Here's a thread about "Becoming a Professional TV Writer" using only things that have to do with episodes of Batman the Animated Series. It's for anyone who ever hopes of being a TV writer, or even, Perchance, To Dream of it. Get ready! They're all gonna be that ridiculous! (1/8)
Bring back Mary Shelley-esque writers retreats where a group of weirdo writers spend a weekend together getting drunk and eating snacks and end up writing the most famous horror stories of all time.
The internet tracked down the writers of a song from a 1998 X Files episode that people have apparently been trying to figure out SINCE 1998 and this is the only thing the internet should ever be used for, because it’s glorious.
just had the weirdest experience
was watching an X-files episode & there’s this country song playing in the background of the bar they’re in
& it’s so good it jars me out of my idle multitasking to Shazam it
except
I’ll always respect Agents of SHIELD for being a Marvel property that at the end of s. 1 was like, “Hey, so that hot white guy you’ve been rooting for &/or identify with this whole time? Well, he’s a Nazi, so from here on out you’ve gotta pick one of the women or POC to idolize.”
Happiest birthday to Drew Carey, who is willing to shell out his own money to cover the food orders (plus tip!) of all the striking writers, and who did the same in 2007, with no accolades, before social media, when most people had no idea it was him picking up the tab. GOAT.
Can we just fast forward through the “NFT’s are the future of art”-esque romanticization of AI and go straight to the, “This was dumb, we were dumb, we’re out touch rich wannabes, let’s never speak of it again,” part of AI?
"If only we had ANY idea how to end this! We've tried everything from hoping writers would go homeless to ignoring them completely, and for some reason, it didn't work! We're out of options!"
Forcing SAG to use a mediator bc the AMPTP refuses to meet their very reasonable demands, is truly a last ditch effort by studios who only now are realizing that they grossly underestimated the current labor movement & the existential crisis facing the industry. Stand strong, SAG
Today, my eye dr told me he asked a Producer patient of his what it'll take to end the strike, & the producer said "The wga is being unreasonable. Streaming isn't profitable yet," & as I prepared to rebut, my dr said, "which is a ridiculous thing for him to say." We're gonna win.
The fact that Disney+ doesn’t show you how much time is left in a movie when you pause it is almost as insane as the fact that you can’t clear a show from your queue without fast forwarding to the very end as a “workaround.”
Let’s be real here: Drew Barrymore is from a wealthy legacy acting family. If she wanted to pay the salaries of her crew and NOT go against the strike, she could, and she should. We should all picket the hell out of this show.
This is incredibly disappointing.
@DrewBarrymore
's show employs WGA writers who are currently on strike. She is choosing to go back on the air without them, and forcing her guests to cross a picket line. Drew: This harms your writers and all union workers. Please reconsider.
Y’all. Obviously I know there were other white men on the show. Up until this point, Marvel movies were led by tall attractive white men, and award was set up to be the tv version of that. The first scene is him being very capable. He’s tall and fit like a tv version of Cap…
Hey, real quick, who do you think is more in touch with reality, a bunch of middle class writers from all different parts of the country and different backgrounds, or a dude who made $45.9 million dollars in one year? Just trying to figure out what's realistic.
End of the drive, drops me off & says in his thick Jersey accent, “The people you’re dealing with sound like real freakin’ assholes. I hope you get everything you’re asking for.” Got back in his car, I heard him say, “I can’t wait to call my buddy & tell him ALL about this.” 😂😂
Anyway, back to tweeting about Seinfeld as I do my 642nd rewatch. Here's a thread about awesome plot lines in Seinfeld that would never make sense now, mainly because of technology.
Every time I see a post or hear someone say "I have an idea, I just need a creative to write it for me," I want to scream that we have NOTEBOOKS full of ideas. Coming up with the idea is the easiest part of art. AI has boiled it down to just THAT. No execution, no soul, no ART.
Uber ride to Newark airport. My driver was a real Jersey Italian guy, we make small talk, he asks what I do, he’s seen some shows I’ve written on. “Aren’t you guys on strike?” We spend the 40 minute drive talking about it. He’s asking me questions, what we’re striking for…(1/2)
Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V is perfect. A nonstop barrage of perfect jokes & top of intelligence writing. A Shining parody, a time travel vignette involving the butterfly effect theory & a string of hilarious alternate presents, & a horror take on Swift's A Modest Proposal.
Hey, SAG folks, some words of advice-Don't get distracted. Start showing up to picket again, bc the lines are looking THIN, and you have way more members than the WGA and fewer picketing locations. Update your members more often. WGA sent out regular captain emails, videos (cont)
@shambrookben
Yeah he totally still saw himself as the hero! Even in the simulation when he was ACTUALLY good, Daisy was still mostly disgusted by him.
Here's an archived version of that piece on Zaslav that got taken down. You know, just in case you feel like reading it or sharing it or making sure it doesn't just disappear.
