Fri, 25 August 2023
The new film Golda – starring a bewitching Helen Mirren as Golda Meir, the Iron Lady of Israel, was written and produced by Nicholas Martin. Martin is best known for writing the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins. With two amazing biopics about strong, defiant women, we talk about how to find the moment that defines a character and how to focus the story on a short period of time instead of a cradle-to-grave saga. For Florence Foster Jenkins, it’s her journey to Carnegie Hall and for Golda Meir, it’s the 18-day Yom Kippur War. To Martin’s surprise, that focus on the war turned the film Golda into a thriller. |
Tue, 8 August 2023
The Apple TV+ series Physical, starring Rose Byrne, is set to launch its third and final season on August 2. Set in the idyllic but fragile beach paradise of sunny 1980s San Diego, Physcial is a half-hour dark comedy following Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne) as she navigates her personal demons, most of which come in the form of noxious self-talk and an eating disorder. I talked with series creator and showrunner Annie Weisman about writing this highly personal show that explores the dark undercurrents of the feminine experience. “I think about things like beauty culture and diet culture and it’s easy to dismiss them as something women are locked in, are trapped in,” says Annie, “but in many ways, for a lot of women, that’s all the control they have is their appearance. One of the goals of the show is to show a woman who feels really trapped in that way, really torturing herself, and have her go on this journey of discovering a way – this opening a door – into a new way to be in her body, a new way to be in the world, and a sense of empowerment. But I wanted to be honest about the struggle of it, it’s not easy! It takes three seasons of this show for her to get somewhere!” We also discuss her beginnings as a playwright and her journey to making the transition from stage to television. “I didn’t necessarily know a lot about visual storytelling – that was what I had to learn,” says Annie. “My first television scripts were filled with dialogue, I didn’t really understand how the camera worked, I had characters entering and exiting in every scene. I had to learn about the way time works in television and film.” Annie also shares her advice for writing original TV pilots and using your own authentic voice. Take a listen. |
Fri, 14 July 2023
When one woman's business trip turns into a quest to find her family, things get super funny in the new comedy Joy Ride, a raunchy road trip movie with a global spin. The film stars Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu. Screenwriters Teresa Hsiao and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, who wrote the movie with writer/director Adele Lim, sat down with Final Draft to talk about writing a passion project they never thought would get made. “We were just going to write this dumb thing together and it's going to be just for us and then all of a sudden people are like, oh, we like it we want to make it, we're like, right now?” Hsiao said. The writers were thrilled, and they had worked together years before on the animated show Family Guy. “We were well versed in being collaborative and working together so when we started writing the spec it was very natural,” says Chevapravatdumrong. Listen to Final Draft's Write On podcast to hear about the writing process, the laughs and making a movie they never thought would get made. Joy Ride is out in theaters July 7. |
Fri, 14 July 2023
The world out there is a brutal place. If you have a hankering for some of the rough justice you remember from old-school lawman Raylan Givens – you’re in luck. Justified: City Primeval is about to drop on FX starring the same Raylan (Timothy Olyphant), we all came to know and love in the six seasons of the hit-show Justified. His hair has more sliver streaks, partly due to age but also due to worrying about his precocious 15-year-old daughter Willa (played by Olyphant’s real-life daughter Vivian), in this thrilling 8-episode limited series. I talked with showrunner Michael Dinner about evolving Elmore Leonard’s beloved lead character in this spinoff that’s set in the mean streets of Detroit, while staying true to the risk-taking Raylan who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty in the hollers of Kentucky. Now the father of a teenaged girl, Raylan’s priorities have shifted – so will he still reach for his gun with the same ease as before? “In a way, this is the second chapter of his life,” says Dinner. “His first chapter is, ‘You can’t go home again.’ We pick him up 8 or 10 years later, he’s divorced, he has a daughter. I look at the work in these 8 episodes and it’s more adult and I feel he’s made another step – not the actor, but the character. So, I think it’s interesting to look at it with that kind of perspective, that it is a character who is further down the road.” Dinner also shares his advice for creating characters who ignite conflict and push each other’s buttons in ways that help sustain a show over time and engage the audience in deeper ways. Also, I ask the question, who is Raylan Givens without Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), and if we might see Boyd Crowder anytime soon. Dinner’s answer may surprise you! Click to hear more from our podcast with Dinner about the new limited series Justified: City Primeval. Hear more in Final Draft's Write On podcast. Justified: City Primeval comes to FX on July 18. |
Sun, 25 June 2023
With an excited fanbase and even more exciting plot twists, the drama/thriller series Cruel Summer is back for Season 2 on Freeform. Final Draft sat down with showrunner Elle Triedman to talk about murders, music from 1999 and the show's impressive ratings. (Season 1 was the most watched series in the Freeform's history!). This delicious show tackles teenage friendships, betrayals and characters with very big flaws. Triedman says one of her favorite parts of the show is all the room to play with morality. "Saints are boring. No one wants to write a saint, no actor wants to play a saint," she says. Character flaws make things interesting, she says. And teenage life is about the bond you create with those around you. “It is that ride-or-die, it is the person where you call and you say I need you to help me... you know, bury a body and they say where should I meet you? That sort of crazy intense with all the highs and all the lows. And so, to build that friendship from ground zero and then blow it up,” she says. It's not only super fun to create, it's fun to watch. Click to hear more from our podcast with Triedman about the new season of Cruel Summer.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Cruel_Summer_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 6:22pm PDT |
Mon, 5 June 2023
The surprise hit and breakout role for Jenna Ortega as the titular character in Netflix's spin off of the Addams Family, Wednesday, was just as exciting to create as it is to watch. "The writer's room started the first week of lockdown, so writing a Wednesday show during a global pandemic felt on brand," says creator Al Gough about writing the pilot before selling the show to Netflix. Final Draft's Write On Podcast sits down with Gough and his co-creators Miles Millar to hear about how they revitalized this character with a modern twist and brought back nostalgia with the return of Christina Ricci in the 8-episode series that follows Wednesday's life as she attends a boarding school for other teens with magical abilities. Wednesday is currently streaming on Netflix. |
Thu, 11 May 2023
Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World tells the emotional journey of the world famous boxer from his poor upbringings in Texas to his rise to Heavyweight Champion of the World and then onto reinventing himself when it was time to look beyond the gloves. Final Draft's podcast Write On sits down with writer/director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food, The Hate U Give) to hear the inspiration behind this film. "Biopics are very complicated to do, so I just started falling in love with the idea of this journey that this man took from a young man to an older one," says Tillman Jr. on how he chose Foreman's story. "Everybody knows him as the grill guy, so we really showed how he became the pitchman that led to the grill you know." Listen to hear more about bringing this larger than life man to the big screen. Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World released in theaters April 28.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Big_George_Foreman_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:43am PDT |
Thu, 4 May 2023
The story of how Daisy Jones & the Six went from book to TV show is a fascinating one. Scott Neustadter, best known for comedies like 500 Days of Summer and The Disaster Artist, was sent the unpublished manuscript about the rise of a rock band in Los Angeles in the 1970s, on a whim. Little did he know it would become a bestseller. At the time, he had given the book to his wife, with whom he had never worked before. But she just so happened to be at Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine. They loved the book and his adaptation and the show was born. Now, Neustadter is the co-creator and co-showrunner of the Amazon show. Final Draft’s podcast Write On sat down with Neustadter to hear about his process. “If you're going to write television– it's an important, huge undertaking so you have to have passion, you have to love the thing... It isn't something you can do on the side. It will become your whole life, so you better love it,” he said. Please note: this podcast was recorded prior to the WGA Strike.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Daisy_Jones_and_the_Six_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:27am PDT |
Mon, 24 April 2023
Final Draft's Write On podcast series sits down with co-creator Rafael Casal on the second season of his half-hour comedy series Blindspotting. The show centers on Ashley, who lives in Oakland, Calif. When her partner (who is also the father of her son) is sent to prison, she must move in with her mother-in-law, played by Helen Hunt. “That’s a part of writing for actors. You know what they're capable of and so sometimes in the script you're not writing everything they do, but you're writing the window into them having the freedom to do what they do best,” Casal says about writing for actors. He also discusses what he looks for in a writer when hiring to fill his room. “I don't want somebody who's just trying to color within the lines book, especially for a show like ours that is really non-traditional. I'm looking for people that are willing to kick out an idea and try something even if it only works 70% of the way but you took the swing,” he says.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Blindspotting_Season_2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 11:20am PDT |
Fri, 20 January 2023
Written by screenwriter Dana Stevens, The Woman King is a historical epic about an all-female warrior unit that protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 17th to the 19th centuries. The film is set in the 1820s and stars Viola Davis who is tasked with training the next generation of young warriors. Stevens chatted with Final Draft about discovering the “richness of the story” while writing the script. “I just could not believe that I did not know this story, that I had never heard of it,” Stevens said. “And the more I delved into it, just on my own… I mean, I was watching things on YouTube, like things in French, you know, I was just I was just blown away.” When asked for advice to aspiring screenwriters trying to break into the industry or write a passion project such as The Woman King, Stevens had some inspiring words. “Go ahead and write. Write a lot. Have a few things you're working on. Have your personal project that you just love, that you think maybe no one will ever make, but also maybe have another project that's your, you know, more commercial thing,” she says. The Woman King is now available on a variety of streaming platforms.
Direct download: Write_On_-_The_Woman_King_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:42am PDT |
Wed, 18 January 2023
Triangle of Sadness is a satirical black comedy from writer/director Ruben Ostlund. The film, staring Woody Harrelson, takes the world of luxury boating to the next level with its wry comedy that exposes many upstairs/downstairs differences among the characters. Ostlund discusses the importance of pitching his project before he starts writing. “If you are a writer or if you are a director, your profession is to be the artistically responsible for the product that you are producing. You are the one that is deciding what ideas should be put into this, what should taken be taken out,” he says. The film won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. This was Ostlund’s second win at Cannes. He talked about how special it is to him to have had these successes. “I have been kind of lucky because every time that I have finished a previous film and we have had a premiere of the film in Cannes, there's a little table on a small cafe where I walk to with my producer and my mentor. Two of my best friends and we sit down and we talk about what is going to be the next project that we are working on. And so, it is kind of how to say astonishing that we have been on this little cafe and exactly the same table four times now and decided which next project is.”
