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Posts tagged as “Angel”

Halloween on TV (PT64)

Alex and Nick mark Halloween by looking at iconic TV episodes celebrating the holiday and what makes them so special.

How does Halloween translate to television? What are some of the best Halloween episodes? What makes a good Halloween story?

The Paper Team scares itself…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – Some Halloween history (00:46)
2 – Elements of Halloween TV episodes (08:17)
3 – Favorite Halloween episodes (17:23)
4 – The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror (29:24)
Resources and Next Week On (36:48)

Links

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
“Greg Pikitis” (2×07 – Parks and Recreation)
“Halloween” (2×05 – The Office)
“Pinkeye” (1×07 – South Park)
“Epidemiology” (2×06 – Community)
The Cabin in the Woods
“The Scare” (1×11 – Dawson’s Creek)
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester” (4×07 – Supernatural)
“Spookyfish” (2×15 – South Park)
“Halloween” (2×06 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Janus
“Life of the Party” (5×05 – Angel)
“Fear, Itself” (4×04 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
“Halloween” (1×04-05 – American Horror Story)
“The Honking” (2×18 – Futurama)
“Halloween/Ellie” (2×10 – Louie)
“Spooky Endings” (2×05 – Happy Endings)
Script for Happy Endings’ “Spooky Endings” episode
Treehouse of Horror
“A Nightmare on Face Time” (16×12 – South Park)

Resources

Massive spreadsheet list of Halloween TV episodes
“Is Your Halloween Costume Racist?” – Kat Lazo

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]

Assisting TV Comedy Writers ft. Gary Sundt (Superstore/The Goldbergs) (PT43)

Alex and Nick invite Gary Sundt, writers’ assistant on NBC’s Superstore and ABC’s The Goldbergs, to discuss the ins-and-outs of assisting TV writers in comedy.

How do comedy writers’ rooms operate? How do those experiences in the room help your own writing? When and how should you navigate asking your boss to read your content? What are the priorities when helping a writer develop a pilot? What is the meaning of storytelling?

The Paper Team pulls up a chair…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Being a writer’s assistant, assisting a showrunner in developing pilots, working in a writer’s room, and the role of comedy in politics (00:01:20)
Resources and Next Time On (1:14:32)

Links

Gary Sundt on IMDb
Superstore (TV Series)
The Goldbergs (2013 TV series)
Playboy’s the Antiviral Show
Archie Comics
Kill Bill
Angel (TV Series)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Marley & Me
Clerks II
Summertime Killers
Rick Wiener
Kenny Schwartz
American Housewife
Charlie Grandy
Guys With Kids
Super Fun Night
Justin Spitzer
Dan Harmon
Mulaney
America Ferrara
Ruben Fleischer
Colossal
Adam F. Goldberg
Joseph Campbell
Michael Arndt
Blake Snyder
“Save the Cat” – Blake Snyder
Neil Gaiman
Twister (Film)
Independence Day (Film)
Adam Wingard
Death Note (2017 Film)
“The Hidden Life of Trees” – Peter Wohlleben
“Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life” – Winifred Gallagher
“Essays in Love” – Alain de Botton
“Modern Romance” – Aziz Ansari

Resources

Michael Arndt’s “Setting a Story in Motion” (Video)
“What Are You Laughing At?” – Dan O’Shannon

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board’s Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

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 Procedurals (PT40)

Alex and Nick discuss television procedural shows and how they work, from writing them to reinventing the genre itself.

What kind of procedurals are there on TV? How do you juggle between the characters, the overall story, and the case-of-the-week? What are some common tips for writing a procedural? How does the structure evolve between episodic and serialized procedurals?

The Paper Team solves the case…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – Defining TV procedurals (00:46)
2 – Writing TV procedurals: structure, case of the week, and reinventing the genre (03:22)
Takeaways and Resources (28:29)

Links

Carol Mendelsohn
“How Joss Whedon and the Buffy writers’ room broke episodes” – TV Calling
“My Overkill” (2×01 – Scrubs)
Colin Hay
“The Art of the TV Episode” (PT20)
“Subway” (6×07 – Homicide: Life on the Street)
Andre Braugher
Dancing Baby
“Tracking the long career of half-forgotten TV auteur David E. Kelley” – Stephen Bowie/The A.V. Club
Ann Donahue
Steven Bochco
Century City (TV Series)
“When every Fox show becomes a procedural, it gets very boring” – Daniel Fienberg/THR
Michelle King
Robert King
“Common Descent” (2×17 – Stargate Universe)
“Should You Pay for TV Writing Education?” (PT19)

Resources

“How The Good Wife broke the rules for legal dramas, and then broke itself” – Noel Murray/The A.V. Club

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board’s Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn 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]