Hollywood Writers' Office Assistants Social (HWAS)

Notes From ABC/Disney Event

2011-05-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

Below are notes from last week's ABC/Disney Writer's Fellowship event. Enjoy!

GENERAL INFO

Last year, 1800 people applied. Space is limited to 8 spots this year.
Program lasts one year. Fellows sign a one-year contract.
Apply with one sample, a spec script
Application materials should be placed on two CD’s: One containing the script, the other contains paperwork, release forms, two letters of recommendation (first year they are doing this).
Deadline is June 1, 2011. Application must be postmarked by that date or the application does not proceed.
All materials must be included in the package. If something is missing, even a “minor” document, the application does not proceed.
Program is NOT a training program. Don’t look at it as a way to start your career, but to further it. The goal of the program is to staff each applicant. They have staffed every one in the last 4 years of the fellowship. Creative Executives are invested in the program and want finished fellows to be polished when they complete the fellowship.
This is the only program that has been sanctioned by the WGA.
Strong alumni component too (Jane Espenson, etc).

MORE AFTER THE JUMP....

REVIEW PROCESS

For the first round, 35 readers read all the submissions, and all the specs are subjectively scored, based on tone, character, story, pace, etc. Everything is read once.
From that pile, the top 2-5% of the spec submissions are then dispersed internally to the ABC/Disney Fellowship staff, who read those submissions. The ABC staff will then call you and request additional material (emphasis on original material, pilots are best. You will likely need two pieces of material to show).
After that, the group is cut down to about 25-30 candidates, and these finalists go through a three-tiered final round:

A mixer with execs, staff and past fellows with the program. This is where the social element comes into play.
The ABC staff meet with each of the final candidates.
A large panel interview, consisting of ABC staff, ABC execs. s
You end up being on your toes for a week and a half.

WHAT THEY LOOK FOR IN SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

Make sure you can connect your own personality, life experiences and voice, into your writing. Brand yourself. Develop your own POV. This is most important.
The writing has to be unique, but your social development, maturity and personality have to shine through as well. Do you play well with others? How do others perceive you?
Tell us about YOU. Don’t say you want to be a TV writer or that you are a hard worker. Get personal, let ABC understand who you are. What has been your journey?
A personal resume is key, as well. Don’t need to have an agent, or to have been staffed, to apply, but experience within the industry, an ability to show that you are able to stay in the industry, is important.
They look at letters of recommendation early in the process.
If you have applied previously and did not get it, it is not a mark against you.

WHAT WRITING THEY LOOK FOR.

It is better to decide, from the get go, whether you want to be a comedy or drama writer.
Again, a unique POV is key to your writing. What unique perspective do you have?
Write your voice. Make it stand out. Execute it to perfection.
Don’t need to spec an ABC show to gain acceptance, but keep in mind, if you get in, that the goal is for you to be staffed on one of the ABC/Disney/ABC Family shows.
Previous specs that have been successfully submitted include: GOOD WIFE, JUSTIFIED, HOUSE, GLEE, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, MODERN FAMILY, ITS ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA and PARTY DOWN
The program tries to accept a balance of comedy and drama applicants.
An example of a standout script that they accepted was an UGLY BETTY when Betty goes to LA and wears a dress that was designed for America Ferrara. Some of the readers didn’t think it reflected the show, but it did stand out and the ABC staff liked it enough to bring the applicant in for an interview.

ONCE YOU ARE IN:

First 30 days: go through a variety of workshops (acting, improv, how to break story, writers room). Consultants come in.
Afterwards, fellows start pitching what their first specs are going to be.
Fellows are matched with Creative Execs at the network or studio. This is a way to help build the company as well. They have advisory conversations about what they should write next.

WHAT PREVIOUS FELLOWS HAD TO SAY

Tony:

Wrote a Modern Family and a Party Down.
Wanted to write stories that reflected his background: born in Taiwan, grew up in New Jersey. Cultural upbringing.
When you pitch yourself: bring in human stories about you that allow others to connect to you on a 3D level.

Vladimir:

Wrote a JUSTIFIED.
He talks about how something that happened to him early in his life connects to the way he approaches his antagonists in his scripts.

ABC/Disney Television Writing Fellowship

2011-05-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

We are doing our yearly Disney Fellowship event with Frank Gonzalez and Ollie Ashtari-Larki this wed May 04 at 7:30PM at Spot 5750. It's a great opportunity to learn about the fellowship and get application tips. Email hollywoodwritersoffice@gmail.com if you haven't already gotten an invite.

An Interview with Jeff Melvoin, Executive Producer on ARMY WIVES By Carrick Bartle

2010-09-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

Jeff Melvoin is currently executive producer on ARMY WIVES and previously worked on ALIAS, NORTHERN EXPOSURE, PICKET FENCES, HILL STREET BLUES, and REMINGTON STEELE.

CB: I guess we should start with how you got started.

JM: Well, I only have the long version; there is no short version. In college I did a lot of theater. I started out acting and quickly got more into directing. And then reality struck and I didn’t know quite what I was going to do to make a living. I didn’t feel I was ready to come to Hollywood. I felt despite my background that I didn’t have a lot to offer the world necessarily as a writer.

I was a cub reporter for Fairchild Publications in Washington, then Miami, and that led in turn eventually to work for Time Magazine as a correspondent in New York, and I thought, this isn’t what I want to do, but I can do this for five years, and quit when I’m 30 and have my creative life ahead of me. It gave me a lot of different experiences. I worked in the Boston bureau after New York, then Los Angeles, and I had done a number of interesting stories in the past month or two, and I thought it wasn’t going to get any better, so I walked in and resigned.

I called a friend of mine who worked at MTM [Mary Tyler Moore Productions] and I said I want to write scripts. He said, “TV or film?” I said, “What’s the difference? He says, "Nobody tells Paramount how many movies they have to make every year, but TV needs three hours a night." And I thought, that sounds like a better bet. There was a show, REMINGTON STEELE, and I thought, I know something about detective fiction, and I really loved the form, so he helped me put together a spec script, and I ended up getting hired by REMINGTON STEELE to do a script, and while I was working that out, for the second season, they made me an offer to join the writing staff. I went from staff writer to story editor to writer-producer and by the time the show ended I was a supervising producer.

And then I became a co-executive producer on HILL STREET [BLUES], which was a rather chaotic year in its seventh season, but an honor to work on that show. Then I went into development, which doesn’t quite exist in the same way as it did then. Back then there was a lot of money being thrown at people, and I actually made more money in an office writing two pilots a year than I did when I was working my butt off helping HILL STREET in its final year. I ended up having three pilots produced in a four year period but nothing that made the fall schedule, which is probably just as well because I don’t know if I was really prepared to what it would have done to my marriage or psyche at the time.

I was discouraged and I thought I would start to write movies, and my wife said that there was a new show on the air that she thought I would like and it turned out to be NORTHERN EXPOSURE. I stayed on for four years until the series ended, wrote 18 episodes and rewrote a few others. And that springboarded me to my first executive-producer job, which was working on PICKET FENCES. David Kelley had had three years of PICKET FENCES and was burnt out on it, wanted to do other things, so he asked if I would take that over. I call that chapter of my life “fools rush in.” David was great, and it was a terrific experience but it's not easy to follow someone like David Kelley.

Since then, there have been plenty of offers to help shows that are getting on their feet. In the case of ALIAS, for example, I happened to be in Rome with my wife on our anniversary and I got a call from J. J. Abrams in the middle of the night saying he was looking for someone to help with the fourth season, and it turned out that I knew half the staff, and I liked the show, and my kids liked the show, which was very important, and so I did that. That was a situation where I was helping out with a show that was an established hit, but after the third year, which is the one where Jennifer Garner wakes up and it’s two years later, people got a little confused, and the network still harbored this hope that they could get new viewers to the series, so we tried to find a way to reboot the series in a way that you could bring new eyeballs to it. From the most bottomline perspective, the idea was to get a fifth season, and we did that, so at that point I felt my job was done, and moved on to IN JUSTICE, a short-lived series created by Robert and Michelle King, who went on to create THE GOOD WIFE.

Sometime after that, I got a call that there was this Lifetime series that was in trouble, and I told my agent that I wasn’t interested in a Lifetime series and I really wasn’t interested in something called ARMY WIVES, and he said just take a look at it, and I did and thought it was terrific. And I said, you know what, I don’t care what you call it, I don’t care what the network is, this is really interesting work. I’ve never seen these characters before, I’ve never seen a situation quite like this, and I think I can help it.

CB: It seems like it must have taken a tremendous leap of faith to quit Time and say I'm going to write this script. What gave you the faith to do that?

JM: It was really just a pact I had between me and myself, that I said this is what I want to try. And I do believe we only go around once in this life. And through both choice and circumstance I was still single, so I had no obligations. I was just very drawn to it. And I also felt that you had to make a total commitment to it at some point. I don't want it to make it seem like it wasn't without bumps and scratches. At one point I even took the law boards. It makes a better story than it was actually at the time. It was full of uncertainty. But someone who's truly ambitious often develops this sense of patience about things.

CB: Just to go back to something, I’m curious what sort of stuff you learned on REMINGTON STEELE.

JM: There is no one way to do a show. There’s a lot of ways to fail, but there’s a fair number of ways to succeed, too. There are a few basic principles that apply, and the most important is that you have to have quality scripts on time. And so one thing that I learned as I was moving from writer to more of a writer-producer is that if you have to err on giving more time to the outline or more time to the script initially, depending on the show, and again this was a mystery, I would err on the side of the outline, because it’s much easier to fix the story in outline than it is in the script. If you get to the script and you say these stories aren’t working, then you have to kind of reverse-engineer them and figure out where the problems are, and that’s a lot harder. It’s like cutting through the brambles to get back to a bigger picture. When you’re writing a script, you are slogging through the jungle. When you’re writing an outline, you’re more at 10,000 feet and you can survey the landscape and get a sense of what’s going on. But when you’re in the swamp, it’s hard. And when there’s pressure and time is running out, it’s even harder.

Another thing that I would advise people is try to get into a “teaching hospital.” I’ll explain: six, seven years ago I approached John Wells with this idea of a showrunner training program because I felt that since the time that I had started, the apprenticeship way of learning was becoming increasingly rare. With more people competing, even with more spaces, the talent was getting thinner, shows were lasting a briefer period of time. An analogy I like to make is that shows tend to be either teaching hospitals or private hospitals. A teaching hospital is where the resident in charge looks at his staff like a bunch of interns he’s taking on rounds, and you can look at the patient, which is the script, and say, okay, what’s wrong with this. And very often in new shows, the creator is teaching themselves at the same time, so there’s no opportunity to provide a teaching hospital.

CB: It sounds like you’re saying that there are very few teaching hospitals nowadays.

JM: I think you’re right, I think there are fewer. But I think it’s not necessarily because there are fewer people who are willing to mentor; it’s because the pressures and the multiplicity of voices giving notes and the impact of those voices have become more pronounced over the last years. We’re in a very curious time because the pie is being sliced into many, many more pieces. Which should provide more opportunity, yes, but it also provides more opportunity for hysteria, chaos, and just general madness. I think that people who want to make it as writer-producers are more responsible for learning as much as they can on their own without the benefit of necessarily being a part of a stable organization. It’s very tough to even assimilate what it is you’re learning, because if you’re just trying to keep your head above water, it’s not the best way to learn how to swim, or swim competitively and improve your time, especially if the writer next to you is grabbing your head to keep from drowning him or herself.

CB: So what does that mean for a writer trying to break in? Obviously it makes it more competitive, but because we have to be responsible for learning as much as possible, do you suggest going to film school? Does that seem required these days?

JM: I don’t think so necessarily. What I do think is that there’s value to living as an adult outside of this town prior to trying to make it as a writer. I think that while there are a hundred examples of people who can make it having come out here from college, I think what helps your writing is developing confidence in yourself as a person, having experiences that don’t necessarily reflect those of everybody else in town.

CB: More specifically, how about writing samples?

JM: Well, let's talk about spec scripts and then about spec pilots. The way it was when I got started, there was far less competition. There were three networks. The universe was very understandable and there were several genres and not too many shows that didn't fit into one of those genres. So if you wrote a REMINGTON STEELE, you could use it for a spec for HART TO HART or RIPTIDE. And also there was a common assumption that if I gave it to you, you knew those shows, so you could judge whether that was a good script. Today, any one of us would be hard-pressed to name a show that you think six people all watch. Let's take a show that's very popular, MAD MEN. It'd be very hard to spec a MAD MEN because it's serial. There was always a discussion when I was coming up, and I've been on many panels discussing it, if you write a spec, should you write it on the show you want to be on, and I said hell, yes. Why wouldn't you? And people would go, because they'll know where all the problems are. Well, okay, so you're saying, gee, I'm good enough to write on MAD MEN, but I'm not going to submit it because I'm afraid you'll see I'm not that good. Also, the show you love is the show you're going to write best because you're going to have to rewrite it many times to make it really good and only a show that you really care about is going to make you exert that kind of effort. But let's go back to the MAD MEN episode. Even if you wrote that really well, what else could you use that script for?

CB: Breaking Bad?

JM: That's another show that comes to mind. You have these edgy dark shows. But one's about a corporate environment in the 60s, the other's about the Southwest today. But again, good writing to me is good writing, so if you write a sensational script, I don't care what it is. Anyone with sensitivity should see that it’s quality work. That being said, that's not necessarily the way the world works. So you try to be smart as you can about what you pick. What can I write a spec of that I think would be as useful and as versatile as I can? Pick something you love, something you think you can learn from. Pick something you think will have the broadest appeal possible. If it's a choice between MAD MEN and HOUSE—let's say you like both those shows. House, being a one-off, it's easier to judge that script. It shows you can write a procedural at least. And there's a pretty good assumption, since HOUSE is the most popular show in the world right now, that a number of people will at least be familiar with the characters, and so if they read it, they can judge how well those characters have been used. And as a procedural, it shows that even if I, the prospective reader, am doing a procedural about cops in New Jersey, at least I see you understand how to put together a mystery. So having written your HOUSE, and saying, okay, well, now I have to write my MAD MEN, because that's what I want to do, fine, because at worst, it's another chance for you to write and get feedback from other people. And when you call a place and they say what do you have? You say, I have a MAD MEN, I have a HOUSE, they'll say, send me the HOUSE, or send me the MAD MEN. You never know.

