by Herbie J Pilato
Sunday night with Mannix and Barnaby Jones.
Monday night with Gunsmoke, Here’s Lucy, The Doris Day Show and Medical Center.
Tuesday night Maude and Marcus Welby, M.D.
Category: Opinion
TV Writers Room Diversity – Can It Happen?
That isn’t exactly the question the following article is asking. But it’s definitely the 500 pound elephant in the (writers?) room:
Diversifying television with tax credits for the writer’s room
by Jenna Flanagan
Anyone watching television has certainly noticed an increase in the diversity of the casts of most scripted television shows. But what about behind the scenes? The Innovation Trail’s Jenna Flanagan finds out how new legislation in Albany aims to incentivize diversity at the very genesis of most television shows. The writer’s room.
Saturday Night Live made national headlines when Sasheer Zamata joined the cast making her the only African-American woman hired by the show in six years. What wasn’t as widely reported were the additions of LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones to the shows writing staff.
LB: Newb Writers, How Do You Know You Can Trust Your Rep?
Glad You Asked Dept. 5/5/14
Woohoo! Question time. And today’s question, from Linda D, is one that every single one of us – including me – has asked ourselves and others at least once or twice in our lives:
Dear LB,
I would like to get your professional opinion regarding a management and production company I’ve been dealing with for about two years. I like them and understand that selling stuff to TV is tough, but basically I have put my faith and trust in one guy who claims to know a lot of people and am still waiting for something to happen.
Pixar Co-founder on Fearlessness and Creative Success
This guy Ed Catmull is our new hero. See why:
by Maria Popova
“Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before,” Neil Gaiman urged in hiscommencement-address-turned-manifesto-for-the-creative life. “The chief trick to making good mistakes is not to hide them — especially not from yourself,” philosopher Daniel Dennett asserted in his magnificent meditation on the dignity and art-science of making mistakes. And yet most of us, being human and thus fallible yet proud, go to excruciating lengths to avoid making mistakes, then once we inevitably do, we take great pains to hide them from ourselves and the world. But this, argues Pixar cofounder Ed Catmull with the help of journalist Amy Wallace in an especially enthralling chapter of the altogether excellent Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (public library), is a grave mistake itself — not only from an abstract moral standpoint, but also as a practical strategy for cultivating a strong creative culture in a company and an entrepreneurial spirit within ourselves as individuals.
What makes Catmull, who created Pixar along with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter and is now president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, particularly compelling is his yin-yang balance of seeming opposites — he is incredibly intelligent in a rationally-driven way yet sensitive to the poetic, introspective yet articulate, has a Ph.D. in computer science but is also the recipient of five Academy Awards for his animation work. This crusade to uncouple fear and failure is thus delivered not with the detached and vacant preachiness of self-help books and lifestyle manuals but with the sensitive sagacity of someone who has been, and continues to be, on the front lines of truly pioneering creative work.
Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie
Chapter 56 – Changes and R.I.P. Net Neutrality
by Leesa Dean
I’ve been working on four projects this year that have been incredibly time-intensive. One is nearly done, two are in the planning (pre-outline) stages and I’m currently writing the fourth (which is Season Two of the Lele Show). It is VERY hard to do all of that, but I feel really strongly about each one.
I had originally thought I’d do 33 episodes of the Lele Show for Season Two which is an enormous amount of work and truthfully, I’ve been a little stuck. Mostly cause it’s a lot to do and my time is fairly limited (the one that’s nearly done, the TOP SECRET PROJECT, is very time intensive).
This week, I decided to bring that episode number down to 20 and also do some ancillary material. It’s still a lot to write, but just cutting the episode number down made me go over my season story arc and tighten it up, which felt great and confirmed the decision. It’s now leaner and juicier. And, more importantly, it takes some pressure off. I’m now looking at October for a relaunch and between finishing writing and production, I’m hoping that’s realistic.