Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast

Based on the novels by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows eight members of a powerful family in Regency-era England as they attempt to find love. Series creator Chris Van Dusen describes the pressure he felt writing season two after the overwhelming success of the first season: "There were a lot of expectations that were put onto it after it became Netflix's most-watched English language series ever, and it was embraced in such a huge way around the globe. I think going into season two, it [was] a very different thing from creating and producing and writing the first season of an unknown show." Van Dusen goes on to break down the core themes of the show and how he approached centering a new member of the Bridgerton family in season two: "It all comes down to character and character development, and with Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), we got to develop and explore his story across two amazing seasons. I've always said that the underlying narrative arc of Bridgerton is this question of whether love can conquer all. Season two looks at that question through the lens of familial duty, so we were exploring this push and pull of head versus heart, of love versus duty." Bridgerton is now streaming on Netflix.

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Set in modern-day America, Bel-Air is a re-imagination of the beloved sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, following a young Will Smith (Jabari Banks) as he makes his journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated communities of Bel-Air. When asked how he got his start in filmmaking, series creator Morgan Cooper says, "I didn't grow up around filmmakers. I didn't know filmmaking was a career, a possibility. I didn't go to college; I didn't go to film school. I was 18. I had to just figure it out, and so I bought a little Canon T2i. After two days of spending time with that camera, I fell in love with it. I really caught the bug and I said, 'This is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. There is no plan B.' And with that camera, I built my career." Cooper goes on to recall getting the official blessing from the original cast and crew of Fresh Prince to reboot the series: "I remember being on the set of the Fresh Prince reunion, so I got to meet all the original cast. We were all sitting on the set together, and we were all just talking. I remember Daphne Reid - Aunt Viv - she looked at me and said, 'We're passing you the baton. Just run with it. We believe in you.' Having that weight on my shoulders but knowing I had amazing support... I knew we were equipped to get it done." Bel-Air is now available to stream on Peacock.

 

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Featuring an all-star cast including Sara Bareilles, Busy Philipps, and Renée Elise Goldsberry, Girls5eva follows a one-hit-wonder 90s girl group as they try to reignite their pop star fame while simultaneously having to navigate their grownup lives. Series creator Meredith Scardino shares how she prepared for pitching the series to NBC: "I tried to watch as many things and listen to as many things as I could about pitching. I ended up watching Shonda Rhimes' masterclass on pitching, and something that she said put me more at ease when she was just like... 'You're a writer. They know you're not an actor... you don't have to be this incredible, incredible pitcher. You can just try really hard to convey what you want people to know about the show." Scardino goes on to share her advice for putting yourself on the page: "You have to just make things and trust that the thing that you connect to, someone else will connect to it. A few of the things that I have worked on in the show that have been the most personal have been some of my favorite things, and I feel like [those are] the things that maybe other people liked a lot too... just trust that if you find something funny or if you find something to be true, someone else will also feel that way." Season 2 of Girls5eva is now available to stream on Peacock.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!   Now available on Google Podcasts!  

Starring Academy Award® winners J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek, Amazon Prime's Night Sky follows married couple Franklin (Simmons) and Irene York (Spacek), who discover a portal in their backyard that leads to a deserted planet. Series creator Holden Miller speaks on why he decided to use the sci-fi genre as a vessel for such an intimate character-driven story: "The story really takes on a life of its own, and all the themes that were of interest to me, like mortality and aging and enduring love - to tell that story about these characters seems to demand this science fiction aspect that could add a different level of grandeur and mystery and epicness to this very intimate story." After being approached by an executive at Legendary, Daniel C. Connolly agreed to come on board as showrunner and pilot Miller's vision. On his experience as a first-time showrunner: "There's a lot of different aspects to this job that I've not experienced before in terms of this [being] my first time showrunning. I think it's just keeping a certain flexibility and trying to fight your ego sometimes when it feels like it's screwing up... it's not that hard, though, when you put the show front and center." Night Sky is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.

 

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Disney+ is taking us back to a galaxy far, far away with its upcoming limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Ewan McGregor reprising the titular role alongside Hayden Christiansen's Darth Vader. Star Wars superfan Joby Harold explains what drew him to writing the six-episode series for Disney and Lucasfilm: "I always thought [Obi-Wan] was this great, unexplored character when it came to canon because there is that gap between what Ewan had done with the character and what sir Alec Guinness did with the character... I was just, as a fan, eager to see what they were going to do. When I got to sort of be a part of it and figure out what they had done and what they were looking to explore, it just seemed like a really exciting opportunity." Harold also shares the screenwriting advice that's stuck with him throughout his career: "I had a screenwriting professor named Lou Hunter who would always say at the end of his correspondences, 'Write on' ... and he would say, 'You're not good until your seventh script.' And I was like, 'I appreciate you saying that, but I feel like I've got this figured out. I know what I'm doing,' and it's just crazy to me how true that was, and I think a lot of writers get caught up in rewriting their first or second or third scripts, just trying to complete that first thought... writing and rewriting different projects is so important to finding the vocabulary of writing."

