Video rewind: The Liz Tigelaar interview

Hollywood has a reputation of being a town full of assholes.  I'm not going to deny that they're aren't some really nasty, unethical people out there, but there are a lot of really decent people out there too.  That's one reason I always get a little irked when I see an aspiring writer act like an jackass, either to other aspirings or even professional writers. There's this sort of "fuck the pros" attitude that crops up on screenwriting discussion boards now and then, with real ugliness directed at the pro writers.  This stands out to me because a great many of the nicest people I've met in the industry are working writers.

That's not to say that there aren't asshole writers out there.  There are always a few guys who delight in being jerks or acting like pretentious big shots.  Most of the time you can count on karma to get those guys.  And as one writer I follow on Twitter said, most writers realize they're incredibly fortunate to be able to do what they do and don't feel the need to be some larger-than-life ass just to draw attention to themselves.

So take a lesson writers - being an egotistical ass is not a prerequisite for getting this job.

Why am I talking about this today? Because TV writer Liz Tigelaar is pretty much the perfect example of a genuinely nice person who has made it far.  Over the past couple of years, I've gotten to know many people who've worked with Liz or interacted with her in the course of doing their jobs.  Pretty much to a man, every one of them has made a point of saying how friendly and personable she is, and how much they enjoyed working with her.

I can attest to this too, and it's one reason why I knew Liz would be a great interview subject.  It probably also didn't hurt that she was too nice to go back on my interview request once I informed her that (a) it was on camera and (b) she was going to be interviewed by a puppet.  (At the time I made the request, only "Shit Script Readers Say" had been posted and there was nothing I could readily point to as an example of how the puppet interview would work.)

I've done several interviews (an archive of which can be found here) and I'm proud of all of them.  However, this one is one of my favorites, both for the depth we were able to go into and also for the personality Liz brought to her answers.  Seeing her spend nearly an hour talking to a puppet with all the repor one would have with a normal interviewer really put my mind at ease that this crazy idea of a puppet interviewer would work.

You can find links to each of the 13 parts of this interview below, but I've embedded a playlist of the full interview here.  If you've got any interest at all in TV writing, you should check this out.  And thanks again to Liz Tigelaar for being so generous with her time.  You can find her on Twitter at @LizTigelaar.



Part 1 - Breaking in as an assistant
Part 2 - First Staff Writer Job on "American Dreams"
Part 3 - How Do I Get an Agent?
Part 4 - Selling a Pilot
Part 5 - Personal Themes in Writing
Part 6 - Genesis of "Life Unexpected"
Part 7 - First-Time Showrunner
Part 8 - Developing the second year of LUX
Part 9 - Dealing with network notes
Part 10 - Controversial LUX storylines
Part 11 - LUX lives on
Part 12 - Network overall deal, working on Once Upon a Time and Revenge
Part 13 - The Bitter Questions

Video rewind: 12-Step Screenwriting

Continuing our look back this week, we come to my video series 12-Step Screenwriting.  This was designed as an aide for beginning writers who are trying to figure out the basics of storytelling.  Posting weekly, I also hoped to encourage writers to keep up with series and complete a screenplay over three months.  With any luck, it was useful.

In the series, I lay out the basics of three-act structure, using Back to the Future as an example as I discussing turning points, act breaks and raising stakes.  This isn't necessarily the only way to write a script, and I don't want to leave the impression that everyone has to follow this formula.  In fact, I tried to keep my explanations broad specifically so this wouldn't come off as one of those guru books that sells on you the "Magic Beans" of the perfect way to write a screenplay.  I fully concede that this method may not work for everyone, but I hope that it at least gets you thinking about how a script is constructed, and what you might be able to take from that.

Below you will find an embedded playlist of all 12 parts.  I hope you enjoy it.

Video rewind: Shit Script Readers Say

As we approach the end of the year, I can't help but notice that the metrics indicate a wider audience discovered the blog this year, particularly during the last three months or so.  My best guess is to credit all the Black List coverage with reaching new people.

My big project this year was launching the YouTube Channel and I'm pretty happy with a lot of the content up there.  I'm also grateful to everyone who gave the channel a boost by promoting it, especially Scott Myers, ScriptChat, and Franklin Leonard via the Black List Twitter feed.  As most of my new audience seems to have arrived after a number of video segments posted, I want to take this week and give everyone a second chance to sample the channel, starting with my inaugural video, "Shit Script Readers Say."

Future Filmmaker Friday - Fifty Shades of Gandalf the Grey

Some of you might remember the young filmmakers behind Man Crush, a Campus MovieFest Award winner that I profiled earlier this year.  Well, I recently heard from Charlie Myers, who moved out to LA following graduation:

Since we've been out here we've been grabbing more people for our team and renamed ourselves Science & Fiction (for love of science and story). We've made a couple things but this is our first random short. 


It's a rather timely parody coinciding with the release of THE HOBBIT, entitled Fifty Shades of Gandalf the Grey.


Credits:
Janell Lenfert - Anastasia Steele
Chris Kleckner - Gandalf
Joey Hodo, Charlie Myers, Charlie Mattingly shot and chopped it
Original score by Bo Jacobson

Charlie goes on to say:

If you'd like to see what else we've made it's all listed on our channel. The boys shot a web series called Stuck on Sycamore before I moved out. I cut it together and then we all collaborated on a sequel, which is long in duration but pretty fun. We plan on making a third and final installment in a couple months.  

I wish the best for these guys.  Man Crush was a great short under any circumstances, much less a one-week deadline, but even more importantly, these guys are dedicated to making more output.  They aren't just talking about shooting projects - they ARE making movies.  Keeping at it sometimes is the hardest part, and I really salute these guys not just for the product, but for the work ethic behind it.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Interview with Franklin Leonard of the Black List - Part 3 - The Black List Statistics

Part 1 - The Origin of the Black List
Part 2 - Criticisms of the Black List

In this final segment of my interview with Franklin Leonard, we discuss some of the statistics of the Black List.  Also, I pitch Franklin an idea for notifying the Black List winners that's even more unexpected than the Twitter announcement this year.  His response may surprise you.

Franklin also explains what he looks for as a development executive when he reads a script.


Thanks again to Franklin Leonard for being my first guest to return to the show!  I hope you guys enjoyed the interview.

Interview with Franklin Leonard of the Black List - Part 2 - Criticisms of the Black List

 Part 1 - The Origin of the Black List

So the new Black List is out!  You can find it on their website here or you can just mosey on over to Go into the Story for the details.

Every year, the release of a new Black List is accompanied by some familiar complaints (and if I'm being frank, some misunderstandings) about the selections.  While I had the list's creator, Franklin Leonard, in the hot seat, I couldn't resist asking him about this.  So if you are suspicious that agents and managers try to manipulate the list, or you hate the fact that so many established writers are on it instead of undiscovered ones, you probably should take a look at this.


The final part will come tomorrow!

Interview with Franklin Leonard of the Black List - Part 1 - The Origin of the Black List

Today at 9am PST, The 2012 Black List will be announced via Twitter at their handle @theblcklst.  It's the highly-anticipated list of scripts in Hollywood that have been voted "most-liked" by a survey of Hollywood industry professionals.

But while we wait for that, perhaps you'd be interested in hearing the origins of the Black List, which is explored in the first part of my three-part interview with Black List creator Franklin Leonard.  I've talked with Franklin before about Black List 3.0, but this time we're talking about the colonel's original recipe version of The Black List.



Part 2 - Criticisms of the Black List