Category: The TV Biz

munchman: Wes Studi And a Brief History of Native Americans in Film

It’s not often that GQ schools us in anything other than style, but the following article on Native actor Wes Studi is a fascinating and insightful lesson in both Studi’s life and what it feels like to grow up as an oppressed people within the United States.

In other words, if you’re reading this for muncherisms, you might as well stop now. Even “yer friendly neighborhood munchawhatever” knows when it’s time for the straight goods instead of snark.

The Untold Stories of Wes Studi
by Tommy Orange

When Wes Studi broke through in Dances With Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans, he was cast as a terrifying villain. But for many in the Native community, he was a hero channeling decades of righteous anger. Tommy Orange tells the story of an overlooked icon who forever changed the way Indigenous people are depicted onscreen. read article

LB: Writerly Thoughts for a Friday

by Larry Brody

Speaking of synopses or even blurbs, their best usage seems to be not for describing what you’ve written so readers, editors, producers, et al will have some understanding of what it is, but for describing what you’re going to write so you’ll understand about it to finish the damn ms. without killing your favorite character along the way. read article

How to Get Your TV Show Idea on the Air #6

by Larry Brody

The sixth in a series of videos about what is for all practical purposes the most important thing to know in showbiz: How to sell your idea, your script, and yourself.

This is serious business indeed, but the process also is filled with fun and, yes, love.  So please sit back and click to learn, enjoy, and maybe even find your TV show Destiny by knowing more about WHAT EXECUTIVES WANT TO SEE IN A TV SERIES PITCH.

MORE TO COME

LB: ‘When Raymond Chandler Went to Work for Billy Wilder’

LB’s NOTE: Here’s how the NYTimes subheading described this article by Edward Sorel when the paper published it last month:

Because, you know, otherwise the film aficionados who would be attracted by the headline wouldn’t want to continue reading. I’m not a fan of either of these great talents (although I certainly acknowledge that they were indeed great at what they did), but I thoroughly enjoyed the following: read article

LB: ‘Man Overboard’ & Its Take on Pitching

manoverboard 9-9-21 by man martin

“And there,” as Strother Martin said many years ago in one of my favorite films, “you have it.”

To put it another way, is there any experience anywhere more depressing than pitching a story – any story – in “Hollywood?”

And yet another way: read article