When someone asks “What are you working on?” you tell them, “A story about a girl who…”  All scripts begins with a concept.  Without this, you have nothing.  So why is it that once the writing starts, that concept seems to go out the window?

If you’re fortunate enough to pitch a concept to a producer before your script is done, chances are you have little to no idea of how it will unfold and now you have to write the damned thing.  But when you put fingers to keyboard, you discover you don’t like the idea and suddenly you let yourself veer wildly off track into a whole new world.  The trouble is, the producer wants your original idea.  There was something in your concept that the producer liked and you risk losing the deal if you don’t deliver.

How many times have you gone to a movie or watched a new TV show expecting to see one thing and getting another?  It’s a let-down isn’t it?  Well that’s how a producer feels if you don’t give him what you promised.

You may not like the idea, but you pitched it.  Figure out what you don’t like about it and change that so you do like it, but make sure it doesn’t affect the core concept.

Maybe you pitched a drama and you only write comedy, find a way to work in some humour.  Maybe you’re a J.J. Abrams-type fantasy/sci-fi writer, but you pitched a sitcom; figure out how to work in some fantasy elements.  If the producer doesn’t like the fantasy elements, take them out.  Are you really going to risk losing a development deal over a few scenes?

There are going to be times when you have to work on shows you don’t like, at times including your own.  When J.J. Abrams first pitched Alias, the network was looking for a college drama so he went back and created Felicity.  He’s a sci-fi/fantasy writer, but because he knew what they were looking for, he pitched them something they wanted.  After a few years on Felicity, Alias was on the air.

In this industry, we have to be flexible.  We have to know the market, know our audience and know what sells.  We write for the audience, not for ourselves.  We write to entertain.  Then when you’re as important as J.J. Abrams, you can call the shots…almost.