London calling

A bit of a good news/bad news day. We had submitted the pilot to the BBC Writer's Room for consideration. That was quite a while ago. The process there is that they send a post card verifying receipt of the script. Then they read the first ten pages. If the script sucks, they send it back at that point. If not, it moves on to the next stage where they read more and make notes. If they pass, then it gets sent back with notes. Otherwise, it moves on to the next stage... no point in going any further, since we got our script back with notes.

What have we learned from this? We don't suck!

In fact, we got very encouraging notes and comments back. Things like: "Despite the familiarity of the set up and the style this has plenty of charm and character. The humor is gentle but sharp and has solid foundations in the well rounded characters and narrative. The world is well drawn and there is a strong sense of place in the writing."

Should I go on? Yes, I think I should!

"The narrative is well crafted making quite a complex, multi-character story feel fairly effortless, despite the sprawl of the story it remains quite focused and compelling."

Did I hear MORE???

"Todd is an engaging character, his flaws give him an authentic complexity and depth making his story particularly compelling. Nearly all the characters are well drawn, with plenty of depth and shading, the range of voices is impressive and gives the world and story real texture. The dialog is sharp and funny in places with an authentic ring to it."

So why did they pass?!?!?! It seems our story fits into a "crowded genre." Funny, I think there is not nearly enough dramedy on the air and a crowded genre would be yet another procedural. But, that's just my opinion, I guess. I'm not bitter - I'm just saying.

Thank you, BBC Writer's Room, for the feedback, consideration and well wishes!

Wildcard

Wow - got some REALLY great feedback & constructive criticism from Wildcard Pictures today. They made a couple of suggestions for minor changes we could make before the script is "ready to be read out loud and brought to the next step."

They commented on how our family dynamics are believable, the characters "all have such distinct personalities", and that we don't give away too much right away. My very favorite comment is "Another great mystery you have created is why they are so upset about Sid returning to town. Is he the man who caused the terrible accident that killed their parents? Could be! We just don’t know – and it’s nice that you have left that out at this point."

Well, I am just tickled!

Doctor, we have a heartbeat

Made an interesting connection last night. Don't want to jinx it by say too much too soon. However, I remain cautiously optimistic in light of this person's enthusiasm.

Stay tuned!

P.S. Scott, I will send you a private note with some details.

The Honeymoon Period

We were off & running. We were under an 18 month option with Front Row Media. There was very little Scott and I could do at this point... the waiting game had begun. So maybe not so much running as sitting. However... neither of us can sit still for very long, so we continued to write. Over the course of several months we completed 2 more full episodes, and outlined 3 more.

On two separate Saturday nights we met at Scott's office after hours. We set up our pads of paper, post-it notes, and dry erase markers on the big conference room table. We talked through back stories, we ironed out inconsistencies, and we did lots of math - I'm a stickler for characters being the right age and talking about events in their past with some sort of sensible chronologic integrity. That's just me.

We worked out story beats, we laughed a lot, we figured out how to be fresh & clever without being cliched and cloying. At least I hope we did that! We drew on our own past experiences (Scott always says, if we can't plunder our own lives for story ideas, what's the point?), we discussed shows we don't like and why - so we could avoid making those same mistakes.

We took short breaks to grab some take-out, and seven hours later we realized it was 2 in the morning, and maybe we should wrap it up. Both times, we were so energized and on such a high (maybe due to the dry erase?) that we vowed this would be our full time jobs - soon!

However... and there's often a "however" isn't there? 18 months past and our script did not get sold. Rights reverted back to us, and we maintain a friendly relationship with Doug and Mimi. Don't fell too bad for us, though. We haven't given up. Chapter 2 of Scott & Amy sell Crossing the Divide has only just begun! Meanwhile, Scott has been banging out novels like he has something important to say. I took a writing class and have been collaborating with my new partner on two separate feature length screenplays - in spite of the old adage that you should not work with the same person you're crazy enough to have a relationship with. Oh well.

