And if anybody’s an expert at failure it’s Jim
So here’s what happens when you ask a man about a subject he really knows
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wait, we’ll get it. Ahh…:
Month: July 2014
How to Write Gripping Scenes
We’re so glad we discovered Rita Karnopp’s blog. And we definitely think you will be too. Rita writes about prose writing, but good writing is good writing, regardless of whether it’s for the page or the stage:
by Rita Karnopp
What exactly [comprises] a scene? I think of a scene like a trip to the mountains. There are valleys of flowers and cliffs of varying shapes and colors. Sometimes the end of the trail leads to a beautiful waterfall. Suddenly we notice a dead body floating at the far end . . . and the story begins. Each scene you create should stand on its own and add to the story in a crucial way, creating a structurally solid read.
How do we make scenes intrinsically sound? The way I do it is to imagine every scene in my head. I see my characters and feel what they’re feeling and understand why they react the way they do. If you run your story through your mind like a movie, you’ll find holes and implausible behavior.
Love & Money Dept – TV Writing Deals for 7/31/14
Latest News About Writers Who Are Doing Better Than We Are
by munchman
- Frank Spotnitz (THE X-FILES) is adapting Phil Dick‘s mucho-kudo’ed masterpiece of fiction, The Man in the High Castle into a pilot for an Amazon Studios series. (There is so much wonderfulness in that sentence that I just have to sit back and taste it for a beat. If this comes anywhere near yer friendly neighborhood muncher’s expectations, I promise to stop mocking Amazon and except it as, oh, almost a genuine, professional studio-network-whatever. And who knows? Maybe I’ll toss out the “almost” bit too.)
- Warren Ellis (currently a big deal comic book writer, don’tcha know?) has a deal with Universal Cable Productions to write an as-yet-untitled pilot about an as-yet-unspecified bunch of characters engaged in as-yet-unspecified, um, stuff. (I can hear the Warren Ellis fans celebrating already. As well that should.)
- Taylor Elmore (JUSTIFIED) has a new overall deal with CBS TV Studios to develop and write and produce and all that good stuff that we all want to do. (And while I’m not a member of the JUSTIFIED Rave Society, I wish the Tayman all the luck and success in the world. Cuz I just can’t help meself. Y’all know how positive a nature the munchman has.)
- Charlie Kaufman‘s (INSIDE JOHN MALKOVICH) FX pilot isn’t going to series after all. (Proving that even the A+ listers can get crapped on. Sorry, Charlie – and believe me, I mean it. Cuz if they can reject Charlie Kaufman, what chance do the rest of us writerly types have?)
Peer Productions: BRISBANE NUCLEAR OLYMPICS
And the winner for the absolutely best medium for presenting well-grounded but outrageous and biting satire is:
The interweb!
Check out this brilliantly painful short short by Duncan Elms and you’ll see what we mean.
Understanding How Comedy Works
…Which is, you know, kind of important if you’re writing it. Recently, several of TVWriter™’s comedy writing friends (industry biggies, baby!) independently recommended this book as well for fledgling humorists/writers to get a handle on what it is exactly that they’re supposed to be doing. So we thought we’d pass it on:
The book is called What Are You Laughing At? and it’s written by Dan O’Shannon, MODERN FAMILY producer who knows his away around the funny, as somebody who prefers to remain anonymous for obvious reasons (but is otherwise a funny dood himself) has said to us. The Amazon description gets to the heart of the matter:
If you’re looking for a book that will teach you how to write comedy, we suggest you keep moving. You still have time to pick up a copy of Writing Big Yucks for Big Bucks before the store closes. However, if you want to understand the bigger picture — what is comedy, why do we respond to it the way we do — then you’ve come to the right place.