just try to take joy in what we do get. It’s very clear what Chris and Mariska want, and I do believe the writers are behind this. It’s just a lot of people have to weigh in for anything to make the airways, and it can cause a lot of confusion sometimes. It would be a groundbreaking thing, as we all know, to bring them together, so it really does look like they are trying to figure it out. My lack of faith lies with NBC, personally. I just hope they don’t bring them together only to tear them apart again later like so many of my other ships! Sorry, this was so long. I’m glad to help when I can 😊

Thank you so much for sharing! I love that you have this experience working in media to bring this perspective, what you're saying makes sense. I have no doubt that the network wants to continue the tension. And let's be honest, Mariska and Chris are carrying this show. I'm still not happy that they got rid of Amanda, and SVU isn't the same anymore. I do feel like they're dangling Bensler in front of us to get more views and another season, and it infuriates me. The thing is, I would love it if they got together by now, and we could have more episodes watching that relationship develop. I feel like by continuing the slow burn and the tension, it'll give them an excuse to not cast Mariska and Chris together for episodes to come. It just sucks :( Thank you for your kind words. I have taken some time out. My new job is quite stressful and I've had a recent injury :( And I can't escape into the world of SVU and Bensler like I once could (when I last burnt out in 2020 and first discovered SVU haha) The new episode did inspire me enough to write an SVU fic, I haven't written in ages! So I hope to get that one up tonight :)

#svu #bensler

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dashawfrostart · 7 months

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Long Time No Talk - And This Week In "Time & Again"

... I am not gonna lie, it's a been a while. I really stopped posting virtually everywhere for a few months - that is, undoubtedly, because of my remarkably introverted tendencies when it comes down to posting on social. But for those, who know me, this should not come as a surprise.

Some endeavours we take sound awesome at first - but afterwards the spark simply dims, and you don't feel like that was a nice idea anymore. It happened to me a few times - and let's be honest: this happens to everyone of us from time to time! Maybe it has to do with the amount of effort we didn't anticipate, or maybe the idea just doesn't sound as exciting over time, for some tend to lose interest quickly. Blogging hasn't been easy for me in my twenties and later on.

I feel bad about it though. Because this is something that I really wanted to do. I'm an old-schooler after all 😎. But truth be told, it's never too late to start over or continue! And my writing practice makes it an important undertaking. Just as I've already mentioned in my very first blog post: my goal and the purpose of this website hasn't changed. Some people I know in real life are fascinated with my manner of writing - although I myself am not particularly convinced. I think I have a lot of room for improvement. It's all pretty subjective though. But I don't like to look back, to dwell on the past, and to hang on to whatever has been lost. Instead - even though I might stumble on my way - I will go further and press on. Giving up is not my motto. I am still very eager to practice writing - and I will do it here.

And lately I even came up with a nice way to fulfill that wish.

On to the important topic now! To make this place a bit more lively and significantly less boring, I decided to take on a great responsibility! And I've been thinking about that for a while already. I'm going to start posting once-per-week posts with updates on how the work with "Time & Again" is coming along. I guess I could share that with the rest of you. Mind you: I've never been a big fan of spoilers and I didn't like to show off the unfinished pieces and WIPs very much... Although my views recently started to shift. I think I might be okay with that now. Let this be my little devlog, just like the videogame developers would've put it - but about my graphic novel instead of a game! (the game might still be coming out... It's still in my dreams, but who knows? Opportunities might suddenly turn up, right?!)

And just to tease you a little more... There's A LOT going on with "Time & Again" right now ;) You think I disappeared from the face of the Earth without a reason, or because I'm lazy, or because another one wave of typical for me "social networks disappreciation" covered me up?!.. No, you're wrong! 🤪 I've been, indeed, working very hard on the continuation of my strange story that will sure take quite an unexpected - for some - turn of events.

To avoid turning this post into a sudden wall of text - although if you're here reading my notes AND my graphic novel, then I'm sure you must not have anything against walls of text, you know what I mean, right? 😁 - for this first post from "This Week In 'Time & Again'" series I'll just briefly mention what I've done so far.

As some of you remember, Chapter 4 broke off on a rather uncertain note.

There is a reason to it. The next 4 chapters are going to be somewhat different in style and feel. It's an experimental graphic novel after all.

Over the past few months, I spent a lot of time polishing the script for the rest of the story, trying to straighten the paths that have been bent and didn't make the creation look good. In the last few days, I worked diligently on making the page templates for Chapter 5, and arranged the text lines, and speech bubbles.

At this point of time, the storyboard for Chapter 5 is 100% complete, and now I just need to fill all the pages up with the artworks! Simple and exciting!.. I perhaps made it sound extra simple. But really, it has never been easy. Making all these artworks takes time - sometimes a lot of time. One really should not underestimate the work of artist, because it's a tough job (that sometimes hardly ever pays 🤪). Right now everything goes well and quite fast. I'm not competing against time, I'm just working on it continuously and dedicatedly with a minimum of distractions as possible (still play Doom mods tho XD). So I'm getting there!

So far, I'm aiming to release Chapter 5 at around Christmas/New Year's. That said though, since I'm planning on complete overhaul of the design elements for the rest of the websites and social prior to release of Chapter 5 - for the new concept requires that! - I honestly might not make it in time. But the time will tell. No reason to plan way too far ahead and attempt divinations before starting the main part of the work 😁 So I'll just see how it goes.

That's it for today, folks! See you next week with another one - hopefully larger and more substantial! - post from "This Week In 'Time & Again'" series! Take care! 👋 (and prepare yourselves to be spooked 😈, heheheh!)

