Paper Team

Alex and Nick discuss how television viewing habits impact the writing and enjoyment of TV shows.

How does the way you consume a show influence the audience? How have changes in viewing habits transformed television writing itself? What are some ways to use that paradigm shift in your own writing?

The Paper Team binges in one sitting...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - How people consume TV today (00:52)

2 - How viewing habits impact the perception of TV shows (11:37)

3 - How viewing habits affect and influence TV writing (25:44)

4 - A little about the future of TV viewing (42:20)

Takeaways and Resources (45:45)

Links

Over-the-top content (OTT)

YouTube TV

YouTube Red

"Why mythological shows are often idolized" - TV Calling

The Hatch

Final Five

"Damon Lindelof Doesn't Want Critics To Binge Season 3 of The Leftovers" - IndieWire

"The Art of the TV Episode" (PT20)

"Two Boats and a Helicopter" (1x03 - The Leftovers)

"Guest" (1x06 - The Leftovers)

"The Bythewoods and The Writers Retreat" - 3rd & Fairfax

Flesh and Bone

Resources

"Netflix Studied Your Binge-Watching Habit" - The New York Times

"Series, Movie, Series, Repeat: A New Netflix Binge Routine" - Netflix

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board's Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick invite Steven Darancette, writer on Amazon's Tumble Leaf and Nick Jr.'s Lalaloopsy, to discuss writing for TV children's animation.

How does a non-primetime animation writers' room work? What are some of the distinctions in TV age-groups? How strict are censorship and regulations for children's content? What are unique challenges in writing for young kids versus young adults? Are there any mandates on an educational or promotional standpoint?

The Paper Team channels their inner child...

SHOWNOTES

Content

Getting started writing for TV children's animation, how the writers rooms work, and discussing content (00:55)

Resources and Next Time On (40:51)

Links

Steven Darancette on Twitter

Tumble Leaf on Amazon

Lalaloopsy (TV series)

Warner Bros. Animation

Batman: The Animated Series

Animaniacs

Pinky and the Brain

Alan Burnett

Ozzy & Drix

"A Growing Cell" (2x08 - Ozzy & Drix)

Bleak Future

KODAK Super 8

The Tick (2001 TV series)

Jackie Chan Adventures

Krypto the Superdog

Guardians of the Galaxy (TV series)

Ben 10

Lalaloopsy (Dolls)

Bob the Builder

IATSE 839 (Animation Guild)

Resources

"Producing Animation" - Catherine Winder & Zahra Dowlatabadi

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board's Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick discuss television procedural shows and how they work, from writing them to reinventing the genre itself.

What kind of procedurals are there on TV? How do you juggle between the characters, the overall story, and the case-of-the-week? What are some common tips for writing a procedural? How does the structure evolve between episodic and serialized procedurals?

The Paper Team solves the case...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - Defining TV procedurals (00:46)

2 - Writing TV procedurals: structure, case of the week, and reinventing the genre (03:22)

Takeaways and Resources (28:29)

Links

Carol Mendelsohn

"How Joss Whedon and the Buffy writers’ room broke episodes" - TV Calling

"My Overkill" (2x01 - Scrubs)

Colin Hay

"The Art of the TV Episode" (PT20)

"Subway" (6x07 - Homicide: Life on the Street)

Andre Braugher

Dancing Baby

"Tracking the long career of half-forgotten TV auteur David E. Kelley" - Stephen Bowie/The A.V. Club

Ann Donahue

Steven Bochco

Century City (TV Series)

"When every Fox show becomes a procedural, it gets very boring" - Daniel Fienberg/THR

Michelle King

Robert King

"Common Descent" (2x17 - Stargate Universe)

"Should You Pay for TV Writing Education?" (PT19)

Resources

"How The Good Wife broke the rules for legal dramas, and then broke itself" - Noel Murray/The A.V. Club

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board's Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Update: PT39 transcript now available

Alex and Nick welcome Alison Tafel, staff writer on Netflix's BoJack Horseman, to discuss writing on an adult comedy animation TV show.

What is the BoJack Horseman writers' room like? How different is writing for animation from live-action? How do writers interact with animators? How much is planned in advance of the season? How are episodes broken in the room?

The Paper Team horses around...

