The Writers Panel

Evan Waite ( Family Guy ; The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ) discusses the kinds of comedy he enjoys, breaking in by taking chances, his new book Life Wants You Dead: A Calm, Rational and Totally Legit Guide to Scaring Yourself Safe , and more. Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their dr...

Melanie Marnich (creator, Apples Never Fall ; The OA ; Big Love ) discusses pursuing projects that explore personal questions, casting her room for their strengths, pitching her perspective on Lianne Moriarty's novel, the Apples cast's secret text chain, and more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Wr...

Abe Sylvia (creator, Palm Royale , George and Tammy ; Dead to Me ; Nurse Jackie ) discusses making discoveries on set, healthy debate vs story breaking, working with frequent collaborators, how not outlining "reintroduces writerly delight," and more. Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of...

John Orloff (creator, Masters of the Air ) discusses scripts as selling tools vs scripts as production tools, integrating research into scenes, writing a nine-hour movie, Band of Brothers , and more. Come see Retrospecs this Sunday, March 17, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light...

J Blakeson (showrunner/director, Culprits ; writer/director I Care a Lot ) discusses creating his inadvertent signature film with The Disappearance of Alice Creed , why a law abiding citizen writes crime stories, finding the "what if" in a pitch, why he dislikes Final Draft, and more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacke...

Zoe Lister Jones (creator, Slip ; writer/director, How It Ends , The Craft: Legacy ) discusses writing, directing, and acting, putting herself into every project, when to be precious, remaining true to her voice, and more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advic...

Ed Solomon ( Full Circle ; Bill & Ted ; Men in Black ) discusses objective and subjective storytelling, choosing a career path and switching gears from comedy to crime, rewriting, listening to the voice of your inner GPS, and more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get...

Somebody Somewhere creators Hannah Bos & Paul Thureen ( High Maintenance ) and writer/star Bridget Everett ( Inside Amy Schumer ) discuss the creation of the show, telling big stories in small moments, what they learned in the first season, the midwest, and lots more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newslette...

Neil Druckmann (co-creator, The Last of Us; Uncharted ) discusses previous stabs at adapting his games, balancing action and character, serving different mediums, Uncharted , and how The Last of Us changed his life. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advice from...

David Jenkins (creator, Our Flag Means Death and People of Earth ) discusses his background in theater, how he thinks of comedy, stakes, staffing his shows, people touching his face, and more. Come to a live recording of DEAD PILOTS SOCIETY , Ben Blacker's other podcast. In Dead Pilots Society , scripts that were developed by studios and networks but were never produced are given the table reads t...

Samy Burch ( May December ) discusses breaking through with her first produced screenplay after a decade of writing, receiving notes from producers at Gloria Sanchez, Natalie Portman, and director Todd Haynes, "the endurance of failure," writing the shelved (for now?) Coyote vs Acme for Warner Brothers, and why her vision for her writing future is the motto for LA restaurant The Apple Pan. THE WRI...

Two episodes for the price of one today! (The price is zero dollars). First up, Ben Nedivi & Matt Wolpert (creators/ahowrunners, For All Mankind ) discuss season 4 of their alternate history space-race series, trusting their decisions, addressing and adjusting tone, killing off characters, and more. Then, Brian Helgeland (writer/director Finestkind ; writer, LA Confidential , Mystic River , lo...

Hannah Rosner ( Legacies ) and feature writer Erica Schreiber of the Untitled Female Driven Podcast discuss mistakes they made early in their careers, from learning what to say in meetings to when to turn down a project. Listen to the first half of this conversation in which Hannah and Erica interview The Writers Panel 's Ben Blacker on this week's episode of the Untitled Female Driven Podcast , a...

Marvel Comics editor Tom Brevoort discusses working on The Avengers and moving to the X-Men office, mistakes he's made, getting the best out of creatives, why he's optimistic about the industry's future, and lots more. Brevoort's substack, Man with a Hat , is the most informative and inside baseball newsletter about the comics industry out there. Subscribe here: https://tombrevoort.substack.com TH...

Writer/actor/producer Felicia Day ( The Guild; MST3K; Supernatural ) discusses her new audio series Third Eye , getting comfortable with outlining, her approach to world building, maintaining mental health in a difficult industry, and lots more. Third Eye is available now via Audible. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacke...

Marissa Jo Cerar (creator/showrunner, Black Cake and Women of the Movement ) discusses hiring a writers' room, what she reads, what she expects in interviews, and more. Black Cake is streaming now on Hulu! THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousa...

Author Paul Tremblay ( The Beast You Are ; The Cabin at the End of the World ) discusses writing horror short stories, turning the personal into the terrifying, and more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed ove...

In this craft-focused episode, Krystal Ziv ( Wolf Pack; The Purge ) discusses various types of collaboration. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, me...

In this craft-centered conversation, author Lily Sparks ( Teen Killers Club ) discusses writing YA, showing the world as it should be versus how it is, sex in young adult fiction, and more. The final book in Lily's "Teen Killers" trilogy, Teen Killers at Large , is available now! THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's n...

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines writer/director Lindsey Anderson Beer discusses the Stephen King prequel, the intense draft process once she came on board, her background in neuroscience and robotics, the magic script that got her in the door, and lots more. Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is streaming now on Paramount+. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by su...

Superheroes and Not-so-Supervillains  -  Patton Oswalt  ( Minor Threats, Black Hammer: Visions ),  Jordan Blum  ( Minor Threats, Marvel's M.O.D.O.K .),  Scott Hepburn  ( Minor Threats ),  James Tynion IV  ( The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, Something is Killing the Children ),  Tate Brombal  ( The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christo...

Writer of all media Gerry Duggan ( Deadpool; Uncanny Avengers; Attack of the Show! ) joined to talk about thinking visually but wound up having a wide-ranging conversation about process, comics, art, movies, and more. Gerry is an accomplished photographer whose work can be seen at https://gerryduggan.substack.com THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show...

In a craft-centered episode, Liz Elverenl ( Grown-ish; Dollface; I Am Not Okay with This ) discusses comedic dialogue. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&a...

In this craft-centered conversation, Riki Lindhome (co-creator, Another Period ; Garfunkel and Oates) discusses keeping a schedule and the discipline to write. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years,...

In this craft-centered conversation, Tom Vaughan ( Haunting of the Queen Mary; Winchester ) discusses second acts in feature scripts. PLUS: Learn how to participate in the "secret workshop" Ben is teaching in September! THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice fr...