I have been spending a lot of time writing for some new websites. Check 'em out:
Vivastic (health & wellness)
PostScholastica (education & career)
AdventureWorthy (travel)
PhysiqueSpeak (fitness)
I've also been working on rewriting the romcom I started back in Dec '08 (feature writers, prepare yourselves for the long haul!) and reworking one of my hourlong pilots as a half-hour. Additionally, I'm about 50 pages into my new comedy feature. I have this sinking feeling that people are going to read it and say "...Eh," but I'm trying to do that "shitty first drafts" thing and just get some words onto paper so I have something to work with. I do think that with each script you write, you master - or at least improve at - something different. Last time, I think I really got my head around emotional tracking and character arcs. This time I'm hoping to include some more subtlety and nuance. Crap, I shouldn't have come right out and said that.
Now that season finale season is here, I guess I'll be spending less time working through the to-do list that is my DVR. Are any of you watching VAMPIRE DIARIES? The finale was incredible. As soon as the crazy twist came out, I thought to myself, I MUST OWN THIS ON DVD. I think that's a sign of a good show, no?
So, as for the title of this post...I was talking with someone about the new pilots (which I desperately need to catch up on). He works at a studio, where all the assistants are asked to watch screenings of the pilots and rate them. A few of the women felt that one pilot was sexist because a male character swooped in at the end and saved the women (and the day). My studio friend dismissed this, saying that it was not sexism..it was "just the kind of character he is."
Now, I haven't seen whatever pilot he was talking about, so I certainly can't say if it was sexist or not...but that reasoning is a total cop-out to me. Even if saving the day was part of the character's makeup, someone CHOSE to make the character that way. All people can be weak. They can fail. They can cry. I think that showing many sides to a character is real and human and compelling. But choosing to show women being saved by men is exactly that, a choice, and we should own up to it. It's unrealistic (and unsatisfying) to write women beating up bad guys all the time, which is one of the reasons I think Tami Taylor on FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is one of the best examples of a strong female character on TV. Strength can come from all kinds of things. Is sexism in the eye of the offended? I don't know...but failing to see that sexism can exist in the choices we make is disturbing to me. I think we all have to challenge ourselves to expand our view of people and characters, and realize that sexism, racism and all other kinds of -isms can seep into our writing.