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Commonly described as "anti-historical" historical fiction, The Great follows the comedic rise of Empress Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) and explores her marriage to Emperor Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hoult). Series creator Tony McNamara shares how watching the show as it's being made affects his writing process: "I don't write the whole season. I write about half of it, which puts a lot of pressure on me as a writer. I've learned to watch the show and watch what's happening between characters while we shoot, and then that starts to be reflected in the writing." McNamara goes on to discuss the challenges of finding your voice and shares his tips for burgeoning writers: "I think you’re going to imitate who you like when you start writing, and there’s nothing wrong with that – that’s why you’re drawn to certain things… I think you imitate for a while and then you slowly lose that a little bit. I always think it’s too much pressure to [find] ‘your own voice…’ I think as much as finding your voice, you’ve got to find your process and then you’ll find your voice as well." Season 2 of The Great is now streaming on Hulu.   Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!     Now available on Google Podcasts!  

MST3K is back! Originally running from 1988 to 1999, Mystery Science Theater 3000 was revived in 2017 due to a crowdfunding campaign led by the show's creator, Joel Hodgson. The show follows a human test subject who is forced to watch "B" movies by evil scientists alongside a group of captive robots who provide colorful commentary on the films. Hodgson explains, "We have kind of a unique relationship with the audience because it's a unique format, and it behaves differently than most shows. For some people, that's very disorienting, and for what we call the 'right people,' it just totally makes sense." Hodgson goes on to describe what each episode looks like on the page and how they come up with each side-splitting jab: "We use about 10% of what we write. It's more like 7000 riffs that we start with... that kind of gets melted down to about 700 riffs in total. But when we brainstorm... it's wide open, and we're not necessarily looking for great ideas as much as more ideas, and out of those come the good ideas." You can check out season 13 of MST3K on their new exclusive streaming service, The Gizmoplex!  

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!   Now available on Google Podcasts!  

Based on the incredible true story, Pam & Tommy tackles a major landmark in the early days of the Internet: the leak of Pamela Anderson's (Lily James) and Tommy Lee's (Sebastian Stan) sex tape. Co-showrunner D.V. DeVincentis discusses what surprised him the most while researching the backstory of the case: "Something that continued to come up was... how well [Pamela] dealt with it, considering she's obviously very upset by it. I would have completely lost my mind, and she really kept it together. That was surprising to me - the inner strength of this person that is most often not given a lot of credit." Co-showrunner Robert D. Siegel goes on to share the amount of care that ultimately went into writing Pamela's character: "We were both very, very protective of the character; she's ultimately the hero of the show. There are times during the show when [Rand Gauthier and Tommy] are the protagonists, and then there are times they're also the bad guys.... but we're really with Pam the whole way. It's kind of a love letter to her in a sense." Pam & Tommy is now available to stream on Hulu.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!   Now available on Google Podcasts!  

Starring Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul, Dual follows a woman (Gillan) who has to fight a clone of herself to the death after she unexpectedly recovers from a terminal illness. Writer-director Riley Stearns discusses how he crafted the film's out-of-this-world sci-fi premise while staying grounded in reality:  "I didn't want the world to feel like this futuristic sci-fi space. I wanted it to still feel like we could relate to it... It's like another alternate reality where everything's the same except for this... How do people interact with each other in a world where this procedure exists?" Stearns goes on to describe how he's evolved as a filmmaker since directing his first feature in 2014: "I would say that making Dual was the most confident and comfortable I've felt on set... There are times where you second guess yourself, and I still had those moments on Dual, but I think that knowing that your ideas have value, and trusting that, and trusting the people around you, I felt like Dual was just that experience that maybe... you wouldn't be the same person if you didn't learn those lessons." Dual is now available in select theaters and will be available On Demand on May 20.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!   Now available on Google Podcasts!  

Based on the insane yet shockingly true story, Gaslit, starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn, delivers a modern take on the Watergate scandal that shines its light most prominently on Arkansan socialite Martha Mitchell (Roberts). Showrunner Robbie Pickering discusses what audiences can expect to take away from the series: "We made it for people who aren't necessarily Watergate geeks. It's really about the human dynamics and the scandal and the ways people destroy their own lives... and [become] complicit in dirty deeds for somebody in power."   Robbie goes on to discuss what he learned as a first-time showrunner: "It's a lot harder [than directing]... but through trial and error, I had learned how to be a better leader, how to come into a room knowing that if you're the showrunner, you set the tone... when I went to become a showrunner, it was an easier transition than I thought, and being a staff writer had allowed me to let go of my ego in a way that directing really hadn't."   Gaslit is now available to stream on Starz.   Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!   Now available on Google Podcasts!