But the big change is this idea of writing a spec pilot. Why would you want to read a spec pilot? You can understand it on its own terms. You don't have to watch the show the writer has written a spec script for. The problem is that pilots are terribly difficult to write well. It is a very strange form. And why write a pilot instead of a spec screenplay? It's length. To ask somebody to read 120 pages as opposed to sixty pages is to ask a lot. Which isn't to say that if you've written a really good screenplay, that you shouldn't submit that. But also, a well-written pilot will show an appreciation for the form. But where things get complicated is, subscription cable doesn't use act breaks, whereas most shows do. And I'd say that if you want to make a spec script as versatile as possible, I'd write one with act breaks. If you haven't written with act breaks, it's a little bit harder to appreciate, does the person really understand the form?

But pilots are just so hard because you're trying to create a vessel that can contain a hundred hours. I think the advantage is that you can write about something that really excites you, and structurally maybe it's a pilot where you can make a few changes and roll film. That's the other upside to the writer: it's not idle work. In the past, it would have been completely idle because no studio or network would ever consider making a spec pilot, but now there's more examples every year of spec pilots that got made: THE SHIELD, MAD MEN.

CB: So what would you recommend for people writing pilots?

JM: One of the advantages of writing a spec script—is that so much of the playing field is already determined for you. It's like going out to play tennis. You know what the rules are, you know where the lines are, and you know what you're supposed to do. But if you're writing a spec [pilot], you don't even know what the game is. Is there a net? What are the rules? What are the dimensions of the court? You can get agoraphobic almost. I think it would help to say, if I had to choose the show that I was working on, what would I like to be known as? Do I want Ryan Murphy's career? Do I want David Kelley's career? Whose material do I like? What kind of shows do you like, did you like growing up? So you say, all right, I'm going to write that kind of show. You want to provide as much discipline for yourself as you can. I fought this a lot when I was starting as a writer because I thought it was uncreative to compare yourself to anything else. The fact is no matter how complex or sophisticated your idea is, at the end of the day, if you can't explain your idea in two or three sentences, you'd better go back and think about it some more. And it needn’t come to you as two to three sentences necessarily, but it can. What inspired MIAMI VICE was two words, which was MTV cops: to use the hipness and all of the edge of MTV and marry it to a cop show.

Be your own worst critic. Show it to friends who won't just say, wow, this is great. You want people to say I don't get it. But you're not going to be judged on "could this really be made?" You're going to be judged on the writing. What you're really looking for is an intelligence, a sensitivity, a personality, something that comes through in the writing that makes you want to meet that person. If people want to turn the page, you're doing the job. The goal of the spec script is to get a meeting. Wow, who wrote this? Who could write this line? Who could have thought of this inventive twist? Eighty percent of the script was okay, but, man, you really hooked me here, and I laughed here, and yeah, I think your script's a mess, but I think you have talent. The first thing I sold, I wrote this spec Remington and I got a call right away that they wanted to buy the first scene. I'd written a costume party, and our heroes were looking for a thief. REMINGTON was dressed up as Sherlock Holmes looking very distinguished and he put Laura in a bunny outfit, and it turned out the thief had come dressed as a carrot, so you had this bunny running after the carrot. It was pretty stupid. But the thing is, at one point they see the guy make a snatch and run away, and [executive producer] Michael Gleason told me, "I wanted to meet the writer who wrote the line 'stop that carrot'."

CB: Was that the first script you ever wrote?

JM: Close to it. Idiot that I was, I’d actually written a spec pilot with this friend of mine. But the REMINGTON STEELE was the first spec script I had written. But I was 30, I had studied the form, this friend at MTM had given me a great deal of advice. When things broke, they broke rather quickly. I resigned from Time at the end of the year and I was on staff the next May. And then I found out, like Woody Allen said, 90% of life is just showing up. I think in this business, once you get your foot in door as a writer, if you can deliver, then you can hang around. This business always needs new talent. Most executive producers of any longevity and wisdom are always looking for writers to help, not because they want to help you, necessarily, but they want to help themselves. They don't want to be up until midnight every weekend rewriting. They want to find writers who can make their lives easier. And the best of them want to be able to say, oh man, I just hired the greatest writers ever; they're stars.

It's an illusion to think that once you're in as a writers assistant or a staff writer or any place that your future's assured because you're in the system, like school: now you're a freshman and then you're going to graduate. The lesson is just learn the craft and learn the underlying principles of what make scripts work, and what makes shows work, because you may not have the luxury of being on anyone's show for very long as a writer in this environment.

CB: So what’s next for you?

JM: Teaching holds a lot of appeal. I'm trying to do some other writing. I'm pleased that my showrunning ability has given me a certain profile and viability, and I don't minimize that, but the writer in me would like more opportunity to get back to work a little bit. I help break every story on ARMY WIVES and I do a fair amount of rewriting, but in the question of original writing, I haven't had much opportunity to do that. So some combination of teaching and continuing to write.

Of course, one of the things you learn in this business is that things can change in a heartbeat, but that's the way it looks right now.

From Assistant to Sitcom Creator: Writing for Tweens, An Interview with Ron Rappaport By Jeane Wong

2010-08-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ron Rappaport is the Co-Creator of I’M IN THE BAND, which debuted on Disney XD in January 2010 with its second season set to debut in January 2011. Ron Rappaport discusses how he made the transition from being an assistant (when I had met him) to having a show on the air that is both musically charged as in the vein of GLEE or HANNAH MONTANA and is geared towards the tween demographic. Here is a closer look at what this Economics and Psychology major from UC Berkeley, and now full time writer/producer, has to say:

JW: At what point did you want to write? Were you ever close to almost doing something else?

RR: I graduated [Berkeley] wanting to be a writer but I didn’t have the guts to starve for it back then. So I became an Analyst in Silicon Valley for a few years and then helped start up a company called Epinions for a few years until I realized life was too short. So I moved back down to LA where I grew up [in Studio City].

Within a year, I got a job working as an assistant to a partner at Broder Webb Chervin Silberman, a lit agency, which later merged with ICM. I worked for Ted Chervin there for a year. I’m eternally grateful for that opportunity. It allowed me to understand how the industry works from the inside while interacting with veteran writers on different shows. I got to read their scripts as they were coming in, which helped me in my own writing. I got to learn about the development process while listening in on conversations between executives and agents. And I got to understand a side of the business many writers rarely get to see. It was the hardest job I’ve had, but arguably my most important one.

Off of that desk, I landed a job working for a writer/producer – Bob Kushell – who had an overall deal. Working for Bob was great as I got to experience the sitcom writing environment on shows he was working on. I also got to learn from his experiences while he was developing.

While working for Kushell, I got offered my first writing job as a creative consultant at MTV. I worked there for 2-3 years on shows including DATE MY MOM and NEXT. Kushell was really cool about letting me work at MTV as a writer a few days a week and developing projects on my own while still working for him. Working for MTV got me writing pages and pages of jokes, which was invaluable experience that I later put to use in pitching jokes in the writers room and on stage when a joke didn’t land in front of an audience. The pressure of coming up with 20 jokes in two minutes in front of my producer/director at MTV really prepared me for what I do on a daily basis now. My work at MTV ended with the writer’s strike.

Coming out of the writer’s strike, which was a tough few months, I realized that budgets were shrinking and staff writer jobs were getting harder to come by. So I decided I was going to skip that brutal step and sell my own show. As soon as the writer’s strike was over, I took out seven different pitches spanning animation, half-hour, reality, etc. Disney had read one of my specs, responded to my writing and brought me in to pitch.

JW: What was that writing sample that you had that got this attention?

RR: It was actually one of the first things I had written. I wanted to write something that would stand out in a pile of scripts and get passed around by executives. So I wrote a very traditional multi-camera sitcom about a family… of terrorists.

JW: Wait, did I hear that correctly? Terrorists?

RR: Yes, you heard correctly. [laughs] It’s called GROWING UP JIHAD. It was very polarizing. Half the executives who read it were offended and never wanted to meet with me and the other half wanted to meet with me immediately.

Ironically enough, the place that responded the most was Disney. They told me that a lot of the family-oriented scripts they received were very saccharine and sweet, whereas GROWING UP JIHAD was an edgy family comedy. I didn’t put anything in there that was religiously offensive or graphically offensive -- no beheadings or anything! If you think about what EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND was, this was in the same genre, except that instead of a sports writer in the suburbs, it was about a single father with three kids who wanted to be martyrs living in a cave 500 feet underground somewhere in Asia. He had all the problems of being a single father while trying to run a global terrorist network.

JW: Going back, even though you didn’t major in writing, did you pursue the industry in school?

RR: Sort of. When I was in college, I thought I wanted to get into the industry on the music side. I interned for post-production music editors on the film HOCUS POCUS. It was a wonderful experience but watching the process of scoring a film ruined its magic for me. I knew if I pursued that career, I’d never be able to watch a film without analyzing its score. So I realized that I didn’t want to be in post-production, as I love a good film score and didn’t want to poison that experience for myself.

I realized I wanted to be a writer in my11^th grade English class. Nothing matched the high I got from writing something great, and I still get that high when I finish a script I’m proud of today. Slowly, over my early career out of college, I was engaged in aspects of writing at my jobs but they weren’t actual writing jobs. Eventually, I was just hungry enough to write full time. And I was ready to starve for it, which is an important moment for every writer – realizing it all may not work out and you literally may not be able to put food on your plate while you pursue it.

JW: Speaking of your interest in music early on and writing, how did the idea of I’M IN THE BAND come about?

RR: I have a huge passion for music, I play piano by ear and grew up in concert bands and marching bands. Disney was looking for edgy, boy friendly comedy and I came in to pitch for a new channel called Disney XD. I knew they wanted an aspirational boy friendly show. I had been watching my nieces and nephews and friends’ kids playing GUITAR HERO and ROCK BAND and saw the look in their eyes when they were playing and I realized “what could be more boy friendly aspirational than being the lead guitarist in your favorite rock band?” I threw together two paragraphs in an email and sent it to Michael McGahey, Disney XD’s Executive Director of Development. He brought me in to pitch it during the summer of 2008 and they bought the pitch.

JW: I read in a Variety article that THIS IS SPINAL TAP and ALMOST FAMOUS were inspirations, elaborate on that.

RR: THIS IS SPINAL TAP is a definite comedic inspiration for the ridiculous comedic tone of our band members. It was a brilliant film and we really try to capture the same irreverent tone of our show that is in SPINAL TAP of “rocker idiots who don’t think they’re idiots.” The characters I love the most on TV are the ones who are hilarious without realizing they are hilarious, the guys who think people are laughing with them while we’re laughing at them, like Michael Scott and Homer Simpson. We try to deliver “smart dumb” comedy on our show, and have learned boys love that kind of humor.

JW: I saw the show was co-created even though it seems you came in as the sole creator. How is Michael B. Kaplan involved?

RR: Michael is our showrunner. We aren’t a writing team, but we were paired up early on. I had never run a show before and Disney had a feeling even from the pitch stage that this could be a show they could potentially order to series and as this was the first show I created, they wanted a veteran eye at the top. I was totally open to that as I wanted somebody I could learn from during my first time out as a show creator.

But one of the conditions I had when I was looking for a showrunner was that I would be involved in all high level decisions and could help run the show. There are a lot of people out there who wouldn’t have been cool with that, but Michael was. He’s definitely in charge but we run the show together along with another Executive Producer, Richard Gurman, who spent many years on MARRIED WITH CHILDREN. We have a nice triumvirate of power that balances out in hiring and editing and production and all decisions in between. And when we disagree we’re very fond of saying, “That’s why there’s three of us.” It’s a fun group. They are great guys and they are wonderful mentors for me.

I’ve learned a ton working with [Michael]. I’m okay if he thinks we should go in one direction and I think we should go in another. It gives me a chance to evaluate my opinion in the context of somebody who has had far more experience than I have and learn and grow in that process. Ultimately, we talk it out and always do what’s best for the show, egos aside.

My agent at ICM paired Michael and I up. He was the first and only showrunner meeting I took. He’s a smart, strategic and efficient producer, a very funny writer and a great guy. I’m lucky to have him on the show.

JW: Speaking of your agent, was he the same agent you had worked for as an assistant?

RR: No. Interestingly enough, my agent Mark Gordon and I were assistants together at Broder. I got signed at the agency around the same time he became a coordinator and he took me on as he became a coordinator on his way to becoming an agent. Now he’s made a real name for himself over there.

We laugh all the time, because in our heads, we’re still just two assistants having fun on other people’s dimes.

JW: After seeing the show, I noticed, as opposed to other shows in the Disney brand, your show seems to come up with these crazy, fanciful names like Iron Weasel, Sushi, Hip Hop or Jazz? I have to know, why the name “Iron Weasel?” Or the other names?

RR: Iron Weasel was not the original name of the band. The band name went through 3-4 iterations from the time I pitched it to the time it got on the air. Part of that process was coming up with an original name whose domain wasn’t taken and was kid friendly. We ended up with Iron Weasel after a conference call between ourselves and Disney, who had a few tweens in the room to bounce ideas off of. They liked it, we liked it and it has a hard rock sound to it with a little bit of a wink and a smile with the word “weasel” in it. As for Sushi, Hip Hop, etc., those were episode specific names we came up with in the moment, every writer will find those.

JW: Peter Murrieta on another Disney show, WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE said running a show is like running a 7 Eleven. What are your thoughts on that?

RR: Every show is different, but I think the 7 Eleven reference speaks to how many things you have to deal with at once each day. I can tell you what running our show is like. It feels like a marathon. If you’re ahead when you’re in a race, you can coast a bit later; if you coast early you have to use all your energy in the end, which sucks when you’re burned out en route to shooting 22 episodes. That may work for some people but I’ve learned that the farther ahead you get earlier in the process, the easier and happier your life gets later. I think we started production this year with eight scripts done and nearly a dozen stories broken. We try to get far ahead in pre-production because inevitably something will slow you down in production. We’re a very production-heavy show, with big gags, lots of physical comedy and concert performances with pyro, lights, etc. We keep our stunt coordinator very busy. It’s tons of fun, but it requires planning and getting ahead early, which we’ve been able to do. Everyone on the show, from our writers to our actors to our production staff, is very happy. And that’s rare.

JW: In terms of your writing staff, how many people are on staff? What did you look for in hiring writers?

RR: We have seven writers. We really looked for “silver bullets” at every level and found them. At the end of the day, you’re really looking for writers who write scripts you love and who you can spend 15 hours in the writers room with.

JW: How many of those on your show have you worked with before?

RR: None.

JW: Oh wow, that’s interesting.

RR: We have a unique sensibility on our show and had a high bar in staffing. We asked for references from friends for writers who could write hard, multicam friendly jokes, versus more single cam, subtle irony and adult innuendo. We really wanted hard joke writers who were joke machines, as kids don’t understand irony, or so we we’re told.

