Always Notify The Proper Authorites...

Nearly 2,000 visits to this little hobby of a blog yesterday via Metafilter Community Weblog who linked to the piece I wrote a while back on TV writer extraordinaire Darin Morgan. And to show my appreciation, I present a snippet from Morgan's classic X Files ep "Jose Chung's From Outer Space."




I think he likes the tall, lanky one.

Mr. Morgan still has his fans, I must say. That post has been getting an average of 10 googles a day since I wrote it...seriously. And one cool bonus from all the traffic was discovering Morgan is now a Consulting Producer on the new 'Bionic Woman'. There may be hope for that show afterall.

Wherefore Art Thou, Darin Morgan?

There are several criteria necessary to being a successful and sought after television writer, but most importantly you have to be smart, good, and fast.

The Brad Wright's or Rob Cooper's or Hart Hanson's or David Kelley's or Aaron Sorkin's or Tom Fontana's all meet this criteria in spades...and then there are those who are smart and good, but fast...not so much.

Darin Morgan is one of those writers. And though two out of three ain't bad, Morgan's apparently notoriously slow.

Eccentric and reclusive, he's oft been described as the Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) of television due to his knack for turning formulaic TV on its ear.

A self-proclaimed couch potato, Morgan reluctantly joined the staff of The X Files in the third season (via his older brother Glen Morgan) and made a splash over the next two years with four memorable episodes: 'Humbug', 'Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose', 'War of the Coprophages', and 'Jose Chung's From Outer Space' (Final Repose actually won an Emmy).

Then he joined the staff of Millennium for a season, and wrote and directed 'Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense' and 'When Satan Got Behind Me', two of the funniest and cleverest screenplays you'll ever read. These were great TV series scripts, but not necessarily great model scripts for those looking to break into series TV.

Why?

Because they were 'stunt' scripts. They took what were givens for the two shows and turned them inside out. Furthermore, Morgan's writing style is severely unique, packed full of literary references, bizarre, memorable characters and quirky humour - yet always a poignant study on the human condition. More often than not, they end on the very depressing yet consistent theme of loneliness. Anything but typical episodes.

They really only worked because they were juxtaposed against what viewers had come to know and expect. And episodes like that can only succeed every now and then, not all the time. If your goal is to land a staff series job, you need to first prove you can 'write the show' before you un-write it.

Nevertheless, Morgan's script stylings were held up on high by me and old pal/colleague Damian Kindler way back when on Psi Factor...and Dam actually wrote a few Morgan 'inspired' eps (same for Stargate:SG 1 as well), but not until later in the series' run. And I'm sure if you asked him, he'd say those were his fav episodes to pen....because they were fun, and they took all the conventions of the show and looked at them sideways.

Since 1998, Morgan pretty much fell off the face of the earth until he resurfaced on the staff of The Night Stalker remake a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, his only script, 'The M Word' remained unproduced as the show was canceled before they were able to lens it.

Via The Light It Hurts, a PDF of 'The M Word'. Thanx Lee.

It's still definitely worth reading...funny, irreverent, cerebral...another sparkling example of taking a tv show and turning it on its ear.

But why art thou a writer Darin Morgan, if you don't like to write? And where do you be these days? Well, he's probably on a couch somewhere...mulling ways to mess with the formula of the next show he decides to toil on. His writing should be admired, but don't expect to see him 'create' a show anytime soon.

He needs something to work with...

ADDENDUM: just to clarify, if you are able to write anything near the quality and uniqueness of any of the above mentioned Morgan scripts, you'll probably be well on your way. But it just shouldn't be for a brand new series. And if it takes you six months to complete it, TV series writing might not be for you.