What to expect from a general meeting with a TV studio executive

By Craig Williams

​​A friend of mine who is a TV Writer, he's writing for 2 shows right now, posted advice on what to expect from a general meeting. I thought it was valuable to share so here it is:

Pitch  Mode. A writer friend asked me for advice on what to expect in a tv  general meeting. I figured this might be helpful so I'm sharing what my  agents and mentors told me...

A general meeting (with an exec) is  a soft pitch about yourself. You are in their system, they are tracking  your progress, and it's 100% noncommittal. They are usually tracking  many more writers than they could ever hire. A staffing meeting is  usually with a showrunner who has read your work, liked it, and is  trying to get a sense of you as a person. Either way, both are pitches  about yourself.

A general meeting is a flowchart posing as a  conversation. Your goal is NOT make it feel like a flowchart. You can do  this by inserting quips, talking about their office, sprinkling in  anecdotes. Usually I try to break up each section of an interview by  asking them a question or making a small joke. Yes, jokes are risky but  some times they pay off. The general meeting flowchart is like a  professional band being given sheet music to a jazz standard. Your  bandmate is the other executive and you're going to partner up on  playing "Take Five" or "A Love Supreme." No one goes to a jam session to  perform an exact rendition of the sheet music (which is also just a  different form of a flow chart.) You don't play all the notes exactly as  is...you play through and around them so that the song is recognizable.  Ideally the standard song becomes your own and you start listening to  your bandmate through the music. And that is the most poetic shit anyone  has ever said about a tv general meeting. Anyway...

Most of the  time the flowchart is quite simple: we go from you, to your personal  themes, to the work and the personal themes of the exec and/or company,  to where the two of you might meet (their projects or your's), and then  what are you continuing on with in your life (after the meeting) that  relates to who you are and the themes you discussed. That's the flow.  The meetings may start off a bit different, someone might throw in a  question you didn't expect, but usually they're all heading in the same  direction. Along the way, there may be a detour with 'so what are you  watching' or 'what work inspires you' but it's all headed in the same  direction of your characters and themes in your writing. 90% of the time  there is an egg-timer that will go off in their heads at about the 50  minute mark. Imagine that 'wrap it up' Oscars music starts playing. This  isn't the time to open up a new thread or to dive into 'did I ever tell  you about Aunt Titi and her floating warts?' No! You're almost home  free. Don't blow it in the wrap it up section. Summarize, pull the  threads together, leave them with a final joke or anecdote that ties  things together or simply thank them and remind them of your common  themes. Wrap that shit up. Get your parking validated (if it's in  person) or ask them what they're doing the rest of the day. GTFOH.

I've had maybe 4 or 5 meetings that did NOT go in this direction and  usually my agent told me ahead of time 'just talk about yourself, don't  try to pitch' which is a signal that they have nothing for me, or that  the exec is just tired of general meetings and wants to be treated like a  human being. From that I had amazing conversations about life, sports,  religion, politics, environmentalism at some networks and production  companies. In one instance, I had a general where we talked about  religion for 2 hours before Good Friday, the exec thanked me, asked if I  needed my parking validated, and then on the way out said 'oh, and by  the way we loved your script.' And that was the only thing mentioned  about business. These were just deep somewhat real conversations which  is like a tonic to an execs going from one flowchart general meeting to  another.

Only two times did my agent tell me 'they want to know  what you really REALLY think of their project. Like be totally honest.  You don't have to sugarcoat it.' This is a sign that the exec fucking  HATES the project with their entire soul, the soul of their immigrant  ancestors, the soul of their Tesla, and the collective 'fuck you' energy  of all the La Croix's that exists in LA (yes, even the nasty coconut  flavored ones). This is a sign the exec wants douse said project with  gasoline and make a burnt sacrificial offering to the Gods of  Development. They want to dance in the dark moonlight surrounded by fine  young cannibals -the band or actual cannibals- covered in the blood of  all the execs who made them take on this project. If an exec hands you  something and they want your 'really really honest opinion' and you've  been prepped to be honest and give 'em that dirty, raw, nasty-ass  truth...you can be a smidge honest. In both cases of me giving 'em that  totally raw, dirty, not sugarcoated morsel of honesty, the exec stopped  me in the middle of my statement to blurt out 'I fucking hate this  project' with the intensity of a thousand suns...or some variation of  that. Don't pile on to their hatred. Let them speak, give them a moment  on the therapy couch, acknowledge it, maybe say something constructive  on how it could be fixed or restructured, ask them where it went off  track, crack a joke to let some sunlight into the dark lair of their  hatred. In both cases the projects were cancelled after our meetings.

If you're meeting about a show (or shows that exist) you should have  in mind some favorite moments, fav characters, things that  challenged/surprised you, things you would like to see, personal  anecdote that might be useful for a story. The same is true if you've  been handed a pilot script or treatment of what they're working  on....you should have some favorite moments, what you loved, what you  would like to see.

So practice, study the flowchart, learn to  make it your own like a great jazz musician or an improv comedian doing a  standard bit.

Also...

PS: Don't talk shit about other  writers or execs. Even if you feel like you're being prompted or  encouraged to do it. It's a trap. It. Is. A. Trap. The exec might not  even realize they're setting a trap. You might have slipped into being  their accidental therapist. Roll with it. Even if they start talking  shit about someone, laugh and swerve conversation back to what you love  about the exec and the conversation. Gossip is the most memorable form  of communication. When an exec or showrunner looks back at their notes,  you don't want the most memorable part about you to be talking shit  about other people.

craig williams

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