Children of Tendu

By Children of Tendu

What's Children of Tendu about?

Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Emmy Award-winning writer/producer on "Lost" and creator of "The Middleman") and Jose Molina (writer/producer on "Sleepy Hollow," "Firefly," "Castle" and "Law & Order: SVU") share their hard-earned experiences, giving practical, straight-shooting advice on breaking into television and staying there!

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Children of Tendu episodes:

09.28.2023
ON THE LINE - OUR BEST AND FINAL
A few days before the WGA made its historic deal with the AMPTP, Jose and Javi made one last trip to the line, this time at Universal Studios, to interview our sisters, brothers, and others in the guild who bravely...
07.26.2023
Live From The Line Part Two: The Conversation Continues - CBS Radford
On a hot and noisy day, Jose and Javi set up shop on the strike line at CBS Radford and talk to WGA luminaries ranging from showrunners Julie Plec and Craig Silverstein to show creator Evan Bleiweiss and the strike...
06.27.2023
LIVE FROM THE STRIKE LINE!
Taking their cues from Lucy Van Pelt, the Children of Tendu set up a booth on the strike line and took questions, gave advice, and even quizzed their betters about their methods and madness. Featuring interviews with producers of "Elementary",...
06.22.2023
The Leafblower Sessions: Part Two
In this extra special episode of the podcast, Jose and Javi take a deep, show-by-show dive into Javi's career, dissecting his experiences and distilling the lessons he has learned over the course of his decades-spanning adventures in TV!
06.14.2023
The Leafblower Sessions, Part One
In this extra special episode of the podcast, Jose and Javi take a deep, show-by-show dive into Jose's career, dissecting his experiences and distilling the lessons he has learned over the course of his decades-spanning career!
06.07.2023
How Is This Strike Different From The Last?
As veterans of the WGA strike of 2007 picketing in the strike of 2023, Jose and Javi break down the differences between the two labor actions. From the role of social media in the Guild's messaging, to the differences in...
05.22.2023
BAD HOMBRES: Writing while Latino/a/e/x
Being Latino/a/e/x in Trump's America is an increasingly precarious business. As white Puerto Ricans whith careers spanning over a quarter century, Javi and Jose have seen, heard, and experienced the pervasive racism of the industry in many of its forms,...
05.11.2023
TENDU.0 - Things We Lost In The Stream
Jose and Javi are back and older than ever! As the Writers Guild strikes for higher pay, job security, and reform in how writers are employed and compensated, Jose and Javi aren't just walking the picket line but also breaking...
09.06.2021
Children of Tendu: On Writing
Remember when we said our previous episode would be our series finale? WE LIED. And we are back to prove it with a super sized episode where we answer YOUR questions about OUR process. How do we write? Why do...
05.06.2021
IS THIS OUR SERIES FINALE?
Seven years ago, veteran television writer/producers Jose Molina and Javier Grillo-Marxuach set out to consign all their experience to a podcast and to give it away for free. One Golden Age of television, a pandemic, and several complete disruptions in...
03.02.2020
The Editorial Of Tendu
Most writers have very little idea of what goes on in an edit bay, and how to best manage the collaborative relationship between a TV writer/producer and the show's editor. To remedy this situation, Javi and Jose have brought in...
12.09.2019
The Directorate of Tendu
In this super-sized deep-dive, Jose and Javi interview Jeremiah Chechik - director not just of the pilot episode of Javi's show "The Middleman" but also TV shows including "Chuck", "Gossip Girl", "Shadowhunters", "Helix", "The Bronx is Burning", "Burn Notice" -...
07.02.2019
THE CHILDREN OF TENDU MEET THE PRESIDENT OF THE WRITERS GUILD
The Writers Guild is currently engaged in a landmark labor action which has already changed the face of the entertainment industry. In this special episode, Jose and Javi have a lengthy and candid conversation with WGA President David A. Goodman...
04.22.2018
Children of Tendu Live at the Writers Guild - The Fellowship of the Writers Room!
As part of their "Living in the Middle" sessions at the WGA, Javi and Jose host a talk about the writers room - what sort of personalities thrive in the collaborative creative environment that fuels the creation of TV narratives,...
04.22.2018
The Big Pitch - Part Two
In this the second part and conclusion of "The Big Pitch" Jose and javi discuss what happened after The Big Pitch... what networks heard The Big Pitch, who didn't and why? What was it like in the rooms where they...
04.22.2018
THE BIG PITCH - PART ONE
Most TV writers do not hear a series being pitched until they are the ones doing the pitching. In this brand new episode, the Children of Tendu discuss the process by which they developed a pitch for a TV adaptation...
11.21.2016
Actors of Tendu!
In this special episode of the podcast, the Children of Tendu enlist guest stars Natalie Morales - star of Javi's show The Middleman - and Jason O'Mara - who starred in, and worked with Jose on, Terra Nova - to discuss...
10.24.2016
Agents of Tendu
There is one question. The ETERNAL question. The question that all who want to write in Hollywood ask themselves over and over again. How do I get an agent? In this very special episode, Jose's first agent, Matt Bedrosian not...
09.19.2016
The Union of Tendu
When a guy writes on shows ranging from "Family Guy" to "Futurama" and "The Golden Girls", you pay attention to what he has to say. When that same guy is also Vice President of the Writers Guild, you clean out...
08.12.2016
LIVE AT THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON
In which Jose and Javi settle their Gladiator vs. Braveheart feud once and for all - in front of a live audience at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con! Putting that issue to rest with a sense of drama unseen since...
07.15.2016
The Comedy Stylings of Tendu
The Children of Tendu know drama... but they are not nearly as knowledgeable about the world of comedy... so to tell you how to break into comedy, what the work is like for writers there, and how to have a...
07.08.2016
The Post-Production of Tendu
In the last two Children of Tendu podcasts, Jose and Javi walked you through Pre-Production and Production... now comes the Grand Finale: Post - AKA: "what happens after you have written your script and it has been filmed". In this...
06.13.2016
