What’s all this Talk about ‘Productivity?’

Heard in the TVWriter™ Online Writers Room

“Productivity” doesn’t mean regarding your writing as a product. It means being as sublimely creative as you can.

That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. No matter what.

Nathan Bransford: Don’t step on your surprises

When Nathan Bransford offers advice, we listen. In case you’re wondering why, here he is with the kind of writing wisdom you don’t find just anywhere.


by Nathan Bransford

Crafting good mysteries is an important part of the novel writing process, no matter the genre. Mysteries pull the reader through the novel, they build anticipation and suspense, and they often result in the most satisfying payoffs for the reader. read article

munchman: Top TV Writing – and Viewing – Cartoons of, erm, Recent Weeks

And they’re both from Man Martin’s Man Overboard web comic strip

Hey, what else can your friendly neighborhood el munchador say? Artists get the audiences they deserve. AmIright?

Herbie J Pilato on the show ‘Julia’ and its star Diahann Carroll

Julia was a masterful series and a ground-breaker of major importance. Herbie J tells us why.

Julia Set the Standard
by Herbie J Pilato

Julia literally changed the face of television with a series of firsts.

It was the first TV series to feature a non-stereotypical African-American, specifically, a sophisticated African-American female, in the lead of a 30-minute comedy or a one-hour drama. It was also the first show to combine those genres, becoming an inaugural weekly half-hour dramedy, filmed with a single camera, without a live studio audience, or a laugh track. read article

‘Legally Blonde’ Oral History: From Raunchy Script to Feminist Classic…

Here at TVWriter™ we’re not afraid to say that one-half of the writing team that labored over this cultural revolution of a screenplay was one of Larry Brody’s first students way back when he was teaching TV and film writing at The College of Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, NM.

In fact, we’re proud to point that out. Wonder why the NYTimes, where this article first appeared last week, left that intriguing factoid out. Oh well.

Hi, Karen McCullah! Good job! Whatcha up to these days? (That’s a joke, people. Check out Karen’s career HERE.) read article