This blog isn't about the other stuff we're doing, so back on track! Now that we're caught up, let's see where we can take it from here. The Honeymoon may be over, but the Marriage has only just begun!

Oh, and here's some money for what you wrote...

So the big day arrived. Amy and I sat by the telephone, waiting for our conference call with Mimi and Doug at Front Row Media in Los Angeles. The phone rang... And we were off.

Just as we'd felt a connection with Mimi just in our e-mail exchanges, we quickly felt a similar comfortable sensibility while talking with them both on the phone. It was pretty clear that they "got" our script and appreciated its quirks.

We talked about our characters like they were real people. We talked about plots. We talked about possibilities.

What I remember most clearly was Doug saying, "Well, we take on only about five projects at a time. We had availability for one more, and there was a stack of about six scripts on Mimi's desk that we were considering. Tough luck for the other five--she read yours first, and said none of the others matched up in quality..."

The conversation lasted maybe thirty minutes. It concluded with the news that they'd be sending us a contract to sign, and once that happened, they'd begin taking our script around to meetings with producers, studios, networks, etc.

It was one of those scenarios where you understand all THE WORDS that somebody is saying, but you can't quite wrap your brain around the idea that these words relate to something that you have actually written. Surely, there must be a mistake. Surely these people aren't talking about taking OUR SCRIPT to meetings with network honchos and studio bigwigs..?

Even as that kind of "unreality" swirled around us, the contract pages arrived over the fax machine. Wow. It was true. We were about to sign a contract and receive a check from Front Row Media, granting them exclusive rights to market our script.

We were--and even now, I can't quite believe it--now professional screenwriters! Somebody had paid us for something we wrote!

NEXT: What do you do while you play the waiting game?

Los Angeles comes calling...

Shame on me for being away so long. It won't happen again! So, where we were?

Oh, yeah... "Interesting things" were starting to happen on the site where we'd posted a synopsis of our pilot script. People were looking at it. Some people were looking at it quite often.

Now, Amy can give you a better idea of how this whole displaying-our-script thing works. As far as the technical aspect of all this goes, I'm basically just along for the ride.

But our synopsis was getting quite a few "look-sees" and every time one of these occurred, we were notified. And in a lot of cases, we knew who was doing the looking. I don't mean to be coy, but I'm deliberately not naming names (some of which you would certainly recognize) because I'm not sure about the legalities of making this public information.

But as I said, people were looking, and a few people came back and looked again and again. That really got us curious...

A few people/companies contacted us about reading the entire script. One, a production company based out of Los Angeles, really "clicked" with us. One of the partners in the firm, a woman I'll call "Mimi" (mostly because that really is her name, and in case she's reading this, then, Hi, Mimi!!!) e-mailed Amy.

Amy forwarded the e-mail Mimi had sent to me, and we were both struck by how "sympatico" we felt with this woman, based entirely on the short message she sent. We could tell she shared the same humorous sensibilities as we do, and there was just something about the way she approached us that felt "right."

So we allowed her and her partner (who I'm going to call "Doug," because....well, yeah, you get the idea. And if you're reading this, also, Doug, then Hi to you, too!) access to our full script.

Then we did what we had gotten really good at doing... Sitting back and waiting. Trying to keep our hopes and our expectations realistic. Trying to convince ourselves that a rejection or another of those ever-popular "never hear back from them again" scenarios wouldn't crush our little hearts and break our little spirits.

We'd half-convinced ourselves that we'd be okay with rejection. We actually started to PLAN for it. Then Mimi had to go and upset the apple cart by getting back in touch and saying that, well, she kinda liked our script, and could we arrange a time to have a conference call with her office?

Just imagine how disappointed we were not to be disappointed this time.

NEXT TIME: We talk to Mimi and Doug on the telephone.

Destined for Greatness

I'm gonna jump ahead some.

I can't recall how long it actually took before Amy and I went from "just fooling around with an idea" to "hey, maybe we really have something here." And a lot of that time would be boring to anybody except us, anyway.

