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Posts tagged as writing

Process

Jonathan Ames Shares the Ins and Outs of Writing

by | January 23rd, 2013

"I think with every project we expect something more than what happens. We all love to be disappointed… The biggest crusher for me was that my second novel, The Extra Man, was rejected by about twenty publishers. I had been certain it was a good book and had devoted nearly five years of desperate living to writing it. They were my brokest, leanest years, which included moving back in with my parents at age 30 after a crack-binge, and so I was devastated when no one wanted the book. Then, months after all the rejections had rolled in, breaking my heart and my fragile ego, one publisher did want the book."

[...]
Careers

A Look Back At Joss Whedon's 'Roseanne' Episodes

by | May 29th, 2012

Before Joss Whedon convinced an absurdly large number of normal world citizens to see a movie about Norse gods, frozen past-men, and Robert Downey Jr.’s goatee, he was the nerd-worshipped creator of cult hits like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and (the author begrudgingly included) Dollhouse. Even before that, however, Whedon was a sitcom writer. At the tender of 24, he was a story editor and staff writer for Roseanne, securing the writing credit on five episodes in the second season: The Little Sister, House of Grown-ups, Brain-Dead Poets Society, Chicken Hearts, and Fathers and Daughters.

Staff writing on a television show typically isn’t a place for individual flair; [...]

Books

Alan Zweibel and Dave Barry's Long-Distance Writing Relationship

by | January 5th, 2012

Did you know that Lunatics, the book that an upcoming Steve Carell movie is based on, was co-written by original SNL writer Alan Zweibel and columnist Dave Barry while living many states apart from each other? This interview with Zweibel describes the writing process as a very slow, very long improv scene which is only now concluding with the book's release on Jan. 10.

Since we started writing this we have seen each other twice. Once was when Dave was up here promoting something and we had dinner. We went to dinner with the thought of ‘OK, maybe we would plot out the next hundred pages.’ That [...]

Advice

How To Write Jokes For People Who Don't Want To Be Funny

by | February 21st, 2011

A lot of comedians complain about being asked to “say something funny.” Comedians take “say something funny” as a threat. It’s sort of the same response a scientist has when someone demands, “Prove to me right now that evolution is a thing!” Even if the scientist makes a convincing case, the denier is probably going to nod and say, “Yeah. Worms in a lab. Thought so. Deborah could be doing much better than you.”

But there are comedy challenges worse than “say something funny.” For example, “help me say something funny.”

Not to be mistaken with its entertainment industry cousin, “I'll pay you to make me funny,” “help [...]

twitter

Kelly Oxford Wants You to Know She's Done More than Write a Few Tweets

by | June 26th, 2012

Kelly Oxford has taken issue with how some have decided to portray her. Particularly The Chicago Tribune, who recently headlined an article about her, "Writer takes short route to Hollywood success." She writes on her blog:

The message I am getting from this is that living my whole live as a writer, writing for years and years meant nothing. Growing up as the annoying kid on the street who wrote plays and tried to force peers to perform them, going to screenwriting seminars, blogging daily (exercise) for 12 years, staying up for days and days to finish scripts was a waste of my goddamn time. The message I’m getting [...]

Standup

The Life Cycle of a Joke

by | March 6th, 2012

Here's a fun look at the development of one standup joke (by comedian Myq Kaplan) from its earliest conception, through workshopping in front of different audiences, to delivery on Conan. It's really cool to see how the most concise delivery of a funny idea gets honed in on, and how much impact each small choice has on the whole.

With jokes every word matters. So Mr. Kaplan’s first breakthrough was three days later onstage at the Comedy Studio in Boston, where on the spot he changed “bottom of your shoe” to “lady feet-bottoms.” He liked the sound. When he ran the entire joke by Josh Gondelman, a comic [...]

Writing

Nerdist Writers Panel #3 On TV Writing: "It's always banana peels and stop lights"

by | August 19th, 2011

The Nerdist Writers Panel on TV Writing, featuring panelists Community's Dan Harmon, The Middle Man's Javier Grillo Marxuach, and The Good Guys' Aaron Ginsburg and Wade McIntyre, is both reassuring (writing for dating reality shows for 7 years!) and barf-inducing (selling your first script ever to Robert Zemeckis!), as the writers discuss their breakthrough jobs, the value of networking vs. having a quality spec, and the thrilling conclusion of Seaquest.

"It's always banana peels and stop lights, as I put it. It's just, like, a series of random events. The only thing you can do is be persistent about it," Harmon explains, reassuring the audience that working [...]

Quicklink

NYTVF Script Contest Offering Up $25,000 and a Development Deal with Fox

by | February 16th, 2011

Attention, aspiring comedy writers: The New York Television Festival's annual script-writing contest has been announced, and the winner gets $25,000 and a development deal with Fox. It's a somewhat ambiguous contest where you don't know a lot about what the judges are looking for or what exactly this "development deal" means, so it's a lot like getting your script made through normal channels. But in this case you don't need to give a cut of the money to your representation, so hey, why not? You can start tossing your brilliant scripts their way on April 4th. [via]

Writing

A Look Back At Charlie Kaufman's Sitcom Work

by | June 19th, 2012

Charlie Kaufman isn’t exactly an impersonal writer. His attempts to adapt The Orchid Thief turned into Adaptation., a movie about a painfully self-aware screenwriter named “Charlie Kaufman” falling apart while attempting to adapt The Orchid Thief. It’s a struggle to imagine Kaufman, either fictionalized or IRL, thriving in the anonymous and often abrasive environment of a sitcom writer’s room. So it’s surprising that, before breaking into screenwriting, Kaufman worked in television for almost a decade, staffing on sketch shows like The Dana Carvey Show and The Edge and sitcoms like Get A Life and Ned & Stacey.

There’s evidence to support the idea that Kaufman might not have thrived [...]

Advice

Twitter Advice From Champions of the 140 Character Count

by | February 9th, 2012

Where the most relatable creative ambition was once to write the Great American Novel, it is now to maintain the Great American Twitter Feed. And who better to give advice on how to tweet comedically than the Fitzgeralds and Hemingways of Twitter? Here's a sample tip from Mystery Science Theater 3000 writer Bill Corbett:

Try to understand the short form, and be playful within it. Not everything needs to read like a classic "premise, punchline" joke…But understand that tastes vary wildly. Not everyone will think you're hilarious, and some dicks will make sure to tell you so. Don't worry about it.

Quick, before he gets away, let's all [...]

Quicklink

George Saunders Talks About Getting Started as a Writer

by | April 25th, 2011

George Saunders is, in my opinion, the best writer of humorous fiction out there today. He is also hugely inspiring when he talks about writing, so if you're looking for a little dose of kick-in-the-ass, here's a great new interview with him about getting started as a writer. A sample: "Well, this is sort of old-fartish advice – that is, the type of advice someone who already has a tenure-track job would give — but I do mean it: I think the only defensible position is to sort of say to hell with making a living and put all your energy into making something new, that seems beautiful to [...]

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