TV Writing - TV Calling

From Features to Television ft. Cinqué Lee (She’s Gotta Have It) (PT114)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:28 — 45.5MB)

Alex and Nick invite Cinqué Lee, indie filmmaker and writer on Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It, to have a fascinating discussion about transitioning from movies to television, as well as adapting features to TV series.

How does the writers’ room of She’s Gotta Have It work? How do life experiences help shame themes and characters? How does writing TV compare to writing ongoing issues of a comic? What is it like working for Jim Jarmusch? What are lessons to take into writing from being on set and from acting?

The Paper Team gets it…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Working in features and TV with Cinqué Lee (00:30)
Final Advice, Resources, and Next Week On (45:24)

Links

Cinqué Lee
“She’s Gotta Have It” available on Netflix
The Answer
Mystery Train
Coffee and Cigarettes
Crooklyn
“Floaters” – Cinqué Lee, Sean Fagan, Lance Tooks

Resources

“On Writing” – Stephen King

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]

Paper Scraps Monthly VI – Mentorship Announcement, November Paper Tease, Overall Deals & Executives (PT113)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:40 — 41.1MB)

Alex and Nick offer feedback on four more teasers and cover a couple TV headlines from the past month, including expensive overall deal and top executives leaving their networks.

Plus, we give official information about our Paper Team Mentorship!

The Paper Team eyes the prize…

SHOWNOTES

Paper Tease Entries

“Valkyrie” by Jamel Northern
“Together Alone” by Tyler Jordan & Mark Anthony
“Totally Human” by Josh Naquin
“Gasland” by Augusto Federico Amador & Diggi Singh

Links

“J.J. Abrams Seeking Record-Shattering Overall Megadeal” – Variety
“The death of Hollywood’s middle class” – Fast Company
“ABC shakeup: Channing Dungey resigns; Karey Burke becomes entertainment president” – Los Angeles Times

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]

Building Your Career as a TV Writer ft. LaToya Morgan (Into the Badlands/TURN) (PT111)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:01 — 39.6MB)

Alex and Nick invite LaToya Morgan, co-executive producer on Into the Badlands and writer on Turn, Shameless and Parenthood, to discuss how she approached building a productive career as a TV writer and being valuable in the room.

What is the journey of moving up the ladder from staff writer to co-executive producer? What are some of the best assets someone can bring into a writers’ room? How do you adapt your own writing to fit different styles and genres? How were the writers’ rooms of Shameless, Parenthood, and Turn? What is the process of getting an overall deal? What are the unique challenges that diverse writers face in the TV industry?

The Paper Team rises…