and my dad too.

I don't drop by Aaron's discussion group at the Other Place very often anymore, but every once in a while I see something that makes me go "Ahhhhh...."

This is one of those sightings:

Someone Questions...

" When I look at the credits for your shows I sometimes see 'written
by...' and other times I see 'teleplay by...', 'story by...'. What's the
difference in these descriptions?"


Aaron Answers...

Kathy,

That question gets asked a lot. Writing credits on a tv show (or a movie
for that matter) are the domain of the Writers Guild and their credit
board. The show submits "Suggested Writing Credits" and the WGA invites
others to challenge them.

It's likely that on other shows, staff writers are breaking stories and
outlining them, then passing the outlines up to more senior writers who
are writing the scripts but that's not how it worked on SN, TWW or S-60.

I came up as a playwright and so for me , writing is something you do in
a room by yourself with the door closed. But because of the ferocious
schedule of series television, I need people working on the other side
of the door too--research, opinions, ideas (ME: I need a reason why C.J.
can't do the press briefing; DEE DEE MEYERS: I once had to miss a
briefing because of an emergency root canal.

As valuable as the writing staffs have been, their contributions don't
meet the very antiquated definitions the WGA has for screen credit. So
on a rotating basis I make sure that everyone on the writing staff gets
at least two "Story By" credits during the season (which also come with
a bonus check) and to add a measure of fairness I take myself out of the
process entirely--putting a co-executive producer in charge of writing
credits. Additionally, anytime a producer's name appears as a writer (in
my case that's every time), there's an automatic independent credit
investigation that's triggered in order to protect more junior writers
from their bosses.

I know that was all pretty clumsy but I hope it answered your question.

Aaron


I have actually asked this question to myself in my head a hundred times.  So thank you, Kathy (and Aaron) for actually giving me some insight.

So most of you know that I've been taking a writing class this year. It's been great fun and I think that I've even learned alot; what more can you ask for, right? It has, however, had a sadly chilling effect on my LJ posts (which were never prodigious to start with, really.) There's only so much writing I can do, after all. *But* our topic at last week's class was right up my LJ, ww-fangirl, fanfic-reading alley. And that was: How to write about taboo subjects (aka how to write sex scenes.) Seriously. There was a wide-ranging discussion and the basic theme was this: to write a good sex scene that is actually true to your story and not just there to make the reader vaguely hot and bothered, the writer must look for the characters in the act. So it's not just tab A and slot B (yes, my writing instructor actually said that) but finding the motivation for the act. Where is the conflict in the two people's motivations? Where is the story?

Well, yeah.

Anyway, of course I couldn't help thinking of my favorite nc-17 ww writers and what good would it do if I just kept that information to myself? So, here are my personal faves. Tell me what you think... agree? disagree? don't care about the story so much but just want to pimp a hot tab a and slot b scene? Yeah, go right ahead!

( Who does it best... )

Courtesy of Jezebel, which is a website that sometimes I am completely left cold by and other times can't stop loving to death, comes this:







This photo just makes me so happy.

I love it.

and then listen to the words coming out of her mouth. Wow. This is Bill and Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes, right before the 1992 presidential primaries. Once you get over how Hillary looks like a grown woman in mourning for her lost sorority girl, listen to her talk about character. And then a few years later, Monica Lewinsky had to come along...

oh well.

...and everyone on my flist knows that working with those two would definitely get me into work every day!


also, see the third frame where the husband is giving the wife "a look"?  yeah, I know that look.  I've been given that look... and also over a very similar topic...

Lauren's-real-name...it's after midnight; when are you coming to bed?  What are you watching?  Oh... 
then we have "the look " 

*innocent face*

Season 3?  She should just take the rest of the week off.

runs off to watch season 3...

Okay, I love the character of Donna Moss as much as the next person (heck, probably more than many, many of the next persons) and I do truly love West Wing fanfic, but I must draw the line somewhere.  These are things that if I read even one of them in a fic ever again, I will shoot off a full-blown you have got to be f*ckin' kidding me email to the author...

Donna does keep Josh organized and, heaven knows, they work well together.  I dare say, she often inspires him to do his best work.  BUT he would not be curled up in a corner, sucking his thumb without her.  Yes, his days would not be as bright, but he was a successful, effective politician before he met her and he would have been one if she had never come along.  In my heavily (really, way too heavily) considered opinon, of course.