Direct download: Write_On_-_Triangle_of_Sadness_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:26pm PDT |
Thu, 10 November 2022
From visionary director Robert Eggers, The Northman follows a young Viking prince (Alexander Skarsgård) on a quest to avenge his father's murder. Eggers and his co-writer, Sjón, chatted with Final Draft about the collaborative process of working on the script. "I had lunch with Alexander Skarsgård, who said that he wanted to make a Viking movie," Eggers said, "and I said, 'I can make a Viking movie, and I know the perfect person to write it with me,' and luckily, Sjón wanted to... I wrote the first draft, and from there, we just [passed] it back and forth for eternity, all through production, all through post-production." When asked if they would recommend collaborating with a writing partner on a project, Sjón said, "I really recommend working with a co-writer on films. I've written poetry and novels and all sorts of things, but when it comes to film, I really think it works when you're writing with someone you know because film is already a medium of collaboration, and to go into it from the beginning, from the story level as a collaboration, I think is really great." The Northman is now available on Amazon Prime. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Robert_Eggers_and_Sjon_for_The_Northman_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 2:05pm PDT |
Fri, 21 October 2022
Based on the true story of Mamie Till, Till follows Mamie as she seeks justice for the brutal lynching of her son, Emmett Till. When asked about how she chose to capture Mamie's spirit on the page, Chukwu says, "It's not just resiliency; it is survival, it is an active suppression of certain emotions that Black women are constantly put in a position of having to do; it is a difference between the public and the private self. Mamie was acutely aware of that... when I'm constructing scenes, I am always thinking about masks - who are they when they're all alone? ... Who is Mamie when she's by herself?" Chukwu goes on to discuss coping with the weight of telling such heavy stories: "Writing these stories that I've written so far, when I write it in a deeply spiritual, all immersive process... I live, breathe, dream whatever it is that I'm writing, and that takes a deep emotional and spiritual toll, and I'm not really good with self-care when I'm writing... Prioritize your own self-care as well - in the writing and in the aftermath." Till is now playing in theaters. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Chinonye_Chukwu_for_Till_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:59pm PDT |
Mon, 10 October 2022
From Little Fires Everywhere writer Raamla Mohamed, Reasonable Doubt follows Jax Stewart (Emayatzy Corinealdi), a fearless defense attorney in Los Angeles who bucks the justice system every chance she gets. Mohamed comments on how the show deals with its deeply complex protagonist: "The show is through Jax's eyes and her experiences and what she's doing, and as you can see, she has different relationships with different people, so people are getting parts of her. But [in] the show... we get to see all the parts." Mohamed goes on to discuss her choice to have an all-Black writer's room for the show: "95% of my characters on the show are Black, and they're all different types of Black, and I realized I need to be able to have conversations without having to explain to one half of the room what we're talking about - let's just cut the shorthand so that we can actually have conversations... [about] relationships and traumas and love and work and pressures and microaggressions... I was trying to just make it more comfortable and easier." You can catch new episodes of Reasonable Doubt Tuesdays on Hulu. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Raamla_Mohamed_for_Reasonable_Doubt_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:24pm PDT |
Wed, 21 September 2022
From Insecure alumni Jean Elie and Mike Gauyo, Send Help follows a first-generation Haitian American (Elie) struggling to overcome the challenges in Hollywood while coming to terms with a recent family tragedy. Gauyo shares his thoughts on how partnering with the Allblk [All Black] Channel benefited their overall storytelling process: "At the core of it, we didn't have to negotiate our Blackness or our culture in order to make the show... There was already a baseline of understanding of why our characters acted the way that they did or did the things that they did; it didn't have to be explained." Elie goes on to share how the series came together in the first place: "The pandemic happened, and [Mike and I] were talking on Clubhouse about Haitian creatives and how stories get told, and how we need to not just be in front of a camera but behind the camera in order for our stories to be told in a way that feels real to us... A couple of weeks later, we got an email talking about 'How much you think you need to make the show?'" Send Help is now streaming on the Allblk Channel and the Roku Channel. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Jean_Elie__Mike_Gauyo_for_Send_Help_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:44pm PDT |
Fri, 2 September 2022
Based on writer-director Adamma Ebo's 2018 short film of the same name, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. follows Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall), the first lady of a prominent Southern Baptist Mega Church, as she attempts to help her pastor-husband, Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown), rebuild their congregation after a scandal. Adamma shares how a visit from writer-director Damien Chazelle and editor Tom Cross during her time at UCLA influenced her decision to film a short as a proof of concept for the feature: "...they talked about how they made Whiplash as a short as a proof of concept, because in actuality, the movie is a thriller about jazz musicians, and you're like, 'What does that mean?' It's easier to show than tell... I knew it was going to be a pretty tough elevator pitch, and so I was like, 'I need to make something to show for it.'" Adamma's sister, Adanne Ebo, serves as a producer on the film; when asked what advice she would give to aspiring writers from a producer's perspective, she said, "Read as many scripts as you can. I didn't go to film school… I learned how to write just by working with Adamma... even if you don't go to school for it, even if you don't go about it the institutional type of way, reading scripts will always make you a better writer." Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is now playing in theaters and on Peacock. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Ebo_Sisters_for_Honk_for_Jesus_v2_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:24pm PDT |
Thu, 25 August 2022
Starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg, Me Time follows a stay-at-home dad (Hart) who joins an old friend (Wahlberg) on a wild birthday adventure while his family is away. Writer-director John Hamburg discusses his approach to balancing character and laughs in a comedy: "I really do aim to keep the characters grounded and to treat them as human beings. Frankly, even in a movie as absurd as Zoolander, we tried to give an emotional arc to Derek Zoolander and to Hansel, and it's no different with this movie that takes place in the real world." Despite having hugely impressive titles like Zoolander and Along Came Polly under his belt, Hamburg still experiences insecurity as a filmmaker: "...it took me a while to stop [comparing myself to others], and I fall into that trap today, having been in the business for more than two decades... I think the advice I would give a younger, more naïve John Hamburg is, 'Just focus on yourself and listen; watch stuff, and get inspired.'"
Direct download: Write_On_-_John_Hamburg_for_Me_Time_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:48pm PDT |
Fri, 29 July 2022
2017 Big Break Category Winner Kevin Bachar stopped by the Write On podcast to discuss his new feature, The Inhabitant, starring Dermot Mulroney and Leslie Bibb. "It's a relative of Lizzie Borden set in modern times," says Bachar, "and she starts experiencing visions of Lizzie Borden, starts getting feelings of hurting her family. The question is, is this a sort of demonic possession? Is it schizophrenia? What's going on here?" Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Kevin_Bachar_for_The_Inhabitant_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:17pm PDT |
Mon, 25 July 2022
![]() Thor Odinson makes his triumphant return to the MCU with the franchise's latest installment, Thor: Love and Thunder, once again starring Chris Hemsworth in the titular role alongside Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, and writer-director Taika Waititi. Waititi's co-writer, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, discusses the process of landing her first Marvel gig: “My journey with Marvel has been long; I pitched on Black Widow, I pitched on Hawkeye, I pitched on Captain Marvel 2, so I pitched on several different films. Kevin [Feige] is so specific and such a genius when it comes to putting the right person on the right project… and Kevin was like, ‘This is not the right thing for you, but we’re going to put you on Thor...' and then a week later, I was in a room with Brad [Winderbaum] and Taika talking about the lore and coming onto the project.” Robinson goes on to share the importance of pushing yourself and not being afraid to make mistakes: "Don't let the fear of the thing being bad or wrong or weird get in the way of you doing it... If you mess up, if you fail like I've failed, it's fine... you just have to blindly believe in yourself because no one is going to care about you as much as you. No one is going to believe in you as much as you." Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Jennifer_Kaytin_Robinson_for_Thor_Love_and_Thunder_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:36pm PDT |
Tue, 19 July 2022
Created by Bisha K. Ali, Ms. Marvel follows Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old superhero fan who's just trying to get through high school when she discovers she has powers of her own. Ali discusses how she put together the writer's room for the MCU series: "I had a room that [reflected] the experience of the characters that we're talking about... We had to have authentic writers; we had to have writers who understood what intergenerational trauma is, what it is to be an immigrant, what it is to be a second-generation immigrant, what it is to be an outsider... in order to get this arc that I wanted to get." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Bisha_K._Ali_for_Ms._Marvel_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:14pm PDT |
Tue, 12 July 2022
![]() Based on true events, Black Bird follows Jimmy Keene, a prison inmate who cuts a deal with the FBI to befriend a suspected serial killer in exchange for his freedom. Famed crime novelist and series creator Dennis Lehane discusses where he places his focus to make every project of his stand out: "Every single thing comes down to the characters - every single thing. I've always been character-centric, but never as much as when I started to really get into TV, because that's what it is... that's what people watch TV for... They watch it for an emotional journey of the main characters." Lehane goes on to share his process for adapting source material for the screen: "My job is to be absolutely as true to the spirit of the novel as I can be. You should be able to read the novel, look at the TV show, and go, 'Oh, wow, it's the same thing...' It reaches the same conclusions about the human beings in the story, about humanity." Black Bird is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Dennis_Lehane_for_Blackbird_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:42pm PDT |
Wed, 6 July 2022
Based on the viral YouTube short from 2010, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On follows Marcel (Jenny Slate), a 1-inch tall shell who lives a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and their pet lint, Alan. When asked about creating and writing for such a unique protagonist, the original video's creator Dean Fleischer Camp says, "I think the thing that's always appealed to me about Marcel is he doesn't think of himself as small or weird or a talking shell or anything, and the film itself does not treat him with anything less than 100% dignity as a documentary subject and doesn't freak out over the fact that he's a talking shell." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Nick_Paley__Dean_Fleischer-Camp_for_Marcel_The_Shell_With_Shoes_On_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:07pm PDT |
Tue, 28 June 2022
Based on George Saunders' short story Escape from Spiderhead, the Netflix adaptation follows inmates at a state-of-the-art penitentiary who volunteer as medical subjects to shorten their sentences. Paul Wernick describes the moment he and co-writer Rhett Reese were introduced to Saunders' story: "Jeremy Steckler was the executive [at The New Yorker] at the time. He put it in front of us when it first was printed about ten years ago, and we fell in love with it. We said, 'We're doing it. We have to write this.' We were so passionate about it... George had laid out what was the makings of a movie, but we had to expand it out."
