Month: April 2016

A Conversation with TV Writer Benjamin Cory Jones

One of the writers of Amazon Prime’s original series HAND OF GOD talks about how he got his career going. A must-read for newbs:

hand-of-god-meetby Chavonny Tillotson

If you were a fly on the wall watching Benjamin Cory Jones work, it might seem like he’s got a pretty easy job.

A noted television writer with a slew of credits under his belt- the Amazon Prime original series Hand of God, starring Ron Perlman- being his most recent gig, Jones spends his days typing away at his computer. And that’s all you would typically see. “Nothing too laborious,” you might say. But what you’d be missing, and what you wouldn’t see is the enormous accountability that Jones takes on every time he bares his soul on the page, and the huge amount of power he yields.

Yes, with his team, consisting of director Anthony Hemingway (Red Tails), Anthony’s producing partner Mark Taylor and producer Lena Waithe (Dear White People), Jones is committed to changing the prevailing conversation taking place in the mainstream as well as behind closed doors about what it really is like to be an African American man in the United States. read article

Shut Up, I’m Writing!

There we were the other day, surfing for new sources of info and tips on writing, and along came Jeff Goins, author of The Art of Work and a blog that we got a hell of a lot out of and think y’all will too.  Here, straight from the pages of Goins, Writer.Com is a sample of what we found:

by Josh Irby

insidevoicesMy life is noisy. With three small children and a fourth having just arrived, it’s hard to find a quiet place to think at home.

At work, I lead a team of 12 people. There are always questions to answer, teammates to encourage, problems to solve. Often, writing is drowned out by the noise. Sometimes I just want to shout, “Shut up! I’m writing!” read article

Kelly Jo Brick: The Write Path with Manager Zadoc Angell, Part 1

A series of interviews with hard-working writers – by another hard-working writer!

by Kelly Jo Brick

zadocucla

Finding the right representation can be a key component to growing and developing a writing career. TVWriter.com sat down with several managers to find out what they’re looking for in writers and what writers can be doing to help achieve success in the industry.

Literary Manager Zadoc Angell was always interested in the arts. David E. Kelley shows like Picket Fences, Ally McBeal, The Practice and Chicago Hope drew him to the entertainment industry. While in college at Harvard, he did five internships over two summers including working at Malcolm in the Middle, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach and The Bold and the Beautiful. He got his start at the boutique agency, Genesis, which was eventually bought out by Paradigm. After three years working as an agent, Zadoc transitioned into management, first working at Artists International before making the move to Echo Lake Entertainment. read article

Marc Alan Fishman: Dear DC Entertainment…

We know that BATMAN v SUPERMAN wasn’t a TV show, but the plain fact is that old (and some of us are positively ancient) comics fans that man of us TVWriter™ minions are, we can’t help but be fascinated by the total rejection of the film by just about everybody.

We acknowledge that the film’s been making a lot of money. Or, to put it more openly, that the film started out making a ton of money. But now it’s pretty much in the crapper in terms of potential earnings as well as critical and fan reception. We think it’s important to talk about here because, hey, TV writers and the execs who make our lives miserable give us the opportunity to do our thing aren’t perfect. It would be all to easy for us to fall into the same terrible trap.

So listen up, gang. Here it comes: read article

Peggy Bechko’s World: Constructive or Destructive Criticism?

destructionby Peggy Bechko

All right readers and writers, gather around. This isn’t going to be a whiny rant about how people are mean to writers and how their criticism is the pits (though at times it can be), but a bit of a quick analysis of the situation and how everyone, readers and writers alike can deal with it.

Look, constructive criticism is a good thing and writers should get over their ire at having anything they create criticized by anybody. Hey, that’s life. And, constructive criticism can point out flaws or maybe a bit of a slip in editing that would, when corrected, make the book, short story or article much better. Really.

Oh, and readers who post criticism, think about how you couch it. You’re entitled to your opinions and of course if there are glaring editing or grammatical errors in a work you might want to point out that’s happening so other readers will be aware, but it can be put in language that isn’t a personal attack. read article