Tag: People’s Pilot Contest

MEET THE IMPROV COMIC WHO BECAME A WRITER/PRODUCER ON “THE WALKING DEAD”

TVWriter™ bud Curtis Gwinn’s gone and gotten himself interviewed again – about the “creative pivot” that took him from comedy to THE WALKING DEAD. He’s producing another show now – an even better one, we think – but that’ll definitely be another story:

Now THIS is an improv group!
Now THIS is an improv group!

by Joe Berkowitz

Anything can happen during an improv show. Anything at all. The comedians onstage construct tiny worlds out of thin air, populate them with nuanced characters, and thrust these folks into bizarre scenarios. Conjuring up a post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland is pretty much par for the course.

Until recently, Curtis Gwinn was one of the premier imaginary-world architects in New York City. As a founding member of the now-franchised improv group, Death By Roo Roo, he performed for sold-out crowds at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater every week–when he wasn’t carving out a name for himself with solo shows. After a writing stint on Paul Scheer’s cop show spoof NTSF:SD: SUV, Gwinn made a career pivot in 2013 when he came aboard AMC’s The Walking Dead as supervising producer and writer. Although performing long-form improv and creating hour-length zombie drama seem like polar opposites, apparently they two are within severed arm’s length from each other. read article

Cartoon: STYLES OF WRITING

Grant Snider remains our swee’ pee:

stylesofwriting-blogGet thee to Incidental Comics for more greatness

WGA: “Vote No on the Comcast-Warner Cable Merger”

shall-not-merge

by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

Yep, the Writers Guild of America has filed a report urging that the merger be denied, saying “The FCC should deny the proposed merger…which woulds give too much power over broadcast and cable networks. Comcast’s ability to blackout one-third of television viewers would force networks to agree to terms and rate st by Comcast, harming…programming.”

The Guild also said a hell of a lot more. You can read the entire filing here.

Remember, boys and girls, until this business is settled, TVWriter™ recommends we all close our eyes tight and send out good, healing energy to the greedy bastards who want to destroy the sandbox, making them so happy that they no longer feel the need to, you know, fuck us. read article

The Secret to Artistic Success is…Luck

As our old G-paw used to say, “If you’re lucky you don’t have to be smart.” But what he didn’t know is that even if you’re lucky you still need to be talented. (Oh, the humanity of it all!)

iStock_000014701722XSmall_610_300_s_c1_center_centerby Mike LaBossiere

As a writer and someone who teaches an Aesthetics course, the cause of artistic success is a matter that I find rather interesting. When I was an undergraduate I was involved in a faculty-student debate about artificial intelligence. In the course of the debate, I defended free will. The professor on the other side made an interesting point in claiming that I believed in free will because I wanted credit for my success. That remark stuck with me and I found it applied elsewhere, such as matters of luck (that is, chance that turns out favorable or unfavorable).

Since I have been a gamer for quite some time, I am well aware of the role (or roll) of chance in success. However, as the professor noted, I wanted credit for my successes and hence while I acknowledged the role of luck, I tended to minimalize its role. However, after having some modest success with my books and teaching Aesthetics for years, I came to accept the view that luck (that is, favorable chance) has a large role in success. Of course, this was a largely unsupported view. Fortunately, Princeton’s Matthew Salganik decided to investigate the matter of success and had the resources to do so. read article

Mass Incarceration for, um, Writers. Sure, why not?

TVWriter™ just got the notice of the following conference. We have no idea if this is open to the whole universe or WGAW members only, but, hey, if the producer of the HANGOVER series of films can’t enlighten us on mass imprisonment and slavery, then who the hell can?

mass incarnerationSend ’em an email. Say TVWriter™ sent you.

(No, sorry, we’re clueless as to what effect that kind of email will have.)