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Rhett_Reese__Paul_Wernick_for_Spiderhead_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:49pm PDT |
Tue, 21 June 2022
![]() Created, written, and directed by Nida Manzoor, We Are Lady Parts follows a British punk rock band consisting entirely of Muslim women as they strive for musical success. Manzoor discusses the pressure of feeling like she was representing an entire community and how she ultimately decided to write from her own experience: "I'd had a few meetings as a new writer where I was sort of being asked to write about the suffering of being a Muslim woman or to portray it as being a victim, [which] didn't reflect my experience or the women I knew, and so I found that frustrating. I was like, all right, if I was going to examine this aspect of my identity, how would I do it? ... The frustration pushed me into developing something which is my dream show to make." Manzoor goes on to describe her connection to the story itself and how that ties into her creative roots: "I grew up in a very creative household old - a very musical household - which is why the show is sort of about a band, so I think music was my first passion. But then after doing a degree in politics, I realized very quickly I didn't want to have anything to do with politics; I wanted to be a filmmaker… and, you know, Lady Parts was really my first foray into writing and directing something that was really kind of myself and true to the kind of work I wanted to make." We Are Lady Parts is now streaming on Peacock.
Direct download: Write_On_with_Nida_Manzoor__mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:24am PDT |
Thu, 16 June 2022
Inspired by Stephanie Land's memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, Netflix's Maid follows Alex (Margaret Qualley), a young mother who escapes an abusive relationship and gets a job cleaning houses in order to provide for her daughter. Showrunner Molly Smith Metzler recalls the moment she knew she had to adapt the memoir for TV: "[John Wells] handed me the book, and I went home, and I read it that weekend, and I was like, 'Oh, no, I have to do this.' I say 'Oh, no' because I knew it was going to be very hard. It's an incredible memoir, but not a natural fit for television... I knew it was going to be hard to adapt, but I also couldn't picture anyone else doing it." Maid is currently streaming on Netflix. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Molly_Smith_Metzler_for_Maid_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:57pm PDT |
Tue, 14 June 2022
![]() Based on the Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name, Moon Knight follows Marc Spector / Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), two alters of a man with dissociative identity disorder (DID) who gets drawn into a deadly mystery involving Egyptian gods. Head writer Jeremy Slater discusses the series' approach to featuring a protagonist with DID and the creative challenges it posed: "It was the biggest creative opportunity and also one of the hardest things about the show. It's actually surprising how few characters we have in the show; it's really kind of only three. It's just that Oscar Isaac is doing so much as Mark and as Steven and commanding the screen as both sides of that system... on screen, it's just the actor, and they have to convey who's in charge and what's going on." Slater goes on to share what drew him to adapting this particular Marvel story and bringing a brand new character to the screen: "One of the reasons I gravitated towards Moon Knight was because he didn't have that former baggage... No one knows who the hell Moon Knight is; no one knows what his powers are; no one knows who his villains are. So for me, I view that as really creatively liberating, because we can come in here and put our own stamp on this." Moon Knight is now streaming on Disney+. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Jeremy_Slater_for_Moon_Knight_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Sun, 12 June 2022
Based on the novel Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty chronicles the 1980s Showtime era of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team featuring notable NBA stars Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Series co-creator and showrunner Max Borenstein describes the challenges of having to imagine what certain moments and conversations looked like without having been in the room: "Our role is to take the things we know - I look at it as the tip of the iceberg... the role of the drama is to then imaginatively reconstruct what might have been or could have been underneath the surface, and oftentimes.. you're imagining your way into that room where you have no idea exactly what was said." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Max_Borenstein_for_Winning_Time_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Fri, 10 June 2022
Based on the novels by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows eight members of a powerful family in Regency-era England as they attempt to find love. Series creator Chris Van Dusen describes the pressure he felt writing season two after the overwhelming success of the first season: "There were a lot of expectations that were put onto it after it became Netflix's most-watched English language series ever, and it was embraced in such a huge way around the globe. I think going into season two, it [was] a very different thing from creating and producing and writing the first season of an unknown show." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Chris_Van_Dusen_for_Bridgerton_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 11:53am PDT |
Mon, 6 June 2022
Set in modern-day America, Bel-Air is a re-imagination of the beloved sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, following a young Will Smith (Jabari Banks) as he makes his journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated communities of Bel-Air. When asked how he got his start in filmmaking, series creator Morgan Cooper says, "I didn't grow up around filmmakers. I didn't know filmmaking was a career, a possibility. I didn't go to college; I didn't go to film school. I was 18. I had to just figure it out, and so I bought a little Canon T2i. After two days of spending time with that camera, I fell in love with it. I really caught the bug and I said, 'This is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. There is no plan B.' And with that camera, I built my career."
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Morgan_Cooper_for_Bel-Air_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:47pm PDT |
Thu, 2 June 2022
Featuring an all-star cast including Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, and Renée Elise Goldsberry, Girls5eva follows a one-hit-wonder 90s girl group as they try to reignite their pop star fame while simultaneously having to navigate their grownup lives. Series creator Meredith Scardino shares how she prepared for pitching the series to NBC: "I tried to watch as many things and listen to as many things as I could about pitching. I ended up watching Shonda Rhimes' masterclass on pitching, and something that she said put me more at ease when she was just like... 'You're a writer. They know you're not an actor... you don't have to be this incredible, incredible pitcher. You can just try really hard to convey what you want people to know about the show." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Meredith_Scardino_for_Girls5Eva_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:22pm PDT |
Fri, 27 May 2022
Starring Academy Award® winners J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek, Amazon Prime's Night Sky follows married couple Franklin (Simmons) and Irene York (Spacek), who discover a portal in their backyard that leads to a deserted planet. Series creator Holden Miller speaks on why he decided to use the sci-fi genre as a vessel for such an intimate character-driven story: "The story really takes on a life of its own, and all the themes that were of interest to me, like mortality and aging and enduring love - to tell that story about these characters seems to demand this science fiction aspect that could add a different level of grandeur and mystery and epicness to this very intimate story."
Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Daniel_C._Connolly__Holden_Miller_for_The_Night_Sky_mixdown_v2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:33pm PDT |
Wed, 25 May 2022
Disney+ is taking us back to a galaxy far, far away with its upcoming limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Ewan McGregor reprising the titular role alongside Hayden Christiansen's Darth Vader. Star Wars superfan Joby Harold explains what drew him to writing the six-episode series for Disney and Lucasfilm: "I always thought [Obi-Wan] was this great, unexplored character when it came to canon because there is that gap between what Ewan had done with the character and what sir Alec Guinness did with the character... I was just, as a fan, eager to see what they were going to do. When I got to sort of be a part of it and figure out what they had done and what they were looking to explore, it just seemed like a really exciting opportunity." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Joby_Harold_for_Obi-Wan_Kenobi_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:24pm PDT |
Mon, 23 May 2022
Commonly described as "anti-historical" historical fiction, The Great follows the comedic rise of Empress Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) and explores her marriage to Emperor Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hoult). Series creator Tony McNamara shares how watching the show as it's being made affects his writing process: "I don't write the whole season. I write about half of it, which puts a lot of pressure on me as a writer. I've learned to watch the show and watch what's happening between characters while we shoot, and then that starts to be reflected in the writing." McNamara goes on to discuss the challenges of finding your voice and shares his tips for burgeoning writers: "I think you’re going to imitate who you like when you start writing, and there’s nothing wrong with that – that’s why you’re drawn to certain things… I think you imitate for a while and then you slowly lose that a little bit. I always think it’s too much pressure to [find] ‘your own voice…’ I think as much as finding your voice, you’ve got to find your process and then you’ll find your voice as well." Season 2 of The Great is now streaming on Hulu. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Tony_McNamara_for_The_Great_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:17pm PDT |
Wed, 18 May 2022
MST3K is back! Originally running from 1988 to 1999, Mystery Science Theater 3000 was revived in 2017 due to a crowdfunding campaign led by the show's creator, Joel Hodgson. The show follows a human test subject who is forced to watch "B" movies by evil scientists alongside a group of captive robots who provide colorful commentary on the films. Hodgson explains, "We have kind of a unique relationship with the audience because it's a unique format, and it behaves differently than most shows. For some people, that's very disorienting, and for what we call the 'right people,' it just totally makes sense." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Joel_Hodgson_for_Mystery_Science_Theater_3000_mixdown_v2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:35pm PDT |