JW: Back to the writing staff, in terms of actual writing samples when you were staffing, were they kid friendly or not? Or outrageous like your Jihad sample [laughs]?

RR: I always say, prior to I’M IN THE BAND, I had never written a kids’ show and I don’t plan to start writing one now. We don’t want kids’ show writers or kids show oriented specs. We want to read the funniest scripts out there because we basically take every joke pitched as if we were writing for a network sitcom and we adjust it to fit the show we’re on. We never want to write DOWN for kids. Kids are very smart and savvy and I personally do think kids get irony. They like being challenged.

JW: True.

RR: And you don’t want to dumb down jokes that are so simple that kids get bored. They are going to be on their ipads, laptops and iphones, playing games and watching your show anyways. Give them something fun that they can be challenged by. Also, we wanted a show that parents could watch and wonder “why isn’t this show on Friday nights at ABC?”

JW: What do you think of other musically minded shows like GLEE or HANNAH MONTANA?

RR: I love music centered shows. They are not hard to do; they are hard to do well. We put a lot of effort into music on the show. Michael and I co-write many of the songs and I help produce all the songs on the show with our fantastic writer/music partners – Stacy and Dave Wilde at Wilde West -- who have done an amazing job with the songs on the show.

When music shows are done right, they are some of the best entertainment on TV. There’s a reason that GLEE is hitting, they are tapping into something in the zeitgeist and using music to deliver comedy while having fun with universally relatable emotions and experiences.

There are days where I enjoy writing songs for our show more than writing for the show itself.

JW: Disney XD’s brand is geared towards a young male demographic. How do you see your show if it wasn’t on Disney XD. Would it be anywhere else?

RR: This was what I called a “sniper shot pitch” – targeted for one network -- versus other “machine gun pitches” which can be pitched in various places and you hope you hit any target across many networks. I had pitched Disney XD 1-2 ideas before. By the time I came to pitch I’M IN THE BAND, I knew what they wanted and tailored my pitch to exactly their needs. I was very lucky we saw eye to eye, and they had some great notes during the development process that really helped the show.

But could it work somewhere else? We do feel this show could live in what used to be TGIF evenings on ABC. Because unlike many kids shows on Disney or Nickelodeon, we have four adults as series regulars. That’s a risk Disney took and it’s rare. Our actors are really fantastic comedic adult actors, including Logan Miller, who is 18 playing 15, and I do think this show could live and be successful in a primetime ABC block targeted at families. We try to push for the edge, but it’s challenging doing a show about sex, drugs and rock and roll without the sex and drugs.

JW: Jane Espenson’s blog posted an entry on how very different the Sesame Street room ran. When a draft is done, clean copies are distributed to the Research department who all have Master's degrees and PhD's in education, child psychology, etc and give their comments to the head writer. Does your show do something like this especially dealing with kids?

RR: Not on a weekly basis but at the series level on an annual basis, yes. Disney does focus group testing with kids to see what works, what doesn’t work, etc. We, the producers, get invited to these focus groups and sit in on one side of a two-way mirror as kids either rave about or tear apart various aspects of the show. It’s a sobering experience hearing that brutal feedback -- some kids you shake your head at, some you want to adopt -- but we incorporate it all into our upcoming season’s direction and the show is ultimately better for it.

On a week-to-week basis, the challenge for us is dealing with Standards and Practices who have strong guidelines for what a Disney show should be. There’s a back and forth with that as we try to push for edgier content and they try to protect the brand. They know what parents will tolerate. We know what kids will laugh at. We meet somewhere in the middle.

JW: Were there edgy jokes you wrote and surprised you got away with?

RR: Absolutely. (But if Disney’s S&P group is reading this, then no, none at all.) We got away with things in season 1 we can’t do in season 2. Standard and Practices moves the goal line occasionally. But again, they’re just protecting the Disney brand, and I can understand and appreciate that as that’s their job.

JW: That’s interesting, because I watch a lot of ABC FAMILY shows like PRETTY LITTLE LIARS and SECRET LIFE OF AN AMERICAN TEENAGER are very much pushing the envelope. On PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, there was a long make out scene of a lesbian teenage couple and it feels like this isn’t even been seen on a network show?

RR: I had actually pitched other ideas to ABC FAMILY prior to pitching I’M IN THE BAND and they said the word “family” in their name was misleading because they were trying to edge up the brand. When you have the word “family” in your name, you think of wholesome content like LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and so forth. I don’t want to say that has been a hindrance for them, because they have been ridiculously successful. But their name doesn’t match their brand, which is one of the reasons why I think Disney launched Disney XD to target boys. It’s edgier than Disney Channel.

JW: With the recent move of Steve McPherson and now Paul Lee from ABC FAMILY to ABC, are there any programming hopes you have or even what you predict will happen?

RR: I don’t know if I can predict. But historically multi-camera sitcoms have been among the most successful programs, especially with recent syndication sales like BIG BANG THEORY. They’re cheaper to produce and are comfort comedy food that Middle America gets. I watch sitcom reruns late at night all the time and they’re gems. There’s just something wonderful about an audience laughing along with you. I would love to see ABC put on more multi-cams.

That’s part of the reason I was excited to work at Disney. When I was pitching a few years ago, there weren’t a lot of multi-camera shows at the networks. Disney and Nickelodeon were largely the ones developing them, and giving big orders. So that’s where I went to pitch a multicam show.

JW: And also CBS has a lot of traditional multi-camera shows.

RR: The funny thing about the word “traditional” is that as recently as of 2004/2005, shows like FRIENDS and WILL AND GRACE were “traditional” multicams and those shows were wildly successful. When I was at MTV, I asked the teenagers I worked with what they watched on TV. So many of them would say KING OF QUEENS reruns or similar sitcoms in syndication. We have a whole generation of viewers being raised on multicam sitcoms at Disney and Nickelodeon. They are primed for watching this format. And they’re catching it in reruns on cable. We’re not past the point of enjoying multicams; we’re breeding a new generation of multicam viewers. I’m hopeful that networks decide to develop multi-cams that are smart and savvy in the spirit of many single camera shows that have been developed recently.

JW: Stepping outside of what we’ve talked about, what are your favorite shows?

RR: ANDY RICHTER CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE was one of the reasons I became a writer. It was quirky and irreverent and more recently and 30 ROCK has captured that same quirky brilliance. COMMUNITY’s writing has such great cadence and is always good for a smart laugh. On the non-scripted side, I love TOSH.0 on Comedy Central. I’m laughing my butt off at that show. Notice that there no multicams on this list. Not enough on the air right now to choose from.

JW: Are there any of these shows you mentioned or didn’t, Emmy-wise that you’re rooting for? Or even shows that you wish were nominated?

RR: A huge omission was I’M IN THE BAND for a kids’ show nomination! [laughs] I would have loved to have seen COMMUNITY nominated. But they’re a first year show, they’ll hopefully earn it next season. 30 Rock is just genius. You could shoot that show in front of a live audience and the jokes would get huge laughs.

But one of my biggest gripes about the Emmy nomination process is that many dramedies are being considered as comedies. I would love to see half hour comedies, dramas and dramedies in their own categories.

JW: What about half hour comedy blends? Like NURSE JACKIE, WEEDS or HUNG?

RR: I’d have to watch those shows more closely but I’ll say half-hour comedies are half-hour comedies. If a half-hour show’s primary goal is to make people laugh, they belong in the comedy category. Otherwise, I think these half-comedy/half-drama one-hour submissions just muddy the process of selecting a best comedy. There are some great one-hour shows that fall into that category, and they deserve their own “Dramedy” category to be nominated in.

JW: Any last words? Or anything else about your show?

RR: Thanks for taking the time to interview me, I appreciate it. As Ash on our show would say, “All good questions, bro. All good questions.”

Amanda the Aspiring Writer is AWESOME

2010-06-11T21:24:00.001-07:00

Hope everyone is writing along and doing well. Hold on tight, we'll hopefully post more interviews up here soon.

Also, just wanted to take a moment to thank our friend Amanda (http://aspiringtvwriter.blogspot.com/) who plugged us on her blog. We think she's awesome. It's obvious but just so you know...

Disney ABC TV Writing Program Notes

2010-05-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

HWAS would like to thank everyone for coming out to the Disney ABC Writing Program event on May 17^th. We would also like to thank our friends from ABC: Frank Gonzalez, Ollie Ashtari-Larki and this year’s fellows: Zahir McGhee and Phonz Williams. (Phonz is a part of HWAS and attended last year’s event).

Below is a summary of the event. Not a lot has changed since last year. But we have also included more details of the selection process and pointed out changes where there are any.

OVERVIEW

This year marks the 20^th Anniversary of the Disney ABC Writing Program. As the program continues to evolve, some key things of note are:

The program will no longer be referred to as a “fellowship”. ABC believes that disbanding the moniker is a more appropriate way to designate that the program is not an internship or place where one trains to write, but is a program of professional writers.

The program is about a diversity of voices, not necessarily about diversity of an ethnic background.

Disney’s affiliate networks and ABC Studios do not have a diversity hire so the Disney ABC Program works similarly to an in house agency.

The Disney ABC Program is the only one of its kind in that it is WGA sanctioned. This is why the program does not accept original material. The program is designed to develop writers, not material. Fellows who are accepted actually earn WGA points.

The Program is built to be long-term where Frank and Ollie try to help you even when you leave. They try to help you find an agent and manager and to connect with past fellows. It’s about building one’s career.

APPLICATION DETAILS

Applications for the 2011 fellowship became available online June 1^st-July 1^st. Frank and Ollie recommend that you download the application first, create a checklist for yourself and put it aside to work on you spec script. Your script will not be read if your application is not filled out properly or is incomplete. Furthermore, this will allow you to focus solely on your script knowing that all other application materials are prepared. It’s also important to note that no original material is accepted and like always it is one (1) spec script from an existing show still on the air as of July 1^st (i.e. renewed shows).

Also, if you are a writing team, you would take up two spots in the program and both writers need to apply separately. Frank expressed that while it’s not impossible to get in as a writing team, it is much more difficult because the team would take two spots and writing teams have been rare.

Some changes: there is no notary this year and everything is electronic (last year it was both electronic and hard copy applications).

Applications are due July 1, 2010.

APPLICATION PROCESS (June 1^st- July 1^st )

Last year there were roughly 1500 applicants. Eight were selected as fellows (four drama writers and four comedy writers). Each year the program runs from February through February, paying fellows $961.54 a week ($50,000 annually) with benefits. Many fellows get staffed as a writer on a show associated within the Disney Corporate family (i.e. ABC Entertainment, Disney Channel, ABC Family, ABC Studios, etc).

Once your application materials are in, 22 professional readers will do a first pass reading of your spec script. All readers are given a “test” to make sure they meet the sensibilities and standard of what the program looks for. This “test” is consists of giving the reader a script to do coverage on. All readers have worked professionally doing coverage before. As to which scripts go to which readers, the readers are asked to list the shows they watch and scripts are assigned accordingly.

THE SPEC

It’s important that you spec a show that people are familiar with. It’s okay to spec a cable show, but make sure it’s a successful and well established. If a reader doesn’t know the show you’ve written a spec for, they’ll have a difficult time judging your writing. Ollie suggested that how to gauge if a show is specable is that if it’s a network show, it should be in its second season at least and a cable show to be in its third season. It’s important do a show that is well known. For example, don’t write a SPARTACUS.

And as for the spec itself, it’s about having a good script with a great voice that SPARKS. Capture the show with an interesting twist.

Random note. A lot of scripts that came in last year included: Entourage, The Office, 30 Rock. Some that came in moderately included: The Big Bang Theory. Ollie said there were only a handful of Fringe scripts.

When submitting your application you have to check a box for comedy or drama. If you write a DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES spec (drama), you would check 1 hour drama. All one hours are dramas and all half hours are comedies for the sake of this application process. To get an idea of what got in last year, Phonz wrote a MAD MEN spec and Zahir wrote FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS spec.

THE SCORING PROCESS

The scripts are read blindly by the 22 readers and scored from 1 to 100. The highest scoring scripts from the first pass and by two readers (i.e. a score of 88 and above by two readers) are passed on. The top 60 scripts are read by Disney ABC executives.

THE SEMI-FINALISTS

These 60 scripts receive a phone interview. Applicants who make the cut will be contacted between November and mid-December for a phone interview.

Some tips including SHOWING YOUR PASSION FOR TV. An example Ollie brought up was someone who mentioned he/she was a feature writer and decided to give TV a try on a whim. This program is not for those who want to “try” TV. It is for those who are passionate and know the TV landscape and are serious about working in TV. Fellows chosen are those who watch TV and write. One thing both Frank and Ollie emphasized is that “writers write.” It’s about being serious and wanting to work in TV and continually honing your skills.

Phonz mentioned that he didn’t get into the program until the fourth time he had applied but kept writing and honing his craft every year.

Some sample questions that have been asked include:

What do you watch on TV?
What is appointment TV for you?
What do you think of (insert show here aforementioned)?
How do you think this show demonstrates who you are as a writer?
What do your friends say about you?

The phone interview is to assess what you bring to the table as a writer and WHERE you fit/can be staffed. BE CLEAR who you are as a person and writer and have a strong sense of self.

What can make or break a phone interview is to not be articulate. And not know who you are as a writer.

Another thing of note was having industry experience, while it’s not required, a lot of the nuances of working and fitting in a writers’ room are things you learn through practical experience. You have an advantage as someone who understands how the business works and how to make contacts. The program has noted a higher success rate for those with industry experience too.

For example, Phonz worked in the TV Lit department of an agency and was a writers’ assistant. Zahir is an MFA Screenwriting graduate, participated in the CBS Writing Program last year, and worked for the NAACP Image Awards.

At this point, it becomes crucial to have a second spec script and a full portfolio (roughly two specs and an original). Again Frank and Ollie emphasized “writers write!” And your portfolio does not break down into all one hour drama scripts or all half hour scripts. You can have a half hour spec and a one hour dramedy. In fact, the more ways you can stretch yourself and sell yourself as a writer is better. For example, when fellows went out to be staffed on a dramedy such as UGLY BETTY in the past, you could be asked to send in a half hour sample or a one hour sample.

Applicants are given a “survey” at this stage, which is a follow up to their application to update the Disney ABC Writing Program on what you have done as a writer to further accomplish your goals. This can include, listing more scripts you’ve written, obtaining an assistant job on a show, taking a writing class, obtaining an agent or manager, etc.

Finally, if the phone interview goes well, the applicant proceeds to the three-day interview process.

