Don't take notes you don't agree with no matter who they're coming from. Well, that's not true. If they are coming from someone involved in the project, then you might be obligated to take their notes. But if you're talking about just writing a spec and getting feedback from people you know, you're not going to do yourself any favors by going against your own instincts bc of a note someone else gave. Even if that person is in the industry or experienced or whatever, that doesn't mean they aren't still a complete idiot. If the note is good, you should agree with it and see how it makes your script better. Otherwise, ignore it. If you really are undecided or just don't know, it's ok to trust the opinion of someone you respect. As far as the non-writing friends and crew people, etc, definitely ignore all their notes unless you agree with them.

This show already exists. It's called either Workaholics or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Haven't watched either, haven't heard of Workaholics, but have always heard great things about iASiP. Will check them out.

I have a treatment that I wrote that I want to register with the writers guild, if I need to edit it later, as long as it's close can I use that instead?

Yes.

Cool.

What are your top 5 all time favorite comedy tv shows? What about top 3 currently airing comedies?

Are you glad that the use of a laugh track has declined in the past decade?

How do you feel about the big expensive screenwriting workshops they have in LA? In the same vein, do you know of any above average screenwriting how-to books?

when you guys pitched your pilot, did you also write a bible? and if so, how long was it?

Haven't spent much time thinking about my all time faves. Off the top of my head... Seinfeld, Simpsons, Curb, 30 Rock and Flying Circus. Top 3 current - 30 Rock, Curb... Eastbound.

While I don't watch any laugh track shows currently and in general am not a fan of it, I can't really hate on it bc it was used in Seinfeld, the greatest sitcom ever. But yeah it feels outdated these days and I don't miss it.

I never took one of those workshops. They are probably a waste of time. I highly recommend Save the Cat by Black Snyder. http://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book.../dp/1932907009

Do you mean Sweatshop? We never pitched it. We just wrote it on spec and sent it around. In general though, when pitching a sitcom, all you really need is a 4 or 5 page treatment that includes an outline of the pilot episode, descriptions of the main characters and 4 or 5 possible episodes, one paragraph each. Whether that is something you are submitting as a doc or something you are verbally pitching in a room, that's about all the information that is necessary and appropriate.

thanks man. I got nervous b/c the only "bibles" i found were for the Wire and Freaks and Geeks and they were novels. I wrote a pilot (who hasn't?) and i started a bible but was only around 5 pages. guess that's good for now.

Yeah those are complied over the course of the show's run. If you had something like that for your pilot, people might think you were crazy. Actually, people would definitely think that. And they'd be right.

whats a bible in regard to this all?

I think it was discussed somewhere previously itt but I'm not sure. Basically the assistants on a show compile all the notes and all the drafts for a given episode and put them in a binder. The collection of binders is called the "show bible" and it's simply all the material (notes and scripts) for the show, compiled. I think it may be becoming less common these days as it's a holdover from before everything was kept on computers and/or uploaded to dropbox and what not.

Real World has a bible for every season consisting of everything from casting, construction, general prep, every set of producers notes from every day (5-6 producers with about 4-5 pages of notes/day), and wrap. They are enormous.

question about writing with a partner (i dont think this has been asked yet but it may have been on page 1 or 2 and i'm forgetting):

how exactly does the process work? do you both sit in the same room and construct each line of dialogue together? or do you meet and talk scenes through, then split up and actually write scenes individually and then meet back up and revise/add jokes?

The latter. When writing a script we do a very detailed outline together. Then split up to write the first draft of the script, usually each taking 2 acts if it's a four act structure. Then we marry it, talk about it, sometime split up again, exchanging acts, then come back together and take another pass or two sitting side by side. When we're done with that we usually split up again and take one last pass at it on our own looking for any spots to punch up jokes and/or make cuts if needed, then get back together for the final polish.

I finished "Save the Cat", thanks for the recommendation, very informative book. Do roughly all of the principals Snyder covers in STC convert to writing for TV as well?

I'm writing my first pilot right now, and having some troubles formatting it, and converting what I've learned about writing for film to writing for TV. Do you have any recommendations for a TV specific (comedy or otherwise) screenwriting book?

