Month: September 2014

Tips for Writers Editing Our own Work

It ain’t easy judging our own writing. Sometimes we’re our harshest critics, berating ourselves for not meeting  irelevent or uninformed aspirations. Other times we’re way too soft on ourselves. Is it even possible to find a happy medium?

Critical-Thinking-Skillby Brian McDonald

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
– Thomas Mann

Don’t write for other writers. People are drawn to writing for different reasons and many people do it to seem smart. If you have a good first act, most will never recognize it, because they’re not really clear on what a first act does. They know nothing of construction, but will turn their noses up at the idea of it anyway. The less they know about it the more they will object to it. read article

Classic TV Writer Bill Taub Talks About His Career and His Method

And he does it right out in public, on YouTube, thanks to the wonders of a couple of organizations TVWriter™ sometimes feels jealous of: Script Magazine and TV Writer Podcast.Com. (No, sorry, we’re not related.) You really need to check ’em out.)

From Bill’s IMDB listing:

LONGMIRE Showrunner Steps Up on Why the Series was Cancelled

Longmire Capture

As you may or may not know, LONGMIRE, the most-watched scripted drama in the history of A&E, has been cancelled. We here at TVWriter™ were divided about the show. Some of the minions loved it. Others wouldn’t even try the show out cuz “old people, you know?”

In view of its ratings success, both camps wondered why the series was dropped – and now we have the answer, straight from the horse’s mouth. Proving that Facebook is good for something after all, LONGMIRE showrunner Craig Johnson has posted his take, and it gives us a wonderful – or maybe horrifying – insight into the television executive mind. read article

Cara Winter: The Anglo Files 4

Tom-Hollander-as-Adam-Sma-006
Tom Hollander as the Reverend Adam Smallbone

REV.
by Cara Winter

In the BBC’s Rev., Tom Hollander and James Wood have created something wholly unique.  And by wholly unique… I mean, I have no idea what I’m watching.  Not only have I never seen anything like it, I was for a long time at a loss for words for even how to describe it.  Except…I’m in love.

Rev. is a comedy, of that I am sure.  Or, at least I think I am.  I find it funny – but not CBS- sitcom-laughter-at-precise-intervals-funny.   It’s more like a cold dish of awkwardness, smothered in general hesitancy, with a side of human suffering – which, as it turns out, is really, really funny.

Rev. is the story of a small town vicar (the Reverend Adam Smallbone) who’s all of a sudden at the helm of an inner city parish.   In addition to co-creating and writing for Rev., Tom Hollander also plays the title character, and in this role he’s absolutely perfect.  His characterization of the Rev. is completely original – wistful, earnest, prone to doubt (both of himself and his creator), fond of beer, and occasionally completely nuts.  In short, he’s human.  And unlike the caricatures we’re so used to when it comes to members of the clergy, the Rev. Adam Smallbone is painfully real; sweet, searching, and maybe a little F’d up.  (Sorry, Reverend.) read article

TV Showrunners Share Their Writing Secrets!

A wise and helpful review from one of TVWriter™’s favorite writers who no one over here knows. (Cuz if we did, we’d be recruiting her to work for us.)

showrunnerstuff

So You Want To Be A TV Writer
by Charlie Jane Anders

The “writers’ room” of a television show is a magical place, where creativity flows and awesome ideas are generated. But how do you keep “the room” happy and focused? Some of the top showrunners, including Joss Whedon, share their secrets in this exclusive excerpt from the book Showrunners. read article