Author: LB

A legendary figure in the television writing and production world with a career going back to the late ’60s, Larry Brody has written and produced hundreds of hours of American and worldwide television and is a consultant to production companies and networks in the U.S. and abroad . Shows written or produced by Brody have won several awards including - yes, it's true - Emmys, Writers Guild Awards, and the Humanitas Award.

LB: When the Funniest Woman in the World Speaks, I Listen

Miranda Hart with some minor players
Miranda Hart with some minor players

Oh, God, I love Miranda Hart. Writer, actress, human being…she’s perfect. Just damn perfect. Which means, yeah, if you don’t know her work you really need to:

It wasn’t easy coming up with a reason to write about Miranda, who’s huge in the UK but hardly even known here in the U.S., but last week she gave an interview on the UK’s Graham Norton show which encapsulates why everyone who knows her work – from my wife and myself to, oh, TVWriter™ Contributing Editor Cara Winter and, um, erm…let me get back to that – is so charmed. read article

LB: What’s Up with Troy DeVolld?

troydevolldselling

My old bud from the heyday of the Writer Action Forum, Troy DeVolld, is one of the primo reality TV producers in the country and author of Reality TV: An Insider’s Guide to TV’s Hottest Market, a truly inside and extremely helpful look at the reality TV biz and how to get started in it.

Troy is also the very helpful owner-operator of RealityTVTroy’s Blog, and TVWriter™ merrily reprints Troy’s posts there whenever possible. The pickings have been scarce lately, and for awhile everyone here was a bit worried about him. read article

LB Reads “My Seinfeld Year” by Fred Stoller

And what can I say that’s more important than this? It made me laugh. And nod my head. And keep saying, “Yeah, that’s how it is. Yeah….”My Seinfelt Year Capture

Here’s what the Amazon blurb says:

“You’d know Fred Stoller if you saw him. He has appeared on practically every great sitcom you’ve ever seen – Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, and Murphy Brown just to name a few. But he has never been a regular on a series, always the guest star. He longs to find a showbiz home. Instead, he is a television foster child, shuttling from show to show in the vain hope that one will finally agree to keep him. “My Seinfeld Year” tells the hysterical and bittersweet story of what happened when Stoller finally got a shot at the showbiz stability he’d always dreamed of — as a staff writer on one of the biggest television shows in history.” read article

LB: R.I.P. Film & TV Producer-Director Alan Landsburg

alan-landsburgWhen I came to L.A. in the late ’90s to try and make my showbiz mark, one of the first producers I met was Alan Landsburg.

I probably spent literally dozens of hours pitching to him in the crowded North Hollywood house that his company, Alan Landsburg Productions, was headquartered in. (Alan, of course, lived in Beverly Hills.)

I never sold him anything but always had a great time because I was being treated with courtesy and respect by a man I in turn respected, both personally and creatively. And I learned! Oh, did I learn from those conversations…and from just being in the office, observing as pre-production, production, and post-production crises collided. Talk about a crash course. read article

LB: Why I Never Write for Actors Whose Work I Adore

freddie_prinze_jrIt’s a sad fact of my professional life that over the years, the actors I’ve most admired for their acting skill have almost always turned out to be thoroughly disappointing (as in detestable) human beings when I’ve actually worked with them.

For a long time now I’ve thought that the problem was within me. Maybe I expected too much? Maybe my writing was suffering because of the awe I felt in the very presence of the Great Ones? Or was there more to it?

Recently, I encountered a quote from Freddie Prinz Jr. on the very same subject: read article