INTERVIEW PROCESS/FINALISTS STAGE…A THREE DAY PROCESS

The top 28 applicants are called in for the final interviews. The interview process tests their interpersonal skills, personality and experience. The key to this stage of the game is to be able to show the program how well you represent yourself and it’s about finding a candidate who you can work 12-14 hour days with i.e. someone who can imagine being in a writer’s room with. Don’t be afraid to talk and engage with others.

Day One Mixer: There will be a mixer with finalists and executives. When the night is over executives will discuss their perception of the finalists individually. They will be asking questions like; did he or she treat everyone at the mixer with respect? Can he or she work on a staff? Could he or she function within a writing room?

Phonz shared that the people who made it into the program this were people who stood out at the mixer, were friendly and MEMORABLE. Something else to point out is that the mixer also includes executives, the Disney ABC Program staff and showrunners.

Day Two Interviews: A group of nine ABC Disney Executives will interview finalists individually.

Day Three Panel Sessions: This was liken to a “firing squad.” The panels will consist of producers from different shows who will ask further questions of finalists. This will give finalists a good idea of the kind of questions that Showrunners ask. Zahir and Phonz jokingly mentioned people such as Carlton Cuse may be interviewing you, so no pressure.

THE INNER WORKINGS OF BEING A FELLOW

First 30 Days: When you start the fellowship, the first thirty days is like a boot camp. It’s actually the only part of the program where you don’t write.

You come in for four hours each day. You focus on story structure and participate in workshops. You will not only be improving your writing, but improving how you present yourself as a writer and how you pitch yourself. There will be guest lectures about pitching and how to present yourself, as well as an improv workshop.

During this time, executives will be looking at your material to see if they respond to it and to get an idea of where you would fit in. You’ll have the chance to take meetings with Disney ABC shows, where showrunners will be interviewing you not only as a fellow, but as a potential staff writer.

Also the spec you wrote to get in will get a polish with more notes and table reads.

First 60 Days: If you haven’t been staffed within the first sixty days of the program you are now paired up with:

Overall Executive Mentor: This Executive will be in current programming or development. This person is your checkpoint through the duration of the fellowship.

Spec Script Mentor: This Creative Executive will work with you on your second spec.

Alumni Membership Component: You will be paired up with three to four fellowship alumni who will mentor you throughout the year.

Here it is a continual process to get the fellow staffed, A CD is made of the writer (bio, headshot, video) and sent internally to execs (kind of like an internal writers’ road show) as shows get picked up, you start meeting on shows.

APPLICATION TIPS:

Download application now and finish first, then focus on your script. Make a checklist to ensure that all application materials are together.
Don’t be too fancy with your presentation.
Scripts should be typed and in standard industry format. Nothing handwritten.
Triple check for typos and other mistakes as basic grammatical errors will hurt your application.
Autobiographical Summary: This should be about one paragraph. Be honest and open. What have you done that maybe isn’t listed on your resume? What kind of experiences have you had?
Statement of Interest: What’s your pitch? Why would this program be good for you at this point in your career?

In all, good luck with your applications and spec scripts everyone and we look forward to seeing everyone at the next mixer!

ABC/Disney Television Writing Fellowship

2010-05-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all who came out last night and the really awesome words and support for HWAS. YOU GUYS ROCK.

FYI...
Frank Gonzalez and Ollie Ashtari-Larki from ABC will speak to the HWAS folks on 5/17 Mon. Email hollywoodwritersoffice@gmail.com if you haven't already gotten an invite.

As always, if you would like to approach a writer for a blog interview please let us know and keep an eye out here for notes posted from the ABC/Disney Television Writing Fellowship event in the event you're totally uncool and decide to miss the event! Repeated "event" three times. But anyways, just sayin', don't be uncool..

Next Mixer...

2010-04-06T22:43:00.001-07:00

is May 6th @ Formosa Cafe. Email hollywoodwritersoffice@gmail.com for invite.

FYI- What Shows to Spec

2010-03-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-to-spec-what-to-spec.html

Just Checking In...

2010-03-06T00:55:00.000-08:00

Watch your inbox for a new mixer should be coming up soon. As for the blog, let us know about any interviews that you would like to write for the blog. Email us at hollywoodwritersoff@gmail.com. In the meantime, we're also on twitter: http://twitter.com/hwoodwritersoff.

Videogames to Staffed Writer: Interview with Kira Snyder By Jeane Wong

2009-12-07T00:23:00.000-08:00

Kira has been writing her whole life, in different forms. From working in the videogame industry and theatre world, Kira explains how she made the jump into her current form of writing-- on a staff of a television series. Currently Staff Writer on Eureka, Kira previously was Staff Writer on Moonlight and sold a pilot to Cartoon Network as part of their new live-action initiative.

JW: I see you started off in the theatre world. Did you want to act?

KS: I was a drama major in college. I started off wanting to be a stage actor but then I discovered writing. After graduating I worked in theatre doing a little bit of everything, writing and producing, teaching, directing, even backstage work like costumes and lighting. All that has been very helpful background for screenwriting, both as it informs my writing and during production.

Playwriting is a lot of fun and very rewarding. Developing a piece with a director and actors and hearing a live audience’s reaction to your work is a fantastic experience. In a city like Los Angeles with so many talented actors and a thriving theater community, it’s easier than you might think to get your work produced.

JW: Then later you worked in the gaming world, how does one apply and break into that industry as a writer?

KS: My main focus in games has been design -- I still do a little game consulting off and on -- but I’ve done a fair amount of writing as well. Like screenwriting, there isn’t one single path to becoming a game writer. Mine was ridiculously straightforward: I answered an ad on the Electronic Arts jobs site. The WGA has a Videogame Caucus and the International Game Developers Association has a Writing subgroup, both of which are great resources on how to break in. In general, game companies looking for writers want to see if you have credits, good samples, and an understanding of writing for interactive media.

JW: Do you need to be technical or have a technical background to write for games?

KS: Not necessarily, although it can help, just like understanding physical production can make you a better screenwriter. Some companies like BioWare may ask as part of the application process that you use their tools in submitting a writing sample.

JW: I know for all the people reading the HWAS blog here, they may have the writing samples but not the credentials but want to write everywhere they can. On a game, there are jobs that can be a stepping stone to being a writer? Like there are PAs in TV or movies?

KS: Not so much for writers. The videogame business is very competitive, like TV or film. It’s hard to find a way to break in. Game companies tend to hire writers on an as-needed basis for each specific project, and sometimes only from within, say there’s an artist or engineer who also writes and asks to try their hand at it. But if you have a good sample and love games, you can do your homework on a company and its projects and just apply, whether they have a listed opening for a writer or not. You never know.

More broadly speaking in games, though, there are entry-level jobs such as quality assurance tester and customer service. Being a game tester is not as glamorous or fun as it sounds, getting paid to play games all day, because you’re often playing the same small piece over and over and over looking for a particular glitch, but it’s a great way to learn the business and see firsthand what makes for good game design and an engaging player experience. I know a lot of people who started out as testers and worked their way up to producers and designers. A lot of companies hire interns too, and like TV and film there are schools where you can study game design and production. Many companies hire out of those programs.

JW: So I saw that you’re from the Bay area, what is your background growing up?

KS: Well, my Dad was in the Navy so we moved around a lot, but I mainly grew up in Virginia. I came out west to Stanford for undergrad, and got my Masters from NYU-Tisch in Interactive Telecommunications. Then I came back to Northern California for work. The Bay Area’s a major center of the videogame industry.

JW: Eventually when you moved down to LA, what was your break?

KS: I was writing TV specs on the side while working at Yahoo Games. I was familiar with the Warner Bros. TV Drama Writers Workshop but had never applied as I was not down here. When my job moved me down to LA, I applied to the Workshop with a Cold Case spec. I had a really great mentor during the program, Chris Mack, who’s an executive at WBTV and who now runs the Workshop. They sent my material to Moonlight, the executive producers met with me, and I was staffed. That was my first job in the industry.

JW: When you started writing TV, what from your background influenced your writing?

KS: From playwriting, I love rich characters and dialogue, and from games, I love action and other genre elements. Moonlight was a fun show to work on because we were able to tell a lot of different type of stories. The show had a detective mystery element, vampire lore and action, and this epic paranormal romance at its heart. It was not always the same story. It was a lot of fun to play around with those different themes.

It’s why I love Eureka as well. It tells cool sci fi stories, contains quirky comedy, and has deep and relatable character relationships at the center of the show. There are a lot of tools in our toolbox.

JW: When you were working on Moonlight, did you have any idea that vampires was going to be something as huge as it is now? Did you have any inkling that vampires were going to be this trendy?

KS: Vampires never really go out of style. But I think that when I was on Moonlight, we were ahead of the vampire curve. We had a really dedicated fan base. So that was a clue as to how many people out there respond to these types of stories.

JW: So what do you think of the vampire shows on the air?

KS: I like them a lot. I love True Blood. And Vampire Diaries is fun. And all of them are different, that’s one of the cool things with vampires, you can change up the mythology to create something that’s familiar but also your own.

JW: Going back to your writing, what does your writing portfolio look like?

KS: I have a Dexter spec. I have a couple of original drama pilots, a feature, a comic book script, my plays, and even a short story. My Veronica Mars is past its expiration date but depending on the show is still a good sample. At least that’s what my agent tells me... One thing I feel that I’m missing is a solid comedy sample, and I want to try a half-hour. Maybe a pilot, or a single-camera spec like Modern Family.

JW: A lot of people talk about high concept pilots now such like Dexter with its twist. What do you think of that in terms of building your portfolio?

KS: Writing a pilot is your chance to create something that is uniquely yours, and yes, sometimes the key is finding that high concept hook to stand out. One way to go for that is to explore a premise that is familiar but different: Dexter is about a guy who hunts serial killers... and is a serial killer himself. The X-Files is about FBI agents solving crimes... of a paranormal nature. But you shouldn’t feel limited in a pilot to some catchy high concept. Damages, Sons of Anarchy, and Breaking Bad are fantastic shows, but while their premises are great I’m not sure you’d call them high concept. With the growth of the scripted market in cable, there are so many places looking for shows that fit their specific voice, so you should feel free in a pilot to write what you want, even kooky, complicated, uncategorizable stuff. You can do anything.

JW: But some still find it difficult to create a world.

KS: It’s challenging, all the things you need to set up in a pilot. The world of the show, the characters and their relationships, and the story engine, because that is where all your episodes will come from. The engine’s easy to determine in some genres: on a doctor show, new stories come in the door every day. On a lawyer show, there are new cases. On a cop show, new crimes. In a sci fi show it might be the new planet you visit or adventure you embark on every week. The characters and their relationships are themselves an engine, and sometimes the only engine in character-driven shows. On Mad Men, the business of the ad agency and its clients is the source of many stories, but even more so are the relationships and politics between the people who inhabit that world. Every show needs that engine, or it’ll run out of stories.

At the end of the day your show’s really about the characters you create, and their relationships. I heard a panelist at a WGA seminar on pitching for TV say that essentially every show is a family show, which I think is a great insight. They’re all family shows! Whether it’s a metaphorical family of cops on The Shield or ad execs on Mad Men or a literal family as on Brother and Sisters or Modern Family.

JW: In terms of writers, who do you want to work with?

KS: That is a long list. Ron Moore. Jane Espenson. Shawn Ryan. Josh Schwartz. J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse. John Wells. Joss Whedon. I could go on…

JW: Any advice for writers applying to the WBTV Workshop, the ABC/Disney Fellowship, or similar programs?

KS: Well, first of all write and submit the best script you can, of course. In the interview stage, that old cliché “be yourself” applies. By that I mean not just avoiding being schmoozy or false, or putting on a personality that’s not yours. I’ve found that the people you’re meeting with are interested to hear what’s unique about you, what about your writing is coming from you and you alone. For me, people were intrigued with my theatre and videogaming background, and how I brought those experiences into my writing. Even the fact that I was a Navy kid and grew up all over the world was something people were interested in hearing about. So heading into these interviews it’s worth thinking about how you’ll bring fresh perspective to their program and the industry. It can be professional or life experiences -- in my year at the WBTV Workshop, there were a few people who had been lawyers, or had an unusual family -- or just your outlook.

JW: To wrap things up, once the writing is theoretically done, what did you do to put yourself out there? How did you go about and cultivate relationships as a writer?

KS: Well, I’m not the best at going out to big networking mixers. Some people get a lot out of those situations, but that kind of thing is really hard for me. I think the most effective networking is the kind you’re not even consciously doing. You get to know people naturally, through UCLA Extension classes or writing groups or jobs or side projects, and just stay in touch. The industry feels very big, but it really is a community. You’ll see the same people again and again as you move through your career, and people at your level will progress as you do, I’ve found. I’m still friends with my WBTV Workshop group, and over half of us are working screenwriters now.

Disney Fellowship Application

2009-12-01T16:54:00.000-08:00

They just started calling Disney Fellowship applicants who have advanced to the next level this week. Good luck everyone!

Theatre Tickets Discount

2009-09-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Hello all, there's a special price to see a theatre company's show at the SeaGlass Theatre.

Normal ticket price is $22. For HWAS folks, it's $10.

Theatre's website:
www.seaglasstheatre.org

Their first review:
http://losangeles.broadwayworld.com/article/Wonder_of_Wonders_in_Burbank_20010101

The show is in Burbank (on Victory near Hollywood Way). There's free street parking as well as parking in the Burbank Library lot across the street.

Should be a fun event and hopefully everyone can get some networking in.

If you're interested in how to get the HWAS discount, please email hollywoodwritersoffice@gmail.com.

CAA Mailroom to Staff Writer: An Interview with Kirill Baru

2009-08-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

by Diana Peterson

I met Kirill when I was working as an assistant to a TV Packaging Agent at CAA. He was working in the mailroom. Kirill told me he graduated from UCLA. I felt an instant sense of alumni camaraderie. Later, he would tell me that he hadn’t attended UCLA. He’d been telling people that he went to different prestigious schools...USC, NYU...to prove a point: “If it’s a good story, it doesn’t matter. If it’s a good story, it doesn’t matter where you graduated.”

Kirill Baru and his writing partner Eric Zimmerman recently completed their first Staff Writing job on Comedy Central’s “Secret Girlfriend.”

DIANA PETERSON: How did you first get started in Hollywood?

KIRILL BARU: I was born in the Ukraine, but grew up in Chicago. When I was eighteen I moved out to LA to study screenwriting at Chapman University. It was a good school, but I wasn’t challenged at the time. I really wanted to be in the thick of things. I dropped out of Chapman after freshman year and started taking classes at Santa Monica College. I applied to USC, but didn’t get in. So I started moonlighting, going to SMC for classes during the day, and going to USC at night to take film classes, pretending to be a screenwriting student.

