It’s easy to forget the rules of writing, even for a professional.  

We get excited about a new idea.   We hastily start writing a TV script or a play or a screenplay.   Often we don’t finish the work that we start.   We get about thirty or forty pages in, and suddenly the whole thing starts to bog down.   We get frustrated and stop.   Perhaps we abandon the project completely.   Occasionally, we do finish.   We think we’ve written something wonderful.   Then we give it to someone else to ...

Is scripted content for the internet and other platforms - such as I-pads and cell phones - the next big thing or just the thing that is next?

Last evening, I attended a screening at a private theater in Beverly Hills for a new, scripted video series that launched earlier this week on Hulu.   The new series is called The Booth at the End.   The series is constructed so that it can be viewed at ...

With both The Hangover, Part 2 and Bridesmaids playing right now to full houses, one can see two very different ways to draw attention to your comedy writing.  

One way is to have a great premise, and then use that premise to be clever, broad, and as outrageous as the times will allow.   That is The Hangover model.   The Hangover is a premise piece, meaning that the whole movie is just about the premise.   You don’t really get to know the characters nor do you need to.   The story does ...

Here’s a quote from The Wrap on TV from May 26, 2011:

(The Wrap is an industry e-magazine.) 

“Most of the broadcast networks are adding more sitcoms both in the fall and for mid-season. Is that a good strategy for drawing more viewers and a good one from an advertiser viewpoint?

Billie Gold (vice president and director of programming research at media agency Carat): Comedies, if they hit, can be very profitable for the networks, especially on the back end of syndication. The problem is ...

In my last posting, on March 21, I arrogantly stated that I could predict which of the 40 sitcom pilots ordered by the four broadcast networks were most likely to actually make the fall schedules.   I cynically wrote that since pilots are picked up almost exclusively for business reasons, I could guess which pilots would make the four network schedules without reading the scripts or viewing the finished product.   Rather, I could predict which ...

By my count, the four major broadcast networks have ordered a whopping 40 – yes, you read that number right – 40 half-hour comedy pilots for possible slots on their fall or mid-season schedules.   The CW network, to my knowledge, has not ordered any half-hour pilots.   Does this large number of half-hour pilots mean that sitcom is back… again?  Does it mean that scripted shows are on the rise while reality is on the ...

So many articles and blogs and tweets about Charlie Sheen and Two and a Half Men and Chuck Lorre and what to do about crazy stars, and about who’s the real bad guy in all of this…  All of these words written by people who have never worked on a sitcom...   This is a blog about sitcom stars and sitcom producers and network and studio executives written by somebody who has actually worked on a sitcom.   I’ve worked on eleven prime time sitcoms.   I’ve been a show runner.   I’ve dealt with difficult talent. ...

Every few weeks I get an e-mail from someone who has what they think is a great idea for a TV series.   (And you know what?  Maybe they do have a great idea for a TV series.)  I got one of those e-mails today. The person writing wanted me to read or listen to their idea and give them feedback.   Of course, what they really want is for me to tell them how to sell their idea to Hollywood.   The answer to the question “How do I sell my great idea for a TV series ...

My daughter walked into the room last night while my wife and I were watching TV.   “What’s this?” my daughter asked, referring to the show that was on.   “It’s called Mad Love,” my wife told her.   “It’s new.”  “Is this that Sarah Chalke show?” my daughter asked as she rested her knee on the arm of a chair.  “Who is Jason Biggs?” I asked her.   “Is he an Apatow guy?”  “American Pie,” ...