SHOWNOTES

Content

Starting out in Hollywood, getting staffed on BoJack Horseman, and the writing process on the Netflix TV show (00:46)

Resources and Next Time On (48:53)

Links

Alison Tafel on Twitter

BoJack Horseman on Netflix

Kenneth Parcell

Raising Hope

Bunk'd

NBC's Late Night Writers Worshop

Raphael Bob-Waksberg

Project Greenlight

"Fish Out of Water" (3x04 - BoJack Horseman)

"Downer Ending" (1x11 - BoJack Horseman)

"Stop the Presses" (3x07 - BoJack Horseman)

Greg Kinnear

Margo Martindale

Jessica Biel

Charming Cheetah Comedy on YouTube

John Myers on Twitter

Stoopid Buddy Stoodios

David Hill on Twitter

Superstore

Rachel Bloom

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Sheet Music

Resources

"Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation" - Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Howard Johnson

"Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV" - Joe Toplyn

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board's Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

For the first Paper Team Live event, Alex and Nick go to WonderCon 2017 to host a panel on the dialogue between TV writers and their fans.

This relationship has become a vital tool for many television shows — and one that is often very fickle. That's why we've invited writers and assistants from several beloved shows to share their thoughts on the issue.

Panelists include Ray Utarnachitt (DC's Legends of Tomorrow), Jill Weinberger (Chicago Fire), Tennessee Martin (Lucifer), Diya Mishra (The Tick), and Taylor Brogan (The Shannara Chronicles).

What does a typical conversation look like between a writers' room and their fandom? How much attention do TV writers pay to fans? Have fans' voices changed the course of a story or character? What is it like going from being a fan of a show to being involved directly in the creative decisions?

The Paper Team goes live in room 209...

SHOWNOTES

Content

Live Paper Team WonderCon panel (00:00:38)

Next Time On (01:01:15)

Links

Taylor Brogan on Twitter

Diya Mishra on Twitter

Tennessee Martin on Twitter

Jill Weinberger on Twitter

Ray Utarnachitt on Twitter

The Shannara Chronicles

Into the Badlands

Gilmore Girls

Emily Gilmore

Powerless

The Tick

Pokémon (anime)

Lucifer

South of Nowhere

Chicago Fire

Wonder Woman (TV series)

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

It's Your Move

The Tick Writers' Room on Twitter

Lucifer Writers' Room on Twitter

Into the Badlands Writers' Room on Twitter

The Shannara Chronicles Writers' Room on Twitter

Derek Haas

Marc Guggenheim

Ben Edlund

Person of Interest

Terry Brooks

ATX Television Festival

Hep Alien

Amy Sherman-Palladino

Sutton Foster

Rachael Harris

"The One Where Rachel Has a Baby: Part 1" (8x23 - Friends)

Psych

Michael Emerson

Sports Night

Holly Robinson Peete

Iron Fist (TV series)

Atom (Ryan Choi)

Atom (Ray Palmer)

Brandon Routh

Hogsmeade

The Magicians (TV series)

iZombie (TV series)

Victoria Thompson's "Gaslight Mysteries"

Grace and Frankie

Legion (TV series)

Good Girls Revolt

Riverdale (TV series)

Lee Toland Krieger

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick are joined by Buffy the Vampire Slayer expert Evan Schmitt to discuss visual storytelling in television writing through the prism of two episodes, "Hush" and "Restless".

How do you convey information visually? How can you use imagery to illustrate story and character? What does exposition look like without dialogue? How creepy are the Gentlemen? What was the Cheese Man all about?

The Paper Team invokes the First Slayer...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - About "Hush" and "Restless" (01:39)

2 - Narrative structures of "Hush" and "Restless" (11:08)

3 - Visual storytelling in "Hush" (18:33)

4 - Visual storytelling in "Restless" (40:53)

Takeaways and Resources (56:37)

Announcement

Paper Team is going to WonderCon 2017! Join our panel "Writer Versus Fandom: TV Writer's Rooms and Fan Interaction" on Sunday, April 2 at 4:00PM in Room 209.