#This Week In Time and Again #TimeAndAgainbyDWF #graphic novel #thoughts

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scriptlgbt · 3 years

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I’ve asked this elsewhere, but I want to cover all my bases: Me and another blogger are in the process of writing a story, and one of the main male characters has flashbacks from a recent abusive relationship, which was with another man. Is there any way we can show this without negatively stereotyping all gay relationships? As a note: all but one of the main characters are on the LGBTQ spectrum, and there is a canonical gay relationship that’s the complete opposite of the one I described above.

TW: Intimate partner violence, details relating to it.

This will be under a cut, because my response will involve more details, including describing specific real-life dynamics and experiences related to this.

I would appreciate if this specific post were NOT reblogged, to help protect the safety of those whose stories go into this response.

These are some general things that characterize the way I think about it, and issues I've faced with it that you may want to consider.

It's extremely difficult to come forward about abuse within the community. With some people, they may come forward to police. With people in the communities I'm part of, we have a sort of whisper network. Things like just normal word of mouth, talking with friends, but also private Facebook groups and things like that.

We are significantly more likely to take people for their word on these experiences, because we, more often than the periallocishet community, know what it's like to survive horrific abuses and not be believed. The issue with this, is that abusers who are in our communities and immersed in them, know these dynamics, and some find manipulative means of flipping the script and making their victims out to be abusers.

I have an anecdote from a friend (shared with permission, read over and fact-checked) on this sort of thing. (Put in an indent so folks can skip past it.)

My friend was in an intimate partnership with another queer person and there was a lot of abuse in that relationship. There were witnesses to this abuse (mainly two, also queer -- a roommate and a friend who visited for a little bit, but didn't know a lot of people locally in the community), and things related to it that were easily logged. Things like posts online, texts, social media messages.

Both my friend and their abuser had pretty heavy mental illness, and there were some other factors that made it hard to immediately recognize the relationship as abusive, like boundary communication being assumed to be a language barrier. (Although "no" was the same word in both my friend and their then-partner's native language, these things can feel easy to dismiss when you're right in them.)

A common thing the abuser did was react extremely poorly to boundaries being made. Sometimes my friend would be having a particularly hard time trying to get boundaries communicated to land, so they would eventually decide it was easier to part ways and have time to themself. Trying to make boundaries big enough for their partner to see was basically what this tactic was, and it didn't bode well for them. Because the partner would basically shut down mentally and be a suicide risk (not explicitly threatening, but repeating past patterns of behaviour for this sort of thing) for the next while, sometimes being unresponsive to texts and so on over the course of days. My friend would have no way to check in on them and felt coerced into taking back the boundary (they didn't, and it probably wouldn't have done anything anyway).

I think a lot of people of privilege tend to do things like call cops for "wellness checks" for this kind of thing. This is something a lot of marginalized people can't safely do, for one, and for another, it's not a thing anyone with any morals at all should be doing, anyway. IMO. Both my friend and their then-partner/abuser both had trauma related to the police, especially surrounding mental health. It just wasn't an option. (I wish I could link a transcript if one existed - but I rec looking up the You're Wrong About podcast episode for Kitty Genovese for this. It's graphic, but it does talk about how Kitty Genovese being a lesbian, and there being other gay neighbours in the witnesses, that plays into why people "didn't call the police" --- the police also later used her identity to claim that being a lesbian puts you more at risk for being murdered by a serial killer or whatever.)

Anyway. When my friend finally got out of the shitty relationship, the ex would make up lists of things that they had done to my friend, only, they claimed that my friend did that to them. For a long time, even up to 6 years after the fact, they would stalk my friend and get in contact with people that they interacted with to claim that my friend had done these things. There was one point my friend was convinced into not actually coming forward about anything anymore because their abuser had made a bullshit promise that they would stop spreading lies if only my friend never came forward. It was really gross. It didn't matter in the end that my friend kept a file filled with screenshots from all the sockpuppet accounts and IP addresses matching, it didn't matter that they had texts threatening my friend's pet. Because the abuser "came forward" first, grooming character witnesses.

My friend was further alienated and would find themselves blocked on social media and kicked out of spaces they needed as a survivor of intimate partner violence.

The moral of the story is not that we should *not* immediately believe survivors. We should believe survivors.

But:

- There is a difference between justice, and punishment.

- Transformative Justice, Restorative Justice, and similar, are things that we need to invest in setting up procedure for as communities. Community desire for justice requires actual justice, not just skipping straight to what is sentencing-adjacent. Carceral “solutions” do not actually uproot the sources of injustice nor do they commit to doing anything to facilitate healing in people harmed.

- People are not things to throw away easily, and we need to actually make efforts to understand the needs of survivors.

I may try and fill in an example of how TJ or RJ can happen later, but I advise doing research for this on your own. There is a police abolitionism textbook I’m forgetting the name of which provides examples of how people use community-based solutions for conflict outside of the justice system.

I do need to note that this isn’t a venue for this topic to be explored well. I just wanted to give a glimpse into how these things have come into communities that I am in and alternatives to the justice system, especially as people who are often targeted by police.

- mod nat

#mod nat

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about-faces · 4 years

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The director Joel Schumacher has passed away, and everyone's reactions have boiled down to two topics: 1.) "He was the guy who made the bad Batman films," and 2.) "Hey, he did lots of great films besides the bad Batman films!"

Thing is... I get it. I remember being a teenage comic fan in the 90's. Not just any comics: especially Batman! But ESPECIALLY Bart especially Two-Face. I remember how "Joel Schumacher" was a name that could invoke white-hot rage in myself and everyone in the fandom. He was our modern equivalent of Dr. Fredrick Wertham, the boogyman who had (far as we were concerned) single-handedly destroyed the mainstream credibility of superheroes.

