Survival of the Fittest: The 2011/2012 Television Season

This season of television was pretty good. There have been some excellent shows, and some downright terrible ones. The overbearing theme of this season, for me, was impatience. I finally gave up on shows I’ve been losing interest in for years, and even found myself hesitant to devote my time to new shows. I was so [...]

WRITING: Sharing Your Toys (Working With a Staff)

Television writing is all about sharing. Unlike a novel, where one author is responsible for every word, a television series passes through the hands of many authors. A series may even change at the highest level of authorship, potentially making an entirely new story within the same creative work.

DERIVATIVE WORKS: Legitimacy, Ownership and Creation (The Community Fires Dan Harmon Remix)

Do you know what’s puzzling about the divide between ‘legitimate creative works’ and ‘illegitimate creative works’? The idea that the creator and unique voice of a creative work can be legally prevented from creating it further, and that someone who has never been a part of that project can, without the creator’s consent or permission, [...]

MUSIC: Being a Writer Playlist

A brief playlist that strikes at the heart of some of my feelings about writing and being a writer…

TV: Boardwalk Empire and Power

I’ve just started watching Boardwalk Empire, and though I’ve got plenty left to watch – I’m six episodes in – I have a few thoughts on what I’ve watched… (Spoilers for the first six episodes of Boardwalk Empire. In turn, I would request you don’t spoil me for anything after ep 1.6 in the comments. This is [...]

WRITING: Series Pitches Need Focus

I’ve been developing series pitches for The Writersroom in the past few weeks, cherrypicking undeveloped projects from the depths of my computer and creating new ones for it. The process we’re following is: I propose a bunch of brief series pitches, and we slowly narrow them down as a group, based on how everyone feels and [...]

WRITING: Active Voice, Not Passive Voice

Having come across this screenwriting issue a few times with relatively experienced writers at my level recently, I thought it might be appropriate to take this rant of mine and share it publicly. Always active voice, not passive voice.

WRITING: Outlining Dramatic Webseries Episodes

Outlining is a crucial part of writing, particularly for structured forms like television. Webseries are an odd beast; formats aren’t so set like they are in television and film, though there is general consensus on certain wisdoms, like ideal length. When outlining an episode that is likely only 1-2 scenes long, and as many minutes, [...]

WRITING: Fanfiction, Reenvisioning and Inspiration

I’ve been involved for the past few months with a fanfiction work. First I was mostly an outsider writing a portion freelance as a favour to a friend, but then I started getting into it and helping out on the planning end. And it’s really a lot of fun. As any regular reader of this [...]

PIRACY AND MEDIA: Let’s Take It Personally

The issue of piracy in media is overwhelming, with practically everyone lining up on each side of the argument. Some say that piracy is destroying the industry, while others are saying that it’s not having nearly the effect it seems to. The thing is, there’s been plenty of top-down approaches to fixing the problem, many [...]