Engineering Your TV Drama Pilot w/ Ron McCants
Engineering Your TV Drama Pilot w/ Ron McCants
Jake: My guest this week is the newest mentor at Jacob Krueger Studio, Ron McCants. Ron is a wonderful writer, he is a playwright, he is a TV writer, and he is also a development executive, which is a very exciting combination because he has worked on both sides of the screen, in addition to working in comics and in many other fields. So, he brings a really vast wealth of information.
He is also a tremendous activist. We’re actually partnering with Ron as part of our Black Lives Matter initiatives with his project called The Parity Project. So, I’m sure we’re going to get to talk a little bit about that as well.
I want to start by welcoming you Ron. We’re so happy to have you. And I wanted to ask you a little bit about how you came to this place as a writer? What is your origin story?
Ron: What is my origin story? So, that’s a great question. I always ask people what their origin story is. And mine is that I started off in Missouri–I was born in Lincoln, Nebraska but I was raised mostly in Missouri– and I did really well with science and math and I ended up going to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and I was put in this remedial writing class based off of my SAT scores.
Now, my math, it was like through the roof kind of deal, but the verbal, hmm, barely average. And I was at the bottom of this remedial writing class. And then, I worked from the bottom to the top of that class. I worked with a tutor, I worked with my professor and I found out I could write an essay.
And then I decided, “Let me make a commitment to myself,” so I took a writing course every term while I was at school, and I found myself in this playwriting class and we had a reading at my first show. I was like, “this was amazing I am going to do this for the rest of my life.” Joe Sutton, who was my professor at the time, told me, “You know, you had a good reading, don’t make a commitment like that.”
But, you know, almost 20 years later I’m still doing it, but as a TV writer. And so, that’s kind of how it all started.
Jake: A lot of writers make that transition, starting in the world of theatre and moving into the world of television. And you’re one of the people who have done that successfully. So, I’m curious, what were the skills that you took from playwriting that you brought into your TV writing career and what had to change as you started to make that transition into writing for the screen?
Ron: Well, I was mostly an engineer so I really knew myself. As a playwright, you always almost have to have another job, so you live your life and you get all these experiences.
And I think the thing that I take most from playwriting is the way in which I might build the show.
As a playwright, a lot of times you approach things with a question or you wonder about a concept and you figure out what the world is, you figure out what you’re trying to say– this, that and the other. And then, you find your characters and you say, “Will this character do this thing for me because I’m trying to explore this, that or the other?”
Whereas in the TV world, you usually first start with an idea or a world but you start thinking about the character first, and what their journey is and like how you would make something for an American market in most cases.
Understanding the difference between how TV and plays are created, I think is a key thing. And so, what I’ve taken from the playwriting world is how to develop conceptual shows that make you think, but also are compelling and interesting and have great characters that TV requires.
I also appreciate the community of theatre. I think that’s probably what led me to starting the nonprofit. I’m more of a community minded person because of my experience in the theatre.
I feel like in order for me to be fulfilled and satisfied like I can’t just focus on my own ...