I hope he at least bought you dinner.

grunching

how much do you hate entourage?

you can answer this season-by-season if you like, actually that is preferred

Lol wtf. I don't even know how to process that.

What I was thinking of is when my girlfriend used to do that when I was like washing dishes or something. It was all I could do to just tolerate it for like 5 seconds, then wriggle out. No matter how much you like the girl, it just feels clingy and like you have some kind of growth on you that won't let go.

Will have to DVR, have never seen Workaholics.

Have you ever watched "The League"? Very solid, imo - very much in the "bro-comedy" genre imo. (I've only seen the first season cause that's what's on Netflix WI, but I have been told it holds up into its following seasons.)

I remember thinking it was semi-funny in the first season. But by the second season I hated it so much I've never watched it since then. It's the worst.

Yeah it was pretty weird and super gay. Really know other way to describe it. Pray none of your friends ever do that to you.

The girl on guy version is also very funny. You're right. There really is no response. You just have to wait it out and go to a happy place.

If I ever have a girlfriend again I'm going to tell her up front not to do that, just so she doesn't get hurt later.

fsoyar,

Is it really worth trying to go to school for screenwriting? Every time I think about this question I remind myself of the couple famous Hollywood directors who obtained their degrees in something completely off, but are now well known in the industry. And of course, I read that you graduated in creative writing, which in a way answers my question. However, does someone with a degree in screenwriting, say from USC, get further than the people who haven't? And what percentage of writers that work in the industry (T.V and film) have their degrees in screenwriting?


Thanks

The best gateway drugs to DFW's fiction are definitely his essay collections -- A Supposedly Fun Thing... and Consider The Lobster. I didn't enjoy his fiction as much until I read those collections.

Hard for me to say it's worthless since I didn't go, but I wouldn't recommend it. I think a much better path is to watch lots of movies, read books on screenwriting (Save the Cat by Blake Snyder is great), read scripts if you can get them and just be in LA and develop a network. If you are interested in TV writing, getting a job as a PA on a show and moving up to writers' assistant is by far the best route. Being a writers' assistant is like going to grad school for TV writing but you are being paid.

My degree in creative writing had pretty much zero impact on my current career. I was writing poetry and fiction. I don't think having a USC screenwriting career really counts for anything. All that will matter is the quality of your writing sample and your ability to pitch in a room. No one cares about anything else. I don't think I've ever worked with a TV writer who studied screenwriting.

whats your ultimate dream job/career path? where do you see yourself in 15-20 years if you are 1) extremely successful 2) mildly successful?

is comedy writing a young mans game or are there plenty of guys who have been plugging away for 20+ years? what type of show (sitcom, sketch, talk show bits and monologues, etc) is the most challenging to write for?

you can pick any actor and they headline your movie or show. which medium do you choose, who do you pick, any idea what you would want it to be about?

this has been a great read over the past months, great to hear things are going well. super excited for B&B.

I just want to say I've enjoyed this thread a good bit as I've dipped into the Hollywood industry a decent bit since I moved here.

1. I would love to one day write and direct my own movies or have my own TV show. I also hope to write a book someday, fiction or comedic non-fiction. In 15-20 years if I'm extremely successful I'll be doing those things, I also think having my own production company would be really cool. If I'm only mildly successful I'll be doing what I'm doing now but at a higher level - that is, writing for TV shows.

2. Yes, comedy writing is a young man's game. The range is typically from mid-late 20s till early-mid 50s but you don't see many comedy writers over 50. Here and there. I've only written for half hour, scripted sitcoms. I think multicam is harder than single bc of the shooting schedule. My partner and I are working on a feature and I find it much harder than writing half hour.

3. A movie. It's a dark comedy starring Sam Rockwell about a comedy who takes revenge on someone for something they did to them twenty years ago.

Do you know Harris Wittels? Elaborate.

No, I'm not that cool although we do run in the same circles. #humblebrag

No one. (You can't give a blow job through the mail.)

who did you get your initial feedback from? I just finished a 100 page screenplay, i know i have story issues, and somethings need to change, b/c it's my first draft... but how the hell do I know what people want? I have a couple people reading it for me to give me notes, but neither of them are in the WGA or anything. I'm not in any way asking you to read it, but who did you go to when you started writing for feedback?

I used to write shorts and put them on simplyscripts, but then i realized that everyone there is just regular joes. They arent writers, they arent successful filmmakers. They nitpicked like crazy too(despite always being positive about my work), and it just dawned on me, "who the hell are these people?"

that being said, those script doctors are absolute rip offs.

I don't understand. You wrote a short story and you want to get an "audition" as a TV writer? I think if you wrote a short story you're supposed to submit it to magazine and other publications in the hopes it gets published. Not really my area of expertise though.

Before I "broke through" I mostly just got feedback from my friends, most of whom were aspiring like me although one of them had sold something. About six of us created a writing group and we would meet every few weeks and read each others stuff and then give feedback. It was fun. When my partner and I wrote our pilot we gave it to some of the TV writers we were working with at the time (we were assistants) and they gave us feedback. If your friends are smart and you trust their opinion I don't think it should matter whether or not they are in the WGA or are legit writers. There are plenty of "legit" writers who will probably give you worse feedback than your friends.

ok english is not my first language. just a few general questions. whats a spec? you talked about a spec for "modern family" for example. does this mean to write an episode for a tv show that already exist or a pilot that is based on this show or what?


when writing an entire epsiode or a pilot how much are you going by rules? like "somewhere on page 20 we need a point of no return" or stuff like that. or do you just do it how it feels right to you?

is the palestinian chicken episode of curb the greatest single comedy episode ever, and if not , what is

Are all scripts formatted the same way?

How does one pitch a script?

In general in screenwriting, a spec refers to any script that is written on speculation of being sold. That means, no one paid you to write it, you didn't sell the idea as a pitch first, etc. You just wrote and then sent it around hoping to sell it. In TV it has a slightly different meaning and refers specifically to scripts of already existing shows written by writers who aren't staffed on that show. They are used as writing samples to show that a writer can write in the voice of a show he/she didn't create, thereby displaying their hirability. A spec is distinct from a pilot in that a pilot is an original idea.

There aren't a whole lot of rules as specific as the one you describe (which, btw, isn't a rule) but you do want your spec to follow certain guidelines, moreso than you might see in existing TV shows. You want your lead character(s) to have a clear drive and stakes, you want your story to turn in every scene, you want a distinct initial problem for them to have to deal with and a clear climax, etc. Not every good episode of TV has these things but every good spec should.