Look at that picture, and try to imagine that this was the face so loathed and mocked by Batman fanboys in the 90′s.

Never mind that Schumacher didn't WRITE the Batman films. The main credit for that goes to Akiva Goldsman, who has gone on to win an Oscar and continues to find A-list success despite ruining other geek properties like Jonah Hex and Dark Tower. Never mind that Schumacher was at the mercy of producers who wanted the movies to be nothing more than merchandise machines and toy commercials. No, Schumacher was the only name associated with the films, and he was cast at the villain.

The fact that he was openly gay played no small part in making him an easy target.

One year after the disastrous release of the infamous Batman & Robin, the beloved fan-favorite cartoon Batman: The Animated Series (then rebranded as The New Batman Adventures on the WB network) produced an episode that featured a pointed jab at Schumacher. The episode was titled "Legends of the Dark Knight," a reworking of a classic 70's Batman tale where a group of kids share their own ideas of what the mysterious Batman is really like.

Halfway through the episode, the kids are overheard by another kid, who shares his own ideas about Batman. The kid, whose name is Joel, has long dirty-blond hair, and works in front of a store which bear the sign "Shoemaker," despite clearly being a department store. He waxes dreamily about the reasons he loves Batman: "All those muscles, the tight rubber armor and that flashy car. I heard it can drive up walls!"

This last line--a reference to a silly bit in Batman Forever--he says as he flamboyantly tosses a pink fur stole around his neck. To drive home the joke, one of the kids dismisses, "Yeah, sure, Joel."

At the time, it seemed like a cathartic joke for us REAL Batman fans. Now, it's clearly just cheap and gross. Instead of any actual criticism about the films, Joel Schumacher was just seen--even if just subconsciously--as the fruit who ruined Batman.

Over time, the hatred for Schumacher lessened. Starting with Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man, on through to Batman Begins, Iron Man, and onward, superhero movies became huge mainstream successes, with greater fidelity to the source material than most adaptations we saw up to the time that Schumacher "killed" the superhero movie. There was no point in hating him anymore, if there ever was (again, Goldsman more deserves that ire, if you're gonna be angry about anyone. Why does he still get work?! WHY IS HE NOW WRITING FOR STAR TREK?!?!).

But even still, especially among Millennial and Gen-X fans, Schumacher is still--at best--considered a low point for fandom. Even though the same generations have come to appreciate and love some of his other films, such as The Lost Boys, Phone Booth, and the chillingly-prescient Falling Down, there's still this need for people to dismiss the Batman films as embarrassments that are best forgotten in favor of Schumacher's better films. And if they're to be remembered at all, it's to trash them all over again in a tone suggesting that the films are objectively, irredeemably bad.

Except they're not. Oh sure, if you go in looking for a grim and gritty capital-M "Mature" take on Batman, of course you'll hate them, just like you probably also hate the Adam West Batman show. Remember, that show also used to be hated by decades of Batman fans because of how it didn't take the comics seriously.

... except it did. The show was VERY faithful to the Batman comics of the 50's, which often out-weirded and out-sillied its TV counterpart. If anything, the show made some of those stories even more entertaining with camp value and jokes that added different levels of enjoyment to the adults watching. Comic fans resented how Batman became a pop culture joke, and increasingly fought against anything that was colorful and campy (which makes me wonder if this might also be related to latent homophobia). Whether or not they admitted/realized it, the Batman fans of the 70's and 80's carried a chip on their shoulder about a show that DARED to make Batman FUN.

And really... how is that any different than Schumacher's two films?

You don't have to agree, but I think Schumacher's films are fun. I think Batman Forever is highly entertaining, that Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey are bringing their hammy A-games as much respected actors like Burgess Meredith and Caesar Romero brought to their roles. Same goes for Arnold and especially Uma in Batman and Robin. They KNOW what movies they're in, and they're all having a blast.

(How many of us remember the exact line Eddie says at this moment? I bet you probably do too, which should tell you something about how memorable this movie is)

Now, BF and particularly B&A are by no means GOOD movies, but you can't tell me that you couldn't have a blast putting the latter on at a party and riffing it with friends. It's not a pretentious, ponderous, self-serious slog like, say, the shit Zack Snyder cranked out (apologies to the one or two cool Snyder fans here, I just find his films interminable). Even besides the many things I could say to defend Schumacher's Batman films (that's a whole other essay), you can't say they were boring. They were entertaining, even if on a level of making fun of the film, and that is NOT as easy as it looks.

Let me put it to you this way: Batman Forever has, objectively, one of the worst takes on Two-Face I've ever seen. He's one-note, he's kind of a rehash of Nicholson's Joker, he gets completely overshadowed by the Riddler, he gets killed by Batman in a way that completely betrays the whole “DON’T KILL HARVEY” arc with Robin, and worst of all, he CHEATS on the coin toss. That alone would be enough for me to condemn this depiction in any other Two-Face story.

And yet, even I--the most passionate, opinionated, and picky Two-Face fan you will EVER know--still have a soft spot for Tommy Lee Jones' take on ol' Harv. He’s just too fun, too flamboyant, too damn extra not to love. If only all bad takes on Two-Face could be this fun!

But that’s the thing: it’s not because the script was good. Oh god no. I've read the script, and if it were put on the page like a comic, I would have hated it just like any other bad Two-Face comic. I have to imagine that, as director, Joel Schumacher deserves the bulk of the credit for pushing the restrained and laconic Tommy Lee Jones into that oversized performance, and making it a delight to watch despite everything it does wrong.

