Mitch Hurwitz has become somewhat of a poster boy for good things getting cancelled. Despite Arrested Development lasting a comparatively-long three seasons, the show’s cancellation still causes comedy nerds to get all verklempt at its mere mention. And his most recent show, Running Wilde, only made it halfway through its first season. So he’s sort of an expert on how to get networks to give you the axe. Which is the focus of his new piece for the Guardian, conveniently enough.
If in your particular medium an audience is used to a simple plotline or maybe one or two stories, see if you can get eight in there, and find a way that they somehow intertwine. Also, it’s important that you have a lot of anxiety when they don’t intertwine, sufficient to deprive yourself of sleep so that you are miserable during the production of the show – but then upon completion of the show, you’re guaranteed to be miserable, because nobody will watch it.On sex:
They’ll never admit it, but viewers love sex. In fact, they love any sort of titillation, with the exception of incest. So focus on that.On naming characters:
Audiences tend to run from confusion. So a show, for instance, where one character is named George Michael, one character is named Michael, one character is named George and one character is named George Oscar (and perhaps another character is named Oscar), will be the kind of show you can almost guarantee people won’t develop a fondness for.
He’s got some good advice! On complicated plots:Oh, Mitch. This is funny and also kind of sad. But really, what are you doing writing articles for the Guardian? Don’t you have a certain movie to be writing? The mob can’t be held off with rumors and vague promises forever, pal.