The Production of Tendu - A Children of Tendu Special
The script is done. You have navigated the slings and arrows of pre-production. The cameras are rolling: what does the writer/producer do on the set? What are the pressures, politics, and practicalities of filming an episode of television? And what are...
06.02.2016
The Preproduction of Tendu - A Children of Tendu Special!
In this special, super-sized, episode of the podcast, Jose and Javi break down what happens in that crucial time between the moment a television writer finishes writing a script and when the cameras roll... what is Pre-Production? What is the...
05.16.2016
TENDU EMERGENCY BROADCAST!
On Friday, May 13, the internet was abuzz with news of the pickups and cancellations of dozens of television shows -- feeling the nervy vibe, Jose and Javi took to Periscope to answer questions about pilot season, the upfronts, network...
05.06.2016
CHILDREN OF TENDU LIVE AT UCLA!
As part of his "Anatomy of a Pilot" class at UCLA, writer/showrunner/show-creator/nice guy Richard (Miracles, Grimm, Witches of East End, Supernatural) Hatem invited the Children of Tendu to speak to his students, and to submit to his rigorous questioning about...
01.27.2016
The Eleven Laws of Showrunning - A Children of Tendu Special
In this brand new, supersized episode, the Children of Tendu look at the business of television from the tippity-top, leveraging their combined forty years of experience into a discussion of showrunning. In our Golden Age of television, what does it...
04.27.2015
Tendu or Do Not: Children on the Ledge - Staffing Season Special
We are now in the thick of that most dreaded of seasons: staffing. For three to four months, every television writer in Los Angeles waits on pins and needles to find out which shows will return the next season and which pilots get picked...
04.13.2015
Tendu Mamá También - A Children of Tendu Special
In a very special two-hour Children of Tendu Special, Jose and Javi interview special guests Akela (V, Grimm, The Witches of East End, The 100) and Deric (Warehouse Thirteen, Beauty and the Beast) Hughes on the controversial topic of diversity inb...
03.02.2015
10DU or Die! A Children of Tendu Road Trip Special
A mere week ago, Jose (Agent Carter, Sleepy Hollow) Molina and Javier (Lost, The Middleman) Grillo-Marxuach set off on an epic road trip to Las Vegas Nevada - their goal? To not only make it to Sin City alive, but...
11.19.2014
The Children of Tendu Christmas Special
Batten down the holiday hatches and gird your Yuletide loins -- Jose and Javi are back at the mic for a two-hour, no-holds-barred, three-fisted discussion of that most mysterious part of their job: the writing process! Do they make outlines?...
05.26.2014
Episode 13 - Our spine-tingling season finale!
In this - the final episode of the first season of the Children of Tendu Podcast - Jose and Javi sit down with a small group of avid listeners - all of them aspiring writers, producers, directors and executives - and...
05.19.2014
Episode 12 - So you wanna write a television pilot...
The holy grail of television writing is creating, selling and running your own show... but what happens when you sell a pilot and are not yet a showrunner, or when you are a showrunner but do not have a pilot?...
05.12.2014
Episode 11 - There's a lot of good stuff here... but we do have some notes.
Ask any writer what they hate most and you will very soon arrive at the answer "notes." As the Children of Tendu podcast races to the scintillating climax of its inaugural season, Jose and Javi take on the creative and...
05.05.2014
Episode 10 - Meet our mentors - a special Nerdist Writers Panel crossover event!
Part 1 of a special Nerdist Writers Panel/Children of Tendu event! If you listen to Children of Tendu, you have heard the names "Rene Echevarria" and "Naren Shankar." Both are fantastic writers, both are veterans of the Star Trek: The Next...
04.28.2014
Episode 9 - Your showrunner and you
Showrunners. Some are great. Some are lousy. Some are geniuses. Some are legends in their own mind. What do showrunners actually do? What is their day like? How do you relate with someone who has the weight of the world...
04.21.2014
Episode 8 - Mo' Producers, Mo' Problems
Picking up from last week's topic - "What Do All Those Producer Credits Mean" Jose and Javi move from defining the role of the writer/producer on TV to giving practical examples of the work of the upper level producer with...
04.14.2014
Episode 7 - What Do All Those Producer Credits Mean?
The career path for a television writer is a long and winding road that leads to a producer credit - but what does it mean to be a writer who becomes a producer? Do writers who rise to producers still...
04.07.2014
Episode 6 - Special Guest Stars Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters!
In this very special episode of the Children of Tendu podcast, Jose and Javi welcome Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters: creators and shorunners of the beloved "Reaper," showrunners of "Resurrection" and executive producers of Marvel's forthcoming "Agent Carter" to answer some...
03.31.2014
Episode 5- Your First Script On Staff: Surrender Your Ego
What is it like to face the dread of the empty page... when you are doing it for pay and as part of the writing staff of a television series for the first time? In this thrill-packed episode, Jose and...
03.24.2014
Episode 4 - The Writers' Room: How Do I Work This?
The great unspoken truth of television writing is that - by and large - writers spend most of their time not at the keyboard, but in a conference room collaborating on stories with other writers. In this super-sized episode, Jose...
03.17.2014
Episode 3 - Staffing Season
Once a year, every writer - and aspiring writer - in television takes part in what amounts to nothing less than a (metaphorical) all-city job fair... the period after the networks have picked up their new pilots, renewed their returning...
03.10.2014
Episode 2 - Agents - Who? Why? And How?
Javi and Jose demistify one of the most misunderstood components of the entertainment business: agents. what they do and why they are crucial for a successful career in television is a little undertstood face of our work as television writer/producer......
03.03.2014
Episode 1 - Your first step into a much larger world
In this inaugural edition of the Children of Tendu Podcast, veteran television writer/producers Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost, The Middleman, Helix, Medium) and Jose Molina (Sleepy Hollow, Firefly, Haven, Castle, Dark Angel) begin at the beginning: explaining how they started their careers...