Links

Evan Schmitt on Instagram

Paper Team panel at WonderCon 2017

Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD

"Hush" (4x10 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Restless" (4x22 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Shooting script for "Hush" (dated November 3, 1999)

Shooting script for "Restless" (dated April 8, 2000)

The Ascension

"Primeval" (4x21 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"How Joss Whedon and the Buffy writers’ room broke episodes" - TV Calling

The Gentlemen

Cheese Man

"Beer Bad" (4x05 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"Ozymandias" (5x14 - Breaking Bad)

Christophe Beck

Saint-Saëns' "Danse macabre"

"The Zeppo" (3x13 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Ethan Rayne

"Band Candy" (3x06 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Ripper

Maggie Walsh

"Graduation Day" (3x21-22 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

"This Year's Girl" (4x15 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Dawn Summers

Joyce Summers

Mr. Pointy

"The Gift" (5x22 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Resources

Buffy World's episode index with shooting scripts

"Tough Enough: Female Friendship and Heroism in Xena and Buffy" - Dr. Sharon Ross

Dr. Sharon Ross (Columbia College Chicago)

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick discuss the importance of themes and values in television writing, and how you can use them to your advantage in your own TV scripts.

Why are themes and values important in television writing? What are some examples of both? How do you work them in scripts? How do you avoid preachiness in the writing?

The Paper Team shares their motifs...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - What are themes and values? (01:20)

2 - How to write themes and values in TV (14:12)

3 - Avoiding preachiness in your writing (23:10)

Takeaways and Resources (27:28)

Links

Survivor: Blood vs. Water

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

"Far Beyond the Stars" (6x13 - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Sons of Anarchy

Everybody Loves Raymond

Desperate Housewives

"Earshot" (3x18 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Danny Strong

Buffy Studies

"Beer Bad" (4x05 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Scorpius (Farscape)

The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)

The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)

"Chaos is a ladder" speech from Game of Thrones (Video)

"BoJack Horseman Christmas Special: Sabrina's Christmas Wish"

Resources

"Philosophy of..." Books

"The Philosophy of The Simpsons" - William Irwin, Mark T. Conard, Aeon J. Skoble

Star Trek episodes with social themes

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick discuss how to make supplemental income and getting side-jobs while working in TV or breaking in.

How do you stay financially secure before and after breaking in the entertainment industry? How should you balance work and writing? What are some freelance jobs worth pursuing as a writer? What are the benefits and drawbacks of being an independent contractor?

The Paper Team files their 1099...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - Benefits and drawbacks of finding supplemental income or freelancing (00:22)

2 - Ways of making supplemental income as a writer (12:26)

Takeaways and Resources (38:34)

Links

Managing Finances as an Assistant and Staff Writer (PT16)

Stage 32

Roadmap Writers

Virtual PitchFest

Gig economy

Friedman Agency

AppleOne

Care.com

UpWork

Chuck Tingle (NSFW)

"Easy and Healthy French Recipes" - Claire Rose

Swagbucks

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Patreon

Resources

r/BeerMoney (reddit)

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick discuss the ins-and-outs of writing a TV spec script of an existing show.

How do you pick the show? Why is researching the series beforehand important? How do you brainstorm ideas for specs? What are some dos and don'ts to break the mold?

The Paper Team picks their spec...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - What makes a TV spec, a TV spec (00:29)

2 - Writing the TV spec script (08:15)

Takeaways and Resources (25:39)

Links

TV Spec Script List

TV Spec Test

TV Writing Fellowships: The Bix Six

Resources

Ten Spec Writing Rules (and why you should care)

WGA Library

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Alex and Nick discuss television writing competitions, their personal experiences with them, and whether or not they're worth participating in.

Which TV writing competitions are out there? What should you consider before paying and submitting your script? What do you actually get out of them? What if you win and nothing happens?

The Paper Team submits their entry fee...

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 - What are screenwriting competitions? (00:32)

2 - Why you should enter TV writing competitions (01:56)

3 - Competitions that are out there and our own experiences (09:44)

4 - What you should consider before entering a competition (22:50)

5 - What if I win and nothing happens? What if my win is old news? (27:41)

Takeaways and Next Week On (31:42)

Links

Academy Nicholl Fellowships

Tracking Board's Launch Pad

TrackingB

"Answers to the questions I've been asked" - Mickey Fisher

Austin Film Festival Competition

JHRTS Pilot Competition

How to Meet People in LA (When You Don’t Know Anyone) (PT03)

PAGE Competition

Final Draft's Big Break Contest

Script Pipeline

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:

Alex - @TVCalling

Nick - @_njwatson

If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]