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Posts tagged as “Pitching”

Navigating Your First TV Writing Job ft. Britta Lundin (Riverdale) (PT67)

Alex and Nick invite Britta Lundin, story editor on The CW’s Riverdale and author of Ship It, to discuss everything you need to know about your first TV staff writing job and working on a popular show.

What is the process of getting staffed on a TV series? What is the experience of working in a writers’ room for the first time? How do you approach the “room etiquette”? From pitch to draft, and season to episode, what is the writing process like on Riverdale? How do you adapt your voice to that of a showrunner? How should you build on studio and network notes? What is a writer’s job on set and in post-production? How is writing a novel different than TV writing?

The Paper Team gets a script…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Getting staffed on Riverdale, expectations vs. reality of a TV writers’ room, adapting your voice, breaking the season and episodes, dealing with notes, writers’ room etiquette, being on set and in post, engaging with fandom, converting a screenplay into a novel and differences between the two forms (00:56)
Resources and Next Week On (57:57)

Links

Britta Lundin on Twitter
Riverdale on The CW (Wednesdays 8/7c)
Pre-order “Ship It” by Britta Lundin
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
“Chapter Ten: The Lost Weekend” (1×10 – Riverdale)
Jughead’s “I’m Weird” Speech Meme
“How To Practice “Safe” Shipping w/ The Riverdale Cast” (Video)

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]

Meetings 101: Generals and TV Staffing (PT62)

Alex and Nick discuss the basics of meetings for TV writers. From generals to staffing, here are some tips and tricks to get and ace your own one-on-ones.

What are the different types of meetings? How do you get in the room? How should you prepare for a general or staffing meeting? How do you make a good first impression? What are dos-and-donts during and after your meeting?

Plus, we answer additional questions from our “Writing your first TV pilot” Scriptchat session.

The Paper Team takes the general…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Scraps: TV pilot Scritpchat questions (00:25)
1 – Types of meetings: generals, staffing, and pitch (07:28)
2 – How to get a meeting (11:29)
3 – Tips for the meet: before and during (16:46)
4 – After the meeting (31:43)
Takeaways and Resources (35:59)

Links

“Writing Your First TV Pilot – A #Scriptchat Experience” – TV Calling
TV Pilot 101 (PT30)
TV Pitching 101 (PT13)
Networking 101 (PT05)

Resources

“Good in a Room” – Stephanie Palmer
“Good in a Room” – Talks at Google (Video)
x.ai

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 Dialogue 101 (PT51)

NEW: Get the episode cheat sheet on our Patreon!

Update: PT51 transcript now available

Alex and Nick look at the importance of dialogue in TV writing, and give an overview of what makes it stand out.

What can you use dialogue for? What makes good or bad dialogue? How do you introduce character quirks in the dialogue? What are some common pitfalls in dialogue writing? How do you fix bad dialogue?

Plus, we respond to a review and talk over-used pitches.

The Paper Team trades words…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Odds-and-ends: Review & Pitches (00:48)
1 – Purpose of dialogue (09:06)
2 – Specificities of dialogue: style and character (13:08)
3 – Finding your dialogue (16:38)
4 – What makes bad dialogue and how to fix it (22:41)
Takeaways and Resources (34:42)

Links

Mumblecore
Mark Duplass
Big Brother Live Feeds
The Newsroom
Littlefinger’s “Chaos is a Ladder” speech from Game of Thrones (Video)
“Oh, hi Mark” scene from The Room (Video)
Code-switching
Draft Zero Podcast

Resources

“Dialogue Secrets” – William C. Martell

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 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]