DP: Was this USC extension, or were you literally pretending to be a USC Screenwriting student?

KB: I was literally going to classes pretending to be a student. The teachers were asking for my ID number and I was making one up. They would say the ID number didn’t go through and I was like I’ll look into it. I met a lot of the friends that I have now from the screenwriting program. There were twelve people in the program and I was lucky number 13. So I did that for a year, going to USC and SMC...not paying for tuition but getting the education, and after that I decided to go to U of I and graduate for real before going back out to LA.

DP: How did your parents feel about all that?

KB: They’ve been very supportive of everything that I’ve done from day one and I don’t know what else I could ask for. So they let me go back to U of I and I was there for a year and a half. One of my best friends from high school was Eric Zimmerman and we decided that we were going to graduate U of I, come back to CA, me for the second time and him for the first, and try writing something together.

DP: From what I see now, it has worked out. How did your break happen?

KB: We were in love with the show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” The show covers every taboo and we thought, man, they really haven’t touched on AIDS. So we wrote the AIDS script and sent out query letters to managers and agents, getting back no response. Then one day, our third roommate at the time, Jake, got an email that the “It’s Always Sunny...” guys were doing a panel at USC. At this time I was working in the CAA mailroom. That day I was supposed to give our spec to my coworker Spencer. Only Spencer was sick that day, so I went to the USC panel with our script in my bag. At the panel, someone asked them if they were looking for new writers for season five and they said, “Yeah we are. We’re sick of writing everything ourselves. We’re overwhelmed by how much content we have to write.” So Eric and I turn to each other and we think, okay this is it. So we did what we’ve been told from day one at Chapman, USC...everywhere: “Do not just go up to a celebrity and give him a script.”

We put it in a manila envelope and walked up to Rob McElhenney. I said, “Hi Rob, we have a gift for you.” The teacher yelled at us. [We were going to get reprimanded, he thought we were USC students.] We thought Rob was going to throw it out, but either way the most that we’ve lost is thirty pages. The day that the writers’ strike ended I got a call from Rob. He said “We looked at your script and we loved it.” I had kind of a heart attack at this point. This is our favorite show on TV and we’re going in to interview.

So we went in for the “Sunny” interview, walked out and immediately got the call that they wanted another spec from us. Eric and I didn’t have another spec, but we said had an “Office” spec. “We have to go back to work right now, but can we email you something in six hours?” So we called in sick to work, and we did the best six hour office spec that you can think of. It’s not very good, but we sent it in to 3 Arts. And we got the call a week later. Rob said, Look guys, how old are you? And we say, we’re twenty-two. Look guys, you are young, you don’t have any experience and you’re funny, but we can’t hire you to be writers on the show. We already have a writers’ assistant, but if you want to just come in and be executive assistants to us, it’s a one man job but both of you can have it. We’ll pay you guys double what we’re willing to pay to have you guys around, learning how to run a show, and in the meantime all you’re going to do is get lunch for us. Other than that you’re going to write eight hours a day. So Eric and I were thought, “Hell yeah.” We got our own office and we started writing our own stuff and working on “Sunny.” We were on that for about a year and we were coming up with pilots. At the time, they were looking to get us to stay another year as their assistants, but we were hoping to get a show. At this point we had gotten an agent because someone at FX had given it to someone at Paradigm. At our one year mark, we got a call from Comedy Central, and so Eric and I weighed our options. Stay another year working on our favorite show with our favorite people, or go to this comedy central show where we would be staff writers. So we decided for the second time, to just dive into it, go for it and we went onto this comedy central show – “Secret Girlfriend,” which premieres in October.

DP: Did you get a script in at “Secret Girlfriend”?

KB: Yes. We even got a cameo in an episode. It was a great first job.

DP: I’m really impressed with your ability to put yourself out there. It’s something that I’ve struggled with a lot with in the past. How did you gain that skill?

KB: First time I ever put myself out there, I was interning at Adam Herz’s Universal shingle, Terra Firma Films. While I was there they started an emerging writers program. The way that you got into the program was you submit the first fifteen pages of the script and they decide if they like it or not. They even put up an ad in Variety that they were looking for script submissions. I was nervous about submitting, so I submitted under a fake name. A couple of weeks later, I asked the main assistant, “Have you made any decisions about the emerging writers program?” She said, “You know, everything we got sucks, except we got this one script by Michael Bloom.” Michael Bloom was my fake name. So Adam throws the script on my desk and says read this, tell me what you think. He put my own script on my desk and I’m sitting there sweating bullets. I went up to Adam’s office and admitted that I was the one who had submitted under the fake name. And he said, “That’s what you’ve got to do. Congratulations you’re in the writers program.” That was my first attempt. Doing stuff that could get you fired is really the stuff that helps you succeed. And if you get fired, they weren’t going to promote you to writer anyway.

It’s a matter of being assertive and knowing that you’re either valuable or expendable. There really is no grey area. It’s about gauging which you are, and if you’re expendable, it’s time to move on. And if you’re valuable, make the most of your situation.

DP: You have a background in improv and stand up comedy. How does this help you when working in a comedy writers’ room?

KB: One of the rules in improv is no matter what idea someone brings to the table, you must say yes and keep adding on top of that idea. I think there’s a lot of that there in television writing. In terms of standup, I feel I haven’t really conquered it yet. The difficulty in stand up is this – standup is really about finding your own voice. For me it’s been much easier to find my voice in other characters, than my own voice in myself. I think that has to do with conviction. If you’re a standup comic you have to be very confident in your persona, and what your view of the world is. I don’t know if it’s my age or my maturity, but I’m still questioning way too many things to have any concrete opinion on life.

DP: What’s it like working with a writing partner?

KB: I’ve known Eric since I was fourteen years old. We have a level of trust that is unparalleled. Anything can be said. No hard feelings. In terms of process, we sit down and start with: what kind of stories do we want to tell, where are we at in our lives? Eric and I are 24-year-olds. The big thing in our lives is that we chose a creative path in our lives. A lot of our friends that we grew up with did not. Who made the right choice? Trying to figure out world ideas. Do we believe in love? Do we believe in relationships? We have a big whiteboard. We write everything down and do an outline. When it comes to writing we write together. Most writing partners split everything up. I own a projector so I project onto the wall in my bedroom and one of us sits at the keyboard while the other paces. Every single word is discussed.

DP: What advice do you have for aspiring writers thinking about moving to Los Angeles?

KB: It’s hard, but the prospect of succeeding is exciting. If that overwhelms your fear then you should be here. There’s always fear. There’s fear now. We’re not professors. We don’t have tenure. My best advice is to just come out here. Taking classes is always a good idea. Go to UCLA extension, UCB, Groundlings. Surround yourself with people who you think you can learn from, like-minded people, not people that are going to drag you down.

DP: What final words do you have for your career so far?

KB: I should have listened to my mom and just become a doctor.

Sharing some good news...

2009-08-15T23:52:00.000-07:00

HWAS would like to congratulate Alessia Costantini for getting staffed on SCRUBS!

HWAS Social: Tuesday August 25

2009-08-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday evening August 25th assistants, coordinators and writers will mix and mingle on the rooftop bar of Formosa Cafe.

If you attended our events in February and April, you know this is a great opportunity to meet other writers in a casual friendly setting.

Starting at 8 PM.

Please RSVP at: hollywoodwritersoffice@gmail.com

An Interview with Screenwriter & TV Executive Producer Scott Rosenberg

2009-07-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

by Diana Peterson

Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg has penned such films as BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, CON AIR, HIGH FIDELITY and GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS. Scott transitioned to TV in 2007 when he created and Executive Produced ABC’s OCTOBER ROAD. He then Executive Produced and developed LIFE ON MARS for ABC. Scott is currently working on an upcoming ABC show, HAPPY TOWN, that he created with producing partners Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec.

DIANA PETERSON: How did you get your start in Hollywood and at what point did you find your voice as a writer?

SCOTT ROSENBERG: I was always a writer. It was the only thing I was ever good at. Even in elementary school; I was the kid that would write the poem to read to the entire class. Then when I was going to college in Boston, I was a creative writing minor. There was this girl that I liked that was moving to LA for a year before she started law school. I followed her out here ‘cause I liked her. That’s how I got my career started. I started as a stalker. If you’re out in California, you eventually find your way to this thing called the screenplay. ‘Cause I loved movies and I started reading a whole bunch of screenplays and then I started writing a whole bunch of screenplays and then I eventually applied to USC and I went there for a bit. Then I went to UCLA. Then I went back to NYU. I basically went to all the fancy film schools, but I never graduated.

DP: That’s interesting. I actually attended UCLA’s film school as an undergrad and noticed that you’re always listed in the alumni book. I had no idea that you didn’t graduate.

SR: All three schools claim that I’m an alumni. The funniest thing is that every year all three schools send me a letter saying if you want to graduate just fill out this form. They all want to be able to claim you as an alumni any time you have any kind of credit.

DP: Did any of those programs help you at all in terms of finding an agent or is that something that you did on your own?

SR: They all helped me in their different ways. When I was at UCLA I came in third place in this thing called the Samuel Goldwyn Awards and that’s how I got my first agent. Then a friend of my mine, Gary Fleder, who was at USC, asked me to write what became his thesis film and I did. Every year there’s the hot shit short film and that year it was ours. So I went from my little agent to a bigger agent. Joel Silver loved our short and he was doing the show TALES FROM THE CRYPT. He hired us immediately, Gary to direct and for me to write. We did a couple of those and then it went from there. We later sold him a pitch, then we were on our way. I had meetings and people interested in me, but it takes that first person to say, “I’m actually going to pay this guy money.” Then everybody else who was saying, “We like him, but he’s never done anything,” they all went...“Oh, well, Joel Silver hired him, okay.” Then I started working.

DP: It seems that you had a lot of early success but did you ever encounter mistakes? Pitfalls?

SR: Mistakes? I don’t know if there were any terrible mistakes. I remember I used to wear a necktie to every meeting. Not a suit. Just a shirt and a necktie. I’m from Boston. People out here are way more casual. I don’t think I made any mistakes, but purely on the anecdotal. I had a meeting with this guy, I don’t remember who he was, but he was a pretty powerful fellow. I didn’t have a car at the time; I rode a motorcycle and it was broken. So my girlfriend at the time was giving me a ride to his office on the Sony lot. We were stopped at a red light and this guy was crossing. My girlfriend, by mistake, inched out a little bit and almost hit him. He got really pissed, turned around, and called her a very nasty name. And I was nervous about this meeting and everything so I just went crazy on this guy, calling him a fucking asshole and how dare you talk to my girl this way. My girl was, like, Scott settle down, stop it. She literally drove me away from this guy cause it was going to get bloody and...you know where this story is going...she drops me off and I walk into the meeting and that’s who I’m meeting with.

DP: That’s a great story.

SR: It was at the point where there was nothing either of us could do besides laugh. He smiled at me and I smiled at him and we had the meeting.

DP: Is working in TV as rewarding for you as working in features? Or is it hard to compare because it’s an entirely different beast?

SR: I never expected it to last as long as it did. I was just going to go do this one show. And then one show became two shows and now three shows. I definitely want to get back into writing the movies, but the one thing that you just can’t deny in TV is that instant validation. In features, on my luckiest movie, it was a year, from page to stage. In TV, if I want to put my conversation with you on TV right now, we’d be shooting it in a week. It’s unbelievable and it’s also very seductive because the writer is the boss, whereas in features ...and I’ve been lucky in features, I’ve definitely been involved more so than a lot of screenwriters, but here (in TV) it’s like every piece of music I want to put in the show I decide. When it comes to casting, I decide. Wardrobe. It’s all...like the director. The director in features is like what the Executive Producer/Writer is in TV. It can’t be beat. It’s the reason why a lot of these feature guys...when they come to TV they sort of get addicted to it.

DP: Given the current climate of the industry, would you suggest that young writers go into film or television? Or does it just come down to writing what you love?

SR: I think now more than ever the line of demarcation is very blurred. I think you can do both. It’s probably easier to get a feature going, or get work in features. On “Happy Town” we’re hiring writers and every writer that we hire has to have had credits. So how the hell are you supposed to break in? There really isn’t a tremendous spec market in TV because they aren’t even going to read your scripts if you write a spec pilot. But in features if you just keep writing, you can write whatever you want.

I get those calls all the time about how to break in. It’s really frustrating from both ends of that question. There is no one set rule. If you talk to ten writers they will tell ten different ways of how they broke in. Whereas talk to ten stockbrokers and they’ll tell a different (kind of) story...“Well, I went to this business school and I started on this guy’s desk and that’s how I wound up on Wall Street.” But in screenwriting everyone has a different way, everyone has a different avenue, so it’s really very frustrating to try to give advice on that level. The easy answer, but it sounds pat and glib and obnoxious is...just to write a good script ‘cause they are dying for it. All my friends that are agents and producers and directors say that when that great script comes along in town everybody knows about it. And I think that in features it affords you to basically take the leash.

DP: Do you advise young writers to have an industry assistant job, whether it’s a production company or agency, versus learning about the industry but doing something outside of it to get a different experience?

SR: This has been my mantra for years. I think everybody should do one year of working in the industry and then immediately just bagging groceries at Ralphs. The reason I say that is that jobs in the industry are incredibly difficult and time consuming. You work fifteen hour days and you have to think about it when you come home. What all of that does is it takes you away from your writing. When I first got to LA I was doing all these industry jobs and I was exhausted and I wasn’t writing. All of a sudden I was like I am not doing this anymore. So I literally got a job as a truck driver. When I parked that truck at six o’clock at night I didn’t think about that truck until six o’clock the next morning. It was such a brain dead job that it allowed me to come home and do what was most important; sit down at the computer and start writing. I think that a lot of people get that industry job ‘cause our friends and our family back home are all worried about us and they say you’re never going to make it. You have a better chance of winning the NY State Lottery then selling a screenplay. So you say, “Hey, look mom and dad, I got a job at the WEST WING,” or “Look mom and dad, I’m working for Dick Clark.” But that’s not really helping us get where we want to go, which is to be paid to write. You know it’s that same thing, “Look mom and dad, I’m working at this grocery store.” Then mom and dad tell their friends and nobody’s happy. I understand why people do it, but I really think if you’re a real writer, you should be writing. You should be doing whatever you have to do to put food on the table, but it should never get in the way of the writing.

DP: What’s your writing process? And how does the way you approach a pilot for television differ from the way you approach a screenplay?