To that end, Donna was not responsible for putting Evelyn Baker Lang or Christopher Mulready on the Supreme Court.  She was talking about cats; the fact that Josh managed to make the mental leap from Donna's parents' cats to putting 2 ideologically-opposed justices on the bench in one fell swoop was really all him.

Also, Donna was not responsible for saving Big Sky national parkland.  She was talking about antiquated computer files.  Using the Antiquities Act to protect Big Sky was all Josh.

I do, however, give her props for getting Social Security checks out during the shutdown.  Nice attention to detail.



I'm very happy to get that off my chest.  thank you.

I'm on a smack high after last night's game. Thanks to the incomparable phla for the icon!

In honor of the game today, I give you the Steelers fight song. Set to (what else?) the Pennsylvania Polka. Yeah, not many other teams can boast of having a polka for a fight song.

This is the late 1970's version, by the way, when I was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh.

GO STEELERS!!!!



ok, the embedding isn't working for me... you'll just have to click on the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naaU8YHvoGc

I can't resist some quizzes.

Really. It's a burden.

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 100% Expert!

Take The Commonly Confused Words Test at HelloQuizzy

I couldn't resist. Thanks, tommy!

( All about Christmas... )

Most of my flist probably knows about the facebook group that Aaron Sorkin started and regularly shows up at to chat on the boards. It's fairly interesting and often entertaining, despite and sometimes because of the fact that most of the posts (which can be both far too long and self-congratulatory) are done by a small group of Aaron groupies who flirt unashamedly (see: often entertaining, above).

But today I found a few gems in Aaron's comments that I felt I must broadcast to my own tiny world...


( Aaron fans, read on )


I feel now like I should set up a daily feed...Best of Aaron on Facebook, which would arguably save many of you a lot of time and (possibly) frustration...   Because it's all about the kids...  ;-)

You know it!


( Things I've done...things I'd like to do... )

I got tagged by caz963and then again by marymarybut I was out of town and didn't get around to doing it, so... better late than never? Also, I'm pretty sure that everyone on my flist has been tagged by someone already, so this'll just stop here, okay?



( everything you've always wanted to know... )

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because all my writing energy has been directed towards my homework assignments for the memoir writing class that I'm taking at the U. But I couldn't let this amazing moment go by without some kind of acknowledgment:

Barack Obama is the next President of the United States!!!

Lauren is doing the happy dance now, there's no way around it.

I was actually at my class during most of the evening last night. Obama had won Pennsylvania (plus a bunch of states he was expected to win) but they hadn't called Maryland or Indiana or Virginia or Florida or... I was on pins and needles.  A few minutes into class, deelaatexted me from the campaign in Ohio, saying only "MARYLAND!"  Then, nothing.  At 8:00 we took a break and, as everyone was reaching for their cell phones to check in on the election results, there was a chorus of arriving text messages.  Michael (who sits behind me in class) yelled "283!" which seemed unbelievable to me, since the polls had just closed in Washington (and California).  So I called dee, who answered, but neither of us could hear the other since there was so much CRAZY SCREAMING in the background on her end.  I ran back in the classroom and shouted, "It must be true!"

A few minutes later, a text came in from Dee:  BIG HUGS!  BONUS HUGS!

She's so right:  big hugs all around.

Well played, America, well played!

I just can't wipe this smile off my face!

Also: cultured.

Your result for The Famous (and Not So Famous) Art Quiz...

Art History Major

100% Artiste!

Take The Famous (and Not So Famous) Art Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Ever since b-school, I've loved these positioning matrices... they're so useful for all kinds of things.

Also: Can't say that I'm surprised...

And also.... thanks to tomfoolery815 who I lifted this from (and also seem to have a lot in common with -- hi tommy!)

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (36% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

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I was talking to the kids yesterday about pop culture, in general, and had this somewhat deflating exchange...


me:  Do the kids at school talk about television shows much?

younger son:  reflects...  No, not so much.

me:  I ask because when I was your age, we all watched the same television shows and talked about them at school the next day.

younger son:  helpfully  Yeah, well, that's because when you were my age, television was still new!

me:  .............






just for the record:  no, I am not *that* old!