facebook_pixel Press "Enter" to skip to content

Looking to start your TV writing journey?

Posts tagged as “Agents & Managers”

Networking 201: Cold Contact, Queries and Etiquette (PT121)

Alex and Nick discuss cold contacting people. From formulating queries for your scripts to the proper etiquette when reaching out, learn how you should go about contacting people who don’t know you.

What are the best ways of contacting people cold? Do query letters work? What should you put in a query letter? How do people perceive you when you reach out? What is the proper etiquette to cold contacting people?

Plus, we celebrate our new Patreon subscribers!

The Paper Team formulates…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – How to cold contact people (02:24)
2 – Query Letters (17:30)
3 – Etiquette: Dos and donts (26:03)
Takeaways, Resources, and Next Week On (35:51)

Links

Paper Team on Patreon
“Networking 101: How to Talk With People in Hollywood” (PT05)
“Managing TV Writers ft. Daniela Garcia-Brcek (Circle of Confusion)” (PT59)
“TV Writer Representation 201” (PT108)
“How to Follow Up (Without Seeming Desperate)” (PT07)

Resources

Star Wars Cover Letter

This episode brought to you by Script PipelineSubmit by March 1st to the 2019 Script Pipeline contest for a reduced entry fee

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

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

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

Writing Samples and Preparing for TV Staffing ft. Liz Alper (The Rookie) & Kai Wu (Deception) (PT119)

Alex and Nick invite fellow TV writers Liz Alper (The Rookie/Hawaii Five-0) & Kai Wu (Deception/The Flash) to debate what samples are worth writing, and how they get ready for staffing season.

Are features better samples than TV pilots or specs? Should writers chase trends? What are ways of researching a spec script? How can you get ready for staffing season? How do you handle a difficult showrunner as a staff writer?

Plus, we give feedback on three Paper tease entries and discuss the latest TV writing news.

The Paper Team cuts deep…

PT119 Liz Alper Kai Wu

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Tease Session (00:00:48)
1 – TV writing samples and getting ready for staffing season with Liz Alper & Kai Wu (00:17:33)
2 – Paper Scraps: SMILF allegations, Bandersnatch, and TV watching (00:52:16)
Final Advice and Next Week On (01:07:53)

Paper Tease Entries

“Endwell” by Diana Lampiasi
“Test.ed” by Melissa Long
“Mediocre” by Chris Thomas

Links

Liz Alper on Twitter
Kai Wu on Twitter
The Rookie on ABC
Deception
Daniel Kunka’s Twitter thread
Kai and Liz’s Twitter responses
Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg on Writing (Video)
“‘SMILF’ Creator Frankie Shaw Investigated Over Misconduct Claims” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Sexually Explicit Casting Contract for HBO’s ‘Westworld’ Extras Has SAG-AFTRA Concerned” – The Hollywood Reporter
“HBO Hires “Intimacy Coordinators” To Monitor On-Set Sex” – Deadline
“Inside the 2-Year Journey of ‘Bandersnatch'” – The Hollywood Reporter
Lords & Ladles
Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
Nailed It!

This episode brought to you by Script PipelineSubmit by March 1st to the 2019 Script Pipeline contest for a reduced entry fee

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

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

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

TV Writing for Comedy & Drama ft. Michelle Badillo & Caroline Levich (One Day at a Time/The Bold Type) (PT115)

Alex and Nick invite Michelle Badillo & Caroline Levich, writers on Neflix’s One Day at a Time and Freeform’s The Bold Type, to discuss their experiences working in both half-hour and one-hour TV writers’ rooms.

How do you approach your first days in a writers’ room? What are some of the differences and challenges between breaking a half-hour and a one-hour show? What lessons can TV writers take from working in both multi-cam and drama rooms? How do you adapt to differences in tone between the formats? How are stories broken on One Day at a Time and The Bold Type? What was it like working on a Humanitas-nominated episode of TV? How can you use branding to your advantage as a writer? What are some tips for successfully transitioning between formats and genre?

The Paper Team changes tone…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Writing for both TV comedy and TV drama with Michelle Badillo & Caroline Levich (00:37)
Final Advice, Resources and Next Week On (47:28)

Links

Michelle Badillo on Twitter
Caroline Levich on Twitter
“One Day at a Time” on Netflix
“The Bold Type” on Freeform
Gloria Calderon Kellett
Hollywood Fringe Festival
Dan Hernandez
“Hello, Penelope” (2×09 – One Day at a Time)
Amanda Lasher

Resources

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying” by Carol Leifer
“Just the Funny Parts” by Nell Scovell
The Comeback

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

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

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