The Writers Panel

Executive producer Matt Thompson and co-producer Casey Willis, both of whom have been with show creator Adam Reed since Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo, discuss how Archer is written and produced, the increasing quality of the animation, working with FX, working from Atlanta, Georgia, the Archer Vice detour, and what's planned for season 6, currently on air. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOR...

The showrunner of Fox's hit Empire and the creator of Showtime's The L Word, Ilene Chaiken talks about the similarities between these shows, her years as a development executive for Aaron Spelling, how the Empire room tries to be true to the voices of creators Danny Strong and Lee Daniels, writing characters over time, and the joys of Cookie. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS...

Jeff Greenstein & Jeff Strauss (season 1; later work includes co-creating Partners), Alexa Junge (seasons 1-5; later work includes Grace and Frankie [with Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman]; United States of Tara; Once and Again), and Adam Chase (seasons 1-6; post-Friends work includes The Crazy Ones; Mom; creating Clone) discuss the earliest days of the ground-breaking sitcom from participati...

CBS's Bryan Seabury, Sony's Chris Parnell, and Caitlin Foito of ABC Studios take you inside the TV pitching and selling process from another perspective. Their candid conversation covers how decisions are made, what works in pitching and selling, the shifting marketplace, and how the best advice is to make the TV you want to see. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://for...

Co-creator/showrunner Bob Fisher (Traffic Light) and actor Kevin Bigley of the USA half-hour program Sirens chat about how the show is made, shooting in Chicago, comedy they love, and lots more. Season 2 of Sirens premieres tonight on USA! LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plu s CONNECT W/ BEN BLACKER & THE WRITER'S PANEL ON SOCIAL MEDIA  h...

Nell Scovell, creator of the Sabrina, the Teenage Witch series, has been in the business for thirty years and has worked with such luminaries as David Letterman, the Smothers Brothers, and more. She's been on the staff of such shows as Newhart, Coach, Murphy Brown, Charmed, NCIS, and Warehouse 13, and she co-wrote the seminal women-at-work book Lean In with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Nell talks...

Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt's new book, Silver Screen Fiend, is out now. In this chat with author, humorist, and actor John Hodgman, Patton talks about how the book came to be, his love of movies, comedy, and lots more. Recorded at Barnes & Noble in Union Square, NY, on January 6, 2014. Enormous special thanks to Rachael Berkey for her assistance in recording. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL...

The creator of Hart of Dixie, which begins its fourth season this Friday (January 9), talks about creating the show, being a first-time showrunner, working with the CW, creating the show as a response to her time on Gossip Girl, as well as how she broke in, her early jobs on The OC and Life As We Know It, and lots more. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpod...

Our old pals Josh Friedman (showrunner, The Sarah Connor Chronicles; Avatar sequel), Aaron Ginsburg (The 100; Intelligence; The Good Guys), and Emily Halpern (co-creator, Trophy Wife) discuss the difficulty in getting things made in 2014, the buying trend of established brands, comedies that work, Serial, the Dorothy Problem, the Doughnut Hole Problem, and lots more in this year-end wrap up. Also:...

Since starting out as an assistant on Freaks and Geeks and her first staff writer job on Undeclared, Jenni Konner has gone on to write and produce shows for network television and cable. She's now the co-showrunner of HBO's Girls with show creator Lena Dunham. Jenni talks about how the Girls room works, what she's learned from Judd Apatow, the fun of punch-up sessions, and lots more. LISTEN TO THE...

Ben Queen (creator, A to Z), Kim Shumway (The 100; Dallas), Deirdre Mangan (I, Zombie). Getting back to our panel roots by throwing together three writers from different backgrounds and experiences to talk about the business and process of writing for TV! LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plu s CONNECT W/ BEN BLACKER & THE WRITER'S PANEL ON...

The creator of CBS's hit Scorpion and the beloved Prison Break talks about his work habits, blending drama and comedy, transitioning from law to screenwriting, what he looks for in putting together a room, and more. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plu s CONNECT W/ BEN BLACKER & THE WRITER'S PANEL ON SOCIAL MEDIA  https://twitter.com/BENBL...

Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg and designer Lisa Hanawalt discuss the conception of the animated comedy, Raphael's inspiration from Lisa's middle-school drawings, the freedom of working with Netflix, going dark and serialized, and lots more. Get the new digital-only comics from Ben Acker & Ben Blacker at: http://thrillingadventurehour.com/wordpress/comic-books/ . Origin issues of The Thrilling A...

