Julie Livingston: The Big Leap

City-of-Los-Angeles-Downtown-Signby Julie Livingston

Or as LB calls it, “The Big Test.” Moving to LA. If you’re an aspiring TV writer, you’re probably already thinking about it. And, if you’re not, I promise you will. It’s not an easy choice to make (at least it wasn’t for me), so for anybody who might find a firsthand account of the experience useful (or just entertaining), I will blog as much of it as I can, as often as possible. Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone who comes to Los Angeles to try to make it in the TV business, but I will tell you honestly how it is for me.

I’m not gonna lie. This move is not for the faint of heart.  As soon as I made the decision, I started looking for ways to hedge my bet. I created a caveat: I’m definitely going to go but, not until conditions are perfect. No way was I about to haul my cookies (and my incredibly supportive spouse’s cookies) into town without some kind of foundation. In the fantasy I created, I would work from where I was until I landed a manager, an agent, a job. In reality, on the day I left, I had none of those things, but still it was time to go.

When I first decided I wanted to become a TV writer it actually wasn’t that big a leap. I already made a living writing commercials, so it is was kind of like deciding I wanted to give up my day job writing for TV in order to get my dream job writing for TV. read article

The Six Contract Provisions Freelancers Should Include

More important contract info for writers and others who hate dealing with, you know, contracts.

VIR – Very Important Reading!

contractstuffby Thorin Klosowski

When you’re a freelancer, it’s pretty easy to just take a job and start working without thinking much about it. However, if you don’t want to accidentally get caught up in work you don’t want, 99U suggests including a set of provisions in your contract.P read article

Herbie J Pilato Wants You to Buy His New Book on TV’s Iconic Women Stars

…And TVWriter™ thinks it’s a good idea too.

And not just cuz Herbie interviewed our own Beloved Leader LB about his personal (well, okay professional) experiences with women like Linda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, Loni Anderson…and mucho more.

Or, as Amazon.Com says: read article

Don’t Get Screwed: The Contract Provisions Every Creative Needs to Know

Crucial info for writers and other creative who don’t like to read contracts. And even those who do.

It’s rough out there. Protect yourselves!

by Vinay Jain

A friend of mine, a very kind and trusting person who happens to be a freelance software developer, agreed a few years back to write some code for a young, charismatic pair of startup founders. The job was only supposed to take a month, and he agreed to it on a handshake. read article

3 Things Writers Can Learn From J.K. Rowling’s Second-Thoughts About Harry and Hermione

J.K. Rowling has publicly said that she may have made a mistake marrying Hermione off to whatisname instead of Harry. But how can you be an omniscient author if you aren’t, erm, omniscient?

Oh, wait:

Harry-y-hermione-harry-and-hermione-17302667-500-375by Nathan Bransford

Every newsfeed in the land was abuzz with J.K. Rowling confessing to second thoughts about how she wrapped up the Harry Potter series, and specifically about whether Harry and Hermione should have gotten together. The full interview has not yet been released, but that hasn’t stopped the Internet from having a collective freakout, with some people agreeing and some people thinking everything turned out just fine thankyouverymuch. read article