Category: Resources

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

Andrew Orillion: Brewing Up “On the Rocks” 3

Writing Staff
by Andrew Orillion

Welcome to part three of the behind the scenes look at the making of On The Rocks. Last time, I wrote about the creation of the pilot episode with showrunner Sam Miller and executive producer Chris Wu. This time, I’m going to take you into the writers’ room to meet the rest of the writing staff and find out how we take a story from concept to script.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Writers

With the pilot episode locked, it was time to outline or “break” episodes 102 through 106. Miller felt that first season should have a six-episode arc ending with a bottle episode where all the issues and tensions that had been brewing since the pilot would come to a head, but what would the bigger plot elements in between look like to lead the characters to that point? read article

John Hodgman’s Advice to Writers

hodgmanbook
You can find this book HERE

Good stuff from a guy who’s been both an author and a literary agent.

We particularly like the fact that he appears so comfortable on camera. We appeared on TV once and it was…hell.

(We also think that in another life Hodgman was some guy living in Hawaii named Higgins, but he denies it.) read article

Some Famous People Write a Little Something About TV Writing

Not just 1 or 2 but an entire Acme Mess O’TV Writing Quotes.

Cuz, you know…TVWriter™ cares:

woody-allen-sm read article

John Ostrander: Secrets

by John Ostrander

Ostrander Art 130901 147x225 John Ostrander: SecretsEveryone has secrets; lots of them. As I said in my column about the TV miniseries Broadchurch, “…what gets revealed to whom, when, and how and is that a good idea really drives narrative and character. The revelation of secrets may answer some questions but may raise more.”

Some things you can tell about a person by looking at them: what they look like, ethnicity, gender, rough age and so on, but these days of social media such as Facebook, even that may be a secret. Are those pictures really of him/her? Those can still be secrets.

There are levels of secrets and not all of them are deep and dark. Your name, for example. Unless you’re wearing a name badge, it’s not immediately apparent. If you’re asked for your name, you usually give it. Some situations may alter that – women in bars may not give their real names or phone numbers, often with good reason. If a cop asks you your name, however, you’d better be prepared to share it. read article

Overthinking The Hero’s Journey

Because, you know, we (us critic types) can:

Three Flavors Cornetto TrilogyShaun of the Fuzz’s End: The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy and the Hero’s Journey
by Mark Lee

Shaun of the Dead. Hot Fuzz. The World’s End. These movies make up the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, and they share more in common than the creative team of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright.

They all tell the story of the Monomyth, otherwise known as the Hero’s Journey: read article