Category: Resources

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

Filmmaker Hank Isaac’s Statement on His Art

chocolate sprinkles

Chocolate Sprinkles
by Hank Isaac

I don’t think anyone’s actually reading these, so I don’t feel I’m giving away any secrets.

I direct films from time to time and do all my own casting.  For some reason, I’m often asked what I look for in an actor.  Do I want specific “types” for a project?  Do I look for training?  Do I want energy?  Thoughtfulness?  Something else?And the answer is:  None of the above.

I look for one thing and one thing only.  I look for the perfect blend of strength and vulnerability.  I look for those because in my opinion, that’s what allows an actor to reach out past the surface of the screen and touch the audience. read article

Kevin Spacey Gave a Lecture and We Really Wish We’d Been There

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was discovered on the web by one of our spies. We don’t know where she got it, so if this steps on anybody’s copyright we extend at least a thousand requests for your pardon:

GUARDIAN EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION FESTIVAL 2013
JAMES MACTAGGART MEMORIAL LECTURE
BY KEVIN SPACEY

Netflix's "House Of Cards" Washington DC ScreeningGood evening. I’m delighted to be here. First, I can honestly tell you that no event in my life this year has given me more heartfelt pleasure to prepare for than giving this speech today. As an Edinburgh Festival virgin I really didn’t know what I was letting myself in for so you will be pleased to hear I did my homework before sitting down to write a word. And the relief for all of you is that I’m not someone with an important job in broadcasting using this speech to audition for an even more important job in broadcasting.

Since, in the history of the MacTaggart Lecture, no actor has ever been asked to give this speech, I also won’t be spending any time justifying why I’m giving this speech. If what I say today is responsible, then I alone am responsible for saying it. And if the MacTaggart were a political office that you actually had to run for, then the banner hanging over this lectern would be my campaign slogan and theme for today and it would read . . . “It’s the creatives, stupid.” read article

Peggy Bechko: Chill, Writer Dudes. Take a Break.

take_a_breakby Peggy Bechko

Had a computer crisis this past week that pretty much shut down my writing and couldn’t do a whole lot since the work I was in the middle of was on the computer. So I cleaned up the office, read, made a few notes and couldn’t help but take some of that extra time to refocus from being irritated with the whole computer thing and contemplate some aspects of my writing career.

One that popped to mind was taking a break from writing (since I was ‘enjoying’ just such an enforced break at the moment).
You might say “I’m a writer! I write every day! I don’t take no stinkin breaks! I’m a writer!” (yep, with all those exclamation points)
Hmm, well, sit back, relax, take a mini break and read on.

breakThere really are times to take a break. read article

Writing in the Age of Distraction

Noted novelist and self-publishing pioneer Cary Doctorow wrote this article on how to get your writing self to actually do your writing work back in 2009, but his wisdom is more apt than ever:

by Cory Doctorow

We know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions that lie one click away on the Internet, but of course writers face the same glorious problem: the delirious world of information and communication and community that lurks behind your screen, one alt-tab away from your word-processor.

The single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn’t help my writing. This advice was wrong creatively, professionally, artistically, and personally, but I know where the writer who doled it out was coming from. Every now and again, when I see a new website, game, or service, I sense the tug of an attention black hole: a time-sink that is just waiting to fill my every discretionary moment with distraction. As a co-parenting new father who writes at least a book per year, half-a-dozen columns a month, ten or more blog posts a day, plus assorted novellas and stories and speeches, I know just how short time can be and how dangerous distraction is. read article

We Just Found Out About the Freelancer’s Union

And it sounds like something every, you know, freelancer should check into.

Big thanks to Nathan Bransford for his ever-insightful life:

fu_logo_1Job Change!
by Nathan Bransford

I am changing jobs! read article