I'm rare for my generation to have learned how to stop worrying and love Schumacher's Batman. But the younger generation, the up-and-coming Gen-Zs getting into Batman, don't share the same grudges we did. There's a genuine, shame-free enjoyment of those films among The Kids, many of whom are LGBTQA+, who love the jokes, the silliness, the camp, the Freeze puns, the swag of Uma Thurman, and the homoerotic subtext between Two-Face and the Riddler. Maybe it's just a reaction to so much GRIM, SERIOUS shit that DC and their fanboys are trying desperately to push even today.

But comics--especially Batman--have a long history of colorful, stupid, fun shit. Schumacher's films carried on in that tradition, and they should be appreciated on their own merits by those of us who aren't limited by narrow ideas of what Batman "should" be, and who still remember how to have fun.

Schumacher's Batman films should no longer be seen as embarrassments. They didn't ruin superheroes. They didn't ruin Batman. They didn't even ruin Two-Face. Nor should they be disregarded in favor of Falling Down, like losers in a respectability competition. They're fun. They're entertaining. And they didn't pretend to be anything else.

And if you still think they're bad... I mean, objectively, you're not wrong! But be mindful of the reasons WHY you think they're bad, because on another subjective level, you may not be right either. And it's certainly not worth holding a geek-grudge over after twenty-five years.

#batman forever #batman ampersand robin #long post #homophobia #slur

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castiel-left-his-mark-on-me · 3 years

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Why I think an “I love you too” was never in the cards—and why Covid was a convenient excuse for the “traditional” ending the network always wanted for Supernatural:

I will preface this by saying that I don’t know anything for sure—but going off of what the cast and crew have said both prior to Covid and the finale, as well as during and after, I believe that the network and the show runners were always planning on taking the easy way out, and this worldwide pandemic just made it all the easier.

So—for the “I love you too, Cas” that we were all hoping for … the reason I think it was never going to be the endgame is for a few reasons: mostly due to what both Misha and Jensen have said over this past year. Misha said recently in a Q&A that he was concerned about how Jensen might react to the whole “confession” scene we saw in 15x18. Also, he said that he knew about that scene long before Jensen did; however, Jensen has said he’s known about the idea for the final episode for months and months before filming for season 15 even began—which means, the two things probably didn’t coincide. If the confession actually connected to the finale in some way (and let’s face it, if Dean said “I love you too” that’s all anyone would be talking about), then Jensen would’ve known about it probably before Misha did, so Misha wouldn’t need to feel nervous over how Jensen might react.

We all thought that when Jensen said he wasn’t happy with the idea for the ending—it might have something to do with Destiel; but given how it all played out and what both actors have said since the confession scene aired and all the buzz surrounding it, obviously that isn’t the case. They have both said more about the confession and have been more positive about that than anything to do with the finale.So, what was Jensen actually upset about? Well, I think that has changed over time and has gotten worse thanks to Covid.

Jensen has been recorded saying he’s wanted a “Blaze of Glory” ending for the boys for years. Hell, they even had Dean say it in the show when the boys were trapped inside the bunker (season 10? 11?). He always imagined a tragic, action packed ending—where both Sam and Dean go down swinging; so the idea of them making it to some big, happy reunion in heaven probably didn’t sit well with him, because it softened that tragedy. Misha seemed to have similar hopes for his character—although, Cas got much closer to that beautifully tragic and heroic ending than Dean did; and Misha was happy for that at least. He’s happy that Castiel got to go out doing something good based in love and sacrifice, rather than some clumsy ending that didn’t do his complex character justice; and his thoughts on this haven’t changed over time, unlike Jensen’s. Both before, as well as after Covid, Misha has said basically the same thing in regards to the show’s planned-ending for Castiel: “That’s how I always saw his character arc ending”. So, again—I don’t think some momentous reunion in heaven was originally scripted or else Misha would’ve spoken about the end to Castiel’s story a little differently. I think he would’ve been even more excited and pleasantly surprised about what his and Dean’s on-screen connection would actually mean for the fans and the LGBT+ community; and he probably would’ve hinted to that in the months prior to the finale being aired. He wouldn’t have spoken of “sacrifice” ... he would’ve spoken of “hope”.

But the original idea for the finale that Misha hinted to in this most recent Q&A seemed to be very much the same as what we saw … only, all our favorites would’ve actually made an appearance in heaven instead of just having their names dropped (if they even got that much). I still think they were going to kill Dean in that horribly dumb way. I still think they were going to have Sam live out his life in a crappy montage without his brother by his side, and I still think that heaven would be where the story finally faded to black—the only difference Covid made was that more familiar faces weren’t on the screen.

That being said—even if Covid hadn’t been a thing, I doubt Dean and Cas’s reunion in heaven would’ve been anything more than just a bro-hug outside the Roadhouse. That’s all Becky’s Funko dolls foreshadowed, and her fears regarding Chuck’s ending were the closest to the truth; because if Dean and Cas were meant to have this big moment of love and rainbows … if the network was actually going to be that bold and take that leap, they would’ve still done it. Misha is one guy, and getting Covid-clearance for one more person wouldn’t have brought production to some screeching halt. The show runners would’ve made it happen if they actually possessed the balls to try it; but they don’t, so it was never their plan to have Dean say it back. Also, the network apparently went to the trouble of holding some focus-groups regarding Destiel and potential ideas for ending the series, which means they put a lot of thought into what would be most profitable; and even though you and I would have lost our collective minds if Dean reciprocated Cas’s love, it could alienate the show’s market in certain parts of the country and the world, and this show has made them a lot of money over time, and will probably continue to do so if they just played it safe; so, that’s what they did. They played it safe so they could re-run it for years to come, and never have to actually own up to anything they implied or even flat-out said over the years.

