TV Development Guide

  that passion reflected in other ways so it’s not just, “I watched the

  show,” it’s “I want to dress up like the characters,” or “I love the

  show so much I want to listen to all the songs from the show/

  movie,” or reading the fan mail from the kids because an actor or

  character means so much to them that they’re going to take the

  time to write a letter. That’s when you know you’ve got some-

  thing special.

  *****

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  Act 4

  INTERVIEW WITH TAYLOR LATHAM

  President, Escape Artists Production Company

  Development Executive, Double Feature

  I sent a spec script to JASON BLUMENTHAL, one of the founders of

  Escape Artists, because my production team and I were looking for part-

  ners. TAYLOR LATHAM is the President of their TV division. I told

  her about this book. She graciously accepted my request for an interview

  and I met with her in their offices on the SONY lot in February, 2018.

  Stephanie (SV): When did you find out what TV Development

  was?

  Taylor (TL): I was working for MICHAEL SHAMBERG and

  STACEY SHER at their film production company, Double Feature,

  and I kept reading stuff that felt more like television than film,

  which I kept bringing to them and they finally said, “Oh yeah,

  let’s get into television.” So, I got into it organically. I was run-

  ning both their television and film for them. After I had been

  there for six years, we got a first-look deal with AMC and devel-

  oped our first show with them, Into the Badlands, which is still go-

  ing strong.

  SV: For people wanting to pursue a career in TV Development,

  what do you suggest they do?

  TL: I say this to anyone who wants to work in the business at all,

  go work for a year at an agency. If you want to get in Television

  Development, try to get a job on a TV lit person’s desk. It’s like

  being a freshman in college. You will learn the people’s names

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  that matter. You will be exposed to a bunch of scripts, both good

  and bad. You will learn about the deal-making process. It’s basi-

  cally like year one of college. If you start out at a production

  company, as great and as warm as a production company can be,

  you will never have the volume. Also, there are so many people

  who are essentially your age starting out in the business at the

  same spot and with all the other assistants on that floor or in that

  department they kind of become your freshman year friends. I

  still know everyone I started off that first year with and we are all

  still good friends. Now they are top-level executives and agents,

  and I can pick up the phone to call them. I have better access to

  those people when I need information and that’s invaluable.

  SV: What can someone with no credits do to get their project in

  front of you?

  TL: When you are at a company like this, it’s kind of hard. For

  legal reasons, we need for it to come through a lawyer or an agent

  or a manager so that later on we are not sued. But, I say get your

  scripts read by as many people as possible. Submit them to every

  contest you can think of. Almost all winners, even the top ten,

  will get snatched up by managers. That’s the best way to break

  into the business. Or, get an internship at a production company

  and walk into an executive’s office and say, “Hey, I know I’m just

  an intern, but I have a great script.”

  SV: What kind of shows do you like to develop?

  TL: I like all across the board. I love dramas. I think all dramas

  should have an element of soap opera to them. I think that’s what

  keeps you coming back. Even if there’s an underlying mystery,

  which I also think is a great vehicle, the sort of thing that keeps

  you coming back week-to-week is the soap opera between the

  characters. I think any time you can have a soap element in a

  show, that’s what I look for.

  SV: What is the most memorable pitch that you’ve gone out with?

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  TL: When AL GOUGH and MILES MILLAR came up with their

  pitch for Into the Badlands, even though it was hugely world-build-

  ing, I could see it all. They had thought about the whole world

  down to the nitty-gritty. They really almost didn’t leave anything

  up to my imagination with a central character who had a really

  interesting journey. The main character is an assassin who figures

  out he wants a better life and realizes he has to atone for all of his

  sins. You can understand how it’s going to take him like five to

  seven seasons to reach enlightenment. But, within this world they

  created, there were so many different divisions and factions, and

  they each had names. It was just the world-building that they had

  such a handle on that you heard it and you were completely con-

  fident that they were going to create that world on the screen.

  SV: Is it important for you to have projects come with attach-

  ments?

  TL: No. I just need really good writing. I mean, that’s what Es-

  cape Artists does. We’re good at putting the package together.

  SV: What is the best project you developed that didn’t get picked

  up? And what happened?

  TL: We shot a pilot called, Prototype for the SYFY network. The

  reason why Escape Artists fell in love with it was it was a very

  character-driven show and the sci-fi elements to the show were

  pretty minimal. The character development was in the forefront.

  What happened was SYFY bought it because it didn’t have a lot of

  sci-fi elements to the show and, unfortunately, they passed on it

  because it didn’t have a lot of sci-fi elements to the show,* so that

  was heart breaking.

