Category: Resources

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

Peggy Bechko Wants Us to Kill Our Darlings

by Peggy Bechko

killkillWe’re all writers. Whether of scripts or novels, right? So, how many times have you heard it? Variations of Stephen King’s classic advice: “Kill your darlings.”

Let’s roll that phrase around in our minds again. “Kill your darlings.”

Meaning, rip a scene or scenes from a script or novel that you just loved creating and think reads fantastically, but just doesn’t fit into the book. Doesn’t keep the story in the script moving forward. Doesn’t contribute much except a bit of writer’s dazzle. read article

Cartoon: “YOUR FIRST DRAFT”

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Words and an image to live by. What would we do without interweb memes?

(Answer that without snark. We dareya!)

Crowdfunding: Seven things I learned about crowdfunding movies

Insights from an Aussie who knows. How much does he know? Well, Alex Cox wrote and directed REPO MAN and SID AND NANCY, dammit. Anybody you know have more cred than that?

Alex Coxby Alex Cox

Crowdfunding enabled us to make a piece that was simultaneously the cheapest deep-space intergalactic war movie ever, and the most lavish of student films. I was the principal director, screenwriter and production bookkeeper. Undergraduates did everything else: shot it, designed it, acted in it, edited it, composed the music and created the visual effects. Iggy Pop came in at the end and wrote the theme song: he and I were the only “professionals” involved.

Now I’m at it again – with a crew including former students, master screenwriterRudy Wurlitzer and visual effects genius Phil Tippett, on a new crowdfunded western feature, Tombstone Rashomon. The first time, I knew nothing about crowdfunding. read article

Chuck Jones – The Evolution of an Artist

Didn't this guy used to star in BREAKING BAD?
Didn’t this guy used to star in BREAKING BAD?

For animators – and animation lovers – everywhere.

An insightful look into the weltanschaung of the man who may well have been the best action and comedy director of all time – in any genre and medium:

read article

Kelly Jo Brick: The Write Path With Dean Batali, Part 1

A series of interviews with hard-working writers —
by another hard-working writer!
by Kelly Jo Brick

Batali-Headshot-dark-bg-211x300Aspiring writers often wonder how the pros got where they are. The truth is, everyone’s story is different, but there are some common elements: dedication, persistence and hard work.

From writing a play for his church, to the Central Vault at Universal Studios and on to one of those mythical Hollywood mailroom jobs, writer Dean Batali worked his way up in the industry before landing in the writers’ room on TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, That ‘70s Show and Ties That Bind. read article