40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
As we all know, TVWriter™’s good buddy and long dead mentor, Aristotle, (the guy without a last name because…Aristotle, you know?) was, if not the inventor, then certainly the first person to codify the three act writing structure that is the basis for, well, just about every story ever written.
Here, in case y’all forgot, is a hearty explanation of the three act structure (and if this doesn’t help you master it, you can always try LB’s mighty fine TV writing book). Anyway:
The mission of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Project is to identify emerging writers from United States military backgrounds and provide them with the tools and insights to nurture their passion for writing and successfully navigate the entertainment industry.
We do this in two phases over a yearlong program: A weekend-long retreat, and monthly follow-up workshops and special events. Each military veteran is paired with WGA members. Our writer-mentors represent some of the most beloved movies and television series of the past and present, and are committed to guiding the voices of the future.
When is it?
The program’s kickoff event – the weekend retreat – takes place in spring 2019. Ongoing mentorship workshops and networking events will continue each month through spring 2020 on weekday evenings.
It’s Valentine’s Day, which means that instead of working your butt off writing your heart out (now there’s a mixed metaphor to be reckoned with!) you’ll probably be making sweet love all day…or being upset because you aren’t.
But tomorrow will come, and with it the siren call of your chosen profession – writing for TV, or films, or even publication. Here’s a Valentine’s Day gift to get your going at en even higher level than you’ve been at so far:
The process of transferring a script to the screen always fascinates us here at TVWriter™, and a new addition to YouTube’s “channels” is right up our alley. For example:
We know this is a writing site, and regular visitors know how much we preach about the importance of the teleplay or screenplay before and during production. And yet, our informal survey of TVWriter™’s minions showed that 9 out of 10 thought that the improvisation on set was what made this film the classic it is. (Well, that we think it is.)
Ever meet a writer without an opinion? Or a great story to tell? Didn’t think so. These very fine writers have very definite opinions…and their stories aren’t too shabby either:
As it turns out, not all screenplays are created equally. Some are written in a matter of weeks, others over the course of years. Some are meticulously researched in advance, others are written spontaneously. Some are completely the product of deep personal introspection, others are offered up for review at cocktail parties. We spoke to the writers whose scripts were nominated for 2019 Academy Awards to learn what different approaches they took that set their current films apart from their previous work.
Usually when I’m writing, I’ll sit in a room with whomever I’m working with and bat it all out. This time, though, Nick Vallelonga and Brian Currie and I got together for two or three weeks to put down how the story should go and what point of view to tell it from. But then I went off to work on a TV show and they went to do a first draft. When they came back a month later, I thought that was too fast, so I took it for about six weeks to write on my own. Then we got back together for a final two or three weeks to argue over whether we needed to add this or that. I also remember vividly another unusual thing: There was one Saturday around 10 p.m., when I’d finished a nice pass on the script. My wife had six or eight friends over, and they were having cocktails and smoking cigarettes. I said, ‘I think I have a draft,’ and they said, ‘Can we look at it?’ They read until about midnight. Then we stayed up till 4 in the morning, with them giving me notes. I still remember people saying, ‘You’re going to get an Oscar nomination for this.’