Category: Television

We’ve been shooting nights this week on Criminal Minds, and I’ve worked every single day, which doesn’t leave any time to write, or do much of anything else. I got home at 4 this morning, didn’t fall asleep until 5, and then had to explain to my dogs that, no, just because I was in bed and the sun was coming up, I’m not interested in getting up to do stuff with them.

So I only got to sleep for seven disturbed hours, and I feel like I’m on the road to Bat Country right now. Luckily for me, I don’t go to set until 5:30 tonight, and I don’t have any dialog today.

Despite the havoc the last few days have unleashed on my body (which is very confused by the hours I’m forcing it to keep, and [spoiler]) I have loved every second of the experience.

I’m keeping a production diary, which I can’t release until my episode airs in October, but I can safely say that working on this show, with this cast and crew, creating this character, has reawakened my slumbering love of acting. I’ll have more to say about that when I can really analyze how I feel about it and why. (short short version: I miss the camaraderie of being in a cast, and I’d forgotten how good it feels to discover interesting moments with the director, writers, and other actors. I work best while collaborating, it seems.)

Anyway, I feel so blurry that the doll’s trying to kill me and the toaster’s laughing at me, so I’m going to sign off. But before I do, a couple of things:

• I missed the Watchmen trailer. It was up and then down while I was at work. Dang. Oh! Wait, there it is on iTunes. Wow, that was awesome.
• I am too tired to see Dark Kinght (I didn’t correct that, because it illustrates exactly how tired I am. Yes, I misspelled the title of the freakin’ Batman movie I’ve been waiting my whole life to see. Jeebus) today, and probably won’t get to see it and the Watchmen trailer until next week, right before Comic-Con.
• I did not miss Doctor Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, and neither should you. It’s absolutely magnificent, the whole cast is outstanding, and my fellow ACME alum Felicia Day is sensational. I want the soundtrack, and I want it NOW! Shane Nickerson said that it’s probably the best thing he’s ever seen that was made for the Internet, and better than most sitcoms. I totally agree, and wish Shane would stop saying these things before I get a chance to say them.
• Wheaton’s Books in the Wild at Flickr has 77 members and 48 supermegaawesome contributions. Yay!
• This is a reminder to everyone who has tickets that I will be at Comic-Con from Thursday until Saturday of next week. I’m probably going to sell out the second printing of Happiest Days while I’m there. I’ll be with my friend Rich Stevens at the Dumbrella booth, which is number 1335. MC Frontalot is going to be there, too, so if you’re looking to fill that final square on Nerd Bingo, come and see us.
• On Thursday, I’ll be on a panel called Star Trek Without a Blueprint: How books and comics keep expanding the boundaries of the Star Trek universe. We’ll be talking about the future of Star Trek publishing in room 32AB from 4:00-5:00. I’ll be on the panel with Andy Mangels (moderator and Star Trek author), Margaret Clark (executive editor, Pocket Books), Andy Schmidt (senior editor, IDW) and Star Trek authors Kevin Dilmore, Dave Mack, Scott Tipton, and Dayton Ward.
• Finally, TrekMovie has the poster we’ve all been waiting to see. It looks awesome.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

In about an hour, I’ll be at the studio to be fitted for my Criminal Minds wardrobe. Tomorrow, I start work on the show.

The script’s been rewritten a few times since I first read it, and I’ve been able to read each draft in its entirety, which has been really interesting to me as a writer, as I track the changes and try to figure out what network and studio notes they were intended to address. It’s got to be so difficult for these writers to take a certain scene or character in one direction, write really great dialog and stuff to get them there, and then be told that they have to throw it all away and take things in a different direction. And do that three times in five days. I honestly don’t know how they do it.

People ask me all the time if I’m working on a screen play, or if I’m interested in writing for television. In fact, a staff writer from a show we all watch told me last year that I’d fit right in on that show, and that I should think about taking my writing career in that direction.

I said thanks, but no.* I know how hard it is to write a good story with compelling characters and an engaging plot. I also know how arbitrary and soul crushing the entertainment industry is, and that’s just as an actor. The people who write for television are basically writing the equivalent of thirteen features a season, serving several different masters, including the show’s producers and the people at the network. For a fascinating insider’s view of this process, you must read John Rogers‘ posts about his show Leverage:

Leverage: Lessons from the Script Pile
Leverage Week 1
Leverage Week 2
Leverage Week 3
Leverage Weeks 4 + 5
Leverage Week 6

(There are more Leverage posts, but that’s a good place to get you started.)

I had a hard enough time coming up with something clever to write every week for Games of Our Lives and Geek in Review, and in both of those cases, I only had to make one editor happy. I don’t even want to think about what it’s really like to make a whole bunch of different people happy, especially when all of those people work in the entertainment industry, and there are millions of dollars at stake. I have nothing but respect for the people who can do it.

Anyway, this post is about changing gears, so I suppose I should get to that.

When I went for my Criminal Minds table read last week, one of the writers introduced herself to me and offered to answer any questions I had about the character and script. My first instinct was to ask if I could some sit in the writer’s room and take notes, but before I could jam my foot in my mouth, I reminded myself, “You’re here as an actor. Do your job.” It was then that I realized I’d have to switch gears before I started work on this show. I’d have to take off my rookie writer’s pants, and put on my veteran actor’s pants for a week. That sounds simple and logical, but it’s been tough, especially because I was really building momentum on these short stories I’ve been writing. I guess it’s a good problem to have, though, so I’m not complaining.

This week and last week have been weird for me, because though I don’t think of myself as a full-time actor any more, I can’t deny that I’m super excited to bring this character to life, and I’m proud of myself for booking the job. Allow me to quote Shane Nickerson: “There’s something to be said for not needing it and not seeking it, isn’t there? I won’t say not wanting it, because I am too keenly aware that no matter how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise, we actors may never stop wanting it, somewhere deep inside.” That is 100% true, and I’m not even going to try to deny it. As much as I hate dragging my ass all over town for auditions, and as frustrating and demoralizing as the whole process is, when I’m actually working with other actors and creative people to take words on a page and bring them to life, it’s almost worth it.

Almost. Which is why I’ve mostly traded taking the words off the page for putting them on it.

Yesterday, I tried to spend the day writing. For eight hours, I did everything I could to knock ideas out of my head and give my characters interesting things to say and do. I failed in every attempt at masonry, growing more and more frustrated with each highlight and delete. Finally, I accepted that my internal creative CPU wants and needs to be doing actor things, like breaking down scenes, developing and understanding this character, and learning my lines. Luckily, I’ve done this long enough that it’s all second nature, and it’s all deeply satisfying, so it doesn’t feel like work at all.

You know, it feels strange, but also good to change gears for a few days. Hopefully, I won’t grind them too much.

*There’s been a lot of confusion about this, and I want to clarify: I wasn’t offered any jobs on any shows. I was told by an experienced writer that, in that writer’s opinion, I would be able do it if I wanted to, and I said I wasn’t interested in that kind of thing, because I don’t believe I have what it takes.