SR: In TV we have a writing staff. There are 10 people sitting in the writers’ room and we all outline together. It’s also different because you are dealing with acts (for commercial breaks). We basically do it all together and then the writer peels off and writes that script. So it’s a little different because in features. You are outlining in the same way, but in three acts. At a certain point I come up with a good idea for a movie and I think about it a lot. For a couple weeks I drive around with it and then when I feel like I am ready, I will sit down and will write 1-60 or 1-75 beats: #1 he walks into the bar, #2 he meets the girl...it’s very loose. Then knowing where act one ends and act three ends and it’s being constantly revised and then everyday I sit down and you know when I’m actually scripting...I check off #2, #4, and I get this sense of accomplishment.

DP: Besides approaching writing, how do you approach research? I’ve been compiling something of an ongoing reading list and would love to know what you recommend young writers read.

SR: I always say all you really need is a box set of all the Billy Wilder movies. They were really brilliant scripts and all over the map in terms of genres, movies like SOME LIKE IT HOT and SUNSET BLVD. If I’m giving a gift I will send that. Starting out it’s just so helpful. The book Conversations with Wilder is also great. There are also a lot of great screenwriting books by UCLA professors Richard Walter and Lew Hunter. What you can definitely learn quickly is structure. I don’t think you can learn dialogue, but you can learn structure. You can either write dialogue or you can’t. Like playing the guitar or pitching a 95 mile per hour fast ball. Just watching movies is so helpful; good movies and bad movies.

DP: If you were to pick a favorite scene from your work, what would that be?

SR: One of my favorite scenes is in BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, with Natalie Portman at the ice-skating pond. I think we nailed that, but other than that nothing really comes to mind. I think you’re never really satisfied with any of them.

DP: And finally, what advice do you have for young writers on finding a mentor?

SR: I think it’s like anything else. You find somebody who you admire tremendously. I think you have to be realistic, you can’t say, “Martin Scorsese, I want you to be my mentor.” Find somebody that is realistic, but who has inspired you in some way. There is nothing like a great letter. I have a few people who’ve written me and said the right thing. It was a combination of the way they wrote it, what they wrote, and kissing my ass in the appropriate way. So I said, sure, I’d love to sit down and have coffee with you. It’s very simplistic because if you write somebody an impassioned letter and you don’t hear back, then you didn’t want them to be your mentor anyway. Don’t be afraid to write from the heart without appearing psychotic. You’ll be surprised at the response.

An Interview HAWTHORNE Executive Producer Glen Mazzara

2009-07-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

By Diana Peterson

Glen Mazzara is currently working as an Executive Producer on Jada Pinkett Smith’s new show HAWTHORNE for TNT. Glen is most recognized for his work for six seasons as an Executive Producer/Writer on THE SHIELD. He has also worked on CRASH, LIFE, STANDOFF and NASH BRIDGES. I met Glen while working as an assistant on NBC’s LIFE where Glen worked as a Co-Executive Producer.

DIANA PETERSON: How did you first get started in Hollywood?

GLEN MAZZARA: I’m originally from New York City and always wanted to be a writer. I had a job in hospital administration and managed an emergency room, that was just a job to pay the bills. I knew I wanted to be a writer and did some research. I thought given the skills I had from my job that TV would be a good career for me because a lot of what I was doing was crisis management, budget...those are skills that you need as a TV producer. I learned how to write a spec and I wrote several of them. I was in New York and was just calling people out in Los Angeles. I would ask friends, do you know anyone in LA? Then I would call that person and try to get a number. So for about four or five years I just made cold calls. Finally, through a series of connections, I got my script to a manager who was interested in representing me and we connected with an agent. Then I came out for staffing season. I was in Hollywood for only a couple of weeks, but because I had done so much groundwork and written so many specs, I got a pitch meeting at Nash Bridges very quickly. My first meeting was with Carlton Cuse and Shawn Ryan. I just bombed that meeting, but they felt bad, brought me back, and I sold them a freelance idea. I was then was hired onto staff and was on that show for two years. Then I was out of work for a year and a half and just could not get a job. I wrote a lot of specs and realized that a lot of what I was writing in my specs were not helpful, not good, and not job worthy, so I had to relearn how to write a spec. Then by the time I was doing that... I was working for THE SHIELD.

DP: So how did you learn how to write a spec to begin with? Did you watch the show and just kind of wing it? Or did you read books? Take classes?

GM: No, I never took a class. I maybe read a few books. I did take the Robert McKee story seminar. But I never took any screenwriting classes. I wrote an ER, a Homicide and a Buffy. I watched those shows and studied them and figured out what was the heart of those shows. Then I wrote those specs very quickly when I was out of work and didn’t know any better. The important thing was I just wrote them and moved on. There was a spark and they were fun and loose and kind of sloppy. What was interesting was that as I learned how to write my spec writing dried up. I started writing for what I thought the networks were going to schedule and where there were open spots. I started second guessing myself a lot more so my writing dried up and it wasn’t fun.

Since I’ve become a producer I read a hundred specs a year. Most specs are pretty well written, but you’re really only looking for the top 1%. What’s interesting is that they don’t have to nail what the show is – they have good dialogue, the characters are right, the voices are right, and that check list is complete, but a lot of them are just not fun or exciting or surprising in the way that you need to be when you’re going for a job on a staff. So when I read a spec I am looking for something that impresses me, something that I wouldn’t have thought, something that goes above and beyond. That’s the hardest thing to get in a spec. It has to be memorable and most specs are not memorable. Most specs are good, but it needs to be memorable in the way that a great hour of TV is memorable so that it stands out of the pack.

DP: And do you see things that are kind of like fan fiction versus an actual episode? What characters wouldn’t actually do in the show; what a fan would imagine.

GM: I would push in that direction. When I would write a spec I would not try to write what I thought the writers could write because otherwise they don’t need me for their staff. They can do that job. I would write what I would want to see. There is a talented writer who was on LIFE, Melissa Scrivner, and she was thinking about what spec to write. The biggest episode of TV around that time was the Sopranos finale. I said, why don’t you write what comes next? So she did a synopsis of the finale episode and the fade to black, then wrote about what happens when the picture comes back up and then the guy walks into the restaurant and sees Tony Soprano. That’s a good spec. That is something that people want to see. That is something that an Executive or showrunner will remember. That’s the one that tells us the real Sopranos finale.

DP: What shows do you think are good to spec?

GM: I think the show spec right now is a TRUE BLOOD. I haven’t heard of one. I haven’t read one. It’s smart, it’s funny, there’s character stuff there, you can have really interesting plots. It would hit a lot of different points. It would show a lot of different talents. If you were a sexually explicit writer that’s a good script to write. If you were a violent crime driven person you could write that. If you were a comedian, you could too. I think that’s really something that hasn’t been tapped. I don’t think anyone is writing one and now that the show is picked up I expect it to be on for a few years. I would want to be one of the first spec true bloods out there.

I would try to spec one of the newer shows. I think BREAKING BAD would be a very good spec. I think people are doing BREAKING BAD specs now, though, it’s like the new RESCUE ME.

DP: I just finished a BREAKING BAD spec.

GM: It’s a good show to spec. Also, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. I don’t know if people like to read them or not. I just read a spec FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. Anyone writing a FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS has to remember that Coach and Tami are number 1 and 2 on the call sheet. It’s important for spec writers to make sure that they write for the main characters and give the main characters an interesting dilemma. In a spec many people will write for their quirky characters. For example, in a THE SHIELD spec, they may not write a very interesting Vic Mackey story, they may write for the other characters in the show and not showcase the main character. That’s something that I think spec writers don’t realize that showrunners look at. Can you write for my main character? Do you get the heart of the show?

DP: And so during staffing season are you more interested in reading original or spec material?

GM: I like reading original material. I’ll read a spec first because a spec will tell me within a page where a writer is in their level of writing. In a spec, I’ll usually read a teaser, the first act and if I like it, I’ll skip to the act breaks. A lot of people just blow their act breaks. They don’t understand that an act break...now we really have to solve the crime that is a lame act break. The act breaks all have to be twists and I don’t think people use them properly. If someone is not doing that, I believe that writer does not understand TV form and if I hire that person to staff, I am going to have to do most of the heavy lifting for them. What I am trying to do is hire a writer, not only a person who has ideas but a person who I am not going to have to teach how to write. I am looking for a certain level of competency. But since most specs are competent I assume that there will be a certain level. Then I look for something that impresses me, something that inspires me, something that makes me want to meet this writer, something that I had wish I had thought of. I am really looking for artistic vision. Not someone who just tries to cover their bases of writing a spec that represents the show. I am looking for someone that is trying to push the boundaries because, as I run a show, that is what I need to do every week.

DP: When I started out at LIFE and first heard the term “breaking story.” I heard people talk about “breaking story” and it felt like some mythological process involving an idea and a whiteboard. So I went out and bought a whiteboard, then I thought well now what do I put on this whiteboard? Let’s say you’re working on a pilot. You’ve already pitched the pilot and you’re trying to write an outline. What’s your process of breaking story like?

GM: When you’re breaking an episode you really need to know what your story is and you need to sum up your story. This is the one in which X does this. And that action really needs to be an emotional reaction. They are upset that their wife is leaving them so they punch out their boss. The action of the story needs to be emotionally motivated. So, I come up with a big emotional scene for the payoff first. Then I figure out what is the best way to twist my character to get them to that emotional payoff or insight. But the character must be active in every single scene. It’s not an interesting script for a character to learn some revelation. Like, oh my god, Darth Vader is really my father. That’s not interesting. Too much of TV and too many specs are about people passively receiving information. Some revelation. The truth is an audience rarely gives a shit.

TV comes down to a very simple rule: Cool people do cool things every week. That’s TV. If you don’t have cool people doing cool things every week you may have a very intelligent, very well done show, but people are probably not going to watch it. Notice that I am not saying cool people learn cool things every week. It’s not about learning. It’s about doing stuff. Jack Bauer kicks ass every week. Bryan Cranston has a problem and does something every week that is interesting. So I come up with that dilemma, that problem, and that emotional payoff and then I figure out the order of the scenes. Very quickly the story will fall into place. If I am trying to contrive a story to get to the emotional payoff I am forcing it and the story is not working. Once I have this emotional through line I then start at the beginning. In every scene I ask myself what would really happen next. I forget about the ending of the story and I end up building scene by scene. And if the story changes, the story changes, because I am finding a new emotional core.

DP: I’m curious about your rewrite process. I know it’s different when you’re on a show because a lot of that is affected by studio notes and the room, but let’s say again you’re writing a pilot. You’ve gotten notes from the network or whoever you’re working with project and you know you need to do my rewrite. What are you thoughts from there?

GM: I consider the notes. And what is important about notes is that I never take a note directly. I don’t take dialogue notes. It’s my job as an artist to say what the show is. And if I am writing a script I have a particular reason for writing that script.
So I’ll listen to what the notes are – this point is confusing or I don’t understand this. This is too soft. This is too cliché. I’ll take those notes and then I’ll start from page one and I will completely rewrite every script.

I think a lot of writers feel that their scripts are good and then go back and just sort of put a Band-Aid there. They address a note or tweak a line and think that is addressing a note. That may be addressing a note. But I tend to extensively rewrite my scripts from page one every time I sit down to do a rewrite. So much so that very often I’ll turn in a rewrite that will feel like a completely different script and other writers that I am working with or different producers will be surprised at how extensively I rewrote. So I am constantly rewriting because every script is different so every draft is different and once I’ve written something and it’s out in the world that’s fine. I’ve written it. So now I’ll go write another draft. I’m putting this stuff out in the world, so it’s always changing. It’s a living thing and each draft is a different child.

DP: When you first went into a writers’ room how did you navigate that? Was that scary for you? Where you not sure what you could say or couldn’t say?

GM: When I first went into the writers’ room as a staff writer it was very frightening because experienced writers just know what they are doing. I have a bit of advice for staff writers, actually, a lot of advice. Writers are artists. Therefore they are quirky. They are insecure. They are angry. They are full of anxiety. They are overly sensitive. These are the traits that make them a writer. I think Hollywood does a disservice to their writers because they expect us to be legal clerks who sit quietly at a desk and write for ten hours a day and hit our marks. That’s not the creative process. So all of the writers’ fears and anxieties and hostilities and loves come out in a writers’ room. And it needs to be a safe haven. So the number one rule is:

(1) Do not knock something off the table unless you are going to replace it. Do not just piss on someone’s idea without offering one better. That’s not fair. That’s not kind. That’s not respectful and that’s not your job. Your job is to generate ideas.

(2) I believe staff writers should be respectful of the hierarchy. Be very careful to listen. Do not interrupt a showrunner. Listen to everything that the showrunner says because that is the vision of the show.

(3) I would not get caught up in any politics. I would not discuss any of the other writers behind their backs. I would never say anything as a staff writer that could not be repeated because chances are it will. So do not say anything that you feel would hurt someone’s feelings.

(4) Staff writers are often looking for validation as artists when they’re in a writers’ room. If their idea is knocked off the table they very often dig in to explain why their idea was good while they’re looking for validation. They don’t understand that the writers’ room has its own energy and flow. And they have to get into that flow and start to generate other ideas. There should be an endless supply of ideas. That’s their job, not just to defend one idea. And if someone else pitches that same idea four hours later and then it works, they cannot express resentment. They just have to go with that flow.

DP: What advice do you have for young writers on finding a mentor? As an assistant I’ve often heard that your boss can turn into your mentor, but I’m not sure how you make that happen.

GM: I have two bits of advice. Actually I have a few bits of advice. When you are seeking a mentor and you are an assistant you need to gain the person’s trust. If you sit there with your hand out and say, I am here to learn, I find that that creates resentment. It creates resentment between showrunners and producers because there is so much work to be done and those people are so fearful of delivering their own material. Their job is not to teach. So now you have put a burden on someone to teach you, but they are not necessarily teachers. What you need to do is realize that producers and showrunners have issues. They have problems. They have dilemmas. Everyday there is so much work to go around. You want to be a person that is constantly bringing them solutions. You want to be a person who is inventing them. Who is making their lives easier. A person who never embarrasses them. A person who never betrays their confidence. A person who constantly says, hey here’s an issue that you may or may not be aware of and here’s my proposed solution. You want to be a person who’s always offering solutions, not a person who is saying what do you want me to do.

When you do that you gain their trust and then people will relax and let their hair down. They will talk to you and confide in you and you will gain access because you are not demanding anything from them. And you’re not asking things from them. You are bringing things to them. You are being helpful and supportive.

I am a very mentoring person. So I like to mentor people. I read a lot of scripts and give detailed notes, but I am surprised at how often people who I help come back and ask for repeated help. And that shows in a way that they have a sense of entitlement because I am just being helpful and I think that people don’t realize that it’s a very tenuous boundary. You need to be careful how many times you ask someone to read your spec and give notes.

