Maybe Sam Leaps Home In This Episode

These quest shows used to annoy me. Sam Beckett would get close to leaping home in Quantum Leap. Gilligan would launch the homing pigeon without the note. Janeway would close the wormhole before using it. The aborted conclusions kept the series going. I loved when shows like Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica got us to the edge of a major shift, then plowed over that edge. I envied that.
Many years back, I got the thumbs up to do the Civilization video game. I failed to deliver and Sid Meier later took up the task to great success. In 1994, I phoned the people who were doing the Tick animated series and could have sold scripts or got a staff gig (see a connection? I pretend to be a programmer and a writer-- I'm a pretend Renaissance Man). That idea died on the table-- not because of their doing. In 2002, I dabbled with writing tech books. One book had an epic fail after the editor tripled the word count requirement, then wanted to edit the book back to allow for more content. The next book was botched when my co-author faked brain cancer so that he get out of his side of the book. By then, I thought: "screw tech writing."
A year or so ago, I was pitched a cooking show-- with a cool West Coast twist that I will not give away-- they wanted me to be their editor. I like to edit. Fizzle.
I have to wonder if I had one good brass ring and a bunch of dud ideas. Or if I keep getting hit in the head with brass rings. Or if people love suckers who will get on board.
I could evaporate my agoraphobia through therapy or drugs or both; but exterior shoots are such a pain. I could lose my weight, but that would change the premise of the series, you see? I could make a point of including every word I intend in my writing, so that my writing is not such a minefield for acquisitions editors. Again: we'd have to bring in set designers and new writers who could handle the series if the lead character's career and list of catch phrases all had to change (out with "PEBKAC" say hello to "writer's block").
Nobody likes it when they re-tool a series.

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