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Letter to the Producer
I've created this thread for one purpose and one purpose only. I would like for each member who likes or dislikes SuperGirl to write their letter to the producers expressing their hopes and wants along with the where they went wrong and where they went right.
I'm going keep this thread open for 2 weeks after which I will send a copy of the text (without usernames) to the producers of the show and hopefully get their replies.
This is not a joke thread this is a real thread that will take our views to the producers.
So now have your opportunity to get your views heard.
Fats
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- Brad2
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- ace191
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Instead, I would condense and summarize the input from the various folks who respond to this thread and present a single page document to the producers. That might get read.
Shadar
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shadar wrote: My suggestion would be to make the letters very short and to the point, and bulleted if possible. If the producers are presented with these, they won't read paragraph after paragraph. Let alone a concatenated list of the same.
Instead, I would condense and summarize the input from the various folks who respond to this thread and present a single page document to the producers. That might get read.
Shadar
Well, SWM kinda has a backdoor with the production, so there is a better chance they'll get read than some random email. That said, we're all smart enough I think to assume it won't be the first thing Berlanti picks up in his morning mail to read over coffee.
I also disagree in sending a synopsis that summarizes the inputs on this forum. While its more concise, these are people's opinions of the show and should reflect their individual tastes. Some hated it enough to stop watching. Some didn't. Some people want to see more Superman. Some don't. Some like Kara and Jimmy together. Some don't.
While 4-5 individual letters (or however many) hardly represents a statistically valid sample, it shows that there are more people that care about the show -- care enough to write letters (emails) about it.
I personally am not reading anyone else's letters in drafting mine, as I want it to reflect my opinion and tastes and not be swayed (even subconsciously) by someone else's.
ElF
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- lfan
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That having been said, I hope to avoid reading other people's letters, so their opinions don't influence mine. I also disagree with having someone summarize all the letters_after all if the summarizer disagrees with a letter's point of view, they may present it as less legitimate than the views they agree with.
As for them responding, I've tried their facebook page (www.facebook.com/SupergirlCBS/), and I rarely get a response, let alone an acknowledgement that my message was even read. So, I hope the backdoor actually works.
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Fats
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Looking forward to hearing back from the CBS Supergirl writers and/or producers.
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- Brad2
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- The secret to successful writing is condensing and summarising. People often tend to write a transcript of what they would say if they were speaking, which is not necessarily the best of options. Go back over your work and write/restructure it to try to make it snappier and more comprehensible. People often write a transcript, as if speaking -- that's not always the best option. Review your work and redraft it for snappiness and comprehensibility.
- When offering criticism, accept the artists/writers vision. "I would have done it totally different" is of no use to them -- like the old joke: "You want directions to City Hall? Well I wouldn't start from here!"
- Plan your thoughts before hand on the back of an envelope; that way you can organise your ideas and you won't miss anything out.
- Think about flow. Don't make a scatter-gun of disparate arguments -- instead, bunch them together into themes and write each part with an introduction explaining what you're about to discuss, your argument itself, and any conclusion. Try to put the theme sections into an overall order that makes sense.
- Be entertaining. Throw in the odd sparky term or phrase to make the reader smile; but don't be too clever for your own good. Be careful with humour: be witty, but not comedic, if you want to be taken seriously.
- You're not being paid by the word: write the least amount of sentences required to make your points. Your second draft should be at least a third smaller than the first. Don't use five examples if one will do. When arguing a case, one well-written sound-bite is far more powerful than a page of dense detail. Justify every single paragraph on the page, and every single sentence within a paragraph -- remove anything that has the merest hints of restating a point. Reword, reword, reword, to make things snappier.
- Learn the power of punctuation: in particular the art (not science!) of the semicolon, dash, parenthesis, and colon, in allowing you to link ideas.
- Concentrate on the important stuff; don't waste your word count documenting every little thing that mildly irked you, when you could be focusing on bigger issues. Remember, the more you write, the less likely your reader is to read.
R5
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Fats
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Is it really smart to wait to send the letters? I ask because I don't really know when the writers start writing the episodes/storyline arcs for a given season (how long before season 2 are season 2 stories written?). I'd hate to think of people having great ideas for the show, only to find that all the writing for season 2 was already done. (Though I do understand wanting to give everyone a chance to give feedback).
