Category: Resources

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

Peggy Bechko takes writers “Off the Beaten Path”

Valerii_Tkachenko_Wikimedia

by Peggy Bechko

I’m not going to talk about screen scripts or novels or even writing – directly – today. What I’m going to talk about is life. Now, it’s not going to be some great philosophical spew or anything like that, more of a rumination that applies greatly to writers.
Now sit back folks and ponder.

Life is interesting and little of it is planned. If you don’t believe me, look back on your own life and consider how much you really planed out and how much happened along a twisting, turning course and just kind of sorted itself out as you went along making plans.

Still with me? read article

Troy DeVolld Gives Us a Few Words of Caution…

Moving On, Staying Put
by Troy DeVolld

Another friend just gave up on reality television and moved into a more stable profession… and I can’t blame her.

I’ve always loved reality television, but it has its pitfalls… one of which is the unpredictability of employment.

Case in point… I recently wrapped an incredible gig on a show that was pulled from production not because of its quality, but because the new network president opted to go another direction with programming.  Many shows in production, not just ours, were unceremoniously ditched, and the hell of it was —  it’s just one of those things that happens.  No bad guy in the scenario, just business. read article

MAD MEN Boss Matt Weiner on Making It – and the Struggle Thereto

One of TVWriter™’s all-time heroes speaks in the new book Getting There: A Book of Mentors. (Which also includes a ton of other successful people, most of them not in showbiz, but still – you probably ought to buy it HERE…and no, clicking on that link won’t get us any money. Damn it.)

mad men stuffby Matthew Weiner

I remember studying Samuel Taylor Coleridge‘s poem “Kubla Khan” in high school. According to Coleridge, upon waking from a deep, opium-induced reverie, he recalled a vision and immediately wrote the 54 famous lines. But when we started doing the poetic analysis, it became clear that there was no way this poem came out all at once. It has this amazing structure. We learned from letters and notes that had been discovered that it was likely Coleridge had not only worked on “Kubla Khan” for several months, but that he also sent it to friends for feedback.

Artists frequently hide the steps that lead to their masterpieces. They want their work and their career to be shrouded in the mystery that it all came out at once. It’s called hiding the brushstrokes, and those who do it are doing a disservice to people who admire their work and seek to emulate them. If you don’t get to see the notes, the rewrites, and the steps, it’s easy to look at a finished product and be under the illusion that it just came pouring out of someone’s head like that. People who are young, or still struggling, can get easily discouraged, because they can’t do it like they thought it was done. An artwork is a finished product, and it should be, but I always swore to myself that I would not hide my brushstrokes. read article

A TOUGH-LOVE GUIDE TO INTERNSHIPS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

This remarkably frank article is must reading for everybody wanting to break into any segment of showbiz:

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by Dina Gachman

Beware: you are about to enter one of those “I used to walk fifty miles in the snow to school” rants, but when it’s all over, you’ll emerge with a renewed faith in humanity and a fierce drive to succeed. You’ll be a better person. Either that or you’ll still be exactly the same as you are right this second, which is fine too.

Let’s begin. read article

From Waitress To TV Writer

Ah, the kind of nonfiction we all love!

diane ruggiero-wright

Diane Ruggiero-Wright has written and produced a number of TV shows, including the cult classic Veronica Mars. She’s the co-creator of the new show iZombie — about a zombie who pretends to be a psychic and solves murders — which premieres on The CW on Tuesday. read article