John Ostrander Loses It!

NOTE FROM LB: Neither John nor TVWriter™ nor I write very much about politics. Most of the time here on the interwebs, Mr. Ostrander covers the comic book/tv/film interaction beat. What he has to say here is off that beat, but, more importantly, I believe what he is saying is, as the rallying cry went during some past, troubled times, “Right on!”

by John Ostrander

Twenty years ago this month saw the publication of the first issue of my twelve issue historical western, The Kents (which has since been gathered into a TPB and is on sale at Amazon, among other places; end of plug). The book chronicles how the ancestors of Clark Kent’s adoptive family came to live in Kansas and was set before, during, and after the Civil War.

Of all my work, this is one thing of which I’m exceptionally proud. I did a great deal of research for the project and while by no means a history per se, it has a great deal of history in it. read article

Diana Vacc sees “The Founder”

by Diana Vaccarelli

—SPOILER ALERT—SPOILER ALERT—SPOILER ALERT—

Last week, I watched The Founder, a film I found accidentally, through a friend. It follows the life story of Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), who took a local fast food eatery owned by a couple of brothers and turned it into the world’s largest restaurant. (McDonald’s is a restaurant, isn’t it? Even though healthy eaters might not agree?)

THE GOOD: read article

Time Now for a Short Lesson in Reality TV Writing from Troy DeVolld

NOTE FROM LB: Troy’s article today is on four key written elements in today’s “reality” TV world. (They’re also key elements in “fictional” TV shows, but most of the time the networks take them out of your hands, whether you want them to or not.) You may not know the following terms:

Superteasers. Teases. Next Ons. Prev Ons.

Look these up! Master them! I know people who’ve had huge careers based on their handling of what Troy’s talking about right HERE: read article

Allie Theiss: 3 Steps To Creating Over-The-Top Characters That A-listers Will Love To Play

by Allie Theiss

What do Kramer from ‘Seinfeld,’ Goren from ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent,’ and Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren from ‘Orange is the New Black’ have in common?

All three are characters created with a little bit of crazy and a dollop of extreme.

Characters on TV are rarely like real people. If we wanted to watch real, we’d stare at our neighbors. read article

Web Series: ‘Jackson & Lewis’

How’s this logline sound to you?

Jackson & Lewis, 2 contract killers, bring their newly hired camera man on a mission that doesn’t go over too well.

Why do two hitmen have a camera man? Because what they really want to do is…that’s right, you got it – make it in showbiz. read article