Some of the problems I'm facing:
-What % of pilot should be the set-up, whether to get all the background and exposition out of the way, or include that in later episodes, etc
-I love the idea of "The Board", if you do that, do you have a Board for the Season, for each episode, both?
-Are there specific fundamentals that every Pilot should contain, and how do I find out what those are?

Not necessarily looking for specific answers to all those questions, just trying to find more resources so I can be a more fundamentally sound writer. Obv I can provide more details about the TV show I have in mind if need be.

OP: do you ever find yourself in a situation where you are pretty sure that no matter how brilliant your writing is, that it would be a lost cause? (I am not making this statement in direct reference to "Running Wilde," but it seems to me that the writers had a monumental task in making the premise work.) If you do find yourself in such a situation, does your approach to the job change; for example, do you hold back ideas or situations that may be used to better purpose in a later project?

I ended up buying "Successful Television Writing", "The TV Writer's Workbook: A Creative Approach To Television Scripts", and "Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box". At least one of those has to be good, right?

The general ones do. As for the actual structure, TV is similar but condensed and much more simple. I wouldn't use the feature structure as a template for TV writing. TV has it's own thing happening.

Sorry I've never read any TV writing books. For comedy, I'd try to watch shows that follow traditional sitcom structure and try to write your own outline of the stories as an exercise. 30 Rock is a great show that follows a traditional structure. Curb is a great show that doesn't. Try doing it with a few different shows, even like Two and a Half Men and you will get a sense of how they build their stories. I don't know anything about dramas, but I'd imagine their structure is like a movie but condensed.

- Good question. Pilots are tough because they often require a lot of set up, but you also want to get to the story as soon as possible to show people what a typical episode looks like. In general you want to get the set up out as efficiently as you can. I don't think you want any more than the first 1/3 of your pilot as set up. That's a generalization of course. Every pilot is different.

- We always board our stories before writing them. For comedy, you don't normally board a season. You might just have some large arcs in mind and some ideas for future eps, but it's all very general. For a specific episode, we divide a cork board into vertical columns of index cards, each column is one act. So at the top you put three cards horizontally (or 4 depending on how many acts you're using) and write ACT ONE, ACT TWO, ACT THREE, etc. Under each one is a column of cards, each representing a scene within that act. At the top of each cards you write the scene heading, i.e. INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY. Then beneath that you write a line or two describing what happens in the scene. We also color code each card, with a color for each story in the episode. So the A-story is on blue cards, the B-story on yellow ones, etc. That way you can look at the board and see how many beats of each story are in each act and how they are spaced out, etc.

Pro tip: write the scene heading one space down on the card so you leave room for the tack.

- The pilot needs to establish the characters as people you want to see every week and it also needs to illustrate what it is about these characters and this premise that makes this a show week in and week out, regardless of the strength of the pilot on its own. A reader should be able to say "that was really good and I also see how episode 8 could be really good." Also, a lot of good pilots have strong, twisty, open-ended endings. Even comedies. Wrap up your story but then in a final beat do a little something that makes people want to come back for episode 2.

If you want to talk about specifics of your pilot feel free to ask. Happy to help if I can.

I've never felt that way at the start of a project regardless of the premise. TV is just too unpredictable to ever feel like something is a lost cause. Of course, after weeks of declining ratings, then, yeah, the writing is on the wall. But even then I've never felt my approach change. You still want to do your best for the people you work with as well as the people at the network who are evaluating you from afar. I've never saved an idea for later. Probably mostly bc I don't usually have ideas that I feel are so precious. There are plenty more good ones to come even if you burn one on a sinking ship. I'm sure there is some degree of subconscious slacking off towards the end but never anything willful.

No, not really. I'd say there's a decent chance they're both horrible.

edit: a quick imdb of the authors confirms that this is probably true. Maybe not a complete waste of money but certainly don't take anything you read in there as gospel.

You're on a staff and the show runner likes your story idea and tells you to run with it. How long do you typically have to write your first draft of the episode?

how often are you "in the office?" do you have to report somewhere 40 hours a week? i know hours are probably all over the place, but do you always write there? Also, im assuming the dress is casual and everything? its not like other office jobs right?