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Posts tagged as “Books”

Branding Yourself (PT86)

Alex and Nick discuss the importance of branding yourself as a TV writer and ways to define why you write what you write.

Why should you “brand yourself”? How are you able to drive the conversation about you? How to understand what you can bring to a writers’ room? Why is it important to know your strengths and weaknesses in TV? How do you translate your personal story into your writing? What are ways of showcasing yourself online?

Plus, an announcement about an announcement.

The Paper Team makes its mark…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Scraps: Announcement of an announcement (00:31)
1 – Understanding who you are as a person (02:54)
2 – Understand who you are as a TV writer (11:24)
3 – Putting it all into application (21:49)
Takeaways and Resources (28:23)

Links

“Comedy v. Drama: Declare Your TV Major” (PT02)
“Putting Yourself Out There” (PT75)
Dunning–Kruger effect
$h*! My Dad Says
“Six Feet Under’s Alan Ball on grief and dying” – UTNE
The Goldbergs

Resources

“Building a StoryBrand” – Donald Miller

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]

Reimagined for TV: Writing Shows Based on Popular IP – Paper Team Live at WonderCon 2018 (PT83)

For the second Paper Team Live event, Alex and Nick head to WonderCon 2018 to host a panel on adapting IPs to television.

From books, to comics and movies, it seems that all your favorite TV shows are adaptations of existing properties. But writing a fresh story within well-known worlds poses its own set of challenges. That’s why we’ve invited an all-star panel of TV writers and producers to hear their thoughts on this topic.

Panelists include Michael R. Perry (Altered Carbon, The Dead Zone), Ray Utarnachitt (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Person of Interest), Kai Yu Wu (The Flash, Hannibal), Britta Lundin (Riverdale), and Colleen McAllister (My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop).

What is the process of adapting something to television? How can writers stay true to established material while putting their own spin on it? Why do certain properties make for great TV? How do writers and producers interact with original creators and rights owners?

The Paper Team returns live to room 209…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Team WonderCon 2018 panel on adapting IPs for television (00:41)
Next Time On (48:13)

Links

Colleen McAllister on Twitter
Britta Lundin on Twitter
Ray Utarnachitt on Twitter
Kai Wu on Twitter
Michael R. Perry on Twitter
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Littlest Pet Shop
Hanazuki: Full of Treasures
Riverdale
“Ship It” – Britta Lundin
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
The Flash
Supergirl
Hannibal
Deception
Altered Carbon
Captain Cold
Justice League Action
Psych
Jughead Jones
Richard K. Morgan
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Bryan Fuller
Greg Berlanti
Geoff Johns
Heat Wave
Felicity Smoak
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Marc Guggenheim
Laeta Kalogridis
“TV Writer vs. Fandom: Writers’ Rooms and Fan Interaction” (PT38)
Ms. Marvel
Five Deadly Venoms
Nancy Drew (Film)
Into the Badlands
Little House on the Prairie books
Weird War Tales

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for the audio recording and Lauren Conoscenti for the photo.

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 Pitch Documents (PT82)

Alex and Nick discuss the content and formats of successful TV pitch documents, from one-pagers to pitch bibles.

How do you effectively communicate the vision of a TV show? What are the different formats of TV pitch documents? What should you include in your pitch? How do you structure a pitch document? What are the burning questions you need to answer? How do you write your pitch in a compelling and unique way?

Plus, we talk dramedy script categories.

The Paper Team gives their sales pitch…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Scraps: Spec Lists and Script Categories (00:31)
1 – Formats of TV pitch documents (03:41)
2 – Content of a TV pitch document (06:35)
3 – How to best express your pitch: format, structure, and prose (19:40)
Takeaways and Resources (33:19)

Links

Leave a voicemail for Paper Team & TV Calling
Sundance Episodic Program
“Pitch Doc One” – TV Calling
“Meetings 101: Generals and TV Staffing” (PT62)
Terra Nova

Resources

“The Ultimate Sales Letter” – Dan S. Kennedy

Special thanks to Evan Schmitt 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]