Mon, 16 May 2022
Based on the incredible true story, Pam & Tommy tackles a major landmark in the early days of the Internet: the leak of Pamela Anderson's (Lily James) and Tommy Lee's (Sebastian Stan) sex tape. Co-showrunner D.V. DeVincentis discusses what surprised him the most while researching the backstory of the case: "Something that continued to come up was... how well [Pamela] dealt with it, considering she's obviously very upset by it. I would have completely lost my mind, and she really kept it together. That was surprising to me - the inner strength of this person that is most often not given a lot of credit." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Robert_D._Siegel_and_D.V._DeVincentis_for_Pam__Tommy_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 5:15pm PDT |
Thu, 12 May 2022
Starring Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul, Dual follows a woman (Gillan) who has to fight a clone of herself to the death after she unexpectedly recovers from a terminal illness. Writer-director Riley Stearns discusses how he crafted the film's out-of-this-world sci-fi premise while staying grounded in reality: "I didn't want the world to feel like this futuristic sci-fi space. I wanted it to still feel like we could relate to it... It's like another alternate reality where everything's the same except for this... How do people interact with each other in a world where this procedure exists?" Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Riley_Stearns_for_Dual_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:30pm PDT |
Mon, 9 May 2022
![]() Based on the insane yet shockingly true story, Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, delivers a modern take on the Watergate scandal that shines its light most prominently on Arkansan socialite Martha Mitchell (Roberts). Showrunner Robbie Pickering discusses what audiences can expect to take away from the series: "We made it for people who aren't necessarily Watergate geeks. It's really about the human dynamics and the scandal and the ways people destroy their own lives... and [become] complicit in dirty deeds for somebody in power." Robbie goes on to discuss what he learned as a first-time showrunner: "It's a lot harder [than directing]... but through trial and error, I had learned how to be a better leader, how to come into a room knowing that if you're the showrunner, you set the tone... when I went to become a showrunner, it was an easier transition than I thought, and being a staff writer had allowed me to let go of my ego in a way that directing really hadn't." Gaslit is now available to stream on Starz.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Robbie_Pickering_for_Gaslit_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:10pm PDT |
Fri, 6 May 2022
Coming off of an enormously successful eight-season run on ABC, Black-ish follows Andre 'Dre' Johnson (Anthony Anderson) as he tries to create a sense of cultural identity for the members of his family while raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood. Showrunner Courtney Lilly discusses the expectations of being a showrunner: "Your job when you're running a show is essentially accountability; that's it. Whether it's the story, whether it's the budget, whether it's casting, the buck needs to stop with you. And you say, 'Here's what we're doing, this is why you're paying me this money. This is my job, and this is how I know how to do it.'" Courtney goes on to discuss his hope for similar shows to be made in the future and the impact the series has had on the world of television: “People have a lot going on, and they want to laugh, they want to get to know characters, and my hope is that… there’ll be a moment where everybody will recognize that [Black-ish is] actually just traditional in the way that people want to watch television, and we'll see more stuff like what we’re doing now.” Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Courtney_Lilly_for_Black-ish_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:45am PDT |
Tue, 22 March 2022
Inspired by the true story of Michelle Carter's unprecedented "texting-suicide" case, The Girl from Plainville starring Elle Fanning is a Hulu miniseries that explores Carter's relationship with Conrad Roy III and the events that led to his death. Show creator Liz Hannah (The Post, Mindhunter) talks about tackling the true crime case: "I think the reaction from the media, the reaction from the general public towards Michelle and towards the case was very vitriolic, very much making her the villain... I'm very interested in the gray area of people and morality and ethics... as you start to peel away the layers, you realize just how little was talked about of what actually happened in this case, and what actually happened between these two people and the sort of mutual toxicity between the two of them." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Liz_Hannah_for_The_Girl_from_Plainville-new_outro_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:30pm PDT |
Tue, 15 March 2022
Based on the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria that resulted in her husband, Russ' conviction, though he insisted he did not kill her. This brutal crime set off a chain of events that would expose a diabolical scheme deeply involving Pam Hupp, played by Renée Zellweger. Creator/Showrunner Jenny Klein talked to Write On about bringing this true crime story to life: "We had a heavy research phase, and talked to as many of the real-life people as possible. And of course, this is a dramatic retelling, and some elements were fictionalized like timelines or composite characters. But we really did need to understand the facts to the best of our ability." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Jenny_Klein_for_The_Thing_About_Pam_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:07pm PDT |
Fri, 11 March 2022
King Richard tells the story of how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams became who they are after the coaching from their father Richard Williams, played by Will Smith. Academy Award® nominated screenwriter Zach Baylin talked to Write On about getting the depiction of Richard Williams right for this biopic: "Richard was just such a dynamic guy. It was what you look for in any kind of protagonist. [He had] had a very distinct voice… really driven, had very clear goals that he wanted to achieve. But he could be incredibly self-defeating and self-sabotaging, and he could get in his own way and in other people's way... that just felt like such a compelling character to me." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Zach_Baylin_for_King_Richard_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:39am PDT |
Mon, 7 March 2022
Winner of the Robert Altman Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Mass is the story of the aftermath of a violent tragedy that affects the lives of two couples in different ways. Writer-Director Fran Kranz talks to Write On about his inspiration for the film: "It was the day of the Parkland shooting, where I got so overwhelmed. You know, this sounds like a strange thing to say, but there was a kind of timing to it, sort of a perfect timing of a vulnerability where I was just kind of a freaked out dad... feeling anxieties and concerns and fears that I had never felt before… and worried about the kind of country and things that she [my daughter] was going to growing up into. So I went down kind of a rabbit hole that started just mostly because I was sort of this concerned parent." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Fran_Kranz_for_Mass_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:29am PDT |
Thu, 24 February 2022
![]() Nominated for three Academy Awards®, Flee tells the extraordinary true story of a man, Amin, on the verge of marriage which compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time. Filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen talks to Write On about the process behind making the documentary/animated feature: “It is about finding out when we go into the memories, which ones do you really want to see. Which one of those are kind of scenic? And when is it more about the emotion? It's really about trying to show as much as you can instead of just telling it.” Jonas goes on to give advice to not only other creatives but also himself: “I would definitely say that I should trust my voice more. Not try to look too much at what other people do, but really trust what I have inside. And then just to surround yourself with people that could challenge you in a good way.”
Direct download: Write_On_-_Jonah_Poher_Rasmussen_for_Flee_mixdown_no_trailer.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Thu, 17 February 2022
Promised Land is an epic, generation-spanning ABC drama about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California's Sonoma Valley. Showrunner and creator Matt Lopez tells Write On: “The show… tackles immigration, assimilation, what it means to chase the American dream, what it means to achieve the American dream, and the costs that are sometimes extracted from us when we try and achieve it or maintain it.” Matt goes on to talk about how a writer’s room works and gives advice to up-and-coming TV scribes: “I would say the most frequent advice I give to writers is... if you haven't already developed a thick skin, develop one. The barriers to entry in screenwriting, television writing - they're extremely high, and it can be hard to bust in. But if you keep working and keep at it, I do believe eventually your talent will get recognized.”
Direct download: Write_On_-_Matt_Lopez_for_Promised_Land_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 5:28pm PDT |
Tue, 15 February 2022
![]() When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, a wild card CIA agent joins forces with three international agents on a lethal mission to retrieve it, while staying a step ahead of a mysterious woman who's tracking their every move in this action thriller directed by Simon Kinberg. Co-Writer Theresa talks about transitioning from playwriting to screenwriting: "I think you really have to have tremendous respect for the form of a screenplay. It's different from theatre in that… language needs to do less. One of the things you have to figure out is how to deliver character and movement of emotion in gesture." Theresa goes on to discuss what it’s been like for her working as a female writer: "I started at a different time where, as challenging as it can be to be a woman in this industry, it was considerably worse. You felt, a lot of times, that you didn't have any options, you just had to put up with it, and it was extraordinarily painful and spiritually challenging, and I feel like the consequences of that stay with you longer than you think they will."