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- Brad2
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Brad2 wrote: Is it really smart to wait to send the letters? I ask because I don't really know when the writers start writing the episodes/storyline arcs for a given season (how long before season 2 are season 2 stories written?). I'd hate to think of people having great ideas for the show, only to find that all the writing for season 2 was already done. (Though I do understand wanting to give everyone a chance to give feedback).
Yeah, I am a bit worried that the show will be half way through its third season before we get the feedback out for season one. I think we just have to trust Fats to do the right thing, as he knows the situation better than any of us.
I did suggest that we upload our submissions to a web folder, and just email the link to the folder to the producers. That way people can add their stuff as-n-when. But I don't know if that would work well for the producers: like I say, we have to trust that Fats knows what he's doing. He hasn't let us down so far.
How many of you here are working on or actively planning something right now, to be submitted..?
I'd strongly recommend you start early and to get your stuff in well well before the deadline, rather than last minute. And keep it to a readable length!! My submission was under 2,500 words -- much longer than I'd wanted -- broken up over five clearly defined topics. I wrote it with a fair amount of humour and wit to encourage the reader to get through all five pages, and included a lot of praise for stuff they got right so it didn't feel like one long grumble-fest. I could easily have written four times that much, but what would be the point?
I'm quite happy to email it to people if they want to read it.
R5
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- five_red
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The more interviews I read of Kreisberg, the more I get the impression that the writers (especially him) and not the cast, are the reason why the show is in limbo for renewal. If season 2 is similar to season 1, I'm not sure the show will (or should be renewed).
That having been said, that doesn't need to be the end of the line for Supergirl. For instance, I saw an article suggesting that the Agent Carter show (which I also watched) might be cancelled, but that the Agent Carter character might reappear on another show, such as on Agents Of Shield. One wonders if Supergirl (hopefully still played by Melissa Benoist) might do better on a different show with different writers.
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Imagine the dour Arrow faced not just with the younger (and initially cowed) super-positive Flash, but the Flash-Supergirl medley of super-cute.
But Supergirl does need some better writing.
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- TwiceOnThursdays
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Now for the negatives. The writing has not been as good as the casting or acting, especially in terms of continuity. Let me give you a few examples. Winn was/is very much in love with Supergirl. There is no way that he would have sex with Kara’s arch nemesis at work in a broom closet.
And what were the writers thinking when they let Alex go back to National City with the Martian Man Hunter? All that would do would be to make her a liability and reduce J’onn J’ onzz effectiveness. Let her sneak back if you need her there for the plot, but make it one stupid person’s decision, not the whole team’s.
And speaking of continuity, since when can Supergirl or Superman not fly in space? They do not need to breathe there, or 35,000 feet below the surface of the ocean or while swimming in molten lava. Supergirl struggles to lift a 500,000 pound plane in the opener but can now lift Fort Roz into space. Are you kidding?
She did not need Alex to rescue her which only served to take space out of future episodes. As a reminder, Supergirl only needs a space ship when she is in a red star solar system.
And she does not need to be rescued every episode if ever. The team should help her find the threats and maybe educate her about them, but she should do the heavy lifting. After all, it is Her Show! She still has the problem of not being able to be in two places at once so send her to the more major threats while the team handles the lesser ones. She can pop in after she takes care of her job to help them with theirs. It would be ok if someone rescues her a couple times a season, but not every episode.
Lastly, I don’t like her relationship with Jim. It seems forced. He is an aloof, big city stud who doesn’t seem to know what he wants. She is acting like a high school girl who has a crush on her English teacher. Maybe take a page from Twilight and have the audience divided into Team Winn or Team Jim fans and see how it goes. Consider a situation where the bad guy/girl is about to shoot Supergirl with a kryptonite bullet and either Winn or Jim could jump in front and take it for her, but Winn is the one who does. That might spice things up a bit.
Good luck on Season Two. We are all looking forward to it!
Ace191
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Oh, and here's the show's facebook page if people want to message them there. Of course, they could have a new page now that the show's moving to the CW...
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www.facebook.com/SupergirlCBS/?fref=ts
I forgot to put the link in my last page.
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- Superwomen on screen and in print
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- Letter to the Producer