Categories: Paper Team TV Analysis TV Business TV Writer & Branding TV Writing

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…

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: ask@paperteam.co

Paper Team
Alex Freedman & Nick Watson

Paper Team is a podcast about television writing and becoming a TV writer.

Share
Published by
Alex
Tags: ABC Agents & Managers Interview Paper Tease Specs Staffing

Recent Posts

  • Announcements

Thirteen Years of TV Calling

I've been MIA for a while after the past year, but today is a special…

4 years ago
  • Paper Team
  • TV Writing

Paper Pause (PT212)

Alex and Nick announce that they're taking a break from Paper Team. From new content…

5 years ago
  • Paper Team
  • TV Business
  • TV Writer & Branding
  • TV Writing

TV Access, Financial Support, and Finale History – Paper Scraps Monthly (PT211)

Alex and Nick answer your TV writing questions about the usefulness of being an assistant,…

5 years ago
  • Paper Team
  • TV Writer & Branding
  • TV Writing

Paper Tease Revisited (PT210)

Alex and Nick follow up on past Paper Tease entrants to see what has happened…

5 years ago
  • Paper Team
  • TV Writer & Branding
  • TV Writing

Survivor: Hollywood – Emotional and Practical Realities of TV Writing (PT209)

Alex and Nick discuss the realities of sustaining a career as a TV writer, from…

5 years ago
  • Paper Team
  • TV Business
  • TV Writing

TV Writing Conditions and WGA Win – Paper Scraps Monthly (PT208)

Alex and Nick answer your TV writing questions about ideal writing conditions, writing essentials, and…

5 years ago