Direct download: Write_On_with_Theresa_Rebeck_for_The_355_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:06pm PDT |
Wed, 9 February 2022
![]() Cyrano is a musical drama starring Peter Dinklage based on screenwriter Erica Schmidt’s stage play of the same name. Erica talks to Write On about transitioning from writing for the theater to screenwriting: "It was challenging because I didn't know the form, and I had to really learn the form. It was really exciting as well; I love movies, I've always loved movies, and I never would have started out with something so big so it was kind of a great way to jump off the board and into the pool." Erica goes on to talk about the involvement of the band The National in contributing music for the project: "I listened to [The National's] music over and over again as I was writing the play, and that kind of necessitated making the language less and less to allow the music to be the heartbeat of the piece, but then when it was going to be a screenplay, I had a lot more freedom."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Erica_Schmidt_for_Cyrano_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:38pm PDT |
Thu, 3 February 2022
![]() Directed by Denzel Washington and starring Michael B. Jordan, A Journal for Jordan is based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, a soldier deployed to Iraq who begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son. Screenwriter Virgil Williams tells Write On: "It's really quite a remarkable love story… I used to say to Denzel [Washington], 'Look at us. We're doing all this work, all because these people loved each other.' That's astounding to me.” Virgil goes on to give advice on forging a screenwriting career: "Work on your craft all the time. Make it part of what you are, and it doesn't mean that you're sitting at the keyboard all the time; the better part of writing is listening - listening to the way that people talk… listening to your director, listening to your instinct, listening to your story because your story will tell you what it needs and wants."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Virgil_Williams_for_A_Journal_for_Jordan_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 8:22pm PDT |
Fri, 28 January 2022
The hit Netflix horror series is adapted from a found footage horror podcast about ritual, stories, and sound. Showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine talks to Write On about the adaptation process: "In terms of adapting something, you just have to crack it wide open, and we diverge in many places, and in many ways, it's very different from the podcast. In many ways, it has the same spirit but we definitely made a lot of changes… but a lot of that was adapting to the television format and the visual way of telling stories." Rebecca goes on to talk about what advice to take as a writer: "Sometimes you take a note, and then you're sorry you took the note. In terms of writing, I think there's a balance between believing in what you're doing and listening to other people's thoughts… I have this tendency - I think a lot of women do - to want to be a good student and take all the notes, and sometimes you just can't do that."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Rebecca_Sonnenshine_for_Archive_81_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Wed, 19 January 2022
![]() The acclaimed British screenwriter, showrunner and producer breaks down writing the haunting Princess Diana biopic for director Pablo Larraín (Jackie): "The instruction I gave to myself is that because this is a princess and it's a castle, it's a fairy tale, and I think most fairy tales are horror stories with a happy ending… I wanted to go there to make this a fairy tale, and it does have a happy ending, but along the way, it's a princess who's held captive in a haunted castle." Steven goes on to give advice about hooking the reader in the first ten pages of your screenplay: "Don't think that there is a 'right' way of doing this… The thing that writers should try to do - especially those first ten pages - is make it as unlike anything that anybody's ever seen because we all know that the people who are going to read the script have read a thousand scripts that month and have seen it all, know it all, but if something happens when they're reading it that they weren't expecting, you have attention.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Steven_Knight_for_Spencer_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:33pm PDT |
Wed, 29 December 2021
![]() In this special 2-part episode of Write On we talk to Flatbush Misdemeanors staff writer and co-writer of Hip Hop Family Christmas Saeed Crumpler about his career transition from rapper to screenwriter: "Coming from music, I used to look at each song as a ball of clay that had to be sculpted. I look at scripts the same way, even more so. I feel like you get even more time to make it better. I feel like in music, you only have a certain amount of time but with screenwriting, you have a lot of time to make it better, so why not make it better?" Saeed gives advice for how to make your screenplay the best it can possibly be: "Get [notes] early and often. To me, the sooner you can get notes on something, the better because then you don't get attached to it… if you wrote something in a month, and somebody gives you notes, it's like, 'All right, cool.' But if you've been working on it for six months or a year, then it's way more personal."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Saeed_Crumpler_Ep._2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:19pm PDT |
Mon, 20 December 2021
The hit Netflix series starring Henry Cavill returns! Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. Showrunner Lauren tells Write On: "I think I always think about keeping all of [the] fans in mind while also laying out a world that people who have never heard of The Witcher can follow and can enjoy. The way that I did that, alongside the writers, was to make sure that any person who wanted to watch the show felt like they were represented in the show." Lauren goes on to talk about her career, writing process, and how she assembles a writer’s room. "When I was putting together the writer's room for season one, season two, and season three, I looked for a real mix of people. I think that everyone has to love genre somehow; everyone has to be able to tell me that they love science fiction, they love fantasy, they love comic books, they love something - something that feels not of this world necessarily."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Lauren_Schmidt_Hissrich_for_The_Witcher__mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:31pm PDT |
Thu, 16 December 2021
![]() In this special 2-part episode of Write On we talk to Flatbush Misdemeanors staff writer and co-writer of Hip Hop Family Christmas Saeed Crumpler about going from rapper to screenwriter: "I had to make a change; I always loved film, and I just went back to school. I took $5,000, invested it in myself, took a UCLA online writing course… and I came out of there with two specs and an original pilot, and that original pilot is the one that's getting me jobs." Saeed goes on to talk about collaborating with other writers: "When you're co-writing, you go through so many drafts, so many polishes. We worked so well together that I don't remember [who wrote what]. To me, when you're writing with a partner, it should feel like that, where at the end of the day it becomes a cohesive thing."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Saeed_Crumpler_Ep._1_v2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:35pm PDT |
Tue, 14 December 2021
![]() The late night TV writer talks to Write On about breaking in and his early inspirations: "I was kind of the weird kid who at, like, 11 was watching David Letterman… [the realization] came to me in my very early teens like, 'Oh, this guy's not just saying jokes off the cuff, there are people writing there?'" Robert goes on to give advice to writers aspiring to work in late night: "I would say to folks out there who want to do a late night packet that you should do one! It's intimidating - especially your first one - but you can do it. You can sit down for six hours and make your packet really perfect and good."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Robert_Kornhauser_for_Desus__Mero_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:08pm PDT |
Fri, 10 December 2021
![]() Kelly is a development executive turned writer and author of ‘The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide to TV Series Development.’ She spoke to Write On about her decision to leave the executive world after 30 years and pursue her passion: "[Writing] was my own little private secret; I'd go home, and I'd write, and I'd enjoy the little worlds that I'd create and the short stories that I would write and the scripts that I would write, but I wasn't really actively pursuing it." Kelly goes on to discuss what she learned as an exec and how it can be applied to the work: "It's really not about the concept. You need material that shows how good of a writer you are and how deep a thinker you are and how emotive you can be on a page… if you can be as honest and authentic and as deep and as rich with your characters as you possibly can, people will respond to that."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Kelly_Edwards_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:34pm PDT |
Tue, 7 December 2021
![]() Tracey talks to Write On about tackling the life story of music icon Aretha Franklin: "I began to live, breathe, eat Aretha 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I listened to nothing but her music, everything I read was about her; I just completely submerged myself into that world." Tracey goes on to talk about her writing process and how she fosters her own creativity: "Part of the beauty of writing is that you evolve with it. As you change, your writing changes. The most important thing is you being in touch with your feelings and conveying that honesty and conveying that passion through the writing."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Tracey_Scott_Wilson_for_RESPECT_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:01pm PDT |
Fri, 3 December 2021
![]() An elite squad of Navy SEAL's, on a covert mission to transport a prisoner off a CIA black site island prison, are trapped when insurgents attack while trying to rescue the same prisoner. Co-Writer/Director James Nunn talks to Write On about what it takes to make an action movie: "When I'm reading an action movie, I think what separates the [direct-to-video] stuff from the stuff that gets a wider release is concept, predominantly, and character. If there's a really unique concept for an action movie, hold onto it and make it; those are the ones that are really going to transcend a normal fight movie." James goes on to discuss his filmmaking career and what inspired him to get behind the camera: "I knew [I wanted to be a filmmaker] when I saw Jurassic Park when I was nine. I was just like, 'Right, I can be a paleontologist or I can be a moviemaker…' Something hit me in that screening where seeing a dinosaur and having this level of storytelling come to life transcended the movie, and it was like, 'Wow, I want to do that.'" Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_James_Nunn_for_One_Shot_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:33pm PDT |
Mon, 29 November 2021
![]() A soldier has been tasked with preventing an imminent terrorist threat to the Vatican in this action thriller from filmmaker Abel Ferrara starring Ethan Hawke. "[The film is a] real inside take on the CIA but it's also the understanding of truth,” Abel tells Write On. “We're living through the pandemic, so it's news, it's fake news, it's Photoshop, it's images, it's 'What's the truth?' What are you seeing?" Abel goes on to talk about his writing process: "I'm writing [the script], and I don't know where the film is going. I'm writing it, and I’m feeling it, and I'm feeling it organically from scene to scene. I don’t have anything structured, I don't have any outline; I'm letting it surprise me." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Abel_Ferrara_for_Zeros_and_Ones_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:55pm PDT |
Tue, 23 November 2021
![]() Screenwriting career coach and guru Carole once again joins us on the podcast to talk about her system of networking as a screenwriter: "This business is based on relationships, and it's risk-averse. They want to hire people they know or hire people who've been referred to them by someone they know, so your job in addition to being a kickass writer has to be to build your community of mutually beneficial relationships." Carole goes on to discuss how you can make the most of every opportunity that comes your way: "The business, in terms of succeeding, is a lot about preparation and opportunity. You have to be ready, and one way, in terms of the opportunity part of it, is to know a lot of people because the more people you know, the more opportunities you're going to find out about."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Carole_Kirschner_Ep._3_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 2:42pm PDT |
Tue, 23 November 2021
![]() The 47 Meters Down filmmaker talks the latest installment of the phenomenally successful Resident Evil horror franchise and how he tackled it: "I find it quite intimidating at times. There is a lot of pressure to get this right. I'm always wary about making something for someone, making a movie for the fans because who knows, really, what they want? So you really just have to do it for yourself." Johannes talks about staying faithful to the Resident Evil video games and how he managed to make a movie that was also personal: "I created this movie with love, and it's a very unusual franchise movie in that… it feels like a retro 70's thriller. You can tell my personality in that movie; it's a very quirky, odd, but hopefully hugely scary movie."
