Tag: People’s Pilot writing contest

$$$ Advice for Creatives

Ooh, “creatives!” That’s us, right, even those of us who slave away on broadcast TV?

The following has turned out to be exactly what this TVWriter™ minion needed to know to help my career and my bank account too:

Thinking-Differently-About-Problem-Solving

by Matt McCue

The most important thing someone working in a creative business needs to remember is that it’s still a business. Just because it’s characterized as “creative” doesn’t mean that it should be fundamentally organized or run any differently than those in “serious” fields like financial services and accounting. read article

Diana Vacc Sees Outlander Ep 10 “Prestonpans”

hbt

by Diana Vaccarelli

This episode of Outlander is about the big battle of Prestonpans where Jamie leads the Scottish Army to victory over the English.  If you haven’t viewed this episode yet be warned this review may contain spoilers.

THE GOOD: read article

Format Each New Script Draft Like a Pro Even W/O Pro Software!

Gak! Not the kind of slugline we're talking about here...this time.
Gak! Not the kind of slugline we’re talking about here…this time.

by Diana Black

We’ve heard the mantra, “Don’t give them an excuse to pass on the script” Good advice period. That first pitch is the first-and-only opportunity to impress.

So, you’ve ‘tightened’ in terms of the narrative arc, characterization is multi-layered and reads true across the narrative and character arcs and, having invested in scriptwriting software, the formatting is ‘industry standard’. But what about the SLUG LINES?

Are you absolutely sure you’ve been consistent when going back to the same location? Unless you’ve kept a handy notebook and written down each slug line as you’ve worked, by the time you’ve got to page 60 or 120 – if it’s inconsistent, it may be contributing to confusion and that’s a ‘PASS’. read article

“Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?”

Thanks to the all-pervasive media, we all have more of a tendency than ever to confuse reality with fantasy, genuine events with our own inner monologues. Most of us have no idea this is happening, which often leads to, well, how about if we just say “appalling results?”

Some people, like TV writer Ethlie Ann Vare, know better. And that knowledge leads to wonderful experiences like reading her very insightful blogging. Case in point:

fredby Ethlie Ann Vare

My day job is writing for television, mostly action-adventure and cop shows. I make heroes heroic. Our stars are the kind of men who run into a burning building, not away from it. Their muscles come from carrying women into the bedroom and children on their shoulders. They can dish out punishment and take a punch with equal grace. They are smart, funny, agile, brave – they are Men with a capital M… or, at least, that’s how we want the viewers to see them. read article

Writing Meme of the Day

tumblerwritingmeme

Or, maybe, of the week or month. We aren’t sure at this point because we’ve never gotten into writing memes before. But we like this one and think it will work well for every writer who finds her or himself in the position of having to explain ourselves to those who love us but, you know, just don’t understand.