By Joshua Kazemi
A few weeks ago, Shore Scripts sat down with Peacock’s Director of Development Duane Luu to discuss what catches attention, how projects move forward, and what writers can do to better position themselves and their work in an increasingly competitive market. Luu began his career at NBC as a Page. He went on to work at Universal Content Productions and helped to develop several shows at various streamers before moving on to Peacock.
The following is a recap of Luu’s insights, which he shared with the writers of the Shore Scripts community.
THE STATE OF TODAY’S TV LANDSCAPE
Luu spoke about how, in the years since the pandemic, the industry has been in contraction for both insiders and those trying to break in. There are fewer scripted shows across networks and streamers as a result of fewer buyers. But he went on to explain that it’s an oversimplification to blame it all on the pandemic. Many factors have played into this.
For the most part, companies have pivoted to creating content that is focused on bringing people to specific platforms and keeping them there. While that certainly feels restrictive and narrow, Luu also talked about the things that are making him feel hopeful about the future, like NBC’s first pilot season since the pandemic.
KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND MARKETABLE
As Development Executives try to meet the specific needs of their platform, they must differentiate between an interesting idea for a show and what their current needs are. This means it takes more than just a good idea to succeed. As Luu said, in an ideal world, the Venn diagram of what’s good and what’s successful would be one perfect circle.
But in a world where networks and streamers strive to develop specific things to serve their audience, development executives need to go beyond what’s interesting and figure out if these ideas can have a long life on their platform. So, Luu implored the aspiring writers watching that they should consider where they could see their show airing as they develop it.
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
There might be great pilot scripts out there that just aren’t the right fit for every platform. But there are also some that could be tweaked to better serve a specific audience. Luu described the development of YELLOWJACKETS and how that initial idea was more focused on the teenage characters. But as the project went through development, focusing on the adult characters became a bigger part of the show. This illustrates how a show can change in a way that has broader appeal to a specific audience without changing the core of the project.
So there’s the quality of the material, and the specific marketability of the project for each platform, but there are also many other factors that go into what gets greenlit. This makes every project, and its journey to our screens, unique. Some ideas, even those of equal creative quality, might get chosen over others based on past working relationships. Does this development executive have a history with the writer? Does this writer have a longer proven track record? Will this project attract more bankable talent? All of these factors are at play when deciding on what to roll the dice with.
ADVICE FOR WRITERS
Finally, Luu had a lot of great advice for writers going in to pitch their projects. He highlighted that pitches will look different as your project goes through the development process, and that’s actually part of the process. There’s a big difference between pitching a fully fleshed-out, detailed project to a network and pitching it to your manager or even a potential producing partner earlier on. With the latter, you should be pitching something looser. You have the idea, the characters, the story, and what you want to say, but there’s room left in the finer details for collaborators. These people will give you feedback and eventually a structure that will help with your final pitch.
While show bibles aren’t necessary at this point in the process, pitch decks or visual aids of any kind can’t hurt, so long as they look professional. And in this day and age of mostly pitching over Zoom, writers should take every advantage that it affords them. Write your pitch script out. Have it up on your screen, since no one can see you reading it anyway. Spend the time you would have been stuck in LA traffic, practicing your pitch for the fortieth time.
But above all else, Luu encourages writers to write great scripts and keep writing what they know and what they are passionate about. He then told a story about how a great script made all the difference in a young writer’s career.
On top of that inspiring story, Luu also left the writers with some solid advice for breaking in with their pilot scripts. He described how important it is and how life-changing it can be to get your script in front of the right person. In a sea of rejection, you just need one person to love your script. So he recommended cold querying for read requests, which can feel like shouting into the void, but the worst-case scenario is being ignored. So there’s not much to lose by giving it a shot.
He also recommended writing contests and programs like the TV Writers Mentorship Program!
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Over 8 weeks, participants will meet with Duane Luu himself, Showrunner Beth Schwartz (ARROW, SWEET TOOTH), Industry Leaders, Agents and Managers, working TV writers from top shows, and more.
Winners will also have the opportunity to meet with Showrunner Jess Brownell (BRIDGERTON) and get an inside look at what it takes to run one of the world’s biggest TV phenomena – plus, gain insight into what showrunners look for in writers and how stories come together behind the scenes.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that will open doors and shape your future in the TV industry! Final Deadline is June 29th.