Direct download: Johannes_Roberts_for_Resident_Evil_Welcome_to_Raccoon_City_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 8:23am PDT |
Sun, 21 November 2021
![]() A team of wildly talented high school girl soccer players becomes the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness in the Showtime series. Showrunners Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson talk to Write On about the journey it took to get the series to screen. "We took [Yellowjackets] out to fifteen networks; we pitched so many times,” Ashley said. “It was all fully scripted and memorized because that's how we have to pitch - especially when there are two of us. If we don't have it scripted, it's just too easy to step on each other or have a weird gap, so we just memorized 35 minutes word for word and then pretended it was all off the cuff." Ashley and Bart go on to talk about their collaborative process. According to Bart, "Learning how to write or be a writer is something that you will always feel like you are so far behind on, and you are so incomplete, and the way that you do this is insane and weird, and not only is it okay, but you can continue to be adjusting that approach. Be okay with it feeling weird and hard."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Ashley_Lyle_and_Bart_Nickerson_for_Yellowjackets_v2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:54am PDT |
Thu, 18 November 2021
![]() Dexter is back! Showtime’s beloved serial killer returns in a new limited series, and original showrunner Clyde Phillips wants to right some of the wrongs of the controversial season finale. "It's no secret that the final season was a great disappointment,” Clyde tells Write On. “In fact, if you look up 'Worst series finales ever,' Dexter will show up on every top ten list… we felt, collectively, that we owed a very faithful fanbase another shot." Clyde goes into detail about what it takes to write a show like Dexter: "By the time we start really breaking down the show, we know how it's going to end, and it's what I call 'Putting your nose against the white board' where the ending is and walking backwards. All of these doors are on either side like a hotel hallway, and each one of those doors is an episode, and then you get back to episode one - room one - and you start building the show."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Clyde_Phillips_for_Dexter_New_Blood_v2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 11:53am PDT |
Fri, 12 November 2021
![]() The animated adventure comedy is the story of Barney, an awkward middle-schooler, and Ron, his new walking, talking, digitally-connected device voiced by Zach Galifianakis. "When I start a film… I need to know the big idea,” Co-Writer/Director Sarah Smith tells Write On. “In this case, the idea that everyone has a walking, talking device, and this kid has one that doesn't work. I need to know what it's really about, and what it's really about is friendships in the world of algorithms." Sarah goes on to talk about writing movies for kids: "To me, the biggest threat to cinema is not streamers; it's actually not giving kids intelligent enough movies that make them love the cinema. That's my aim in life - give our kids movies that are as interesting and entertaining to them as really good books are, and then we'll have a cinema in the future."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Sarah_Smith_for_Rons_Gone_Wrong_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:27pm PDT |
Wed, 10 November 2021
![]() Kourtney talks rebooting the beloved TV classic Doogie Howser, M.D. but with a twist for Disney+: "I think in this day and age, folks get excited about IP; they just do. [It's] something solid that everybody can believe in. What I was then tasked with is 'How do you make this reboot worth doing?' and then 'What's my special sauce that I can put into it? What's the story I want to tell that makes this a story worth telling for me?'" Kourtney goes on to discuss the importance of diversity both in front of and behind the camera: "It's important to have more folks of color and diversity in front of the camera, but where I think you can really make a difference is the folks behind the camera, the people in charge, the people who are making the show, who get it."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Kourtney_Kang_for_Doogie_Kamealoha_MD_v2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:51pm PDT |
Sun, 7 November 2021
![]() Set in contemporary Washington D.C., Really Love is about a rising Black painter who strives to break into the competitive art world, while balancing a bittersweet romance he never expected. Co-Writer Felicia Pride talks to Write On about her screenwriting career: "My core is I'm a writer. I went to school for business because it sounded like a way to get a job, so I had a degree in marketing. I was very quickly bored at my first marketing job so I started writing on the side." Felicia gives advice on how to approach your writing career without fear. "Don't run from your gift… I've lived many lives and had many careers, and thankfully, they all now have helped me in some way in my current career, but the truth of the matter is that I was running from writing, I was running from my gift because I was scared to realize it." Really Love is now screening on Netflix.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Felicia_Pride_for_Really_Love_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Fri, 5 November 2021
![]() In The Beta Test, a married Hollywood agent receives a mysterious letter for an anonymous sexual encounter and becomes ensnared in a sinister world of lying, infidelity, and digital data. Writer-Director Jim Cummings tells Write On: "I had the idea for the letter service, and I called PJ and I was like, 'What would you do if you got a letter in the mail, personally, that invited you to a no-strings-attached sexual encounter?' And he said, 'I wouldn't go because that would be insane,' and then I thought, 'Yeah, but what if you were somebody that would?'" Writer-Director PJ McCabe goes on to discuss their collaborative process: "It's really just the two of us with our laptops out in [Jim's] garage, and we'll just walk around acting it out, and we'll do it a million different ways until we find the way we do it that makes us laugh… and the best setup and payoff in a scene that keeps it the most interesting and moves it, logically, to the next step in the plot."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Jim_Cummings__PJ_McCabe_for_The_Beta_Test_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:40pm PDT |
Tue, 2 November 2021
![]() The latest film from director Edgar Wright is about an aspiring fashion designer who is mysteriously able to enter 1960s London. Wright tells Write On: "[I started] having daydreams about being a kind of cultural time traveler, about how great it would be to go back to that decade. But then the more I would have these dreams, the more it would start to nag at me that that was a problem. Was nostalgia itself a retreat? Was it a failure to deal with the present day?" Co-Writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns details the collaborative process between her and Wright: "We both worked together in the room. I think the first draft took us about six weeks. There was a lot of writing, throwing things back and forth, sharing your deep dark secrets - the terrible things that have been said to us over the years and the things that have stung and distilling them into the characters, and then every so often stretching our legs around Soho. It was a very wonderful and holistic process."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Edgar_Wright__Krysty_Wilson-Cairns_for_Last_Night_in_Soho_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 5:11pm PDT |
Sun, 31 October 2021
![]() There’s Someone Inside Your House is a Netflix horror movie based on the YA novel by Stephanie Perkins. Shazam! writer Henry Gayden adapted the book and talks to Write On about tackling the horror genre and injecting it with emotion: "I've always liked slasher movies, but they've been my least favorite subgenre because you never really get emotionally invested in them… [Stephanie Perkins] comes from a YA romance background. [There's Someone Inside Your House] was her first horror book, so she created all these characters that were great, and I loved them, and there was a love story inside of this slasher book, and I really responded to it. And because I was emotionally invested, I suddenly wanted to write a slasher movie." Henry goes on to give advice on taking your time developing a career: "I think a lot of people are in a rush to succeed right away when they're just not mature enough, mentally and also as a writer, to handle what you've gotta go through."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Henry_Gayden_for_Theres_Someone_Inside_Your_House_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Fri, 29 October 2021
![]() The Netflix drama series created by Ava DuVernay and famed football player Colin Kaepernick explores Kaepernick's high school years and the experiences that led him to become an activist. Showrunner Michael Starrbury talked to Write On about how the writers' room was assembled: "If you put good people in the room together, and they really care about what you're trying to accomplish, then good things will come out of it. I wasn't really looking for 'TV writers;' I was looking for people who could write TV." Michael goes on to discuss what it takes to have a career in writing. "Have your own goals. Don't let anybody gas you up and tell you that you're doing great when you have your own measurement for greatness… I can't control the yes's and no's in Hollywood, but what I can do is I can make adjustments for myself in order to reach my goal."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Michael_Starrbury_for_Colin_in_Black_and_White_v3_revised_intro_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 11:00am PDT |
Thu, 21 October 2021
![]() Chucky is back! Everyone’s favorite killer doll is soon to have his own TV series on SYFY, and writer Kim Garland talked to Write On about what it took to get on the writing staff: “I sat down one weekend, and I watched all seven films in a row, just back-to-back-to-back. I binged it hard, and a lot of it was I really wanted to take the full journey and compress what [creator Don Mancini] had done in 30 years." Kim goes on to discuss why she thinks Chucky has remained popular as a character for so long. "I think part of what's so fun is [Chucky] is this guy who has given up on trying to go back in a human body and is fully embracing the doll, but it's still a person in there that's living and evolving and changing."
Direct download: Write_On_with_Kim_Garland_for_Chucky_mixdown_V2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:55pm PDT |
Tue, 19 October 2021
![]() Mike talks to Write On about his work as a mentor and the founding of his organization Black Boy Writes: "I have 11 mentees; they're all great, and they all span different genres. [We're] just breaking that myth that Black people are monolithic, we can only write one thing or we all experience the same thing, when that’s not true. We live varied experiences, and we write many types of things." Mike discusses getting his first writing job with Issa Rae, and gives advice for the aspiring writer. "You have to remember that you're only as good as your last writing sample. You're only as good as your last project, so you have to keep the momentum. You have to keep writing. . . if I wasn't writing all the time, I would not have the opportunities that I have now.” |
Fri, 15 October 2021
![]() Sera talks about the latest season of the hit Netflix series starring Penn Badgley as the obsessive and murderous Joe Goldberg: "We [gave] ourselves total permission to go in a new direction. This is not one of those premises that you can repeat in the same way for more than one season. We knew when we were making season one, we will never be able to tell exactly this kind of story again because now the viewers are onto us, and this show is only really fun if it's surprising, so we're forced to step outside of the previous box every time." Sera goes on to talk about how she goes out building a writers’ room: "I really like building a room where people come from dramatically different writing backgrounds… I think of the Tetris as being about finding people who are interesting and different and have really different points of view about the world, and then put them all together because they're going to have a really rich discussion about this subject matter." The third season of You is now streaming on Netflix. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Sera_Gamble_for_You_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:30pm PDT |
Thu, 14 October 2021
![]() Gloria talks to Write On about her process for choosing a writers’ room. "For One Day at a Time, we wanted a heavily Latino room because we were doing Latinx storylines, and we wanted to make sure that we were specific because it was a Cuban family, but also, it was great to hear from all the other Latinos in the room that were not Cuban that were like, 'Oh my God, my family did that too!'" Gloria goes on to discuss what makes a good TV staff writer: "Ultimately, if you are on a staff, you are there at the service of the showrunner. You are there to help them make the show they want to make, so how can you help them? What idea can you give them so that we can all go home? What thing are you going to do that's going to crack it? I think once that became crystal clear, everything became much, much easier for me." Gloria’s new series, With Love, will premiere on Amazon later this year.
