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TV Calling

Preemptive Specs, Political Tweets, and Peacock – Paper Scraps Monthly (PT157)

Alex and Nick answer your TV writing questions about political tweets, topic suggestions, and predicting fellowship specs.

Plus, we catch up on some TV writing news from the past few weeks, including the WGA election results, the announcement of a new OTT service, and a TV crossover event.

Reminder

Our next live event will be on Wednesday, November 20. We’ll be doing a table read of a pilot script from one lucky Paper Tease winner! Join our Patreon to get early tickets.

Content

Announcements and Shout-outs (01:07)
Audience Questions: Political tweets, TV writing education, and predicting speccable shows (05:56)
TV Writing News: WGA election results, Peacock, and Apple Studios (18:54)

Links

The Paper Team 150th Episode Special (PT150)
Should You Pay for TV Writing Education? (PT19)
Results for WGAw’s 2019 Officers and Board Of Directors Election
NBCUniversal Announces Peacock as Name of its Streaming Service (PR)
“Apple Launches In-House Studio” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Tom Welling to reprise Smallville role for Arrowverse’s ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ crossover” – EW

This episode brought to you by Roadmap Writers
Use the code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF your Roadmap Writers Program

If you enjoy Paper Team, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :)

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:
Alex@TVCalling
Nick@_njwatson
For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

TV Prose 201: Breaking Rules (PT156)

Alex and Nick delve into the nuances of editorializing on the page, and take a look at unconventional ways of breaking rules in your TV writing.

What is the goal of breaking rules with prose? What are unique tools to convey information in scene descriptions? How do you direct on the page in an emotional way? When can you editorialize your writing? What is meta-prose and how should you use it? When is formatting worth playing with?

The Paper Team comments…

Content

1 – Preface (01:01)
2 – Editorializing the prose (04:19)
3 – Directing on the page (23:56)
4 – Meta-prose and breaking the fourth wall (30:25)
5 – Playing with formatting (37:48)
Takeaways and Next Week On (44:16)

Links

TV Prose and Scene Description 101 (PT48)
The Girlfriend Experience (TV Show)
The Rules of Attraction (Movie)
TV Characters 101 (PT46)
The Hunt

This episode brought to you by Roadmap Writers
Use the code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF your Roadmap Writers Program

If you enjoy Paper Team, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :)

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:
Alex@TVCalling
Nick@_njwatson
For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Paper Tease: Perspective – October Session (PT155)

Alex and Nick have another Paper Tease session and give feedback on five of your TV pilot teasers.

Plus, we share some big Austin Film Festival news and we reveal the date of our next live event!

Announcements

1 – Paper Team will be at the Austin Film Festival! It all happens Saturday, October 26. Nick’s panel “Breaking into TV” will be at 10:45AM at the Driskill’s Citadel Room. Alex’s panel “Structuring a Series” will be at 3PM at the Driskill’s Maximilian Room. We’ll also be having a Paper Team Meetup at the Driskill bar at 5PM on that same Saturday.

2 – Mark your calendars for our next live event on Wednesday, November 20! We’ll be doing a full table read of the pilot script from one lucky Paper Tease winner. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for all the ticket information.

Paper Tease Entries

“The Holy Cannolie’s” by Alissa Rivas
“Hotel Gramercy Park” by Max Weissberg
“Sensitive” by Katie Parisi
“Black Mold” by Jeremiah Lewis
“The Red Riding Hoods” by David Michael Quiroz, Jr.

Want to get feedback on the teaser of your TV pilot in an upcoming Paper Tease session? Find all the information you need at http://paperteam.co/teaser

If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :)

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:
Alex@TVCalling
Nick@_njwatson
For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]