Desk of Amy Suto

TV writer who eats danger for breakfast

Assistant Life: Surviving Vs. Thriving, Strategies to Keep Writing

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I’ve been writing a lot recently about creatives in the industry and posting images of aesthetically pleasing and meticulously organized writing spaces (aka: my therapy) so this blog post is continuing the trend.

At holiday parties this past month, I’ve been meeting other writers who are holding down jobs in the industry, from showrunner’s assistants to writer’s PA’s to researchers. The first question I ask pretty much all of them is how do you do it? How do you be good enough at your day job and somehow retain the energy and time to write outside of our 11+ hour days? 

Some are honest: they aren’t able to make it work a lot of the time. Understandably, we’re all human and it’s tough.

[You guys should also check out: a day in the life of an agency assistant working in Hollywood]

However, we work in an industry that doesn’t care about our busy schedules — everyone is busy all of the time, and that’s not an excuse. If we don’t write, if we don’t commit that great idea to the page and then rewrite it until its brilliant, then others will just surpass us and we’ll never be able to escape the assistant life. As one writer who had been staffed on several shows told me, you have to grind and hustle to get your writing to where it needs to be: you can’t escape it, so might as well put in the mind-numbing hard work now.

With that in mind, here are some strategies I’ve put together that seem to work pretty well for myself and other writers out there. [Read more…]

5 Tips for Using Flashforwards in TV Writing

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Flashforwards are the flashbacks of our era of TV writing. From the flashforwards in Lost that showed our merry ensemble cast finally off the island at last (and wanting to go back) to shows like Damages and Bloodline that structure entire seasons on the content of their jumps in time, this tool has become ubiquitous in our modern age of storytelling as a linear narrative faces more challenges in capturing an audience.

However, it’s easy to misuse this device. Here are 5 things you need to consider before deciding to use flashforwards in your show:

1. Does a flashforward storyline make your story more interesting?

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Remember that ABC show, Flashforward? The show centered on the entire world blacking out and witnessing a few seconds of their future. The whole show was structured with the characters being aware of this narrative device, instead of it just being just for the sake of the audience. The show ultimately become too convoluted for its own good and it didn’t help that its characters were spouting most of the themes of the show, but the initial concept and first few episodes did a good job with the device.

That brings us to our first point: do flashforwards make the telling of your story MORE INTERESTING?

With Flashforward, the answer is yes — without the device, the story would be pretty dull (and would also make no sense.) But if you can get rid of the flashforward and the story still stands, then you should cut them.

2. Are your flashforwards shocking enough?

How-To-Get-Away-With-Murder-Fanfiction

I just started watching Shonda Rhimes’ How to Get Away With Murder (and by “just started” I mean I’m on episode 11) and while I love the character development (Viola Davis deserves all the awards, including the Emmy she just won), one of the aspects of this show that I find unnecessary are the flashforwards which almost seem to exist to make use of that expensive bonfire they shot.

The problem with the flashforwards in HTGAWM is that there’s no shock value. There is murder in the title of the show, so when we see these law students in the flashforward panicking after committing a murder, there’s no surprise there. We expect someone in this show to try and get away with murder, so the power of the flashforwards are lost on us, especially when we’re pretty sure they did this on accident. [Read more…]

Playing Pretend: On Set of CON and the Television Experience

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wrapcastandcrewCON TV Miniseries: Check us out on Facebook!

back row, left to right: Ashley (actress), Allison Kelly (equipment manager), Jon Pham (cinematographer), Joey Livingston (actor: Jonah), Sandy Valles (actress: Faye), Amy Suto (me, the co-creator), Eric Casalini (actor: Jonathan), Irina (supervising producer). Front Row, left: Avi Kaye (director) and Noah Suarez-Sikes (producer)

ON SET OF CON

Every week we have a quote of the day on our call sheet. My favorite was written by Irina, our Russian supervising producer: “We wrap by 5pm or else I’m sending you all to Siberia.”