Direct download: Write_On_-_Gloria_Calderon_Kellett__mixdown_v2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:40am PDT |
Tue, 12 October 2021
![]() The Hulu series starring Michael Keaton takes viewers to the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction. Creator Danny Strong talks about putting the show together in the midst of the pandemic: "One of the ways that I dealt with [having a virtual writer's room] was that I just started doing my own outlines, so I would be showrunning and working as a writer's assistant at the same time, and it would sort of confuse the staff. They'd be like, 'Are you sure?' and I'd be like, 'Hold on, I'm just writing this down!'" Danny goes on to discuss how he crafts stories based on real life. "A technique I use in nonfiction dramatic storytelling like this is that there are scenes that are there as a conduit - a fictional scene - that's there as a conduit to get true facts out. So the goal of the scene is to get real, true information out, and yes, if the scene is fictionalized in order to do so, it's fine because at the end of the day, what the scene is about is a truthful concept, idea, something along those lines."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Danny_Strong_for_Dopesick_mixdown_v2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:12pm PDT |
Fri, 8 October 2021
![]() TV and feature writer Eileen Jones talks about her career with screenwriting coach Lee Jessup. Eileen Jones made her entry into screenwriting through the Warner Brothers' Television Workshop, which led to being staffed on the TV series Lethal Weapon. Eileen has since moved into feature films, penning the original female-led action western Highwayman after participating in the inaugural Lucky Exports Pitch Program. She is currently writing the female-led spy movie Marks for New Line Cinema, The Safran Company, and Hodson Exports. Eileen talks about breaking in, sustaining her career, and how to stay inspired: "What makes you excited? What is going to be fun for you to sit down and write every day? I've certainly had experiences where I wrote a script where I was like, 'This is small, it's really personal, I just need to write it, so I'm gonna do it,' and that's been valuable. But for me, now, I'm really thinking about, 'How do I have that meaningful conversation with as many people as possible?'" Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Lee_Jessup__Eileen_Jones_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:20am PDT |
Tue, 5 October 2021
![]() After suffering a stroke, Judith Albright moves into a historic nursing home, where she begins to suspect something supernatural is preying on the residents in this Amazon Original Movie. Writer-Director Axelle Carolyn talks about how her personal family experiences shaped the story: "I saw my dad and my granddad both go to nursing homes, and I saw how it changed them, and it changed the way that people look at them and speak to them, and I think that when people address you a different way, you become someone else." She goes on to discuss the horror genre and the films that inspired her to be a filmmaker. "It was a combination of David Cronenberg's The Fly, which kind of taught me the power of characters and emotion in a horror movie… and Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, and it just felt like working on that set would have been the most fun thing in the world."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Axelle_Carolyn_for_The_Manor_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:34am PDT |
Wed, 29 September 2021
![]() Taylor Orci is a TV and screenwriter known for their work on Vida and the Emmy-nominated series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts on Netflix. Taylor is also known for creating the web video ‘Bitchy Resting Face’ that went so viral it got the term in the dictionary! Taylor talks about how they navigated their writing career and forged their own path: "If I followed all the well-intended advice that people looked me straight in the eye and said, 'I'm trying to help you,' I wouldn't have a job right now. I wouldn't have a career." Taylor goes on to discuss the need for more diversity in the industry, especially in positions of power: "You need to have more queer people and POC people occupying levels of authority… from mid-level to upper level to the executive level and beyond… We need to be seeing more representation and more butts in seats because different decisions are going to be made when you have those people in the room."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Taylor_Orci_mixdown_2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:09pm PDT |
Tue, 21 September 2021
![]() The feature comedy is about an aimless ne'er-do-well who becomes a tour guide in a historic estate and winds up befriending the manor's resident ghost. Co-writers, directors and brothers Justin and Christian Long talk to Write On about collaboration. Christian says: "We happen to agree a lot creatively, so there's usually not a lot of conflict. We definitely have different approaches as people in that Justin… has a really big personality. I'm a little more reserved, a little more shy, so it takes me a minute to open up to people." Justin talks about how writing the movie helped reconnect him with his brother: "I was working in London and kind of lonely, it was kind of a lonely job… [collaborating on the script with Christian] was a way to feel like I was back with my brother, and it was an easy way to bond from a distance, and it always made me laugh to get these scenes from him, and then he would get my scenes, and he'd punch them up and make them better, and I would try to make his better, and that's kind of how we worked."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Justin_Long_and_Christian_Long_for_Lady_of_the_Manor_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:24am PDT |
Thu, 16 September 2021
![]() The Disney Plus Original series is about a young Cuban-American girl who embarks on a journey to become the future president of the United States. Creator Ilana Peña talks about the very personal origins of the main character, Elena Cañero-Reed: "Elena is very much based on me… I wanted to write about that nerdy, type A, messy middle school girl that I hadn't really seen." Ilana goes on to discuss finding universality in her own personal story. "We're all human beings, and that's what I want to present on the screen while also honoring my identity and my background. I didn't wake up every day and say, 'Another day as a Latina!' I woke up and I was like, 'Did I forget my social studies assignment?'" Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Ilana_Pea_for_Diary_of_a_Future_President_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:20pm PDT |
Tue, 14 September 2021
The biopic about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker is based on the documentary of the same name. Writer Abe Sylvia talks about what drew him to the project: "I grew up in Oklahoma in the 80s, and that's right in the middle of the Bible Belt, and while I wasn't raised religiously, it was all around me, and when that scandal first hit, it was everywhere. I wasn't familiar with [Tammy Faye] before that but it certainly made a huge splash in the neighborhood." Abe also dives into the process of writing and researching a biopic. "I think there's a little bit of osmosis that happens from watching so many hours of footage… the important part of the research was to get it into my own DNA and to separate that from 'How do I include all of these facts?' I think that was the ultimate value of the research."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Abe_Sylvia_for_The_Eyes_of_Tammy_Faye_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:50pm PDT |
Fri, 10 September 2021
![]() Eliza talks to Write On about how she approached adapting a 20-year-old comic book series for FX: “I really wanted to update the way we talk about gender and the diversity of gender in this landscape… it's a more nuanced look at the diversity of the gender spectrum and also making clear that gender and chromosomes are not equal to one another." Eliza goes on to discuss how she built her writer's room for the show. "We had playwrights [in the writer's room], we had TV writers, we had a novelist, and it was a really exciting group of people who kind of all brought pieces of themselves to the table. The writer's room is one of my favorite parts of television. I really love the collaborative aspect of TV."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Eliza_Clark_for_Y_The_Last_Man_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:09am PDT |
Tue, 7 September 2021
![]() Alissa and Alyson talk to Write On about creating the adult animated comedy series for Adult Swim starring Maria Bamford and Tim Robinson. Alissa explains: "I had this thought, somehow, that [animation] is easier than live-action, and that is not true at all… and I feel so lucky that I was able to do this with Alyson and that we have the incredibly talented team that we do because, I mean, it's not for wimps." The collaborators go on to discuss what it’s like working together in the animation realm. "I actually didn't even understand how hard [animation] was until we set out on the journey,” says Alyson, “but it also is really fun to write because you can do anything, and it's a way to be silly… the two of us together made more sense for it to be animated."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Alissa_Nutting_and_Alyson_Levy_for_Teenage_Euthanasia_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 2:47pm PDT |
Wed, 1 September 2021
![]() The playwright turned screenwriter talks about what it’s like to write material based on real people for the FX TV series. "My job was to adopt 20-something Monica [Lewinsky]'s point of view… and so I wrote based on Monica's story, and then I had the incredible asset of Monica Lewinsky herself reading my scripts and giving me feedback, so I basically trusted that in the writing of it, the scripts would reflect on how Monica experienced it." Sarah talks about her beginnings as a writer and how it doesn’t matter where you’re from. "You need something that's good on the page; that's all you need. You can live in Idaho, you can live in Ottawa, you don't have to live in The East Village or Santa Monica… if you are in any position to be able to write, I do think that having faith in what you put on the page is really what matters."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Sarah_Burgess_for_Impeachment_American_Crime_Story_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:18am PDT |
Sat, 28 August 2021
Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard on the hit show Ted Lasso, talked to Write On about writing the second season of the series along with his co-creators Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, and Joe Kelly: "I think we were very fortunate that we had our first season under our belt pre-lockdown because part of why we were still able to do, hopefully, a half-decent job on Season 2 was that we had the whole crew back plus one, so we knew each other, and we had a sense of each other… it was not preferable, but we made it work." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!
Direct download: Write_On_-_Brendan_Hunt_for_Ted_Lasso_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:30pm PDT |
Thu, 26 August 2021
![]() Our Lady J speaks to Write On about the challenges of creating a show like POSE. "Writing a lot of these storylines for POSE was challenging for my mental health because they were so triggering of experiences that were really hurtful to me and experiences that changed me as a person. But being able to not be triggered while I'm writing, and to work through that was key to the success of getting those stories onto the page and onto the screen.” Our Lady J goes on to speak about getting her first Emmy nomination, selecting the music featured on the show, and her creative process. "The more we know ourselves, the better artists we are, the better storytellers we are, and the more honest we're able to be in our storytelling and in our relation to others. For character writing, you absolutely cannot think you're better than the character. For story writing, you can't be afraid to go places that might be scary. You really have to know who you are to be able to get to that place as a storyteller."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Our_Lady_J_for_POSE_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:00pm PDT |
Tue, 24 August 2021
![]() Ali talks to Write On about how she selects writers for the Paramount + original series. "For a lot of people, it's about the specificity of 'Can they write for my show?' For me, it was a little bit more 'Can they write?'… Some of the writers that we met with, I just loved the concept of their script, and I felt like they could bring that weirdness that we were going to want." Ali goes into the specifics of what it takes to craft a TV show for tweens. "You can't try to pander… even with kids - they'll smell it from a mile away. For us, it was 'Does this make us laugh? Does it feel true to the show?' We tried not to overthink it."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Ali_Schouten_for_iCarly_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:19pm PDT |
Thu, 19 August 2021
![]() Stacie was a Grand Prize Winner in 2020 for her feature film script Clementine. Big Break Contest Director Kala Guess talks to Stacie about what it was like winning the contest, how her network has expanded since then, and what it takes to get a screenwriting career going. "You really, really don't know when your script is going to connect with people, so just believe in what you're writing and write what you love, write what you're passionate about." Stacie also discusses how being bi-racial informs her work: "I am bi-racial, and I feel like people who are bi-racial can connect with each other so much more in regards to identity, regardless of what our racial makeup is because we have so many feelings of not belonging to whichever side or we identify too much with one and not so much with the other, and there's always someone else who's trying to define our existence." Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes! ![]() Now available on Google Podcasts! ![]()
Direct download: Write_On_with_BB_Winner_Stacie_Gancayco-Adlao_mixdown_v2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 2:17pm PDT |
Mon, 16 August 2021
![]() Following a tragic car accident in Greece, Beckett, an American tourist, finds himself at the center of a dangerous political conspiracy and on the run for his life in this Netflix thriller. The writer and director discuss what it was like to collaborate. Writer Kevin A. Rice explains: "What was great about the process was Ferdi and I clicked very early, and we just met over lunch. It was very, sort of, informal… at the time, Ferdi had, like, a page description of what he was shooting for with this movie, and I was given that, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I'd love to work on something like this.'" Director Ferdi Cito Filomarino goes on to talk about the central character of Beckett and how he subverts the useful thriller tropes. "We set [Beckett] in a way that is basically the worst possible character type to be in a man-hunt-thriller in some ways: the type of person that he is, the type of demeanor that he has, and attitude… By the end of the movie, he basically has to confront all of that."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Ferdi_Cito_Filomarino_and_Kevin_A._Rice_for_Beckett_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:30am PDT |
Fri, 13 August 2021
![]() Naked Singularity, based on the novel by Sergio De La Pava, is about an idealistic young New York City public defender burned out by the system who decides to rob a multi-million drug deal of one of his clients. Chase talks to Write On about adapting the novel for the screen. "The unifying voice of the film, I hope, comes from the book, which is the reason I wanted to do this. The author, Sergio De La Pava, is a public defender of 20 years; his wife, Susanna, is a public defender of 20 years, and he wrote this book that is a very well observed, funny, absurdist, kind of outraged novel that juggles in all of these different genres, but there's something very specific about his voice. It was like a new way into a discussion about social justice, and it was sort of a new way into seeing a story about a young public defender." Chase goes on to discuss the challenges of adapting: "With [adapting] a book, the first thing is 'What's the spirit of the book?' and trying to really get into your head, like what do you love about it? And what's the spirit of it, before even getting into the nuts and bolts of what characters are you going to cut and consolidate and plot points? It's just sort of understanding what you're writing from the book or what are you extracting tonally from it."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Chase_Palmer_for_Naked_Singularity_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 11:45am PDT |
Thu, 12 August 2021
![]() Mira won Final Draft’s Big Break Screenwriting Contest in 2020 for her TV Pilot Beirut. She talks to Write On about what it takes to win a screenwriting contest: "I personally suffer from perfectionism, but the most important thing is to get [your script] done, get it to a place so you can actually submit it on time. What also helps is getting lots of feedback. That's one of my favorite parts of the process of writing, is sharing it with other people, getting their opinions, and having them help me punch it up." Mira goes on to talk about her role as a Script Coordinator on the show Lucifer, and how being support staff led to her first on-screen story credit. "Being in support staff positions has been such a learning curve for me. I wouldn't be the writer I am today without all that experience, without being invited to sit in the room and listen, being invited to pitch, getting opportunities to write outlines and write story documents.”
