Why
did you work on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
and She-Ra Princess of Power?
This
may sound awful, but I kinda liked the show. I'd seen the
first season, and just for the heck of it, wrote a spec
script. Sent it to the producer. Cold. No agent, no contacts,
no nuthin'. Got a call to go for a meeting. He commissioned
a story. I wrote it. He bought it, commissioned a script,
which was also bought (and produced). Wrote a second one
a week later. Was then informed that their budget for freelance
contributions was almost gone (foo!) but that I was welcome
to come on staff for a weekly salary. This was my first
offer of a staff gig, and I took it. And I've been on staff
somewhere almost constantly since then, with only minor
breaks.
What
was it like working for Filmation?
Overall,
I enjoyed the experience. I learned a lot, got to see nearly
everything I wrote produced, learned how far I could push
myself (writing a full script, from zero, no outline, in
24 hours...and this was before computers, just on an IBM
Selectric). I tried in general to write stories that were
more adult in nature...alternating those with comic episodes
just for fun. (Favorite scene...two disgustingly cute elf-like
folks asking Skeletor if he'd like a bowl of warm Spoo.
Responding in a mimicking tone of voice...SKELETOR: "No,
I don't want any SPOO! I *hate* Spoo. And I don't even know
what Spoo IS!") Also got to re-write a lot of freelance
scripts, there and on its sister-show (literally, in this
case). Learned how to become a script doctor. Met Larry
DiTillio (well, no experience is ever 100% great).
(Here's
my very first conversation with Larry). I'd been working
for about a week, and had not said about two words to Larry,
despite the fact that he occupied the office directly across
from mine. Finally, after turning in a script, I leaned
in his door, and mentioned how relieved I was that the job
was going so well, "At first, I didn't think I could
do it." "I know what you mean," Larry said,
"I didn't think you could do it either." At that
moment, a lasting friendship was born.
Remind
me sometime to tell you about the occasional wars we would
declare on one another's offices, and the time he tried
to burn down my office.) Point being, as I said in my I'm
taking a break column that ran in Writer's Digest
last month, no experience is ever wasted, and no writing
is wasted writing provided that you learn, and grow more
muscular, and become a better writer from the experience.
