[OT] next episode of CSI

[Michael ODonnell]

> Just out of curiosity, how did Erik come to write an episode?
> I've always been curious how they find people for things like that,
> what kind of steps those people have to go through, etc.

Well, it definitely helps to know people and shmooze like hell.

He's been in LaLa land for years, pounding away.  I don't know
that his experience is typical, but it sounds like very hard
work.  He's done a couple movies, some TV and some graphic novels.
Meanwhile, he's worked for several production companies doing
stuff like international distribution/sales.  

I gather that shows like CSI (complete story in one hour) are
slightly easier to get a script accepted for than the episodic
ones.  Many production companies are theoretically open to having
scripts submitted, but Erik says the reality is that one (or a
clique of) writer will usually manage to get himself positioned
as gatekeeper, supposedly doing an objective evaluation of each
script submitted from "outside".  But since every outside script
that gets accepted means a script for which the clique won't
get full credits/pay there usually seems to be some reason why
their scripts are chosen over the outside submissions...  :-/