A Wicked Welcome to Kellye Garrett!

We are so happy to welcome Kellye Garrett to the blog today! Kellye’s debut novel, Hollywood Homicide, the first book in the Detective by Day series and Library Journal pick for Debut of the Month, was released this month. We know Kellye from Malice Domestic, and we’re thrilled she is joining the national board of Sisters in Crime. Kellye is going to be doing a giveaway to a US commenter today! Welcome Kellye!

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The Big Picture

I’ve always loved television almost as much as I’ve loved reading. So, in retrospect, it wasn’t that surprising that I eventually became a TV writer—and later used that experience as the basis for my debut mystery novel, Hollywood Homicide. I thought it may be fun to share some interesting facts about working on a TV show.

It Takes a Village: It takes a lot of people and man hours to produce something that is only 60 minutes long. Television shows are like small companies. You have the boss called the showrunner, who is normally a writer and often the person who created the show itself. Like any job, there’s different departments with their own budgets and staff, including finance, casting, lighting and perhaps the most important group of all—craft services, aka the caterers.

Get a Room: Unlike writing books, writing a TV show is a group effort. A typical show normally has around 10-plus writers who all sit in the Writers Room—think a small conference room with lots of candy and whiteboards everywhere—and spend a week discussing what happens in an episode. Once the writers all figure out the episodes plot, then one writer will go off and actually write it.

Get Commercial: Like any business, the goal for a TV show to make money and that’s usually in the form of commercials. If you think you’re favorite television shows have gotten shorter, they have. Today’s hour-long shows have just 42 minutes of actual air time, compared to 48 minutes years ago. There’s also been a relatively recent change in how shows air. An hour television show used to have four acts. Now many shows have five. Why? So they can squeeze in more commercials, of course.

The Cliff Hanger: Every notice that the most exciting part of your favorite show always happens right before the commercial? That’s on purpose! They want you to be so excited for what happens next that patiently sit through all the commercials for toothpaste that you’d probably buy anyway.

Bottle Up: In 2015, an episode of your fave show cost an average of $3.5 million, (Link: https://www.onstride.co.uk/blog/much-cost-produce-favorite-tv-show/). Where does the money go? You have your standard expenses that don’t change every week like salaries, but other costs can vary per episode. So if a show’s has a special episode that goes over the weekly budget, they’ll later make up for it with what’s called a bottle episode. You can recognize them because there isn’t a lot of guest cast members (who cost money!) and the main cast spends a lot of time inside. Most shows usually have one or two bottle episodes per season. You can find some examples here.

Giveaway: Now that I’ve given you some inside info on TV, I’d love to learn what mysteries would make great TV shows. I’m giving away a copy of Hollywood Homicide to a commenter living in the United States. Comments will close on August 25!
Bio:
Kellye Garrett spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the CBS drama Cold Case. People were always surprised to learn what she did for a living—probably because she seemed way too happy to be brainstorming ways to murder people. A former magazine editor, Kellye holds a B.S. in magazine writing from Florida A&M and an MFA in screenwriting from USC’s famed film school. Having moved back to her native New Jersey, she spends her mornings commuting to Manhattan for her job at a leading media company—while still happily brainstorming ways to commit murder. Her first novel, Hollywood Homicide, was released by Midnight Ink in August 2017. It was Library Journal’s August Debut of the Month and was described as a “winning first novel and series launch” in a starred review by Publishers Weekly.

Book Description:
ACTRESS DAYNA ANDERSON’S DEADLY NEW ROLE: HOMICIDE DETECTIVE
Dayna Anderson doesn’t set out to solve a murder. All the semifamous, mega-broke actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. So after witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she pursues the fifteen grand reward. But Dayna soon finds herself doing a full-on investigation, wanting more than just money—she wants justice for the victim. She chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes, and movie premieres, loving every second of it—until someone tries to kill her. And there are no second takes in real life.