So let's move to when the pilot script was done (in rough draft form, but basically done). We'd traded scenes back and forth in e-mails, and then had a marathon over-the-phone session one Saturday as we each held paper copies of our scripts and discussed and argued changes over the phone.

Somewhere around this time, Amy, who had done a lot of online investigating and even taken some classes (she can provide the details), suggested we should (a) copyright our script and (b) post a synopsis of it onto an industry website which would enable potential producers, studios, and anybody else with a potential vested interest to take a look at it and if they liked it, contact us and read the whole thing.

So we did. And, in the interest of covering all our bases, Amy also wrote about a hundred cover letters, addressed about a hundred envelopes, then handed 'em to me and said, "Okay, I've done my half--your half is to stamp these and mail them out."

I did.

Interestingly, our very first response back was from somebody who responded positively. He wanted to know more about our pilot idea. Wow, talk about beginner's luck! It was only later that we began to experience the bitter taste of rejection... the few dozen responses ranging from, "we're not accepting any new ideas at this time" to "your premise, while interesting, does not suit our present needs" to the dreaded no response back at all.

And here we thought writing and selling a script was so easy. We assumed you just wrote it and then somebody came along and bought it, and the next week, it showed up on your television.

(In case you are wondering, that last paragraph was a joke. I am naive, but maybe not quite that naive. I knew it was going to take at least two weeks before we would be rich and famous.)

So, the hundred letters of inquiry, while an important step, ultimately got us nowhere. Even that first guy who expressed interest, never got back in touch when we sent him further information.

However, interesting stuff was starting to happen with our synopsis, posted online. More about that next time...

a bit of cart-before-the-horse syndrome

Here's something funny that I had totally forgotten: before putting a single real word on paper, we (I) started asking about how we go about being wildly successful! I sent an email to my excellent friend, actor, writer, voice over artist, children's book author, garlic pizza connoisseur, Roger Eschbacher. He gave me some very good advice, much of which is painfully obvious now. Back then, however, we were as green as canned string beans. Basically, what Roger told me was that we would get no where on our own and needed representation - ideally in the form of a literary agent. However, he also planted the seed in our fertile little minds that we could maybe - just maybe - shoot this ourselves. Foreshadowing?

Meanwhile, I just found the email when I thought up the title. I'm so very proud of myself for this little contribution!

Amy to Scott 8-21-06
Anyway, on the assumption that we are setting it in a mountain town, I have a title idea. The town is the fictional Continental Divide, Colorado and the title can be either "Crossing the Divide" or "Over the Divide" - something like that.

And at the risk of sounding like we are a pair of condescending twits, here's what I had to say about our most talented actor buddy, Matt Bachus, joining our party:

I'm sure Matt B. would be happy to participate in any project either of us approach him with. He's just that kind of loyal. Like a big puppy dog.

That's actually just about the kindest thing I've ever written about Matt. That's just the kind of junior high, pigtail pulling type of relationship we have. Exactly the kind of person I want to work with for the rest of our careers!

Along those same adolescent lines, here is my reply to Scott regarding his thoughts:

I can't wait to hear the details your feeble mind is coming up with!

Ah, true love!

OK, so next, Scott comes up with the beginnings of the core family & the opening scene:

Scott to Amy 8-21-06
I LOVE "Crossing the Divide" !!!!!

And so it was said, so it shall be.

I'm thinking the core family is a group of adult siblings, raised by a grandmother (something happened to the parents, not sure what). The grandmother is still alive, holding up remarkably well for having grandchildren in their thirties.

Opening scene is in a hospital emergency room where the siblings, their collective significant others, and the grandmother have all arrived, escorted by the police. The grandmother has just shot one of her grandsons (not a life-threatening injury - perhaps a bullet in the glutious maximum - that's Latin for butt, right?). And it wasn't an accident, either...

Wow - we actually kept a lot of that, although, as you will find out eventually, not quite that much violence.

