Category: Resources

40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.

The Wit & Wisdom of Chris Albrecht

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht has been one of the most influential executives in television  for decades.

At HBO he developed such classic shows as Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, Entourage, and Six Feet Under, and at Starz he has brought Power, Ash vs Evil Dead, Outlander Blunt Talk, Black Sails, and more outstanding visions to audiences everywhere.

One of the keys to the success of Albrecht’s shows has been the writing. As a former literary agent (who once represented our Beloved Leader LB), he knows the good stuff when he reads it. read article

ASK THE TOUGH QUESTIONS, WRITE BETTER SCREENPLAYS

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by Aaron Mendelsohn

I don’t love the story-breaking process.  It’s like putting on sunscreen when all I really want to do is get outside and play with my kids.  It’s like doing push-ups before breakfast.  I whine about it, I put it off, I dread it every time.  And every time, I’m really, really glad I did it.

Being a stickler about my story-breaking is one of the key reasons I’ve managed to sustain a 20+ year successful writing career.  My method is simply this: I ask myself a series of eleven story-related questions that prompt ideas about key character and story points.  Once I answer the questions to my satisfaction, I start filling in the story until I have a detailed outline.

Many of my questions are intuitive, like “Do I know what my story amimg_2118is about?” and “What is the Call to Action?”  “Do I know what my story is about?” is particularly important because the answer ends up being the cornerstone of my screenplay (or pilot or series pitch).  If I can’t distill my concept into a simple, clear, one-sentence logline, I may be sitting on a story that’s weak, broken or over-complicated. read article

Posts TVWriter™ Wishes We’d Published Instead of Those Other Guys

This week’s collection of recent articles from other websites about TV, TV writing, etc., etc., etc. The plan here is for you to click on their headlines and visit the sites and read the posts in full…and is anybody asks, tell ’em TVWriter™ sentcha, okay?

The Guggenheim Brothers Offer a Look Inside a TV Writing Family Dynasty
by Lesley Goldberg

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The Guggenheim brothers have formed their own TV dynasty. read article

SUBLIME PRIMETIME 2016 – Writing Advice From Emmy-Nominated Writers

Photo courtesy of Michael Jones/WGAW
Photo courtesy of Michael Jones/WGAW

by Kelly Jo Brick

Sublime Primetime, an annual event presented by the Writers Guild of America, West, the Writers Guild Foundation and Variety, hosted several of this year’s Emmy-nominated writers who discussed the inspirations for their nominated episodes, the importance of research and realism in the stories they tell, how they got their first breaks and the need for greater diversity both on the screen and behind the camera.

These Emmy-nominated writers shared with TVWriter.com their advice for writers who are just starting out in the business.

Joel Fields (THE AMERICANS) – Write a lot and read a lot. I remember once when I was having a moment in my career where I was struggling, I was talking to my agent about it and he gave me some great advice. He said, “Keep writing.” I think that’s what it’s all about. Find what you’re passionate about and the stories you want to tell and tell them. read article

Peggy Bechko’s World: Time to Broaden Your Horizons!

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Now this is a broad horizon!

by Peggy Bechko

Okay folks this is broaden your horizons day.

Most of you reading this are writers and most of you are TV or movie script writers.

So, how many scripts do you have on your hard drive or floating in the cloud? And who’s read them besides you? Anybody giving you feedback or just reading them because they enjoy reading them? Scripts? read article