Bonita Alford is a talented young writer whose day job right now (this'll change because I'm confident she won't need a day job much longer) is at the UCLA Medical Center. Bonita's first assignment as a sitcom writer was on the series Girlfriends, and you've already seen the outline for her episode elsewhere in this book.
Here's what Bonita has to say about her first professional experience:
"Here is the logline that inspired the story that I eventually sold. 'Joan finds out the new man in her life has a son from a previous relationship. She's not sure if she can handle being a step mom, so she asks to "borrow" Maya's son for a day to see if she has any maternal instincts.'
"From that, I worked out a pitch on the theme of 'motherhood' with separate stories all revolving around some aspect of a mother for Joan, Tony, Lynn, and William. At that point my working title for this episode was 'Mommy Dearest.' I eventually renamed it 'Mom's The Word.'
"After I pitched this idea, and a few others, it was obvious that the producers really liked the idea of having one of the characters date a man with a child from a previous relationship. We talked at length about the possibilities in such a story and it seemed like an area that hadn't been explored before but that had potential.
"When I found out that they wanted to do my story, I had a meeting with them to discuss how it had changed after being discussed in the room. Instead of Joan, it was now Toni who was dating a man with a kid. I thought this change was brilliant because Toni's character on the show is often portrayed as being childlike and irresponsible, and having her take on the responsibility of being a surrogate mom seemed like a better idea with more inherent conflict than having Joan (a more responsible character) in the same situation.
"My idea was paired with another story for Joan that had been pitched by another writer, so I shared 'story by' credit with him. After meeting with the Executive Producers for about an hour to discuss their take on both of the storylines, I went off and wrote an outline over the weekend. I got notes on the outline from the two showrunners on Wednesday and I was approved to write the First Draft....
"I wrote the First Draft in eight days. After I turned it in the script was revised in the room [that is, by the staff at a general meeting with everyone adding material]."
Bonita didn't have to go home and do a rewrite. She was invited to the "table reading," where the actors see the script for the first time and read through it aloud but without any staging. The script remained substantially the same from the time it was "revised in the room" to the time the show was taped, and Bonita was also present at the taping in case the writer's expertise was needed.
Here are the evolutionary stages of Girlfriends, "Mom's The Word." (Don't forget to go back to the book and read the outline after you see the leavebehind.)
Leavebehind
First Draft