And then off Scott went on a tangent that, fortunately, didn't last long:

Scott to Amy 8-21-06
The title "Crossing the Divide" is now making me think there needs to be TWO grandmothers. The father's mother and the mother's mother, and both of them had a hand in raising these now-adult siblings. And the two grandmothers have been lifelong enemies in this community. The kids now straddle being loyal to one grandmother or the other, causing a little friction between themselves.

Because what we really needed was yet another character!

Fortunately, that didn't last long and we figured out that the "divide" in question should be over bringing development to this sleepy little town. Half of the citizens want to town to retain its charming, small-town ambiance while the others are welcoming the idea of a burgeoning economy, big resorts, Wal-Marts, etc.

Meet the Brady Bunch!

Okay, not The Brady Bunch. Instead, meet the characters we created to be regulars on our proposed series. I bet there's a Brady correlation in there somewhere, though. I am quite sure that Todd, the middle brother, suffers from 'Jan Brady' syndrome. I bet he goes around whining, "Tyler, Tyler, Tyler!" all the time.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

You can see from the e-mail exchanges between Amy and myself that we started with the idea of how we'd update "Northern Exposure" and then realized we'd only invite comparisons to the original. Can anybody say "Bionic Woman Update?" "Knight Rider Update?" "Family Affair Update?" We didn't want to go there.

"Men in Trees" came and went. To our enormous relief. Even as it puttered weakly through its two seasons on ABC, Amy and I were hard at work on our pilot script.

And here are the characters who "live" in our fictional town of Continental Divide, the focus of our soon to be fabulously-successful television series "Crossing the Divide:"

Rita Havenstock - cranky old woman who runs a ramshackle motel in town. She's also the matriarch of the equally ramshackle Archer family. At an age when most people could be thinking about taking life easy, she found herself having to raise her three orphaned nephews.

The nephews are:

Tyler Archer - the oldest brother. The golden boy. Was the high school quarterback and class president. Runs a successful real estate business. His ethics are a little shady, but hey, when you're that good-looking...

Todd Archer - the middle brother. As I said, suffers from "Jan Brady Syndrome." Never as good at anything as his brother. Constantly chasing the lastest get-rich-quick scheme. Back in town after a lengthy absence with a wife and daughter in tow.

Danny Archer - the youngest brother. Marches to the beat of his own drum. Nothing ruffles him too much. Makes his living as a wilderness guide. He's the one you'd want watching your back in any kind of circumstance. Somehow, despite the influence of his two big brothers, he turned out honest as the day is long. Which isn't to say he doesn't have his own problems.

Also:

Amanda Archer - Todd's long-suffering wife. Smart, down-to-earth. Her only real lapse in judgment was marrying Todd.

Livia Archer - daughter of Todd and Amanda. An old soul in a young body. Intellectually, she's head and shoulders above both parents. Socially, she's got a ways to go, but she's willing to give it a try.

Rose - she's Danny's live-in girlfriend. A refugee from a privileged urban existence, she's reinvited herself as something entirely different in this new life she's leading.

Winston - he runs the local diner.

Sean Hendricks - he runs the local newspaper.

Mickey - nobody is entirely sure what he does, even those who know him best. If Shakespeare also composed music, or if
Mozart also wrote screenplays, and if either one of them was an avid skinny-dipper, then they'd have a lot to talk about with Mickey.

Lou - She's gorgeous, she's secretive, she's new in town, and she's very good at hurting people. With her words AND with her hands.

Okay, that's it. That's our cast.

The only problem is, that's eleven people. If you watch "The Brady Bunch," you'll notice there are only nine boxes in the opening credits. We have more people than we have boxes!!!

What are we going to do?

And don't offer any logical answer like, "Why do you have to have nine boxes in your opening credits?" This isn't about making sense. This is about creating fine art!!!

Stay tuned for what we decided to do next.

Since I am the keeper of the old emails, let me take a little dip in there and see what I can find.

