The Writers Panel

Gremlins: The Wild Batch 's Tze Chun and Brendan Hay discuss the smooth sailing of their show, writing animation scripts, bringing little monsters to the Wild West, keeping a stress-free environment during lockdown, and lots 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 week...

Soo Hugh (showrunner, Pachinko; The Terror) discusses international filmmaking, the translation process, rewriting, her first second season, mild, medium, and spicy takes, and more. Come see The Thrilling Adventure Hour at the Dynasty Typewriter Theater on October 13, 6pm and 8pm, or stream it live or on demand! "An Evening Beyond Belief" stars Paul F. Tompkins and Paget Brewster as married medium...

Colin from Accounts creators and stars Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer discuss falling into making this show, writing for themselves, creating flawed and funny characters, who's allowed access to the shared document, and more. Come see The Thrilling Adventure Hour at the Dynasty Typewriter Theater on October 13, 6pm and 8pm, or stream it live or on demand! "An Evening Beyond Belief" stars Paul F...

Charlie Covell (creator of Kaos and The End of the F***ing World ) discusses their influences in retelling classical myths, creating a "contemporary kinked" world, threading the tonal needle, why they love first drafts, their playlists, and more. Want to check out one of the playlists Charlie made as they were creating the characters? Visit benblacker.substack.com Come see Ben Blacker's live show,...

Sherman Payne (creator, Emperor of Ocean Park ; Shameless ) discusses how to tell a great story, the different kinds of writers in TV, adaptation, what it takes to thrive as a TV writer, "prestidurals," and more. Come see Ben Blacker's live show, RETROSPECS , on Sunday, September 29, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs , we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their...

Producer Ashley Jay Sandberg ( Twisters ; The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart ) discusses what a producer does, the art of giving and receiving notes, putting together the team, the future of movies, and lots more. Come see Ben Blacker's live show, RETROSPECS , on Sunday, September 29, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs , we dig those old scripts by established writers...

Will Smith (creator, Slow Horses ) discusses comedy in drama, building off of author Mick Herron's plots, his work on Veep and The Thick of It with Armando Iannucci, and the reason why this show works as well as it does. Come see Ben Blacker's live show, RETROSPECS , on Sunday, September 29, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs , we dig those old scripts by established writers out...

Christy Hall ( Daddio ; It Ends with Us ) discusses what working in theater taught her, being curious by the gray areas, what matters most in getting a project off the ground, co-creating I Am Not Okay with This , mowing down cornfields, 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...

Writer/actor Sierra Katow ( Funt ; Golden Axe ; The Sex Lives of College Girls ) discusses performing stand-up from a young age, putting together her first hourlong special, the fun of narrative writing, the comedy landscape, writing jokes for clubs, and more. THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writin...

Kathleen Jordan (creator, The Decameron and Teenage Bounty Hunters ) discusses finding inspiration in a 14th century text, creating comic characters, balancing tone, theme, and plot, and lots 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 w...

Robert Rodat ( Those About to Die ; Saving Private Ryan ) discusses the parallels of his ancient Roman series to today's politics, his grueling rewriting process, the "heart and soul" of Saving Private Ryan , the three levels of conflict, 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 yo...

Anna Fishko (creator/showrunner, Orphan Black: Echoes; Fear the Walking Dead ) discusses showrunning as a three-person job, hiring people she can trust, her writing superpower, the evolution of the series, 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...

Jordan Morris ( Jordan Jesse Go!) talks about his new graphic novel, Youth Group , out this week. It's a funny and charming horror-comedy about teenage exorcists in the 1990s. Order your copy now: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250789235/youth-group THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing , whe...

Jurassic Park, Spider-man, Mission: Impossible, Carlito's Way, Indiana Jones, Bad Influence, Kimi, Snake Eyes, Panic Room, Presence, Black Bag, and even more. We're lucky to have David Koepp on today's episode. Want to participate in a writing workshop this summer with Ben Blacker and some terrific writers? Go from idea to first draft or get a rewrite into fighting shape? Email NerdistWriters@gmai...

Under the Bridge creator Quinn Shephard (writer/director, Not Okay ) and showrunner Samir Mehta ( Narcos ; Fear the Walking Dead ) discuss couching emotional story in mystery plot, finding the universal in the specific, the Sopranos as children and as comedy, writing from the heart, reading to hire a room, and lots more. Come see Dead Pilots Society on Sunday, June 30, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Thea...

The Big Cigar 's Janine Sherman Barois ( Claws ; Criminal Minds ) and Jim Hecht ( Winning Time ; Ice Age ) discuss the responsibility of telling true stories, how The Big Cigar isn't just a biopic, working on multiple projects, the state of the industry, and more. Come see Dead Pilots Society on Sunday, June 30, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Dead Pilots Society scripts that were develo...

The First Omen writer/director Arkasha Stevenson and co-writer Tim Smith discuss bringing their perspective to a beloved franchise, body horror, David Lynch, their writing process, that image, 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...

Writer/director Ned Benson ( The Greatest Hits ; The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby ) discusses writing an earnest love story, writing through the lens of a director, the delusions of belief, when to let go, 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 fro...

Aron Eli Coleite (creator/showrunner, The Spiderwick Chronicles ; Atlas ) discusses dialogue and action, helpful Aron-isms, our goldfish attention spans, key differences between TV and movie writing, why development takes so long now, and lots more. Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, May 19, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of th...

Writer/director/actor Don McKellar (co-creator, The Sympathizer ' 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould; Childstar ) discusses throwing yourself into the deep end, the terrors of expectation, tradlation, and representation, collaborating with Park Chan-wook, how to know when to fight, his role on Slings and Arrows , and more. Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, May 19, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA!...

Michael Jamin ( Tacoma FD ; Maron ) discusses his new collection of personal essays, A Paper Orchestra , sharing versus oversharing, what he learned about art from David Bowie and Pharrel, and more. Buy A Paper Orchestra and see Jamin on his live reading tour! Info here: https://michaeljamin.com/product/a-paper-orchestra/ Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in...

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...