To support this—in that pre-show send off featuring all the cast and crew, Misha talked about how we were in charge of our own endings. That was filmed before Covid. That was filmed before whatever plans that were made for the show, had to be adjusted. He knew that many of us would be disappointed that they took Cas’s character so close to that massive edge that would’ve made history in the TV industry, and then backed off of it right at the last second. He knew that nothing was going to come of it, so he told us that we could make it better, and we should—and he would support us with the better-endings we imagined, because he agrees with us more than the show he’s given his last twelve years to.

Finally, there’s Jensen. Like I said before—I think Jensen expected something more tragic with the finale, like Kripke had envisioned from the start, but when a happy-heaven ending was proposed, he needed some time to digest it. I do think he did digest it though. I think he realized that the fans would need to see the boys happy and in heaven with all the ones they loved, because so many of us identify with those characters. I think that he began to understand that, and he even began to get excited about it … but then Covid happened, and suddenly, that ending began to change. Jensen saw that slowly but surely, the finale was shifting into something no one would be happy about. It was some blurry-medium (like Sam’s wife) between what was originally planned, and what the production team could actually get away with. His support seemed to dwindle before our eyes. He went from “Yeah—I learned to be excited about it” to “I get it” to almost a dead-silence over the entire thing. That ending that “didn’t sit right with him” wasn’t justifiable anymore if all the people that fans have loved for years, couldn’t be there … and Jensen knew that, so doing that weird half-ass ending where they basically erased all those supporting characters, felt very wrong, so Jensen got very quiet about it. Even when the finale aired, he was pretty damn quiet.

He just “put his head down and did the work.”

And that is so horribly tragic to me.

I think though, that this crappy ending is what the network really wanted anyway. They wanted it to just be the boys. They didn’t want to have to field all the potentially “gay” things from the chemistry between Cas and Dean. They figured the confession was enough to placate us, and then when Covid happened, they realized they lucked out even more and could just leave it there. Hell, they didn’t even need to have Misha on set anymore because – if they weren’t going to address the confession anyway, why bother? They could just say “It started with just the brothers, so that’s how it’s ending” and blame Covid when anyone tried to question it. It all worked out in a way that allowed them to just sit back and wash their hands of all of it, wash their hands of us.

Wash their hands of the actors and cut the ties they said that they valued.

I think they were willing to hurt just about everyone to reach their bottom-line, and hiding behind a worldwide pandemic was an extremely convenient circumstance that allowed them to get away with it basically unscathed.

#15x20 #supernatual #jensen ackles #misha collins #season 15 #covid #spn family #essay #thoughts #I don't know anything for sure obviously #but this all seems to convenient #and Jensen and Misha seem so hurt by all of it #I hate it

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snetzweb · 3 years

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Web Development Roadmap

To start a career in the web development field, you need to choose either front-end web development or back-end web development and if you want to be a full-stack developer you can choose both. Here we will discuss both paths. First, we will talk about what things you should learn and use to go on either path.

Here are some core technologies and tools you need to learn for both frontend and backend roadmap tasks.

Git -

One of the most popular version control systems. It's not possible to live without Git anymore. Git is a software for tracking changes in any set of files, usually used for coordinating work among programmers. It’s goals include speed, data integrity and non-linear workflows.

SSH -

SSH stands for Secure Shell. It is a Cryptographic Network Protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Typically applications include Remote Command Line, Login and Remote Command Execution. Every network service can be secured with SSH.

It is a popular networking concept every web developer should know.

HTTP/HTTPS -

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is an Extension of Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is widely used over the Internet. For Secure Communication over a computer network, HTTPS is a good way to communicate. HTTP Protocol is the Backbone of the web, and to be a Web Developer you should have good knowledge of both HTTP and HTTPS.

Linux Command - Basic Terminal Uses -

Linux command is the utility of the Linux Operating System. All basic and advanced tasks can be done by executing commands. The commands are executed on the Linux Terminal. The terminal is a Command Line Interface. It is used to interact with the system, it is similar to Command Prompt in Windows.

Not just a Web Developer but for any Programmer, Command Line is a very important factor.

Data Structures & Algorithms -

A Data Structure is a named location which can be used to store and organize data. An Algorithm is a collection of steps which help you to solve a problem. Learning Data Structure and Algorithms allows us to write efficient and optimized computer programs

These are the building blocks for every program and better knowledge of data structure and algorithm. It is vital for your next job or doing well at your current job..

Character Encoding -

If you are creating global applications that show information in multiple languages, across the world then you should have a good knowledge of character encoding.

Character Encoding is used in Computing, Data Storage and Data Transmission to represent a collection of characters by some kind of encoding system. This technique assigns a number to each character for digital representation.

Github -

There is no doubt that every developer or programmer uses Github and Git for getting code information and give some mock tests to check the performance in coding.

Both Git and Github are the standard terms in code repositories.

Github is a provider of internet hosting for software development and version control using Git. It offers the Distributed Version Control and Source Code management functionality.

Now we will discuss both the roadmaps, step by step.

Frontend Developer Roadmap -

If you want to become a Frontend Developer then you should have knowledge in some coding technologies.

In the starting phase, you should have knowledge about some basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

In HTML you should know about the basics of html, semantic html, basic seo and accessibility.

In CSS you should know about the basics of css, making layout, media queries and also CSS3. You should know roots, positioning, display, box model, css grid and flex box.

In JavaScript, you should have a knowledge about syntax and basic constructs, learn dom manipulation, learn fetch api, ajax, ecmascript 6 and modular javascript.

Then you need to start learning about Package Managers, in this you can learn npm and yarn. npm is the latest technology, but still behind yarn in some features. You can select one of them.