The creators of the USA comedy, Michaela Watkins (Saturday Night Live; Trophy Wife) and Damon Jones (Halfway Home) discuss issue-driven comedy, long takes, complicated characters, selling their series twice, their writers' room, and lots more. Benched airs Tuesday nights on USA! LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plu s CONNECT W/ BEN BLACKER &am...

Erica Messer has been with Criminal Minds from its first day and has been promoted through the ranks to showrunner of the long-running CBS series. She talks about the big changes the show has made over the years, where the staff finds stories, balancing personal stories with crime procedural, and her beginnings on such shows as Party of Five, Alias, and The OC. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE...

Producer Ryan Patrick McGuffey, director Des Doyle, and author Tara Bennett (who wrote the official companion to the film, Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show) discuss showrunning and showrunners, what sort of a person becomes one, what they discovered in making their documentary, their inspiration for the film, and lots more. Showrunners premiered at the Austin Film Fest last week and is in...

The showrunner of Red Band Society and Mistresses talks about writing at the heyday of the WB, having worked on Jack & Jill, Dawson's Creek, and Everwood (eventually running the latter), developing the delightful Privileged only to find it didn't fit the new CW brand, and rising to the occasion of running other creators' shows. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://f...

The creator of Broadchurch and its American remake, Fox's Gracepoint, as well as Born and Bred, discusses writing personal stories, show-running Torchwood and Law & Order: UK, writing for Doctor Who and Life on Mars, advice from Russell T. Davies, his beginnings as a playwright, and lots more. 1/31: 8:30am - 9am, 9:30am, 2:30pm PST 2/1: 8:15am - 8:45am, 10am - 11:45am, 1:30pm - 2:15pm PST 2/3:...

The creator of WGN's terrific series Manhattan talks about his inspiration for the show, relationships with writers, balancing his characters' stories with historical fact, what he learned from working on Masters of Sex, and lots more. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plu s CONNECT W/ BEN BLACKER & THE WRITER'S PANEL ON SOCIAL MEDIA  https...

The showrunners of both Marvel's Agent Carter series debuting in January and ABC's Resurrection (second season Sept 28) talk about their long writing partnership, what they learned from their colleagues on series as diverse as Law & Order: SVU, Dollhouse, and Hawaii 5-0, and creating a happy workplace with their own series, Reaper. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https...

Creator/executive producer Jonah Nolan (The Dark Knight), executive producer/co-showrunner Greg Plageman (NYPD Blue), and writers/producers Lucas O'Connor, Erik Mountain, Ashley Gable, and Andy Callahan chat about the 4th season of the hit CBS drama, big decisions about the series, the changing nature of its characters and interests, and lots more. Season 4 premieres tonight! LISTEN TO THE WRITERS...

The writer of the lauded horror film You're Next as well as the upcoming The Guest talks about writing for himself and his creative partner Adam Wingard as well as for an audience, walks us through his late nights of writing, his attempts to write films differently, and lots more. The Guest is in theaters this week. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcast...

Live from SDCC 2014, it's the Nerdist Podcast Super Panel with Matt Mira (Nerdist, James Bonding), Jonah Ray (Nerdist, Jonah Raydio), Janet Varney (The JV Club), Cole Stratton (Pop My Culture), Gil Letelier (The Mutant Season), Ben Blacker (Nerdist Writers Panel, Nerdist Comics Panel, Thrilling Adventure Hour), Ben Acker (Thrilling Adventure Hour), Sandra Daugherty (Sex Nerd Sandra) and Dave Ross...

Creators of the Hulu original series, director Nancy Hower and actor John Lehr, talk about their improvised Western procedural sit-com, how they collaborate, comedy influences, their previous show, TBS's 10 Items or Less, and lots more. LISTEN TO THE WRITERS PANEL AD-FREE ON FOREVER DOG PLUS: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/plu s CONNECT W/ BEN BLACKER & THE WRITER'S PANEL ON SOCIAL MEDIA  http...

With Liz Tigelaar (Nashville; Bates Motel; creator, Life Unexpected), Kyle Killer (creator, Awake and Lone Star), Mark Johnson (EP, Rectify), Bryan Seabury (VP, Drama Development at CBS), David Madden (President, Fox TV Studios). Moderated by the AV Club's Todd VanDerWerff. The serialized drama has evolved drastically in the past thirty years. Leading characters have shifted from heroes to anti-he...