ABC has hired scab writers to work on ‘GENERAL HOSPITAL’ whilst the show’s actual writers are on strike for fair pay and working conditions.
(Source: )
Yo, Doug Jones doesn’t get enough appreciation. The dude is the GOAT at physical practical effects creature performances. I mean, look at this man’s range! He’s an actor, a mime, and a contortionist! Put him in everything!
I've literally never been in a room where any single writer had the best joke every script 100% of the time. The idea that shows aren't made better by having more people on hand is insane, and one entertained only by narcissists and people who have no idea how TV and rooms work.
find me a TV series written by one “auteur” that’s better than The Sopranos, Cheers, The Wire, The Office, Seinfeld, Atlanta, The Larry Sanders Show, Succession, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Breaking Bad, The Simpsons, Arrested Development, Taxi, 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm etc
The Problems Facing Mid Level TV Writers (a thread):
The state of the TV industry right now is grim for writers (and others) as is well discussed on twitter and in other spaces.
Everyone says it's really hard to get that first writing job, but what they DON'T tell you is that it's really hard to get that second writing job and also that sixth writing job and also every writing job after that until you die.
So the studios hired another PR firm (their third, apparently!) rather than paying the writers and actors, and immediately, one of the PR firms biggest clients tweeted this. Studios and the AMPTP are giving a masterclass in buffoonery that will be talked about for years.
When I was a writer on Murphy Brown, this was how I organized my scripts. If you find this soothing and satisfying, hire me to write on your show. Most recent level was Co-producer!
LA storm prep advice:
-Charge electronics.
-Fill car with gas.
-If you see a group of men with painted faces & wheels in place of their hands & feet, avoid them. These are The Wheelers, & they serve Princess Mombi.
-Princess Mombi is not your friend.
-Stock up on bottled water.
As I prepare to rewatch all of Seinfeld for the 642nd time, here is a thread of all of the foods and meals mentioned in, shown, or eaten in Seinfeld that I too would like to eat, for no reason whatsoever.
The only two female writers on The Amanda Bynes Show being forced to partner up and split a salary despite having never met one another definitely isn’t the worst thing to come out of Quiet on Set, but hoo boy, is it still despicable.
I went to the Unions Strike Back rally tonight in downtown LA and it was all great and inspiring and cool and historic and also, the way those writers bolted immediately afterwards for fear of being forced into a dance party was 100% on brand.
Sadly, The Unicorn has been cancelled. If anyone is staffing up a show and is in need of a producer level writer, I’ve written 2 seasons on network single cam, 2 on multi, 1 on Cartoon Network animated, lots of digital exp, and I know a lot of nerd stuff!
#WGAstaffingboost
Oh god, this has officially hit "trolls with 2 followers showing up" numbers. So, lots of eyes on this - support the writers in the writers strike, support labor action, and fair warning that I have an itchy block finger for anyone who annoys me for any reason. Cheers!
I worked with someone on a show once who said they paid their mortgage from their residuals. This is what I got today from SVOD residuals for a network show I wrote on. My reaction was honestly, “Hey, almost 22 bucks! Not bad this time!”
Reminder that calling for "civility on both sides," & saying the unions are being too harsh in our language is nonsense that union busters have used for years to try & paint workers as unreasonable pot stirrers, when nothing in this country ever got fixed by meekly sitting by.
What must it have been like to be a TV writer in the era when TV writers took exotic vacations together between seasons of their show on the show's budget? Cool? I bet it was pretty cool.
Just rewatched the original Frasier pilot and holy damn did those 80s and 90s multi cams have jokes! Those jokes are going a mile a minute and are all bangers. I love a good dramedy but writing those multi laughs like that is hard, stellar work.
Genuinely have no clue what the AMPTP’s end goal is. Like, I host a podcast about 80s cartoons, and Cobra’s plans always had some weak points, but “I wanna carve my face on the moon with a laser to show my night” was at least UNDERSTANDABLE to me.
No joke, I will be voting an emphatic NO on any deal brought to us that doesn't include staffing minimums. Mid and lower level writers just like... won't work ever again without them?
I’m begging y’all not to eat at this Netflix pop up restaurant that’s down the street from picketing writers who are on strike in large part bc of Netflix.
Saw someone tweet an April Fool’s Day “joke” about how they sold a show and were staffing up a room and asking for resumes and there a TON of congratulatory comments and folks asking where to send resumes and with the state of the industry the way it is, that is…not super nice!
Been thinking a lot lately about what it would be like to staff on a show like Supernatural, which ran for 15 seasons, between 20-23 episodes per season, 327 episodes total, and had an awesome fan base and launched careers. Feels more insane than winning the lottery now.
A fun thing about being a TV writer is explaining to your (steadily employed as teachers their whole lives) parents the difference between a general meeting and a showrunner meeting for the 90th time, & then having them shrug & say "Have a great interview, hope you get the job!"