Then you have to learn about CSS Preprocessors, which should be SASS and PostCSS.

You can learn about CSS Frameworks, in this you should know about Bootstrap 4.

You can start learning about CSS Architecture, with modern frontend frameworks, there is more push towards CSS in JS methodologies.

Now you can build tools, Task Runners, Module Bundlers, Linters and Formatters. In task runners, you can use npm scripts. In module bundlers, you can use webpack and rollers.

After completing all these steps you need to choose a Framework, it should be Reactjs, Angular and Vue.js. Then use CSS in JS and then test your apps.

Web Development Basics -

It's pretty apparent that if you want to become a web developer, then you should know the basics of the internet, web applications, protocols like http. In general you have knowledge about web development.

HTML and CSS -

HTML and CSS are the backbones of any website, html provides the structure and css provides the style and helps them to look better. If you want to become a serious frontend developer then you must master these two.

JavaScript -

Just like the four pillars of object oriented programming, encapsulation, abstraction, polymorphism and inheritance. Web Development has three pillars, which are HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

HTML and CSS provide structure and style but Javascript makes them alive by adding Interactiveness.

TypeScript -

Just like in programming, we should know about C and C++, the same as TypeScript, which is considered as JavaScript++.

TypeScript is also a programming language developed by Microsoft and also maintained by Microsoft. It is a superset of JavaScript. It is designed for the development of large applications.

Angular -

Angular is a web application framework. It is a typescript based free and open source framework. It is developed by the Angular Team of Google. Angular is an enhanced form of AngularJS, it is completely rewrite.

In the starting phase you should have knowledge about HTML, CSS and JavaScript. But these days, most of them work on Angular, Vue.js, Reactjs and Typescript.

They provide short and simple code which consumes low storage.

Reactjs -

Like Angular, Reactjs is also a very popular library to develop web applications. Reactjs is developed and maintained by Facebook Team. Most people work on reactjs instead of php and other programming languages.

Reactjs is an enhanced form of PHP and we can also include HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Backend Web Developer Roadmap -

To become a backend web developer, you need to know about some languages.

So the first step is to pick a language.

It should be Functional Language and Scripting Language.

In functional language you need to learn about Java and .Net and in Scripting language you need to learn about Python, Ruby, PHP, Node.js and Typescript.

After learning all these languages, you need to start doing practice, as a beginner you need to do the practice.

Implement those commands you have learned. Learn about the Package manager and start implementing this. Learn about Testing and Bug Fixing.

Start knowing about Relational Database and Framework. You can learn MongoDB Database, it is enough to know about databases and uses of databases. Then start gaining knowledge of Web Server like Apache.

Node.js -

Same as reactjs, node.js is mostly used by maximum web developers. Like reactjs, node.js allows you to make complete web applications using a single language which is Node.js.

Java -

Mostly in the starting phase, people start learning about java. And almost all made their first application using java. Java is a very old language but its popularity is not gone till now like C. Java provides 99% features of object-oriented programming.

Python -

Python is a trending Language, you should have a focus on python. You can make your career bright by learning Python. If you want to develop the back-end code using python then you can use Django. It is a Full Stack Web Development Framework for Python Programmers.

#webdevelopment #websitedevelopment #appdevelopment #ecommercedevelopment #mobileappdevelopment #digitalmarketing #seo

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years

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Won’t You Stay (Part 1)

Summary: The reader is almost ready to start filming her movie, The Dark Woods, with her dad but is nervous but how it will all turn out. She’s feeling better by the first day of filming but when her other lead actor quits, she needs to find a new one and fast...

Masterlist

Pairing: Jensen x Director!reader

Word Count: 2,900ish

Warnings: language, car accidents

A/N: Please enjoy the first of many parts!

______

“Alright, so we’re going to have Ethan run down this hallway here, turn, tight in over his shoulder and push past to go down the way he came to catch sight of the baddie chasing him,” said Mark, your director of photography. You pursed your lips and hummed, walking through the warehouse location, your dad watching off to the side.

“Reverse it,” you said. “I want the supposed baddie’s back, in the first hallway, chasing my dad. Tight in over his shoulder, push past that guy and then get onto my dad. It’s supposed to be scary. I want the chase and tension.”

“You got it boss,” said Mark.

“You sure that’s what you want to do, kiddo?” asked your dad, Ethan. You glanced over your shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

“I want a ‘heart stops beating in the chest’ moment,” you said. “Fear. Prey being hunted.”

“But my character turns out to be the predator in this case,” he said, leaning against the wall.

“Exactly. The audience won’t know until it’s too late. Heart stopping, edge of the seat opening scene. I want them to feel for Hale and then have him flip the tables on them and then flip ‘em right back. I want the hallway shot one long continuous shot too. We might need to work on it some and get in a few rehearsals but it’s what I want,” you said.

“Sounds good. Opening scenes can really make a movie. I can’t wait to start filming next week,” said Mark with a grin. “This is going to get nominated for an Oscar or some shit.”

“I’ll settle for not bombing at the box office,” you said, pulling out your phone to check the time. “It’s starting to get late. I’m good for the day if you guys are.”

“Good with me. I’ll see you bright and early on Monday, Y/N,” said Mark. You gave him a wave as he headed out, your dad poking his head down the hallway again as you walked around one last time.

“I sound like a total bitch, don’t I, demanding what I want to do,” you said. He whipped his head around and frowned.

“No sweetie, not at all. Director ain’t an easy gig. You’re gonna have to know what you want all the time and some days, you’ll have to be a hardass about it. But you’re doing very good with all of your prep work. No one knows this story like you do,” he said.

