C2E2: Writing for Television with Steve Kriozere

This panel featured Steve Kriozere, the Executive Producer and  co-creator of Femme Fatales with an impressive resume. I thought this was going to be a how to with a panel of creators. Instead, Kriozere told us the story of  how he became a television writer, which ended up being both fun, entertaining, and  surprisingly informative. Here are some highlights:

---

Kriozere broke into the business by working as a production assistant on Blossom. His job was to basically bring Mayam Bialik’s lunch and Joey Lawrence’s weight equipment. (He also noted that he made more money caddying.) Bill Bixby was the director of the show and the Geek in Kriozere thought that was kind of awesome.  He also told a funny story about the time he met Mr. Rogers.

---

At that time, the best way to break into television was to write an episode for an existing show and then try to get an agent (that’s referred to as a spec script). He said he wrote A spec for the X-Files and that got him the attention of David Peckinpah and hired him to write an episode of Sliders. (He was paid $25,000). He was so excited that he asked if he could watch them film the episode. They said yes, and he was amazed to see that everything he wrote had  changed. In fact,he was even more surprised to find out that his script, which involved an alternate reality of zombies, was used to create the “Jump the Shark” episode of the series. At least he got to meet both Sabrina Lloyd and Kari Wuhrer.

---

He mentioned that the best way to break in now is to write an original pilot or feature film. And that now, like then, it is very hard to get your first credit. It’s hard to stay in. Still, Kriozere recently celebrated his 16th year in the Writer’s Guild. Over that time, he worked on episode of Team Knight Rider (which was fun because he loved the original television show and he also worked with Goodman, who would later become the head writer on Family Guy), Nightman, Viper and Setinel (with Howard Chaykin) and eventually he became a staff writer on VIP. (Kriozere explained that there are different levels of writers from Executive Producer to Show Runner to Staff Writer.)  He had a few funny stories about Bruce Campbell, Lee Majors, and Mark Hamill.  After that, Kriozere worked on several seasons of NCIS. He told a great story about how he took a tour of the morgue by Los Angeles County Coronor and NCIS consultant, Craig Harvey and about how he brought a date. Kriozere then worked on Necessary roughness and Castle.  He also mentioned, without a name, a pilot that is being considered (he promised that we could all go to the filming if it gets picked up).

---

Kriozere is also the director/co-creator of Femme Fatales on Cinemax. The show, which comes from the creators of Femme Fatales Magazine, is a new late-night anthology series about powerful, sexy and dangerous women. Women find extraordinary ways of coping with their problems, channeling their survival instincts and bringing out their inner guile.

Kriozere mentioned that the double sized season finale features a costumed superheroine named Libra and that he got Bob Layton (or Iron Man “Demon in a Bottle” and Valiant fame) to draw it. It airs on 8/12/2012. We also got to see a sizzle real for the show. You can watch it below.

---

Afterwords, he answered some questions

• Someone asked if it was essential for a want-to-be screenwriter to live in LA. Kriozere replied that it certainly isn’t necessary if you want to write feature films, but is pretty necessary if you want to write for television.
• Someone asked the best way to break in.  Kriozere responded that you should write a pilot episode.  Then, you should rewrite it again, because it probably is really bad. (He also said that you have to decide if you want to focus on half hour or hour shows.) Then when your script is done, you should start looking for an agent and there are lots of places online to find agents that are accepting clients.
• Someone asked about using real people’s names.  Kriozere said it was okay of there was more than one, but if there is only one person with that name, you have to change it.  He told the story about how he named a character after his friend, but there was only one—so they made him change it.
• I asked him to recommend a book or two on mechanics and to help someone become a better writer (I used McKee’s Story as an example, which he agreed with.) He responded that Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman is a great book. He also recommended the Twilight Zone Companion. He stated that he certainly would not recommend “how to” books or going to film school.
• Someone asked what the most important skill is that a writer needs.  He responded that it is to get the voices of the characters right. He used NCIS as the example and walked through each member of the cast.
• He ended the panel with a blooper reel from Femme Fatales. All in all an enjoyable panel.

He ended the panel with a blooper reel from Femme Fatales.

All in all an enjoyable panel.