  Side note: *This is sometimes the irony with TV Development.

  A network will say they want one thing and then when you de-

  liver that, they change their minds.

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  SV: What would you say is the most challenging aspect to devel-

  oping a script?

  TL: I would say getting the writer’s vision to come through on the

  page, and sometimes it takes pulling teeth getting it out of them.

  A lot of times they have great, big, grand ideas, but focusing it on

  to the page is the challenge.

  SV: What is your favorite part of the development process?

  TL: I love getting into the weeds with writers in terms of big ideas

  and making sure the mythology of their big ideas or the architec-

  ture of the whole season is logically thought out. Obviously, it all

  starts with a great pilot script, but the pilot should be somewhat of

  a mini-microcosm of the whole series. If you can’t really feel that

  you’ve got a handle of the architecture of the whole series from

  the pilot script, then you’ve got some work to do. That’s the fun

  of it for me.

  SV: What is your least favorite part of the process?

  TL: ( laughing) Selling. Even if three places want something and

  two places say no and one place says yes, you still can’t help but


  feel the rejection of the places that said no.

  SV: What are your thoughts on Indie television?

  TL: The future is always changing but, at the moment, networks

  like to have their fingerprints on their stuff. So unless you want to

  upload it to YouTube, it’s hard to get the financial backing. It’s

  hard to get the executive investment in it when you want to deliv-

  er everything on a platter.

  That’s not to say that if you’ve got a bunch of friends who are

  good actors and a friend who can be a great cameraman not to go

  out and film an eight minute presentation that sometimes can in-

  credibly help. But otherwise, at the moment, you’re still stuck

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  with putting it up on YouTube, or potentially some other sites.

  There are not a ton of those. It’s possible. It’s just harder.

  SV: What do you feel will be different about the process of TV De-

  velopment in five or ten years?

  TL: It feels like the last few years have been very heavy on IP and,

  with more outlets opening up I feel it will become even more IP

  dependent. That’s just my prediction. When you have a new com-

  pany that is just getting off the ground and you are just trying to

  get eyeballs, they want it to be something big. There’s a reason

  why Amazon bought the The Lord of the Rings IP. They had eye-

  balls already and even they were like, “What is gonna be our big,

  almost pre-sold idea?” I think that any sort of new companies

  popping up are gonna want those anchors.

  SV: In today’s market, what do you think is the measure of a suc-

  cessful series?

  TL: That you get more than one season!

  *****

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  Act 4

  INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF SILVERMAN

  Partner, Cartel Entertainment

  Literary Manager

  I met GEOFF SILVERMAN at the William Morris Agency. We were

  assistants in the same department. He has gone on to become the co-

  founder of the production and management company, Cartel Entertain-

  ment. He has built an impressive list of clients. His offices in the heart

  of Hollywood are well-equipped with edit bays, a sound stage and an ex-

  ecutive suite. Here’s what he had to say during our meeting in February,

  2018.

  Stephanie (SV): How did you get your start in the business?

  Geoff (GS): After graduating UCLA, I got a position as an as-

  sistant for the William Morris Agency working in the talent de-

  partment for AMES CUSHING and JOAN HYLER. They had

  some pretty amazing, big, big clients. Working in the trenches.

  SV: When did you know you wanted to be a manager?

  GS: Pretty soon on I realized that, if I were a manager, I could

  produce. When I was working for BRETT RATNER, I started ‘hip-

  pocketing’ clients. The thing that I first saw, which was way, way

  ahead of the curve, was taking on diversity writers and really

  championing them. I had so many diversity clients who were not

  on staff. They were in writing programs and now they are up to

  Co-EP level. I have this guy, ANUPAM NIGAM, who is the co-

  executive producer on the new Grey’s Anatomy - Fire House spin-

  off. When I found him, he literally was an NYU medical student.

  I have this guy, named ANGEL DEAN LOPEZ, who this past year

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  was the number two on three shows. I have this guy, BRYAN OH.

  He was a staff writer on The OC when I signed him. He’s now the

  Co-EP running the room on Zoo for APPELBAUM and NEMEC.

  SV: Are you a producer on all of your clients’ projects?

  GS: Not always. I always put my client’s interests first. If there’s

  a project that I bring to the client like, “Here’s a book or a piece of

  IP,” and I feel comfortable to say to them, “Hey, Cartel is looking

  to be a producer,” then we would remain involved, but my main

  focus is staffing. Until my clients get to the point where they are

  showrunners, it’s really hard for me to attach myself and have

  Cartel be a meaningful element. However, we are currently trying

  to find IP that’s meaningful, and there are a couple of projects now

  that I am attached as a producer. For instance, our IP person here

  found a book called, “Blood and Whiskey.” It’s about the real guy

  JACK DANIEL. He’s a bootlegger and a womanizer. It’s a period

  piece about how he came from nothing and built this empire.