While we were still kind of stuck on the whole rewrite-Northern-Exposure idea, Scott had these character ideas:

Scott to Amy 8-14-06

After Rob Morrow left and they brought in the new doctor and his wife, I thought, "Why do they think there has to be a central doctor character to the story? Go a different direction!" So that's what I'd want to do. I'd love it if we still had a few of the old characters--Holling, Shelley, Maurice, and, of course, Marilyn. Peg Phillips, who played my favorite character, Ruth Ann, has died, alas... The new characters would be in totally different professions...no doctor, no pilot, no DJ. I think we'd want to see a newspaper editor. A teacher. Something totally out of left field like Ed, the aspiring filmmaker. Some sort of New Age guru who has settled in Cicely because its "Juxtaposition" on the globe makes it a good spot for communing with cosmic forces, or something silly like that. A good character for Maurice to be totally disgusted with, and someone who is right just often enough to cause Maurice added discomfort. That might be the perfect role for you. An "Earth Mother" type who runs a little shop full of crystals and talismans, something you'd never expect could possibly succeed in a small town like Cicely. Someone who claims to have some extra sensory powers or who has lived previous lives, and has settled in Cicely because she believes she lived there once before. There'd have to be some real dichotomies in your character. Like, in addition to being all New-Agey, you'd indulge in extreme sports, or something.

My contribution was to start thinking up a title.

Hey, can anyone rememeber what new show was on the air in the Fall of 06??? I'll give you a hint: it was set in a small quirky twon in Alaska. We kind of thought we were sunk before we even got started, but the show was "Men in Trees" and we were good to go!

As we continued to talk about the different characters, we pretty much came to realize that we were writing our own, new show and not a sequal.

Scott to Amy 8-18-06

I suppose, to be utterly realistic, what I have to accept is that we can't do a Northern Exposure update, though. Instead, I have to come up with our own quirky little small town show. Not too difficult. Everything else can remain in place.

Confident, right?

OK, more character chatter (from the same email):

Although the idea has been done before, I rather like the idea of having a character (perhaps Alan Tudyk's character) who has an identical twin, who behaves very differently from his brother. Or does he have a twin..? Nobody has ever actually seen both of them together at the same time, so maybe there really is only one of them. But for whatever reason, the entire town is willing to go along with him, for whatever reason. Their philosophy is, "Well, maybe he does have a twin. And, if he doesn't, well then, he must have a good reason for wanting us to BELIEVE that he does..." And if Alan's regular character is a skeptic who doesn't like to do outdoor activities, then his "counterpart" should be opposite in a lot of ways. Maybe it's also unclear whether or not your character knows for sure if there's a twin, or if she's in on the truth, whatever the truth is. And that she's perfectly happy with the masquerade, if indeed it is just as masquerade.

Amy to Scott 8-18-06

I agree that a NE sequel would not fly, unless, of course, the original creators did it. I think the established fan base would mutiny.

However, I really see no reason why a local show couldn’t happen. I know money is an issue, but look at if from a “build it and it will come” point of view. Seriously, let’s get together, brain storm, write up a polished spec script (is that a contradiction in terms?) and THEN worry about where the money will come from. There are people in this town who have cash to spare – we just have to find them. Also, I have no shame and am willing to pick the brains of the few contacts I have left in LA. I think this is a REALLY good idea. People (us included) love shows about crazy people – maybe it makes them feel better about themselves?!?!

The “twin” idea is great fun and there is a whole lot of potential in it. Especially when considering how much “my” character knows. The only thing I would say is don’t set it in a small mountain town with a name that remotely resembles Evergreen – it’s been done! I do have one request, however, once the show is a big hit and there is network support & a strong fan following – let’s do a musical episode!

Sex Sells. Why hasn't anybody else ever noticed this?

So, it was time to start committing ideas to paper.