“Why did I agree to do this,” you groaned, rubbing your hands over your face. “I wrote the damn book. Why did I say I’d direct it too? Direct my own father?”

“Because you love this story. I love this story. Mom and Anthony and Ella love it. You wanted it to get the treatment it deserves. You’re gonna do great,” he said.

“Remind me of this when I’m two weeks into filming and I end up flipping out,” you said. He gave you a big squeezing hug, spinning you around in circles. “Dad.”

“Mhm, sweetie,” he said. “You’re coming over for dinner to relax. No excuses.”

“I’ll take the free food,” you said, resting your head on his shoulder as you walked out towards where the car was parked. “How’d you not be terrified all the time?”

“Terrified of what?” he asked.

“You had me when you were 18. I was nine by the time you were my age. I can’t even keep a houseplant alive and now I’m making a multi million dollar movie and I feel like I’m gonna explode already. I can’t imagine being responsible for a kid,” you said.

“I was terrified to be honest. Grandma and grandpa helped us a lot. The whole family did. Becoming a rising Hollywood star was nothing compared to single dad though. You used to be the center of attention when my buddies would come over. You remember that?” he asked.

“I was your responsibility though,” you said.

“And I don’t regret having you for a second,” he said, kissing the top of your head. “How cool is it that we get to work together? This is going to be great, sweetie. I’ll try to help the hard days not be so hard too, okay?”

“Okay. I grew up on film sets. Hopefully this doesn’t go as bad as I think it will.”

“What do you mean he’s out? He can’t be out. He’s the other fucking lead!” you shouted into your phone late Monday morning. Your dad slurped up his noodles from his lunch at the craft services tent, most everyone going quiet and looking at you. You ditched your plate and went outside to the lot, running your hand over your face. “Where is Gil Nicholas going? He signed-”

“Dropped out. His contract allowed him to do that up until filming started which technically wasn’t until tomorrow so he’s able to do it,” said the casting director on the other end.

“What…” you said, taking a deep breath.

“Relax, Y/L/N. I’ve known your dad since he was a bright eyed 18 year old kid. I ain’t calling with this kind of news without having a backup plan. There’s this guy out there, Jensen Ackles. He’s an up and comer. He was on a sci-fi horror network show that got the axe after a few seasons. The kid’s good though. Better than Gil for sure. He doesn’t have the name recognition that Nicholas did and this would be his biggest production ever but the kid is used to the horror genre,” he said.

“It’s not a horror movie,” you grumbled. “I’ve never heard of this guy. How old is he?”

“Twenty eight. Been in the business for about ten years. He’s got a good strong look to him. Athletic but soft,” he said. “He’s good looking. The face alone would get some people out to see the film. Get his shirt off and stick that in the trailer, you’ll get people to come see this movie no problem.”

“I wrote the damn book in my childhood bedroom. I published it and sold the movie deal on my own. If I need to get someone naked to sell this story, it doesn’t deserve to be on the big screen,” you said.

“Okay...relax before you blow a gasket. I got some other guys that could play Lyle. We could put together an emergency casting session this evening, see about getting a guy in for the morning?” he asked.

“Alright. Do the session. My dad’s off the rest of the day so see if he’s available for chemistry reads,” you said. “Please.”

“Can do, Y/N. The studio isn’t going to let one of the most popular books of the past few years crash and burn. It’s a goldmine waiting to happen for them. We’ll find the right guy to play Lyle. I promise.”

“Hey,” you said, jogging into the casting studio around 8 that night, catching your dad reading over a page of the script. “How was Ella’s volleyball game?”

“They won. She spiked the ball and hit some poor girl in the face though. She was crying the last time I saw her,” said your dad.

“I’ll call her after this,” you said, closing your eyes. “How’d the chemistry reads go?”

“Just got that Ackles kid left to do. I’ll be honest. It ain’t been pretty in there. Two hot shots that ain’t worth shit, one that sounds horrible and another that can’t even pronounce full words,” he said.

“Lovely,” you said. “Where’s the Ackles guy then? I thought you guys were expecting to be wrapped up by now.”

“Late. Not the best sign,” he said. You squeezed your eyes shut and tilted your head back. “Go take a walk around the building, kiddo. I’ll talk to casting, see if there’s other possibilities. Worst case, we rework schedules, film anything without a lead while they find one.”

“This is a disaster and it’s only the first day,” you said.

“Y/N. Go on, take a breather,” said your dad. You sighed but went back outside, throwing your head back as you started to walk the block for a few minutes.

A whistle from a dim alley made you roll your eyes as you walked past.

“Hey, princess. I was talking to you,” said the man.

“Fuck off. Not in the mood,” you said. Next thing you knew a hand was on your shoulder and you were being shoved back against a brick building.

“Well that’s not very nice,” said the guy.

“Hey!” barked another voice. You both turned your heads to spot a younger guy already looking a little beat up walking down the sidewalk. “Pick on somebody your own size.”

“You want another ass kicking tonight? Looks like you already lost,” said the guy. He turned his attention to the other man but you were still stuck in a dead end alley with him. You tried to brush past him but the guy caught your arm, the younger one staring him down. “Just having a fight with my girlfriend, buddy.”

“I’m not your girlfriend, fuckface,” you said, stomping on his foot and turning around, kicking him in the nuts. He dropped your arm and you ran past to the young guy, standing behind him for a moment.

“Get out of here. Now,” he said. You took off back down the block to the casting studio, ducking into the lobby. Five minutes later you were pacing the halls, trying to get through on the phone to the police when the young guy appeared sporting a freshly bruised cheek. ��Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks. You? I’m trying to get through to the police but they put me on hold,” you said. He gave you a smile and shook his head.