Running thread of the vibe at each picket line and the best snack on the day/a I was there. Will add more.
Warner Brothers: Fun vibe, guy with a drum, they take their picketing rules and circling seriously, decent amount of celebs showing up. Best snack: a whole lotta Porto’s.
Damn now AMC is doing massive layoffs and people at Shudder are losing jobs. How can we be in "golden age of content" but also every network/streamer/high level CEO is firing everyone in entertainment, make it make sense.
Some folks need to cool it with the “You must not have fun on the picket line. You must wear a hair shirt and not speak, and eat a single bean a day for sustenance,” discourse. We’ll never make it in the long haul if we don’t try to have fun. Eat those snacks and party on, Wayne.
A writer on one of the first shows I worked on told our room he’d made enough in residuals one year to buy a house. In my 8+ years of writing for TV, I made enough in residuals last year for a couple trips to the grocery store.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but since the AMPTP hired the new PR firm, there's been more "outrage" articles in the trades, more trolls coming into mentions, & I cannot stress enough that the best thing to do is just ignore & block those 2 follower trolls.
Netflix simultaneously refusing to pay writers what they're owed while also turning one of their most popular scripted shows (a show about greed, desperation, capitalism, & class inequality) into a reality show where people compete for money is certainly an interesting choice.
Annual Christmas reminder that Deputy Banks from Gremlins & Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad are both Jonathan Banks, & since Mike was a retired cop from Philly and Gremlins is set in PA, in my mind, they are canonically the same guy. Hire me to write this crossover.
BREAKING: Over 70% of Americans, including 63% of Trump voters, support the writers' strike.
A new poll we commissioned from Blue Rose Research shows overwhelming support for the WGA strike that cuts across race, age, gender, and even political ideology.
Today's my birthday, so I did what any adult would do - rented out an AMC the weekend so that 19 of my closest vaxxed friends and I can watch Mortal Kombat in a theater and eat snacks, like in the before times.
George joins a book club, but doesn't read the book, and tries to rent it instead (Breakfast at Tiffany's), but it's rented out and streaming wasn't a thing, so he tracks down the people who rented it and asks to watch it with them.
The AMPTP released a statement this morning that "An agreement is only possible if the Guild is committed to turning its focus to serious bargaining... and searching for reasonable compromises." And I gotta say, asking to be paid fairly certainly seems reasonable to me.
I just want the AMPTP to come back to the table, give us everything we asked for, & the strike to end. Then I get a job on a cool genre show, several Supreme Court justices retire all at once, & I find a cave that’s filled with replicating spaghetti. Is that too much to ask?
George leaves an unhinged rant on a woman's answering machine, so he and Jerry come up with a plan to go to her apartment and swap out the tapes in the answering machine so she never hears it.
I didn’t take any photos of the WGA meeting at the Palladium tonight bc a sign told me not to and I was afraid of getting in trouble, BUT, rest assured, I was there, there were many standing ovations, and it was PACKED.
If the AMPTP’s game plan is to drag this out a few more months, they’re in for a rude surprise. I THRIVE in fall. I have sweaters for days. I’ve got 30 days of Halloween shirts! I’m from the east coast, & I own galoshes, dammit! Make a real offer or face Autumn Gina and despair!
Dear anyone at Marvel-
Please staff me on any Marvel show. I’m a Producer level writer with 7 current samples, I’ve staffed on 4 shows, done freelance scripts for 3 others, & had 6 paid development jobs in 2 years. I also have nutso Marvel knowledge. I’m ready. Put me in, Coach.
It’s hilarious to me that the people who complained the loudest about giving out “participation trophies” to kids are now buying movie tickets to a movie no one wants to see and no one is going to just so that nutbar movie and the nutbar people involved don’t feel bad.
Listen, I’d love to be back in a writers room right now, eating Mendocino farms & doing bits on the fridge snack request whiteboard, but instead, I’m sticking tiny ice packs under my hooters & getting a weird Apple watch tan on the picket line, and Drew Barrymore should be too!
I think you've gotta approach it like other careers, and be kind, caring, and smart enough to make someone say "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" (4/8)
Bring back movies where the conceit is "a disparate group of weirdo kids have a crazy night that has stakes, but not world ending stakes" a la Goonies, Adventures in Babysitting, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
It’d be weird to see a group go on strike and say, “how can I snake those people’s jobs and how can I take advantage of this situation,” right? But for some reason, non WGA folks are publicly wondering this about a writers strike and think it’s cool?
My Dad passed away last year and I just found this in his filing cabinet on my most recent trip home to Jersey. He used to make these for me. Gonna make large amounts of it this Christmas, I think!
Writer twitter! I'm here to end the debate! You need a great sample AND amazing connections AND the best recipe for pasta sauce AND to bury a potato under a full moonlight and NOTHING LESS. Hope this clears things up.