The Beat Sheet

It's summer and everything is upside down and topsy turvy for me- so what better time to have a switch up than right now, friends?

We're in Season 5 now because I have just declared it to be so. Season 4 was just a couple of episodes, but that's ok! This is my theme park!

Welcome to Summer 2021. I hope these episodes inspire you to get some pages done between all that outside you're getting into. 

You got this. And I do, too. Enjoy the episodes and leave a review!

(The rhymes write themselves)

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Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Here's a drinking game: if you take a sip of water every time you hear me say "um" in this episode, you will have consumed your required amount for the day. 

I also said that you were going to get a new episode today, but I love you and I Iied. I switched the whole structure up after I uploaded this episode! So get ready- exciting news next week about the show!

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Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

This week on the beat, we have Kelsea Mayfield!

Kelsea Mayfield grew up around vibrant and passionate Black and Panamanian women—her mother, aunts, grandmothers, and older cousins—who inspired her personally and creatively with their unapologetic free spirits. Her writing centers Black womanhood, in all of its complexities, and she hopes to alleviate the pressure from Black female characters to be strong pillars.

​A drama television writer, Kelsea writes female-led thrillers and mysteries, with a dabble of horror. The characters in her pilots have been described as "lived in" and she has been commended on her "marvelous control of pace and mood."

Kelsea's original pilot, DOUBLE NEGATIVE, placed in the semifinals for both the 2019 Austin Film Festival Drama Teleplay competition and the 2019 CineStory TV Retreat & Fellowship, as well as the quarterfinals in the 2021 Screencraft TV Pilot Script Competition. She has also self-published a comic book, available for purchase on Amazon Kindle.

Kelsea is currently an Assistant Location Manager/Coordinator for ABC's STATION 19. Previously, she worked on Hulu's NINE PERFECT STRANGERS. 

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

This week on #beatsheetpod, we have Sylvia L. Jones on the beat!

Sylvia L. Jones has been an eyewitness to history again and again. The former journalist spent more than 20 years chasing the news -- reporting on monumental events including Nelson Mandela's first visit to Chicago following his release from prison, the 9/11 terror attacks from ground zero and President Barack Obama's historic elections.       

Now, she has moved on to her next chapter. In the midst of traveling the nation to cover the 2016 presidential primary elections, Sylvia decided to turn in her press credentials and try her hand in Hollywood. 

Never one to waste words or time, Sylvia hit the ground running. The Chicago native leveraged her comprehensive knowledge of the city's politics and neighborhoods to help launch Showtime's "THE CHI" and USA's Suits spinoff, "PEARSON." She also developed and wrote the biopic, "THE CLARK SISTERS: FIRST LADIES OF GOSPEL," executive produced by Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott and Mary J. Blige, which aired on Lifetime. Additionally, Sylvia has earned writing and producing credits on the CBS All Access thriller, "TELL ME A STORY" Ava DuVernay’s romance anthology series, "CHERISH THE DAY" on OWN and Starz's "POWER BOOK IV: FORCE," the spinoff that features "Tommy." 

Sylvia's vast experience covering local and national news has set her in close proximity with a wide array of people and has offered her a deep well of prototypes from which to draw traits. As a result, she gives voice to characters who feel real and down-to-earth -- even when their storylines are out of this world.   

Sylvia earned her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Communications at Stanford University and her Master of Science in Journalism at Northwestern University. She completed the Professional Program in Writing for Television at UCLA as well as the Producers Guild of America’s Power of Diversity Master Workshop. Sylvia splits her time between Los Angeles and Chicago.  She most enjoys sleeping, aisle seats and sweet potato pie. 

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet

Welcome to Season 4, friends! Thank you for coming back. Please make sure you SUBSCRIBE + RATE the show- it will help more burgeoning screenwriters to find out conversations. Thank you in advance!

This week on the beat, we have Keisha Zollar! And you may hear her cute little dogs during parts of our conversation. We're a dog friendly show over here- especially in the middle of a pantomime.

Keisha Zollar is a writer-actress-comedienne who most recently worked as the showrunner on Fuse’s The Read with Kid Fury and Crissle as well as the Co-EP and star of Netflix’s sketch show Astronomy Club. Sher recently finished writing on the Apple Team Downey & Adam Perlman drama series based on Michael Lista’s Toronto Life article “The Sting” and is currently writing on the HBO Max animated series One Love. Before that, Keisha was the Writing Supervisor at Busy Tonight. As an actor Keisha has been seen on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, Comedy Central, Nightcap, Middle of the Night, The Today Show, College Humor, TV Land, Funny or Die, IAF.tv, Above Average, MSNBC, MTV, and UCB Comedy. Keisha played the role of Sarah in Believe Her, a short about the moments after sexual assault. She has been featured by Glamour magazine, Fast Company, Paste magazine, etc, and has written for Bitch Flicks, FemSplain, and more.

We talk about:

• how her mother's incredible sense of humor influences her writing voice
• how the Astronomy Club got started
• how she got an awesome writing job while coming back from a near-death experience (so glad you're ok!)
• what to do when you have a bad joke
• the shows that are bringing us joy during the pandemic
• how she got involved with the TV adaptation of my favorite podcast (after this one!), The Read

and more!

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet

Let's talk about some of the benefits of reading scripts on a consistent basis. There are many, friends, but I just wanted to tap in and name a few. Hope it helps.

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet

Just wanted to quickly tap in with you and share some tips for virtual film school! xo

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet

This week, I’m talking about how I come up with new writing ideas. This is really ironic because I’m currently suffering through outlining a feature film and it’s not going well at all. But listen, the struggle was not coming up with the idea- I have plenty of those. It’s just at this moment, the execution part is keeping me on the struggle bus. So, let’s talk about what I’m not failing at and that would be coming up with ideas. I have seven touchpoints, but I don’t use all of these all of the time, and I probably would add more if I had more time, but I told you that I’m already struggling writing this film, so let’s go already!

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet

Today, we're talking about pitches. Listen, I'm on my working my way up to becoming a pitch guru, a pitch master, a pitch goddess if you will- but right now, I'm still a regular degular pitch maker who's had to practice a couple of times in front of her professors and I would like to be of a little help. So, without further ado, let's talk about 3 ways to keep people awake during your pitch. 

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet

I know last time I shared my favorite TV shows of all time, but this week is all about the films. I know some people prefer films over TV shows because the story ends in one sitting. 

I just want to clarify- I'm not saying that these are the best films of all time, they're simply my personal favorites. In no particular order. So, without, further ado- here are my favorite films of all time. 

Thank you so much for listening to the show! Please remember to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, + REVIEW the show- I would really appreciate it. It helps other screenwriters who are interested in this story to find the show a little easier.

If you are interested in becoming a guest, sponsoring the show, or have any other inquiries, please send an email to [email protected]!

Need to read more scripts? Join my club- we read scripts together every week! My profile name is @aquilliam and the club is called Beat Sheet Pod. 

You can listen to every episode of The Beat Sheet on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher!

You can click here to subscribe to the podcast everywhere via this RSS feed!

The official hashtag for the podcast is #beatsheetpod

Please be sure to follow us on social media as well! You can find the show everywhere:

Instagram | @beatsheetpod

Twitter | @beatsheetpod

Facebook | The Beat Sheet