Category: Resources

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

John Ostrander on Making Your Characters Miserable

woodyamiserable

by John Ostrander

Stranger Than Fiction, a 2006 film from director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball, and World War Z, among others), is a favorite of Mary’s and mine. It that starred Will Farrell in a very atypical Will Farrell role, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, and Emma Thompson.

The story concerns an IRS auditor named Harold Crick who starts to hear a narrator in his head. The voice turns out to be a world famous author who is writing a story about an IRS auditor named Harold Crick. The author, Karen Eiffel, always kills off her main character at the end of the book. The real Harold’s only hope to survive is to find the reclusive author and convince her not to kill him. Eventually, they meet.

Karen Eiffel, understandably, is freaked to encounter an actual Harold Crick. He’s just as she pictured him. They both know that if she kills him off in prose, he will die in reality. She is confronted with the reality of what she does; Harold Crick isn’t just a creature of her imagination. He’s a flesh and blood person. read article

Troy DeVolld Dishes About His Career in Reality TV

For the past decade or so, writer-producer Troy DeVolld has been a pivotal presence in the world of reality TV…and a frequent contributor to TVWriter™ as well. Thanks to this podcast, we now have the chance to listen to this master storyteller spin what could be his most exciting tale yet – his life:

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Click HERE to hear Troy on the GIRLZ IN THE WOOD PODCAST

The Most Important Article You’ll Read Today

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a writer on what probably is (or was) the most popular “reality” show on television? Wonder no more, fellow TVWriter™ites, cuz we just found the skinny:

topgearby Richard Porter

The very last Clarkson, Hammond & May edition of Top Gear will be broadcast this Sunday and sniffpetrol – by day, mild mannered former Top Gear script editor Richard Porter – explains how they used to put the show together and what it was like to be at the cutting edge of cocking about.

There we go then. The sun has set on what I imagine we will one day call Old New Top Gear. read article

Technology and The Evolution of Storytelling

Our storytelling means aren’t the only thing that’s changing about writing for TV, film, and every other medium you can think of.  Our whole society is on the move as well.

Warning: Essential info for all writers and directors, et al, follows:

cars_john_lasseterby John Lasseter

It is such an exciting time to be a filmmaker. read article

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO HAVE ON PAGE ONE OF YOUR SCRIPT

How many times have you asked yourself, “Self, what’s the most important thing to have on page one of my script?” And, asking that question, did you start to feel…tense? Like you’re feeling now, wondering about where this article will go? Hehehehehehe…gotcha, didn’t we? And in Sentence One, no less. Here’s the deal:

tension1

by Todd Klick

Whether it’s action, drama, comedy, horror, western, or suspense thriller, all successful movies start with tension: Anxiety, apprehension, danger, discomfort, crisis, distress, hostility, or sexual tension. Tension grabs attention, as the classic theater adage goes. When you hear the couple arguing in the apartment below you, it grabs your attention. When you see an overturned school bus on the highway, it grabs your attention. Even though you try not to look, a man and woman kissing passionately in a parked car draws your eye (sexual tension). Other people’s tension peaks our curiosity, it yanks us from our everyday existence and injects us with a sudden rush of adrenaline.

One of the most popular tension-grabbers in film is DANGER. read article