Tag: TV production experience

Andrew Orillion: Brewing Up “On the Rocks” 4

Casting a Multi-Cam Series
by Andrew Orillion

on-the-rocks-cast-tvwriter.comWelcome to part four of the behind the scenes look at the making of On The Rocks. Last time, I wrote about the writing staff and how stories were broken for the series. This time, I’m going to focus on the intricacies of casting.

Web Series Aren’t Just For Friends and Roommates

In the early days of web series, most shows used limited sized casts comprised of friends, family and roommates of the creators. But, as web series have become more and more mainstream, their production has become more professional. Professional productions need professional actors, who aren’t always easy to find, especially when you can’t pay them upfront. Fortunately, the makers of On The Rockshad an ace up their sleeves. read article

Andrew Orillion: Brewing Up “On the Rocks” 3

Writing Staff
by Andrew Orillion

Welcome to part three of the behind the scenes look at the making of On The Rocks. Last time, I wrote about the creation of the pilot episode with showrunner Sam Miller and executive producer Chris Wu. This time, I’m going to take you into the writers’ room to meet the rest of the writing staff and find out how we take a story from concept to script.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Writers

With the pilot episode locked, it was time to outline or “break” episodes 102 through 106. Miller felt that first season should have a six-episode arc ending with a bottle episode where all the issues and tensions that had been brewing since the pilot would come to a head, but what would the bigger plot elements in between look like to lead the characters to that point? read article

Andrew Orillion: Brewing Up “On the Rocks” 2

Writing the Pilot
by Andrew Orillion

In my first article on the making of On The Rocks, I wrote about the creation of the show and how the staff came together. For this article, I’ll focus on writing the pilot episode.

With the staff, The Grinders, in place and the basic premise of the show agreed upon, executive producer/writer Sam Miller and producer/writer Chris Wu began work on the pilot.

Unlike the rest of the staff, who had never worked together before, Miller and Wu knew each other through industry connections and a pilot writing course they both took at IO West in 2009. Miller   worked in comedy development at ABC Studios and Wu was then an assistant at William Morris. read article

Andrew Orillion: Brewing Up “On the Rocks”

A Behind the Scenes Look at the Creation of the First Multicam Web Series
by Andrew Orillion

It all began January of this year, with an email chain in a Yahoo group dedicated to TV writing. The question was simple, “How long would you go on with your writing career before you gave up?” The question got over 300 responses and started a lot of conversations. One of those responses was from Sam Miller, a writers assistant for Desperate Housewives. He had an idea, what if a small, but dedicated team of writers and industry professionals from the Yahoo group worked together on their own Web series? What would the results be? Five months later, the results were in and On the Rocks, a new Web series from a crowd sourced creative team, The Grinders, was born.

So, how did this happen? How did a band of near total strangers come together to create and shot a full-length, multi-camera, comedy Web series pilot? Over the next few weeks, leading up to the taping of the second episode, I’ll take you behind the scenes and give you an in-depth look at the creation of On the Rocks. read article