January 18, 2007 - Final Draft

My first day with the writing department was interesting, but uneventful. I arrived at the office around 10, but Carmen and I didn’t leave for Warren Leight’s office until almost 11. Leight is the show runner (comes up with script ideas, provides much of the creative input, and writes/revises teleplays for many episodes) and has a separate office, away from all the commotion at Chelsea Piers. On the way there, Carmen said that I should consider purchasing a piece of software called Final Draft. She said it’s the industry standard for scriptwriting.

The main elevator in his building was out of order, so our main options were to take the staircase or freight elevator. We opted for the stairs; ten flights of them. They wouldn’t have been so bad (I normally take stairs two at a time, if I’m not running up them), if it weren’t for their angular nature. When we arrived at the office, his assistant Mary Grace was already there, hard at work. Warren and three show writers were there, bouncing revisions back and forth for a script they’d been sent by another writer, Charlie Rubin.

Much of my (and Carmen’s) day was spent sitting and listening, as Warren et al discussed many lines from this particular script in great deal, exploring the plausibility of certain parts and rewriting and omitting others. While this may sound boring, it was actually quite interesting, because I really learned quite a bit just sitting there. Of course, it wasn’t without consequence. The hard wooden seats were murder on my bad back.

Occasionally, Warren had me go to the printer and bring revisions to pass out. He also had Carmen and I go to Starbucks, which was nice, because we can also get something for ourselves. When we went for coffee, we took the freight elevator back up, which was an experience in and of itself. I’ve heard stories about elevators where you could see down below, but had never personally been on one. It had a gate, which was left open, exposing a 6 inch gap on either side, where one could peer down, down, down, into the great depths of earth. There was a person who sat in there and pulled a crank to make the elevator stop and go. A few times, he had to adjust it, as it stopped slightly above the floor.

So, all in all, I can’t say I worked my butt off like I did in the production office, but I think I’m going to enjoy my few weeks with the writing department, given my interest in penning teleplays.