Direct download: Write_On_-_BB_Winner_Mira_Z._Barnum_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:00am PDT |
Sat, 7 August 2021
‘Nine Days’ is the story of a reclusive man who conducts a series of interviews with human souls for a chance to be born. Edson Oda talks to Write On about the challenges of being a Writer-Director: "You have to think with different hats. An instructor at Sundance just told me you wear two hats: one hat while you're writing, and then when you're directing, another hat, another color… and not think of that piece as something you wrote, but as something that's there, and now you can change whatever you want." Edson goes on to discuss how it is important to love the process of creating: "Do it not because of the result, but more because you love doing it. Write a story as only you can write… if you could just make one movie, and nothing else, what movie would you make? And don't care about what people say, just do it."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Edson_Oda_for_Nine_Days_mixdown_v2.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Thu, 5 August 2021
Gary Goldstein is known for producing such hits as Pretty Woman, Under Siege and The Mothman Prophecies. He is also known as the author of the book Conquering Hollywood: The Screenwriter's Blueprint for Career Success. Gary talks to Write On about coaching writers, collaborating, and what makes a great story: "I just want something that is, all at once, a journey that's really going to, on some deeper level, be very satisfying to an audience because ultimately, we're all in the service of that - not money, not the distributor, we're in the service of being the storytellers for our culture, so I want something that comes from a place of such depth and truth and authenticity that no one else could have written it." Gary goes on to give advice on the writing life and the importance of nurturing your own talent: "Believe in yourself. Give yourself the gift of self-belief. Don't care what others think, don't play by the rules - do what your gut tells you is true for you.”
Direct download: Write_On_-_Gary_Goldstein_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:00pm PDT |
Tue, 3 August 2021
![]() Carole talks to Write On about how to prepare for submission to a fellowship or mentorship, and how to use what she calls the “Four Pillars of Success” to your advantage. "Throughout my career, I've been really fortunate to work with some very successful people, and I was always curious about what separated the successful people from the people that gave up and went back to Ohio and sold insurance. So I studied the successful people, and I thought, 'What do they have in common?' and I came up with four things, and I call them the Four Pillars of Success." Carole gives great advice on networking and how to build relationships effectively over time. "People get in their mind this idea that only one person is going to make or break their career, and they've gotta get to that person. You're starting out in the business, you're growing up with a group of people… start these relationships early, and they're going to end up being people who hire you or that you work with, or they recommend you, and as everybody moves up, they bring each other up."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Carole_Kirschner_Ep._2_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 4:11pm PDT |
Fri, 30 July 2021
Joshua talks to Write On about being a writer on the original iconic series and how it has been updated to reflect current times. "We are looking at how social media has changed the landscape of who we say we are and how we put ourselves out in the world, and so a new Gossip Girl rises, much like Game of Thrones… and targets a new crop of young students at the Constance Billard school." Joshua discusses how he runs a writers room and the creative benefits of being in that environment. "I always tells writers, 'Get in a writer's room…' Be a part of someone else's creation; that's how you learn. I learned so much. I thought I knew everything, but I learned so much."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Joshua_Safran_for_Gossip_Girl_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 12:00pm PDT |
Wed, 28 July 2021
![]() Eric talks delving into the history of the elusive Black Widow: "We approached it with the lens of 'This is a Natasha Romanoff story.' I wanted to see what it's really like inside the most mysterious Avenger - the Avenger that intentionally closes herself off from people socially and emotionally. What's the best way to bring that out of her - the part of her emotion and her heart that she can't really control the way she controls everything else?" On coming on board after two writers have already worked on the script, Eric explains: "You just kind of have to go in and give your honest opinion. You're the custodian of the script; you're the one in charge of that document, and you're the one who has to make sure that we're being true to our characters and our story and that everything kind of makes linear sense and that what our characters are doing makes sense to their characters."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Eric_Pearson_for_Black_Widow_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 10:00am PDT |
Tue, 20 July 2021
Thomas is Director of Development for Los Angeles-based production company Branded Pictures Entertainment and talks to Write On’s Phil Galasso about what the company looks for in a screenplay. "I think the [scripts] that really stand out are when something is sort of attacked in a very different way in a singular voice. That's something that you can't mimic or copy. Everyone has their sort of unique take and perspective on how to tell the story." Thomas talks about his approach to producing and the importance of supporting your creative team. “You always want to make sure, as a good producer, that at any stage in the process, you're supporting your creative team's vision. That there's a shared and collective vision, whether you came up with the idea or the writer did, or a director-writer did."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Thomas_Pettinelli_with_clip_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:39am PDT |
Tue, 13 July 2021
Navot talks writing the explosive female-driven action-thriller starring Karen Gillan and Carla Gugino: "When you strip down this [assassin] genre… it's got this rich history of this hitman following this code and laws of the underworld… but, like in all of these movies, there's always someone innocent introduced into this equation that puts our hero into a dilemma: do I keep the code, or do I go with my heart?" Navot talks about his process with his writing partner Ehud Lavski and how a screenplay is never a fixed object. "A script is a living thing, and you have to be aware of it every step of the way… the worst thing you can do is be fixated on something, and I have to compliment my writing partner [Ehud Lavski], who is always on his toes, always thinking, and once I have an idea, we just jump at it."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Navot_Papushado_for_Gunpowder_Milkshake_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 3:55pm PDT |
Tue, 6 July 2021
The famed Bill & Ted writer talks working with director Steven Soderbergh on the HBO Max crime thriller No Sudden Move: "I was asking Steven [Soderbergh] what style of film I should watch, because a lot of times when he and I work together on stuff, he'll say, 'Watch these six movies,' and I always love that because then you get into a kind of mindset." Ed goes on to discuss his lengthy, varied career, and how he stays inspired. "The only way to stay writing, I think, is a combination of reinvention but, like, real reinvention. How do you reinvent yourself in a way that keeps you in your wheelhouse but just outside your comfort zone so you're… constantly pushing in ways that, mostly, you can succeed in?"
Direct download: Write_On_-_Ed_Solomon_for_No_Sudden_Move_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:15pm PDT |
Tue, 29 June 2021
False Positive is a horror-thriller about a mysterious and possibly dangerous fertility doctor that tackles some serious themes relating to pregnancy. Director John Lee explains: "'Mommy brain' is a real thing. Postpartum is a real thing, and prepartum is a real thing, and so in the movie, we just wanted to point out how we don't actually talk about it or support it or, like, actually do anything about it. We give it a cute phrase." John also offers advice on how to complete your first draft: "Get past the first act. Don't keep rewriting the first act. When you go in to rewrite or you go to write the next day, don't start on page one; start on the page you left. So if day one, you write page 1-14, whatever it is, the next day, don't even read it. Just start on page 14 and go forth… You have to get to the end, and then you have to basically destroy and rebuild and support as much as possible after that."
Direct download: Write_On_-_John_Lee_for_False_Positive_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:48am PDT |
Thu, 24 June 2021
Award-winning writer, actor and director Josh Ruben burst onto the horror scene with the immensely popular Scare Me. His follow-up, Werewolves Within, is a feature adaptation of a videogame about werewolves attacking a small town. Josh talks about how he landed the gig and offers advice on how to show passion for your project. "The easiest way to describe how to pitch a film… is take a film that you love and that you know, and write down what happens as if you were talking to your best friend describing what happens in that movie in under 10 minutes, and for a total of 15 minutes, tack on an intro where you talk about why you're the best person to make this movie and why it's personal to you."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Josh_Ruben_for_Werewolves_Within_mixdown.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 9:55am PDT |
Tue, 22 June 2021
Good on Paper is a romantic comedy that tells the ‘mostly’ true story of finding Mr. Right but discovering he may be too good to be true. Writer and star Iliza Shlesinger talks about how being a stand-up comic informed her writing process. "As a comic, you're so sensitive to cadence and syllables, and those really can make or break someone laughing or not laughing… and then there's also putting it in other people's voices… it's up to the actor to bring it to life." Iliza talks about how important it is to practice your craft to get it right. "Each time you write, you get better and better, and the more screenplays you read, the more things you audition for, you see what… doesn't translate."
Direct download: Write_On_-_Iliza_Shlesinger_for_Good_On_Paper_mixdown_1.mp3
Category:screenwriting -- posted at: 1:30pm PDT |