What does it cost to produce a 40-minute episode of audio theater?
That’s right, Virginia. Audio theater episodes don’t just grow on trees the way money does. Wait. That didn’t come out right, somehow.
Category: Resources
40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
Writing and Loneliness
Nathan Bransford isn’t just a good writer, he’s a writer who’s aware of…the benefits of the writing life. And the not-such-benefits too:
by Nathan Bransford
I don’t find the act of writing to be a lonely one. There’s something about the concentration, the empathy required to imagine what characters think and do, and being immersed in another place that never makes you feel you’re actually by yourself. It’s comforting to have the control over an imagined world that we can never have in the real one.
But the act of writing is a solitary one, and the writing life forces you to shut off the outside world for long stretches of time. To complete a huge task like a novel you have to say no to outings with friends and time spent in the sunshine, and choose instead to chain yourself to your computer or notepad and stare at it for hours on end. And because you have to spend so much time writing, you might not leave enough time for friendships and fun.
Peggy Bechko: The Writer’s Questions
by Peggy Bechko
I’ve been a writer for some years now and published frequently and I can remember clearly writing entire scenes and describing little or nothing, not pinning down a character’s character and more distracting missteps.
Questions create a story and if you, as a writer, don’t answer those questions you’ll lose your readers. “What if…” is a big question. So is “What would someone do if”… or “if the world was a much different place in these ways, what would happen…”
Questions, so many questions, but isn’t that our nature, to want to unravel ‘mysteries’?
Kathy Fuller: What Writers Can Learn from My Mad Fat Diary
by Kathy Fuller
I LOVE BBC television. I’m a big fan of their short seasons, clever writing, tight plotting, and real characters. But I’m also envious of BBC. The writers seem to have much more freedom to be honest, messy, and politically incorrect. They take chances. My Mad Fat Diary is one of them.
The story premise (based very loosely on the published diary of Rae Earl) is straightforward: set in 1996, an overweight teen with self-esteem issues re-enters the world after a stint in a mental hospital. Rae’s issues have issues–she’s fat, her mother is self-centered, her father is absent, her best friend is often her worst enemy…the list goes on. To deal, she overeats, cuts herself, and is suicidal. Pretty much your standard angst-ridden coming-of-age story.
Except when it’s not. There’s an excellent balance between melodrama and humor. The pacing is slightly askew and impulsive, just like teenage life. Basic writing formula is present, but it’s often turned on it’s head. So what can writers learn from this show?
Peer Production: Indie Film, TV & Web Producers! This One’s for You
by Team TVWriter™ Press Service
Yes, we’re about to throw a press release atcha. But it’s for what looks to be like a very productive and, more than that, a potentially exciting weekend. Or to put it another way, we here at TVWriter™ sure as fuck wish we’d thought of this:
With web-based video production and distribution in national boom, local and regional filmmakers are creating video content designed from inception the web, transforming the way we watch movies and episodic programming as a culture. And with more and more local filmmakers creating their own web content, NOVAC is going to do what it does best: bring national talent and expertise to New Orleans, hosting a conference that develops community, networking and learning opportunities for local and regional filmmakers with the Web Weekend 2013 Conference, held from October 18th – 20th.