We knew our setting would be a small Colorado town tucked just far enough away into the mountains to be charming, yet slightly inaccessible. And so was born our fictional town of Continental Divide. Amy researched the name--so far as we know, there isn't and never was a Colorado town by that name.

Well, there is now.

Let me walk you around the place. It's one of those Colorado boom towns that flourished and then faltered, born during the gold and silver rushes of the mid to late 1800s. Continental Divide is one of the handful of communities that managed to hang on past its logical expiration date, mostly by the sheer stubbornness of its residents, eking out a living via the timber trade and cattle ranching.

Out-of-state investors have started eyeing the lovely mountainsides, just ripe for development as a new ski area. There's a lot of talk nowadays about Continental Divide become a new tourist mecca. Some people are for it. Some are against it.

Our tagline for the show is: Continental Divide... It could be the new Aspen. It could be the old "Deliverance." It's really too soon to tell...

Is that an idea compelling enough to build a whole television series around? Possibly. If you can populate the place with enough interesting characters.

Amy and I discussed who would live in our town. We wanted the place to be diverse (old, young, ethnically well-represented, etc.) and realistic. Funny, compelling, exciting, and yet believable.

Oh, and sexy. Let's face it... No matter what anybody says, they want their television shows to have a handful of sexy people hanging around. And if turns out that some of those people have a recurring tendency to occasionally lose articles of clothing, well, so much the better!

I knew we could work that element into our plots. I am very good at pandering to the lowest common denominator of taste. If we could just insert a few hysterical kicks to the groin, why we'd be good to go!

Yes, our idea was beginning to take on specific form and tone. We just needed to figure out who the core cast of characters would be. And how often we could get them naked. I was confident we were up to the challenge.

Let's Get Rich and Famous

Wow, it's odd, looking back at e-mail exchanges Amy and I had so long ago. Memory can really play tricks, and these days, when people ask me how we came to the idea of writing a tv pilot script, I doubt I would have cited "re-making Northern Exposure" as how it all got started. We've moved so far beyond that now.

For starters, NOBODY should be re-making "Northern Exposure." It's a beautiful series, and should be allowed to stand precisely as it is. The only thing anybody should be doing is paying homage to that remarkable piece of work by trying to come up with something else that shares its sensibilities and holds NE as the watermark to which all other series should strive in quality and originality.

So, our show is called "Crossing the Divide." I have to give complete credit to Amy for that title, which I think is truly inspired. And the title came late in the process. We'd already decided the locale and theme of our proposed series idea, and who all of the regular characters would be even before the brilliant title came into play.

Since I've already admitted that I didn't remember that the whole thing began as nothing more than a playful e-mail discussion back and forth over how we'd re-make NE, I can't say for sure when we abandoned that foolhardy notion and decided to come up with our own original concept. But eventually we did.

And because we thought we should write what we know, we decided to set the series in Colorado. I'm a native of the state, and Amy has lived here for a good long time, certainly long enough to become familiar with the place and all its quirks.

First order of business? We contemplated how the rest of the world views Colorado. Most people tend to think "mountains" when they think "Colorado." Fair enough. Though, in truth, about 1/3 of the state is composed of flatlands. Denver itself is nicknamed "The Queen City of the Plains" for obvious reasons. That's where it sits. But okay... We'll set our story in the mountains.

What else? Well, if you asked most people what towns come to mind when they hear the name "Colorado," the most obvious answers are Denver, perhaps Colorado Springs, and certainly Boulder, Aspen and Vail.

Boulder, like Denver, sits on the plains. It's a great little college town, eclectic and forward-thinking. It's also something of a haven for people who never quite grew up. Or people who never quite wanted to leave the 1960s behind.

Colorado Springs is the polar opposite of Boulder. A largely conservative population base. Something of a stronghold of fundamental religious viewpoints and the whole Family First outlook. There are probably great television programs just waiting to be set in either Boulder or The Springs. Just not the series Amy and I wanted to write.

