Hacks creators Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs go in depth on the pitch for the show, writing strong characters, what they get out of a writers' room, and lots more. The first season of Hacks is available on HBO Max and we don't even know why you haven't watched it yet.
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Hacks creators Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs

The definitive insider's guide to our current golden age of television, Ben Blacker's The Writers Panel is an ever expanding anthology of live convention panels and intimate in-studio interviews with the writers, producers, and show runners responsible for all the shows you can't stop watching. Over the course of nearly 500 episodes and counting, The Writers Panel has sat across from guests such as Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (Key and Peele), Liz Meriwether (New Girl), and Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) to talk about the art and business of creating great television.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

TV & Film

The First Omen writer/director Arkasha Stevenson and co-writer Tim Smith discuss bringing their perspective to a beloved franchise, body horror, David Lynch, their writing process, that image, and more.
THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As;, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The First Omen's Arkasha Stevenson + Tim Smith

Writer/director Ned Benson (The Greatest Hits; The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) discusses writing an earnest love story, writing through the lens of a director, the delusions of belief, when to let go, and more.
THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As;, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ned Benson (The Greatest Hits)

Aron Eli Coleite (creator/showrunner, The Spiderwick Chronicles; Atlas) discusses dialogue and action, helpful Aron-isms, our goldfish attention spans, key differences between TV and movie writing, why development takes so long now, and lots more.
Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, May 19, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows! The May 19 show is a benefit for the Green Envelope Fund and features a Seinfeld by David Iserson (The Spy Who Dunped Me; New Girl) and a Succession written by "Fake Carol Lombardini" that takes place during the WGA/SAG strike and co-stars real Carol Lombardini! Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/Retro519
THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As;, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aron Eli Coleite (Spiderwick Chronicles; Atlas)

Writer/director/actor Don McKellar (co-creator, The Sympathizer' 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould; Childstar) discusses throwing yourself into the deep end, the terrors of expectation, tradlation, and representation, collaborating with Park Chan-wook, how to know when to fight, his role on Slings and Arrows, and more.
Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, May 19, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows! The May 19 show is a benefit for the Green Envelope Fund and features a Seinfeld by David Iserson (The Spy Who Dunped Me; New Girl) and a Succession written by "Fake Carol Lombardini" that takes place during the WGA/SAG strike and co-stars real Carol Lombardini! Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/retrospecs0519
THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As;, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
SOCIALS: Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Don McKellar (co-creator, The Sympathizer)

Michael Jamin (Tacoma FD; Maron) discusses his new collection of personal essays, A Paper Orchestra, sharing versus oversharing, what he learned about art from David Bowie and Pharrel, and more. Buy A Paper Orchestra and see Jamin on his live reading tour! Info here: https://michaeljamin.com/product/a-paper-orchestra/
Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows! The April 21 show features a West Wing from by Marc Guggenheim (co-creator, Arrow) and a Big Bang Theory written by Helen Shang (Hawaii 5-0). Starring Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), Katie Cassidy (Arrow), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), John Ross Bowie (Big Bang Theory), Hrishikesh Hirway (West Wing Weekly; Song Exploder), Ricardo Hurtado (School of Rock), Kiran Deol (Destroy All Neighbors), and more Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421
THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As;, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
SOCIALS: Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hacks creators Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs

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