Tag: online TV writing workshop

Pioneer TV Writer Susan Silver Talks About ‘Hot Pants in Hollywood’

And if the headline above doesn’t make you keep reading, Susan and we at TVWriter™ are going to feel awfully…cold? Apologies, and now to the main event:

How To Thrive Despite Your Fears
by Jeryl Brunner

We all experience fear and self-doubt, no matter where we are in life. But Nelson Mandela said, “The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Take the barrier-breaking television writer Susan Silver. She was one of the first female TV scribes to find herself in coveted male-only writers’ rooms. The Milwaukee native hit Hollywood and amassed impressive credits writing for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Maude, The Bob Newhart Show, The Partridge Family and other hits. read article

Unblocking John Ostrander!

 

Do you recognize this man? How about his name? Does it mean anything to you? Just wonderin’….

by John Ostrander

A sad fact of a writer’s life is writer’s block. That’s when you sit down and look at the blank page or the empty screen and go “I’ve got nothin’.” Some form of that can happen every time you start to write. The really bad version can go on for a long time, maybe for years. Not only do you not have an idea, you feel that you can’t write, that you could never write, that you will never write, and what the hell were you thinking when you thought you could write.

There are things you can do when the malady strikes, some less useful than others. Crying, swearing, cursing, screaming are all options but you eventually run out of energy and then you’re back at square one – the damned blank page or screen. read article

Writing Gig: Editorial Asst/Writer Wanted

by TVWriter™ Press Service

How-To-Geek, One of the interweb’s most interesting and, yes, even informative tech websites is looking to hire an editorial assistant-writer. The gig is being offered as freelance, but with a contract and the hope of everybody involved that it can “transition into a full time role in the future.”

According to the HTG’s Lowell Heddings, you’ll need to “meet at least move of these criteria.” And those criteria are:

=&0=&. If I asked you to write an article about the best way to edit the Windows Registry you should be able to write something coherent on the subject even if you’ve never opened the registry before. =&1=& You don’t need to be an expert, but if I asked you to program a VCR you should probably know how to Google what a VCR is and whether time machines exist and then just ask me if I want to schedule a recording on a DVR instead. =&2=& If I wanted to know what the best doctor is for laser eye surgery in DC, you should be able to cut through the marketing and ads and figure out which one I should go to so I won’t end up with an eye patch. (I seriously would like to know this) =&3=& If I give you a really boring task that is going to take a week, you should see it through to the end even if it takes two. =&4=& I am very sarcastic, and I have extremely strong and sometimes controversial opinions on things. Android is a dumpster fire. If you are easily offended we aren’t going to work well together. =&5=& One of the worst things you can have as a CEO is a group of people who don’t think for themselves and never have any ideas to contribute. =&6=& When I give any programming or server task to our programmer Keanan he just goes and figures it out without having to ask me a bunch of questions or needing hand-holding. It’s amazing. Be like Keanan.

To find out more and actually apply for the job, hie thyself HERE read article

500 Scripted TV Series Rocking On-Air This Season

That we’re living in The Year of Peak TV is indisputable, but we here at TVWriter™ do have a question: Is the fact that all these shows exist and are in need of writers (whether they realize it or not) the good news? Or is it the bad?

Scripted Series Tally Brings Viewers and Networks Another Record Year
by Michael Schneider

Peak TV still hasn’t peaked. According to FX Networks chief John Landgraf, as of August there have been 342 scripted programs via broadcast, cable, and streaming services this year – up from 325 at this time last year.

That puts the year’s tally racing toward a landmark 500 scripted shows in 2017, up from 455 in 2016. (There were 216 series in 2010, so the number has already doubled.) read article

Allie Theiss: Daniel Thomsen’s Approach to TV Writing Success – Part 1

by Allie Theiss

Writer Daniel Thomsen has been at the top of TVWriter™’s radar for a long time and has worked on some of this  minion’s favorite shows (TIME AFTER TIME, WESTWORLD, ONCE UPON A TIME, among many others). I’m delighted to have had the chance to talk to him about his enviable career.

When did you realize that you wanted to be a writer?

I grew up during the 1990s, in the rural rustbelt, before there was much attention given to writers in television. I was a passionate STAR TREK fan, but all that meant was I watched every new episode of TNG and DS9. It fed my storytelling imagination, but I didn’t pay attention to the names of the writers or anything like that. It just never occurred to me that I could write stories to make a living. That wasn’t my world. read article