So...Aspen and Vail. Both reside far up into the Rocky Mountains. Similar, but different. Aspen is an old town, originally a mining community. Vail is a young town, something that was, for the most part, built to be a tourist destination. Nothing in Vail is very old.

The communities are similar in that they are havens for the uber-rich, people who can afford to have summer or winter homes. Sometimes both. Lots of famous people. The irony, particularly with Aspen, is that many of the people who were born there, grew up there, can no longer afford to live there. In both Vail and Aspen, a sizable percentage of the people who wait on tables, check guests into their luxury suites, perform housekeeping functions, work in the gift shops and convenience stores and other service trades--these people live in outlying communities and frequently commute as far as fifty miles one way because they don't make enough money to live any closer than that.

Aspen and Vail are "party communities." As the ratio of the wealthy and famous to "normal folk" becomes dispropotionately larger, these places become less representative of Colorado and far more representative of the Hollywood lifestyle. There are a LOT of little mountain communities in our state where celebrities aren't being arrested for domestic violence or public drunkenness. No, in those places, it's the COMMON MAN doing those things.

And that's what Amy and I wanted to have represented in our television series. Our sex, violence and nudity were going to be represented by the everyday people.

And so, "Crossing the Divide" began to take shape...

Now that Scott has spoken for me, it's my turn to return the favor. Here's what happened:

Scott said, "Wouldn't it be fun if we wrote a sequal to 'Northern Exposure'?" Well, sure - that sounded like a blast. So we began to play with that idea. We discussed which characters would still be around, which ones would be gone, and who we would have to create to fill any gaps.

Hang on... I have our original emails around here some place... did we mention that we did this all via email? We may share the same brain, but we rarely share the same breathing space.

Aug. 14, 2006
Scott to Amy
Wouldn't it be a lovely world if we were re-making "Northern Exposure," and Alan Tudyk and Christopher Sieber were two of the regulars? Would you prefer to direct, or should I cast you as one of the leads?

(I don't really need to explain the Alan Tudyk and Christopher Sieber references, right?)

Aug. 14, 2006
Amy to Scott
Wow – what a beautiful fantasy! Maybe I can be a regular who gets to direct once in a while? What made you think of this? Slow day at the office??? Could John Corbett make a guest appearance? What would my role be? Would it be a remake or a spin-off/next chapter? What about you?

Scott's next email is pretty long, so here's a relevant excerpt:

Aug. 14, 2006
Scott to Amy
Of course, any sort of tampering with a masterpiece like "Northern Exposure" is just begging for painfully bad comparisons, but if done carefully, I think it could be all right. My first impulse was to say we'd re-cast some of the well-known roles with new actors, but as much as I adore Christopher and as much as you adore Alan, I don't think they could exactly fill the shoes of Rob Morrow or John Corbett (who, by the way, says he has given up acting and will only concentrate on his music from now on...). So I think the only way to go is to make it a kind of "NE: Next Generation," without calling it anything so lame.

The next part of Scott's email is where the seed of "Crossing the Divide" was planted. It's actually kind of cool to see it in writing after all these years later. However, I'm going to save it for another time!

"Now, if I was going to create a television show..."

I think that's how it first got started. My friend Amy and I are television geeks to the max. I can't speak for Amy or what went so horribly wrong in her upbringing, but for me, it was the sad notion that whatever happened on that little box in the living room was so much more interesting--and comforting--than anything that was happening in real life.

Oh, and by the way, I lied in the previous paragraph. I can, and frequently do, speak for Amy. Ask her, if you don't believe me. We share the same brain.

And we have a history together. We met when we were both cast in a play on a college campus in Denver. Which is kinda strange, because neither of us were students there. But that's a story for another blog. Not this one. We learned that we shared a mutual affection for all things Disney (we both worked at Disneyland at some point during our misspent youths). We both loved the old television series "Northern Exposure." And we are both supremely egotistical enough to believe that we could write a television show that would be better than ninety-five percent of what's beaming through the airwaves and humming through cable lines these days.

So that's what we did...