When you’re doing the Hollywood thing, meeting a new person at a party can sometimes mean that they are already looking over your shoulder to see if there’s someone more important for them to talk to instead. It’s nice when you meet someone in the industry who is more interested in being your friend than [...]
I passed an L.A. Times newspaper machine today, and I noticed that the headline says Clinton and Giuliani currently lead in the polls. I couldn’t help thinking of the election in season 7 of The West Wing. Much as Clinton’s early support of the war separates her from her party’s candidates, and Giuliani’s lenient stance [...]
Writing isn’t fun. Sure, there are parts that are brilliant. Every writer loves working through ideas for the first time, and nothing beats the moment when a flash of inspiration hits you, making your story a million times better. And then I love outlining, wrestling all those ideas into an actual shape that might entertain [...]
One of the (many) curses of being a writer is that one never knows when the subconscious is going to toss an idea up to the conscious that the conscious thinks might work in its current writing project. It could happen as you’re driving to get groceries, talking on the phone to tech support, or [...]
There’s a geeky twelve-year-old boy inside of me that just starts drooling at the promise of huge spectacle movies based on the treasures of my childhood. I seriously remember tingles running through my body during certain movie trailers. Sometimes my inner geek-boy’s anticipation is paid off (as by all but the last five minutes of [...]
I was talking the other day to a woman I want to involve in my online sketch comedy troupe. She was the talent in a short exercise we shot a few weeks ago, and she was both very skilled and great to work with, so I’d love to involve her as much as possible. I explained [...]
I did some freelance work for a branch of the Disney company about a year ago, and that brief experience left me with the impression that their legal army is vast and humorless. Disney has a history of getting petty with the little guy over copyrights, and had much to do with the passage of [...]
The reviews today are mixed over last night’s airing of an Americanized, half-hour Creature Comforts. Some critics are raving about the subtle humor and clever juxtaposition. Other critics say it goes on too long and there’s no laughs to be had. That second group of critics are the ones I like to call “dumb critics.” [...]
NBC is airing Friday Night Lights on Sundays at 9 p.m., so everyone has a chance to catch up with this show over the summer. Set your TiVo now! Even better, full episodes of the entire season at NBC’s web site. Watch them at your computer at your leisure. Just, whatever you do, watch this [...]
When I attended the “Breaking Into the Box” workshop at the WGA a couple of weekends ago, I was surprised to hear Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield) recalling his distress when he suddenly got his show on the air. In TV, the writer has creative control comparable to the way a director calls the [...]
Teri F on 
BeeBee on 
Vondruke on 