Safeguarding Their Scripts

For Some Writers, Generating Buzz Means Giving Nothing Away

TV writers and producers are forever trying to keep their plot lines secret. So when Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, executive producer/writer for the ABC Family drama "Lincoln Heights," volunteered that a major young character dies at the end of Tuesday's episode, it raised the question: Why would she reveal this?

"It creates buzz," she said. "It creates a conversation among the fans. Our fans, once they find out after reading this in the newspaper, they're going to get online and say, 'Oh my God, somebody's going to die. Somebody's going to be written out of the show.' They'll start talking about who it might be."

The actor or actress already knows his or her fate, McGhee-Anderson said. But by dishing out hints now, McGhee-Anderson not only ratchets up the stakes for fans, but also, perhaps, entices some new viewers to check out the show.

Yet her openness is almost unheard of. Ask the executive producers of "Lost," for example, about their plans for this season and they'll say -- as Damon Lindelof did, when he spoke to television critics last summer -- "you know, Season 5, obviously we're not going to talk too in-depth about."

Lindelof's decision not to give away his show's secrets is standard operating procedure. Writers say they're not bound by confidentiality agreements, but by a kind of "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

That is, don't ask because they don't tell.

"It's an unspoken rule among writers," said Randy Huggins, who writes for "The Unit" on CBS and "Crash," the new series on Starz. "We try to keep the material behind closed doors as much as possible."

Ask writer Adam Armus what's going to happen on NBC's "Heroes" this season and he'll leave you with nothing more than a cryptic tease: "There's amazing things happening between characters that you never expected to be together on our show."

Not even a hint?

"What's the better [way] to experience our show: through our words, or the images on the screen?" Armus said. "How disappointing would it have been for us to talk about [the character] Sylar and what he was and what he became before you actually saw him on the screen?"

Armus said he didn't even tip off his parents when they asked.

"It's not anything legal that obligates us to not talk about it, but we don't want to spoil things for our audience," he said. "So we just don't do it."