“I’m fine. Rough night is all,” he said as he wiped some dirt off his cheek. He was handsome and looked strong but you could tell he wasn’t the fighting type.

“Busy saving other damsels?” you joked.

“The car in front of me tonight got in an accident. Car rolled and I helped get the driver out. Guy went into diabetic coma for a hot second so that was fun hanging with him until the ambulance got there and then that just happened. Obviously not my night. I’m supposed to be having the biggest audition of my life two hours ago here. Probably a sign it’s not meant to be,” he said.

“Well there’s at least two people out there grateful for you popping up tonight. Maybe your audition will go well,” you said, smiling to yourself.

“I doubt it,” he said. “I should just go home. They probably won’t even let me anymore.”

“I know some people that work here,” you said, his ears perking up. “Give me your name. I’ll make sure you get your audition.”

“Really? Uh, thanks. I’m Jensen Ackles. I’m supposed to be auditioning for Lyle Sullivan on The Dark Woods movie,” he said.

You stared at him, Jensen giving you a smile.

“You okay? If you don’t know anyone on that that’s cool, really,” he said. You nodded and said you’d take care of it. You went down another hall and into a large audition room where your dad was talking with the casting director while on the phone with one of his cop friends.

“Hey. Ackles is here,” you said.

“Kid’s two hours late,” said the casting director.

“We’re desperate, not that desperate,” said your dad. “Trust me. If he can’t even show up for an audition on time-”

“He’s the guy that just got that other one to leave me alone on the street,” you said. Your dad immediately put down his phone and looked at you. “He says he helped a guy who was in a car accident earlier and that’s why he’s late. He looks it. I want to give him a chance.”

“Alright. He can have a chance,” said your dad.

“Alright. Ethan, scene 22 again. Y/N, want to watch in here or on the monitor?” asked the director.

“Monitor. I’ll pop back in with my decision,” you said. You went in the back room and sat down, a TV on a small table in front of you. You turned it on and reached across the table, finding one of the pads of paper and pens that were normally there. You jotted down a few things to yourself.

He had the look of Lyle which was a huge plus for you. Short cute brown hair in spiky strands. The signature green eyes. The slight scruff on his cheeks.

He popped in front of the camera, still and quiet as he watched a few people move about. He was tall and had strong arms but there was something innocent and kind about him you couldn’t place. You smiled. Lyle had to be both the soft sweet boy and the tear your throat out with his teeth type. This guy seemed like he could pull that off potentially.

You sat back and watched your dad appear on the screen, shaking hands with Jensen briefly before they started.

Twenty minutes later you leaned back in your seat and stood up. Jensen was good. Nervous around your dad and shy but that was okay. During the read, all of that fell away. He was Lyle Sullivan, far better than Gil had ever played him. Jensen seemed to know just how to play Lyle’s relationship with Hale and it made you wonder if he’d ever read the book.

You popped into the casting room, Jensen no longer in there, your dad and a few other people discussing what they’d seen.

“We know what we think. What about our director?” asked your dad as he crossed his arms.

“I want him. I want him real bad,” you said. “He was good.”

“Alright. I think we’re all at a consensus then,” said the casting director with a smile. “We need him in tomorrow morning to start filming though. We need to work a temporary contract out tonight and-”

“Give him Gil’s contract, minus the ability to pull out,” you said. “It’s simple.”

“The studio ain’t paying a small screen, barely has a fan base, guy a couple million dollars,” he said.

“The Dark Woods is a wildly popular book with a built in fan base. Pay the man his money. What’s the big deal,” you said.

“I’m telling you right now, they won’t pay the kid three million,” he said. “He isn’t worth it in their eyes. Your dad is an established, multi-franchise, lead for both TV and movies. There is a reason your father is being paid very well. You earn that in this business, kid.”

“I negotiated my salary and a movie deal, on my own. Don’t call me a kid. I am twenty seven years old and do not tell me I don’t know what I’m doing. Use Gil’s contract and get him signed before he leaves the building,” you said. The casting director stared at you before he got up and left the room. Your dad gave you a look that you rolled your eyes at. “What?”

“You’re gonna be just fine as a director, kiddo.”

“Hey,” you said around midnight when you finally had all of the paperwork settled. Jensen was walking out into the main hall with his agent by his side. “How’d it go?”

“I got it!” he said, all smiles, his agent saying a quick goodnight to him. “Thank you so much for putting in a good word. I can’t believe they even let me audition let alone gave me the role.”

“Well, I just got you the audition. You got the job on your own,” you said.

“Still. I owe you a drink,” he said. He had big bright green eyes, still a bit shy but you could tell his excitement was giving him some confidence.

“I have work very, very early in the morning,” you said with a laugh, his face falling for a split second. “But I will definitely take a raincheck for Saturday night?”

“Alright. Sounds good to me,” he said as he smiled. You swapped phones for a moment, Jensen practically bouncing with excitement.

“You excited about this job, huh?” you asked as you put your phone away.

“You ever hear of The Dark Woods book? I love it. It’s so good. I was super excited to hear they were making it a movie and now I get to play Lyle freaking Sullivan? If you haven’t read it, you got to,” he said. “It’s awesome.”

“I’ll have to take a look sometime,” you said. “I’ll text you sometime for Saturday then?”

“Yeah. This is turning out to be the best day ever,” he said with a smirk. “I’ll see you around, Y/N.”

_______

A/N: Read Part 2 here!

#supernatural #spn #jensen x reader #jensen ackles #supernatural series #supernatural reader insert #jensen ackles x reader #spn reader insert #jensen reader insert #jensen x #jensen ackles x you

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