Spec script

Lately I've been reading By Ken Levine, a blog by a man who co-wrote for M*A*S*H and Cheers. It's a fun blog that covers a lot of topics but it's mostly about writing and specifically TV writing. He gives tips on how to write and present a spec script (I don't know what "spec" is short for) but I think that spec script is something you, as an outsider, write and give to a showrunner so they know you'd be able to write for the show.

So back when, say, Seinfeld, was on the air, a writer would write a script of Seinfeld and give it to the producers of Seinfeld. I think that Seinfeld script could also be given the producers of Suddenly Susan too if that was the job you were going for, but I think Levine said it's better to write for the show you want to join.

Anyway, I want to write a spec script. The problem is- I don't watch any new TV shows. Maybe I could write a Golden Girls or a West Wing since I know the characters so well but that's it.

I think writing a script will help with my biggest writing weakness: writing dialogue. I'm too self-concious to put words in charcters' mouths; it feels weird.

So I'm gonna give it a shot and if it turns out really good then I'll choose a current TV show and write another script and send it in somehow.

Of course, when it comes to writing something for actors to read, what I really want to write is my own made-for TV movie. I want to write a movie (and direct it too, actually) for Lifetime. Not exactly a horror movie- no graphic violence, and maybe even nobody dying- but definitely something scary. I have a story idea and I think if it's done right it would very suspenseful and scary and would require a tiny budget and no big-name stars.

In the old days there were made-for-TV horror movies- I remember Dark Night of the Scarecrow on NBC when I was a kid.

Also, if you've ever seen any of the original movies that the Sci-Fi Channel plays then you know they're all shit. I wanna write something for Sci-Fi. I could write something good, or at least something better than the shit that they play now.