40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
Yes, really, it is.
Everything you need is there, inside you. There are parts you don’t normally let out to play, but they’re there.
Here are a few thoughts on getting your mind set right to be a writer, a really good one.
This past week has been intense. Aside from a lot of people who were all HUGE inspirations passing away (RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman, Maggie Estep, Sid Caesar), after finishing shooting and starting editing the footage with the celeb on the TOP SECRET PROJECT, my producing partner got a call from an even bigger celeb whom we had been trying to reach for a while. We had originally made plans about a month or so ago with this guy and they fell through cause a lot came up for him. My producing partner knows him, he happened to call, ask about the project and guess what? He’s in.
Which means, we’re now dealing with his incredibly crammed schedule and squeezing in a shoot in two days. Which also means I had to drop what I was doing (once again, Season Two of the Lele Show gets slightly backburnered *sigh*) and write some custom sides for him (sides for non-tv/film people are script pages). My producing partner loved them. So did the celeb. Only caveat? He doesn’t have time to rehearse. And his plans have been known to change on a dime. On the bright side, he’s doing it for free cause he believes in it (and probably cause he realizes I’m broke!)
So, this is the plan. I’m bringing the sides, both in script form and blown up like cue cards, so he can read/memorize section by section at the shoot. Yes, at the shoot. Welp. Also, my producing partner suggested I bring about ten questions and let the celeb ad lib. He’s REALLY funny and my producing partner feels the celeb and I (in character) can ad lib/improv a scene. And we can splice it together/create something in post.
by Herbie J PilatoAs a page for NBC in Burbank from May 1984 to December 1985, I worked on several shows that became classics, including The Golden Girls, Family Ties, and more.
No show was more exciting to be involved with – sometimes on a daily basis, than The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
Mr. Carson has been called the “King of Late Night TV” – and there’s a reason for that.
“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come the most unsought for are commonly the most valuable.” ~ Francis Bacon
Pretty much the truth, right? I think Francis Bacon spoke his truth clearly.
How often have you sat in front of your computer or with pen in hand, sweat blood and come up with not a single idea to write about?
One Drew Z. Greenberg, by name. Writer/producer extraordinaire (and the guy who wrote the Buffy-Spike hookup episode):