  Originally, we sold it to WGN. They paid him to write the pilot

  script but, now that they’ve folded, we are out with it again. So

  yeah, if we are an instrumental element, we will be attached as a

  producer.

  SV: Speaking of the IP market, it has become the way everyone is

  developing now. Do you feel in 10 or 15 years there will be some-

  thing else that we’re not thinking of that will be the new wave of

  developing TV shows?

  GS: That’s a great question. I think that IP has become so success-

  ful because no one wants to take a risk anymore. Everybody is

  coming from a place of fear. So, they (the network) are going to

  take anything that has name value, brand recognition, and, if there

  were people watching in the past, they are like, “Great! That can

  get eyeballs.” Because a ton of people used to watch it twenty

  years ago, they are going to wheel it out, polish it up and redo it.

  SV: How would you suggest a new writer get representation?

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  GS: There are a million programs for diversity writers at all the

  networks: The ABC Fellowship Program, the Warner Brothers

  Writers Program, the CBS Diversity Program, the FOX Initiative.

  SV: Can writers cold-call you?

  GS: No. I get writers from these programs or from agents, but I

  think if they would call the assistants or junior agents or man-

  agers, that would be another way. We have junior managers here

  who are constantly telling us about writers they found and are

  working with. I think the way in is through assistants. Call the

  assistants at Imagine. Call the assistants at FOX. Any one of these

  millions of companies out there, they all have assistants, and say,

  “Hey I’ve got this great project. I’m a new writer. I’ve got this

  great idea. Is there anyone over there that you will think will read

  it? Would you read it? I’ve got three other production companies

  reading it now.” You’ve just got to be networking in this town.

  SV: What do you feel your role is in the TV Development process?

  GS: Since everything now is IP, every production company in

  town options books and articles. So I spend a good amount of

  time calling them to say, “Hey, what IP are you looking for a

  writer on?” And then they’ll say, “We just optioned…” Then

  they’ll tell us what type of writer they’re looking for, and I’ll send

  them two or three people to consider for coming up with takes.

  They will usually do a kind of “bake-off” where they will have

  like ten people come up with ideas and then pick someone to go

  out with for a show.

  SV: Do you work on the pitch
with them to take to these produc-

  tion companies?

  GS: Yeah, oftentimes I do, but it depends on the client. Some-

  times they’ll say, “Geoff, I got a take. Let me just take a meeting

  with the producers and I’ll pitch it.” And then other times they’ll

  say like, “Here’s something I’m working on. What do you think?”

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  Act 4

  And I will work with them on the idea. Sometimes they will also

  write spec scripts, original spec scripts because no one writes spec

  scripts of episodes anymore. But before they’ll even write a script,

  I’ll say, “Give me a list of loglines of scripts you’re thinking of

  writing.” And then I’ll say, “I’m really gravitating towards this

  idea. I think you should focus on this one.” They may send me a

  ‘beat sheet,’ and I’ll give them notes on that. Then they send me a

  first draft, and I’ll give them notes on that. Sometimes I’ve have

  other people here read it or they give it to their writer friends.

  You know, there are never too many people you can share a script

  with before you share it with the town. I am definitely very

  hands-on because we try not to bother the agents too much. They

  don’t really have the time to do all that stuff. Managers are much

  more hands-on. Day-to-day, we talk to our clients all the time and

  really try to get the scripts in the best shape possible, and then get

  it out there.

  SV: What is the most challenging aspect of developing with your

  clients?

  GS: I find that it’s sometimes hard to come up with a concept

  that’s unique. Everything’s been done ten ways to Sunday. It’s

  challenging for the writer to come up with a take that is unique

  and jumps off the page and is going to stand out from the next

  guy or woman who is sending in their pilot script. So, I’m on

  them about finding ideas that feel fresh, super different, maybe

  have a hook. It has to pop off the page.

  SV: What’s the most rewarding?

  GS: What I love as being a manager is I love calling clients when

  they get a job. Like when a client of mine took a six to seven year

  sabbatical and went on to be a teacher in a high school in Westlake

  and someone gave me a script he wrote. I thought it was really

  great. Six months later, I got him a job and he’s doing it right now.

  He’s in his second season. It’s a show on Hallmark called, Chesa-