What's Children of Tendu about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Children of Tendu episodes:

ON THE LINE - OUR BEST AND FINAL

Live From The Line Part Two: The Conversation Continues - CBS Radford

LIVE FROM THE STRIKE LINE!

The Leafblower Sessions: Part Two

The Leafblower Sessions, Part One

How Is This Strike Different From The Last?

BAD HOMBRES: Writing while Latino/a/e/x

TENDU.0 - Things We Lost In The Stream

Children of Tendu: On Writing

IS THIS OUR SERIES FINALE?

The Editorial Of Tendu

The Directorate of Tendu

THE CHILDREN OF TENDU MEET THE PRESIDENT OF THE WRITERS GUILD

Children of Tendu Live at the Writers Guild - The Fellowship of the Writers Room!

The Big Pitch - Part Two

THE BIG PITCH - PART ONE

Actors of Tendu!

Agents of Tendu

The Union of Tendu

LIVE AT THE SAN DIEGO COMIC CON

The Comedy Stylings of Tendu

The Post-Production of Tendu

The Production of Tendu - A Children of Tendu Special

The Preproduction of Tendu - A Children of Tendu Special!

TENDU EMERGENCY BROADCAST!

CHILDREN OF TENDU LIVE AT UCLA!

The Eleven Laws of Showrunning - A Children of Tendu Special

Tendu or Do Not: Children on the Ledge - Staffing Season Special

Tendu Mamá También - A Children of Tendu Special

10DU or Die! A Children of Tendu Road Trip Special

The Children of Tendu Christmas Special

Episode 13 - Our spine-tingling season finale!

Episode 12 - So you wanna write a television pilot...

Episode 11 - There's a lot of good stuff here... but we do have some notes.

Episode 10 - Meet our mentors - a special Nerdist Writers Panel crossover event!

Episode 9 - Your showrunner and you

Episode 8 - Mo' Producers, Mo' Problems

Episode 7 - What Do All Those Producer Credits Mean?

Episode 6 - Special Guest Stars Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters!

Episode 5- Your First Script On Staff: Surrender Your Ego

Episode 4 - The Writers' Room: How Do I Work This?

Episode 3 - Staffing Season

Episode 2 - Agents - Who? Why? And How?

Episode 1 - Your first step into a much larger world