On set today, we’re shooting in the TV station on campus — Trojan Vision — and we’re pretending it’s a radio station. Our Assistant Director/Associate Producer Noah walks with me through the double doors and into master control, talking about the poster he made for set design with the name of the fictional radio show “THE MILES HOUR” and how he designed it like a Russian propaganda poster as a joke, and how he can’t wait for Irina to see it. I anticipate her sending him to Siberia. [Read more…]

Antidote 15: Web Festivals, TV Interviews, & More

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Antidote 15 on the Red Carpet Photocredit: Snobby Robot MagazineThe cast and crew on the red carpet for Hollyweb Festival!
Avi Kaye (director), Conner Sorensen (Benji), Amy Suto (showrunner), Portia Juliette (Sarah), Ashley Maimes (Anita), and Irina Kuzina (producer)
Photocredit: Snobby Robot Magazine

The past seven days have been a whirlwind of press and exciting events to celebrate Antidote 15’s season two and all the amazing people who are the lifeblood of the show.

On Friday, Antidote 15 screened in the Charlie Chaplin theater at Raleigh Studios, and I was able to talk on a panel about the inspiration for the show, and why ex-boyfriends, deadlines, and drinking things you’re not supposed to be are common college struggles. [Read more…]

TV: 6 Reasons Why Earlier Seasons Are The Strongest

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When Nikita got renewed, I died of happiness. This high-octane spy thriller is filled with Alias-like twists and turns and movie-quality combat, and the characters are layered and nuanced. I love the first and second season with obsessive tendencies. However, gun to my head I would still say that the first season has stronger storytelling.

You can find more examples of this phenomenon in a slew of other shows. The first season of Damages with the non-linear murder-mystery is indisputably the best season of the show. Despite the ambitious directions Damages has taken, it’s premise was at it’s strongest when our main character was in peril. House has an impressive track record, but the last two seasons were the weakest. Chuck‘s best season was its second.

So why do shows get weaker the longer they stay on the air?

  1. Clunky Season Two Premieres. Shows like Nikita and Damages have to set up all of the show’s dynamics (arcs, relationships, conflicts, the premise) at the beginning of each season in order to lure in new viewers and refresh the memory of old viewers, while at the same time being entertaining and teasing new mysteries. Procedurals can (usually) cut back on the amount of ground they have to cover because the plot ends up in pretty much the same spot each episode. We all know the typical Castle will feature a crime with a perp and a victim. But shows like Nikita? The first episode of the second season had to set up: who’s running Division, what happened to Alex’s parents, who she’s after, why she’s working with Division, Nikita and Michael’s relationship, who Birkhoff is and whose side he is on and why, why Nikita and Alex are at odds… There’s so much that needs to be set up that the entire first episode of the second season is overburdened with information. Each line of dialog reminds us of what happened last season, and unfortunately it’s not as seamless as it could be.
  2. The Newness Factor.First seasons are the product of a Showrunner’s true vision. He or she has come up with a premise, and then enthusiastically created a world and characters that are brought to life by this person’s zest and excitement for the job, and this energy shines through in each episode. But as seasons drag on, the premise is further cemented and those who want to rock the boat and test the premise are discouraged– why change something that’s working?

    The cast of Nikita
  3. No More Story Left to Tell. Sometimes, shows just run out of fuel. They’ve explored every possible plot twist the premise allows, and everything they try now seems stale and been-there-done-that. Housegot that way during its final seasons. There’s only so many things Gregory House, M.D. can do to shock us, and after his mental institution bout, the show seemed to go downhill. (That episode — Broken — was the best two hours of television I’ve seen. Period. Everything up to that couldn’t live up to the episode’s greatness.) Same thing happened with Damages. The premise of the show had to be altered from the first season, going from “a lawyer tries to solve a murder mystery in reverse” to “lawyers do shady stuff.” [Read more…]

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