DP: So what’s an okay number of specs to show the same person? One? Two?

GM: If the writer’s getting better I’ll keep reading. If someone is going to give you notes take the notes. Appreciate the notes. Be thankful. Don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over. The person has to feel that it’s paying off.

DP: As a writers’ assistant on a show, beyond just taking notes and doing research, how else might you differentiate yourself?

GM: When writers’ assistants do research they need to break down the research and make it applicable to the story problem at hand. If someone just comes forward and says hey here’s a list of 40 websites that has to do with this crime you’re writing about, that’s not helpful. You’re looking for how does someone with a fake ID get through an airport. I want to know that specific thing. I don’t want 40 examples of it. I want to know exactly what I need to write so people need to help me. They need to anticipate that I have a particular problem and they need to help me with that.

I have not really met a writers’ assistant who does a great job of transcribing the running discussion in the writers’ room in a way that is useful for when people go to write. So even though I always have a writers’ assistant when I get notes, I take my own notes.

DP: What is useful in your opinion? For me, when I’m taking notes in the room I can transcribe everything everyone says. But when it comes down to the end of the day and I have thirty pages of notes, it’s hard for me to figure out what to cut down.

GM: You really have to use as your guide what the showrunner is approving, or the room runner if the showrunner isn’t there. The number two. What are they directing other people to write? So as all of that stuff is being explored if the showrunner is pitching snippets of dialogue that stuff needs to be there, but it ends up being sort of a chronological discussion and we write scenes. So I think somehow the material needs to be organized according to scene, but I’ve never seen anyone do that. And I’ve been on a lot of shows. I think if a writers’ assistant came up with a system where things were recalled and organized that would be interesting. I also think that things should be organized according to a bullet or outline fashion as opposed to long sentences.

DP: I’ve been compiling something of an ongoing reading list and would love to know what you recommend young writers read.

GM: I would really say that the best thing to do is to go to the WGA library and read TV scripts. If you want to learn how to paint you go to a museum to study the actual paintings. You don’t necessarily go to a lecture. Learn directly from the masters and read their works. I would read:

• Aaron Sorkin scripts
• BOB NEWHART finale
• David E. Kelly - Emmy award winning episodes of THE PRACTICE OR ALLY MCBEAL
• ER “Love’s Labor Lost”
• HILL STREET BLUES: Read the first script David Milch wrote, the third season premiere episode
• Larry Gelbart MASH scripts
• MARY TYLER MOORE “Chuckles the Clown”
• MASH series finale
• Rod Serling
• Paddy Chayefsky
• SOPRANOS: “Pine Barrens,” “Long Term Parking,” “College,” Frank Renzulli scripts
• THE SHIELD, last two episodes

Entertainment Weekly recently published the hundred best TV shows . I would find scripts for these shows and read them. I would not read “The Marketplace Today.” Part of what people don’t understand about TV is that it is a historical continuum and we take our place alongside these great TV writers.

An Interview With TV Writer Pang-Ni Landrum

2009-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

By Jeane Wong

Pang-Ni Landrum is a writer on Nickelodeon’s The Troop. Previously, she was a writer for Six Degrees and Malcolm in the Middle. She has also served as the Former Co-Chair of the WGA, Asian American Writers Committee. As a mentor, Pang-Ni has provided me with a lot of gems of wisdom over the years and here is some.

JEANE WONG: How did you get your first gig?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: I don’t know if it still exists, but at the time, Warner Brothers had a Production Assistants Program. I accidentally discovered it through cold calling production companies on the lot. This woman – let’s call her Chatty Cathy – excitedly told me all about it, who to contact at Human Resources and how to apply. If the HR person thought you were a fit, your name was put into a pool with other applicants. Then, when a Warner Brothers show needed a P.A., they would set up interviews with people in this pool. Luckily, I got accepted into this group, but by then had already secured a receptionist gig elsewhere. Before I could call to tell Warner Bros. to withdraw my name from the program, one of their series had left me a message to come in for an interview. Since I hadn’t officially started my other job, I met with the show and by the end of the day I had my first paying gig in Hollywood: being a production assistant on Friends. Oh, and it turns out, I was replacing their previous P.A. – none other than Chatty Cathy – because she talked too much on the phone.

JEANE WONG: How did you get promoted from PA to Writers’ Assistant?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: I was fortunate that the executive producers/creators of the show first looked to promote from within. If they were interested, all the P.A.s had an opportunity to interview for two positions for the following season; one being writers’ assistant. I must’ve done well in the interview because I got the job. It also didn’t hurt that prior to this, when the writers’ room needed someone to fill in for the writers’ assistant for an hour, I volunteered and had the typing skills needed to keep up.

JEANE WONG: What things did you do as a Writers’ Assistant?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: The job is a lot harder than people realize. I’d say it’s one-part similar to being a courtroom stenographer, one-part office manager and one-part business affairs. Oh, and of course, one-part student. For anyone thinking being a writers’ assistant is their way to get a job writing, if you can’t type quickly, don’t even bother applying. Seriously. Go about it a different way. To be good at this job, there has to be a part of you that’s very anal. You not only need to type down what’s being said in the room (and some people speak very, very quickly), but you also have to be on top of and are responsible for putting out drafts and revisions of scripts, as well as sending in deal memos so writers get paid. I’m sure there are other aspects of the job I’m forgetting, but those are the main ones. Now if being a writers’ assistant still sounds like it’s right up your alley, then I can’t think of a better job to prep you for being on staff. Being in the writers’ room is education you can’t buy. It’s like graduate school for writing.

JEANE WONG: How did you get your first staffed job?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: While I was a Writers’ Assistant, my former writing partner and I applied to the Warner Brothers Writers’ Workshop. It was a tough time because when we got into the workshop, my mom had terminal cancer and I was flying back and forth to Texas every few weeks. I felt bad for my partner because she essentially had to go through the workshop alone. But it all worked out. Because of our participation in the program, we not only got interest from agents (and eventual representation) but also our first writing staff gig: the short-lived The Brian Benben Show.

JEANE WONG: What questions are asked of you when interviewing for a writing position?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: It depends on the show runner and what she/he is looking for. Sometimes it’s a lot of small talk to see if you’ll fit in the room dynamic, or it could be show/series specific. Keep in mind that the show runner has to have liked your writing enough for you to even get to this stage, so make sure your scripts are solid. They’re your resume.

JEANE WONG: How do you dress for an interview like that?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: Definitely casual. Nice shirt and nice jeans. Don’t do the suit, unless that’s you. But if it’s not, it will look like you’re trying too hard.

JEANE WONG: Back to the interview process, what kind of follow up do you do?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: I need to improve on this myself, but when I do, it’s an email. Short and sweet.

JEANE WONG: How did you meet your writing partner? Later, when you went solo in your writing career, what did that feel like?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: We met in college and wrote together for almost six years. As for writing alone, I have to admit, in the beginning, I was terrified. One of the benefits of having a partner is being able to bounce ideas off one another. Suddenly, it was just me. Well, me and my dog, but let’s face it, she was going to think everything I did was brilliant as long as she got a treat. So I sucked it up, and did what all writers advise you to do: Write. I even did the “write what you know” thing and jotted down the recent saga of my parents passing (they died less than three weeks apart, I know, brilliant timing.) Thankfully, a friend read my sad attempt at writing this one-woman show and said, “You idiot. You should make these essays.” So I did. Which led to two pilot script deals and the confidence that I could do this on my own.

JEANE WONG: What’s your writing process?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: Rough idea, beat sheet, outline, then script.

JEANE WONG: Generally speaking, what can you control in this business?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: What’s on the page. Before getting hired or having anything bought, the main thing you can control is what you write. Then, if you’re staffed on a show, it’s your behavior in the room. Realize that most writers are insecure and it’s normal to worry about how you’re doing, but when you get in a room, it’s about putting on a show. Not about you and your insecurities. If you’re on a show and it’s not one you’ve created, then your job is to make the show runner’s life easier – to get his/her vision onto the screen.

JEANE WONG: What was the notes process for you like in the room?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: Know that you will be rewritten and if you’re not able to handle that, you shouldn’t write for television. Everyone gets notes. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t disagree. Just make sure they’re the ones you really want to go to the mat for and you better have sound reasons to back you up. Sometimes the writer in charge of the rewrite will agree with you, oftentimes, not. And that’s okay. You have to be smart with your battles. While it’s good to know when to fight for something, it’s even better to know when to let go.

JEANE WONG: How did you transition from a comedy writer to a drama writer while working on the show SIX DEGREES?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: Writing a one-hour spec helped tremendously in my case. If you’re looking to make the transition, then you have to have a sample that shows you can pull off a longer narrative. I think it also helped that Six Degrees had a writers’ room. Some dramas don’t. So for me, the jump from comedy to drama wasn’t that jarring. Aside from meeting some pretty phenomenal writers, the best part about working on Six Degrees was getting the chance to live in New York. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

JEANE WONG: As a young writer can I learn as much on a successful show as an unsuccessful show?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: Absolutely. Use your first years to absorb anything and everything you can – especially, if you want to run your own show one day. If a show runs well, ask yourself why? If a show seems to be going off the rails, again, why? Being aware of what works and what doesn’t will come in handy when it’s your turn to take the helm.

JEANE WONG: Did you have any mentors?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: I don’t think they knew it at the time, but I’d have to say David Crane and Marta Kauffman at Friends and Linwood Boomer at Malcolm in the Middle.

JEANE WONG: And the answer everyone wants to know, getting jobs?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: I know some of my writer friends feel it’s up to you to get you’re your own job, but I feel it’s a mix of both. While I know I’ve gotten gigs through recommendations from friends or friends of friends, I’ve also gotten many assignments through my reps. I say use whatever and all resources you can.

JEANE WONG: Do you have any thoughts on the economy and if it has affected the room?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: Word around town is that this year was the worst staffing season. But people have been saying that for years. I do know that writing staffs are smaller and many friends, including myself, have been affected.

JEANE WONG: For EPs or lower level writers?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: For everyone. My friends and I joke that whatever level you are, is exactly the level no one’s looking for. At least that what it feels like. Every show is different with different needs. Some will be top heavy with few staff writers or vice versa. Just know that if you’re on a show, consider yourself to be one of the lucky ones.

JEANE WONG: After being in the business for so long, how do you stay positive especially with everyone saying how dismal the TV industry is?

PANG-NI LANDRUM: As cheesy as it sounds, I believe things will work out. The beauty of being writers (versus actors or directors) is that at the end of the day, all we need are a pen, paper and our ideas. We don’t have to rely on others to show our abilities. We just have to rely on ourselves. Ourselves and the page. And if it turns out no one likes an idea, no problem, you’ll have another one. And another, and another. Does it hurt getting rejected? Of, course. But this is Hollywood, people get rejected every second. So take a moment, go lick your wounds, then come back with an even better idea or an even more amazing script. I heard a writer say this at a seminar and I firmly believe it’s true: “No matter what, talent will win out.” So keep writing. Don’t listen to or get caught up on how so and so successful writer just landed a seven figure deal. Focus on your work. Because one day that seven figure deal writer will be you. You just have to believe in yourself (told you it was cheesy).

Director Becky Smith's Tips for Dealing with Rejection

2009-07-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

by Diana Peterson

Film and television director Becky Smith recently completed her first feature “16 to Life” and has directed episodes for Lifetime’s “How To Look Good Naked,” Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and MTV’s “Parental Control." Becky also teaches at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, where I met her as an undergrad film and television student.

Becky recently emailed me this "informal list," gleaned from her own life experiences and from friends.

Dealing with Rejection in the Film Business

Becky Smith’s Homilies!

1. Success in Hollywood is determined by how well one deals with disappointment

2. The competition is fierce. If this is something you really want to do, great. Just know you might not get it. Go for it. You have nothing to lose.

3. You have to make your own opportunities most of the time

4. Doors will open if you persist, but not necessarily the ones you are expecting

5. Many filmmakers have made a first film that didn’t get a lot of attention, and moved on to their next film

6. You can tell yourself a story, i.e., “this is how it is” or “this is how things always go” – or you can step away from the story to see the possibilities…

7. Don’t “face reality”, create reality

8. Hope verses visualizing – leaving it up to the universe vs. taking action. Take action.

9. Genuinely have fun while you are setting goals and reaching for your goals, otherwise you won’t convince anyone of your enthusiasm, including yourself. A large amount of living is moving toward the destination, so enjoy the journey.

10. 99% of the stories that hold us back are incidents from our past that we’ve locked on to.

11. Don’t ask “why” – move forward.

12. Thinking small and playing small doesn’t serve you.

13. Often people’s lives are about “reacting to” instead of “taking action”.

14. It’s round one – CALM DOWN!

Writers' Assistant to Staff Writer: An Interview with LIFE Staff Writer Melissa Scrivner

2009-06-10T14:54:00.001-07:00

by Diana Peterson

In April I finished my work as an Executive Producers’ Assistant on NBC’s LIFE. During my time at LIFE I was fortunate to work with a talented young writer named Melissa Scrivner. Melissa was promoted from Writers' Assistant to Staff Writer after just one season. Let's hear her story.

DIANA PETERSON: While working as a Writers’ Assistant how did you establish yourself as a writer?

MELISSA SCRIVNER: That was fairly simple to do on LIFE because I was working with a very talented and very encouraging group of writers. Yes, I did my work as an assistant, but no one ever treated me like I was lower on the totem pole. I was lucky in that if I said I was working on something, these writers would go ahead and asked to read it, without my having to awkwardly wonder if maybe they’d be willing to take a look, if they had time, but if not, don’t worry about it. They were great about offering before I had to ask.

I realize not everyone has this kind of job situation, so, in that regard, I think the most important thing to do while trying to establish yourself as a writer is to write. When I was the Writers’ Assistant on LIFE, I got up every morning at six and wrote for an hour or two before going to work. I wrote every day and still do, so that when I met someone who wanted to help me, I was ready. No one can help you if you don’t have good material, and if you write every day, odds are you’ll eventually come up with something good!

DIANA PETERSON: What steps did you take to getting staffed on LIFE?

MELISSA SCRIVNER: I wouldn’t say I took steps, specifically. Since it was my first time being in a writers’ room for a long period of time, I tried to keep my mouth shut and learn how story was broken, how arcs were figured out, and how on earth to write a procedural. I know a lot of times the Writers’ Assistant tries to look for ways to pitch without seeming pushy, but I didn’t do that. I just listened and learned, so that when I did get my seat at the table, I was ready.

I also ended up writing all the web content for the show, which was a great opportunity for me to do some writing without the pressure of having to deliver an actual script. I tried to be creative with it – I wrote fake transcripts from Charlie Crews’ trial and newspaper articles from the time he was arrested. It was fun for me and a good chance to show my bosses I knew the show and loved working on it.

