You've Got Issues (with Anna David)

You've Got Issues (with Anna David)


Writer Chris Brancato: People Who Think All Their Ideas Should Be Made Into Shows

January 22, 2017

When you do something in a creative field, you encounter a great number of people who believe they, too, should be working in that field. Sometimes these people assume that you have perhaps been waiting for a great idea to come along—something they are all too happy to provide. When you've produced hundreds upon hundreds of hours of television—say, you've written for The X Files, Law and Order and Hannibal and co-created the hit Netflix series Narcos—you encounter those people every day. Such is the plight of writer/producer Chris Brancato. While he's extremely generous when it comes to the impromptu pitches he receives far more generous than, say, me—he likens a non-writer providing him with a pitch for their "amazing" idea to him having an amazing idea for a house and pitching it to a contractor, despite not having spent the decades building a career in building houses. I think we can all agree that he makes a reasonable point, right? So what does all this have to do with the fact that he was once the eager young lad out there pitching his own ideas? It's all in the episode.