Literary media has been buzzing with the news of Masterpiece, an Italian game show which is offering one lucky author the chance of mainstream publication with a planned 100,000-copy print-run. Well, it had to happen, didn’t it?
Masterpiece whittled down 5,000 applicants to 70 wannabes, and thence to four “contestants” in each edition. The key section of each 90-minute show is to drop the writers in an unfamiliar environment (for example, spending a day with the blind), then take them back to the studio, sit them in front of a computer – and a studio audience, and give them 30 minutes to write what they can about it. For the two contestants who survive to the final round, each gets 60 seconds to give their “elevator pitch” to the Editor-in-Chief of the sponsoring publishing house as they travel with her in, er, an elevator. Continue reading “Indie News Beat: TV Talent Shows for Writers? Seriously?”