Most importantly, though, I was writing every day. I can’t emphasize that enough! When my bosses came to me asking to read something (something I realize not everyone else’s bosses do – but I was very, very lucky), I was ready because of this step. If you don’t write, everything else you do doesn’t matter.

DIANA PETERSON: Tell us about your first experiences as a Staff Writer. What did you struggle with at first...if anything? How did your work as a Writers’ Assistant shape your performance as a writer? Are there any anecdotes or stories you can share on mistakes or triumphs?

MELISSA SCRIVNER:I was definitely terrified the first time I had to pitch A stories at the very beginning of the season. Everyone was looking at me, and my voice was shaking, and it killed me because I could tell everyone was rooting for me! I would rather have been pitching to a roomful of hateful strangers, instead of all these great writers who were proud of me. It literally felt like your family watching you and snapping pictures at your first dance recital, if you were a really bad dancer and wearing an awful Spandex bodysuit in an unflattering color. Except they all thought you were great, because they were your family. I remember Rand Ravich trying to help me along and calm me down by asking questions and picking up the dialogue if I was struggling. Thanks for making me remember that! But after those first couple of days at the table I was as loud and talkative as anyone else.

DIANA PETERSON: What advice do you have for current Writers’ Assistants looking to take the next step?

MELISSA SCRIVNER:Again, write every day. I started with specs, and probably the first few you write might not be so great, but you’ll learn how to structure a story and how to make your characters’ voices accurate. After you can do that, concentrate on writing something that people who read ten or more scripts a day will remember the next morning. The script that has gotten me the most meetings actually came about because the LIFE writers, back when I was an assistant, were discussing the series finale of THE SOPRANOS. When we’d broken, Glen Mazzara (one of said writers) turned to me and said, “You should pick up where that finale faded to black. See if you can do it.” There’s nothing I like more than a challenge, so I did it, and although I can’t speak to whether or not it’s a good script, people tend to remember it.

DIANA PETERSON: How did you get an agent? What advice do you have for young writers seeking representation?

MELISSA SCRIVNER: I got an agent because during the strike, Steven Selikoff from William Morris called up Far Shariat on LIFE and said he was bored. Were there any young writers Far could send him to read? Steven was very crafty, because what he was really asking was is there anyone over there you’re thinking of staffing. Far came to me, said he was very happy with my work on the website, and could he read something. I gave him my SOPRANOS and a pilot, he read them, loved them, and passed them on to Steven. I then went to meet with Steven and another agent, Blake Fronstin. I wore four inch heels and felt very intimidated sitting in the William Morris lobby (I had never been inside). Then Steven and Blake appeared and whisked me out of the building to Starbucks. Four blocks in four inch heels while they told me how difficult it was to break into television. I left that meeting having no idea where I stood with them. I’d had several meetings like this one in the years before, and I think agents have a tendency, when you’re an assistant, to try and get your loyalty so that when you do get staffed, you’ll remember them. What happens, though, is that they string you along until you can do something for them with minimal effort on their part. That’s not how I felt with Steven and Blake, despite the fact that they didn’t know any better than to make me walk in high heels.

One of the hardest things to do is sit back and wait for things to happen. I’m very bad at it, but that’s what I had to do in this situation. I didn’t bother these agents, didn’t call, didn’t email, and I met with others. It’s a lot like high school – people only want you when someone else does. Then Steven and Blake called me the day after the strike ended saying they wanted to sign me. Even though I basically had a job lined up (I got staffed the following month), I still feel like they get me as a writer more than anyone else I met with did. I am very glad I went with them.

The important thing to remember is that your relationships with other writers are going to be more important than your relationships with agents, especially in the beginning. I never would have gotten an agent without Rand and Far’s help, so concentrate on your relationships with writers and your writing – then when a writer wants to hire you, the agents will appear.

DIANA PETERSON: Is there anything else you’d like to add or share that you think may be helpful to young writers?

MELISSA SCRIVNER: I find it helpful to think of goals for five years and ten years, so that if things aren’t happening just the way you want them this year, it doesn’t wreck you. Other than that, just keep writing, don’t get bitter, and remember, if you’re willing to get back up after you’ve been kicked in the head a thousand times, you’ll do just fine!

An Interview with PRISON BREAK Story Editor Christian Trokey

2009-05-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

by Michael Glenn

HWAS is pleased to feature our first writer interview. In today’s article PRISON BREAK Writers’ Assistant Michael Glenn interviews Story Editor Christian Trokey.

MICHAEL GLENN: What made you decide to pursue a writing career in television, as opposed to other mediums?

CHRISTIAN TROKEY: I actually fell into television. I grew up not watching a whole lot of it. After moving out to L.A. and working a series of bum gigs on the agency/management side, I got the opportunity to move over to television when writer David Hollander hired me to assist him on his series THE GUARDIAN. After seeing how great of a medium television can be, where a writer can really dig deep into a character, darken them up a little bit and knock em’ around, I knew this was where I wanted to be.

MICHAEL GLENN: After you were staffed on PRISON BREAK, what was your first day like in the room and also your feelings on getting your first script?

CHRISTIAN TROKEY: I had already spent a year working in the writer’s room – as a writer’s assistant on the series, so my first day (actually my first couple weeks) were just about trying to get comfortable with vocalizing my opinions and ideas. There’s definitely a transition going from someone who’s opinion isn’t necessarily asked for, to suddenly having to give it all the time. As far as my first script, I got the opportunity to write with my good friend, and very talented writer Nick Santora, who in addition to working on Prison Break, also writes novels, movies, and creates reality television series in his sleep. The guy is CRAZY GOOD and very prolific. I knew Nick would have my back – and as we proceeded into the outline and eventually writing of the script, he offered suggestions, and gave great notes and guidance that made the process a lot easier.

MICHAEL GLENN: After you have had the opportunity to collaborate with a producer on your first script, how does that compare with your experience of independently writing a script?

CHRISTIAN TROKEY: All of our scripts, outlines, and just the very breaking of the stories was done as a group – so you always felt like your material was part of a collective. Showrunner Matt Olmstead and the other producers just wanted to tell the best story that we could. Sometimes you’d put a little something extra into one of your scripts that wasn’t in an outline -- and it would get struck down. Other times, people would say they liked it and it would stay. As far as comparing it to writing a script independently… working with such a talented group of writers who gave great notes, and added great ideas, meant that you weren’t alone in the writing of your scripts. Everyone was looking out for everyone else because at the end of the day, we all wanted the show to succeed so we could keep working.

MICHAEL GLENN: Given the short amount of time to write an episode, how did you prepare yourself to finish a script with such a tight deadline?

CHRISTIAN TROKEY: By telling my wife not to look for me until the script was done… there were a lot of late nights, working until 3. And of course weekends don’t exist when you’re on deadline. Oh, and lots of caffeine and Mastodon/Slayer on my iPod.

MICHAEL GLENN: After you were staffed, how did you mentally prepare yourself to be in the writers room all day and dealing with the pressure of having to pitch ideas? Did it come easy for you?

CHRISTIAN TROKEY: I prepared myself by spending every night brainstorming ideas for the next day. I found I tended to come up with better stuff when I had time to really think something through, instead of just pitching a half-thought concept. That said, there were plenty of times when you’re in the room, and you’re just talking about an episode for the first time, and you’re just saying whatever’s coming to you at that very moment. I pitched stuff I thought was really good and it got rejected – and other times when I pitched half-conceived notions that ended up on the screen. You just never know. Matt Olmstead and the other producers were very open to hearing any idea – no matter how hair brained it might be… cause you just never knew what might take on a life of it’s own after everyone started batting it around.

MICHAEL GLENN: What kind of advice, if any, was given to you by any of the producers on the show once you became a part of the writing staff?

CHRISTIAN TROKEY: I think some of the best advice I got from showrunner Matt Olmstead was not trying to write things ‘too safe’ – but instead, going completely nuts with a script… to the point of being audacious, knowing that we could always dial back on something. On one of my first scripts I played it too safe. I was afraid I’d go too far, and instead discovered, I hadn’t gone far enough. Matt’s an extremely talented, and very professional guy, who’s been running shows for a long time and wants everyone to succeed. His advice has really stuck with me, and has definitely shaped the way I break story now and construct scenes.

ABC Disney Writing Fellowship Night: Pictures

2009-05-18T18:05:00.001-07:00

Thanks again to everyone that came out. We had a great time! See you at our next mixer.

Thanks again to everyone that came out. We had a great time! See you at our next mixer.

ABC Disney Writing Fellowship Night Notes

2009-05-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

By Diana Peterson

ABC Disney Fellowship night at Hollywood Billiards on Tuesday April 28th proved to be a fabulous success. Jeane and I would like to thank our speakers, ABC Disney Writing Fellowship Director Frank Gonzalez and Ollie Ashtari-Larki, for taking time out of their busy schedules to give a presentation to HWAS members and stay for a question and answer session afterwards.

I've provided a summary below of my notes from Frank and Ollie’s presentation and our Q&A:

APPLICATION DETAILS

Applications for the 2010 fellowship became available online May 1. Ollie recommends that you download this application now, create a checklist for yourself and complete the application by May 31^st. This will allow you to focus solely on your script knowing that all other application materials are prepared. It’s also important to note that ABC Disney does not read original material. A spec script from an existing show television show should be submitted.

Applications are due July 1, 2009.

**Note: This year this will no longer be a Feature Writing Fellowship Program.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Last year there were 1,268 applicants. Eight were selected as fellows. Each year the program runs from February through February, paying fellows $961.54 a week ($50,000 annually) with benefits. Many writers get staffed on shows while as a fellow.

Once your application materials are in, professional readers will do a first pass reading of your spec script. Last year there were about twenty-two readers. It’s important that you spec a show that people are familiar with. It’s okay to spec a cable show, but make sure it’s a successful one that is at least in its second or third season. If a reader doesn’t know the show you’ve written a spec for, they’ll have a difficult time judging your writing.

The highest scoring scripts from the first pass go through a second read and then the top 50-60 scripts are read by fellowship executives. Applicants who make the cut will be contacted between November and mid-December for a phone interview. If the phone interview goes well the applicant proceeds to the three-day interview process.

INTERVIEW PROCESS

The top 30-40 applicants are called in for the final interviews. The interview process tests their interpersonal skills, personality and experience.

Day One Mixer: There will be a mixer with finalists and executives. When the night is over executives will discuss their perception of the finalists individually. They will be asking questions like; did he or she treat everyone at the mixer with respect? Can he or she work on a staff? Could he or she function within a writing room?

Day Two Interviews: ABC Disney Executives will interview finalists individually.

Day Three Panel Sessions: The panels will consist of producers from different shows who will ask further questions of finalists. This will give finalists a good idea of the kind of questions that Showrunners ask.

WHAT DOES A WRITING FELLOW DO?

You’ve made it into the fellowship program, now what?

First 30 Days: When you start the fellowship, the first thirty days is like a boot camp. You focus on story structure and participate in workshops. You will not only be improving your writing, but improving how you present yourself as a writer and how you pitch yourself. There will be guest lectures about pitching and how to present yourself, as well as an improv workshop.

During this time Creative Executives will be looking at your material to see if they respond to it and to get an idea of where you would fit in. You’ll have the chance to take meetings with ABC shows, where showrunners will be interviewing you not only as a fellow, but as a potential staff writer.

First 60 Days: If you haven’t been staffed within the first sixty days of the program you are now paired up with:

(a) Overall Executive Mentor: This Executive will be in current programming or development. This person is your checkpoint through the duration of the fellowship.

(b) Spec Script Mentor: This Creative Executive will work with you on your second spec.

(c) Alumni Membership Component: You will be paired up with three to four fellowship alumni who will mentor you throughout the year.

APPLICATION TIPS:

Download application now and finish by May 31^st, then focus on your script. Make a checklist to ensure that all application materials are together.
Don’t be too fancy with your presentation.
Scripts should be typed and in standard industry format.
Triple check for typos and other mistakes as basic grammatical errors will hurt your application.
Don’t staple your script.
Autobiographical Summary: This should be about one paragraph. Be honest and open. What have you done that maybe isn’t listed on your resume? What kind of experiences have you had?
Statement of Interest: What’s your pitch? Why would this program be good for you at this point in your career?

WHAT DOES ABC/DISNEY LOOK FOR IN A FELLOW?

A serious TV writer should have two spec scripts and one original pilot at the least. One of the first things Frank will ask all applicants is: What else have you written? They’re looking for writers with strong samples and good interpersonal skills. When Frank speaks with finalists he will be asking: Why does this make sense at this point in your career?

OF THE EIGHT FELLOWS: HOW MANY ARE COMEDY WRITERS AND HOW MANY ARE DRAMA WRITERS?

There is no hard and fast rule. This year there are six drama writers and two comedy writers. Next year this could change. It all comes down to the quality of the material submitted.

WHAT IF YOU SPEC A SHOW THAT RIDES THE LINE BETWEEN COMEDY AND DRAMA?

WHAT ABOUT WRITING TEAMS?

Writing teams may submit, but of the eight fellows selected, a team fills two spots. If selected they will receive separate and equal salaries. Writing teams have been a part of the fellowship in the past, but it is harder to get selected as a team.

ARE THERE ANY SPECS THE ABC/DISNEY FELLOWSHIP PREFERS?

You don’t have to write a spec for an ABC show to be considered. You should spec a primetime network or cable show that’s been on at least three years (3 seasons) that is well known. It’s important to not only capture the voice of the show, but to really reflect your point of view. Bring something new to the table, something unique, while still working within the framework of the show.

Story Timeline: Your spec should be where the show is as of July 1^st, 2009.

BEST ADVICE: KNOW YOURSELF

Applicants should know who they are, where they’ve come from and have an idea of where they fit within the ABC Family. You should have an idea going in what shows you think you could be staffed on and where you might perform best.

Thanks again everyone for coming out. See you at the next mixer!

ABC Disney Writing Fellowship Night

2009-04-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

HWAS is back again and pleased to announce our first guest speaker, ABC Disney Writing Fellowship Director Frank Gonzalez.

On Tuesday April 28th assistants, coordinators and writers will mix and mingle while attending a presentation and Q&A with Mr. Gonzalez at Hollywood Billiards. This intimate mixer will answer your fellowship questions and concerns.

The presentation will begin promptly at 7:30 PM, with drinks and conversation after Q&A.

February Mixer Photos

2009-04-20T00:08:00.000-07:00

We've uploaded pictures from our February mixer at the Cat & Fiddle. Check 'em out below: