Todd C. Murry

95% bloviation

Revisado: 03-29-15

What disappointed you about Automatic Pilot?

This is basically a laminated cheat sheet worth of information expounded on by a very encouraging rambler. The content to embellishment ratio is extremely low and a single point doesn't get make that isn't beat into the ground. I can learn more reading a single cockeyed caravan blog post than I got out of this whole book (saving 5+ hrs).

The references were oddly dated - some too precisely dated (as in I can tell the book comes from about April 2014, between the greenighting and pre-canceling of How I Met Your Dad) and some too old to be relevant. The understanding of recent TV is cartoonish, making a big show of how the landscape has changed and how the possibilities are endless, then ignoring the fundamentals of what's really different about the modern/cable approach.

A lot of the facts fired at you seem rather dubious. Netflix was about to go under before their 100 million dollar House of Cards gamble saved everything? really? Shakespeare is invoked as an example of how you should forget thinking in terms of act structure.

Has Automatic Pilot turned you off from other books in this genre?

This genre (the screenwriting guide) is always tough, with books usually written by the unsuccessful or out of touch. They are usually too prescriptive or too unfocused. This didn't really change my perception

Did John Eastman do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

There is only one "character," the writer, whose enthusiasm he certainly captures. It's a pretty over the top performance - think a coked up Ned Flanders with the "dokally"s replaced with Hollywood success idiom.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disbelief as I watched hours tick by waiting for the intro to end and the guide to start, mirth at the way it just kept going, then resignation. Looking back, disappointment.

Any additional comments?

The author is fairly pleased with himself for the airplane metaphor, which is too-cute enough to be grating. He spends a lot of time talking about his time on successful shows like Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues, which IMDB has him writing one episode of each, but ignores shows he had more to do with (note: his last credit is pre 9-11). He started in advertising, and it shows.

If there is any audio I've ever listened to that really needs a one page PDF of supplemental material, it's this. As a result while I don't recommend this book in any form, I'd probably go with the print version becauseit probably has "map" pages that can give you the content at a glance.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña