Show Notes
Owen Dennis (creator of Among Us and Infinity Train) discusses conveying tone, discovering theme, deconstructing tropes, dueling arcs, the line from Star Wars that unlocked everything, and more.
Dead Pilots Society returns live and on demand Sunday July 12, 3-5pm, at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Dead Pilots Society, scripts that were developed by studios and networks but were never produced are given the table reads they deserve. The July 12 show features Weekly World News by Michael Colton & John Aboud (Home Economics) and Fangirl by Claudia Lonow (How to Live with Your Parents [for the Rest of Your Life]). Cast includes: Brennan Lee Mulligan (Dimension 20), Alex Moffat (SNL; Bad Monkey), Rich Sommer (Mad Men), Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This), Isabella Roland (Dimension 20; Sex Lives of College Girls), Rekha Shankar (Dimension 20; Star Trek: Starfleet Academy), Fred Melamed (Barry), Zac Oyama (Dimension 20), Jessica Lowe (Minx), James Adomian (Krapopolis), Courtney Pauroso (Jackass Forever), and more. GET TICKETS NOW
No Notes is Sunday July 19, 7pm, at the Dynasty Typewriter Theater in LA! This is a new staged show in which great pilot scripts are adapted for the stage and performed by brilliant casts. The July 19 show features two comedy scripts: The Survivalists is by Kashana Cauley (The Great North; The Daily Show), based on her novel about a Brooklyn lawyer who falls in love with a coffee roaster/survivalist. Suckers by Eden Dranger (Beavis & Butthead) & Daley Haggar (The Big Bang Theory) is about 20-something vampires. Starring Justin Kirk (The Burbs; Weeds), Kira Kosarin (The Thundermans), Sarunas Jackson (Insecure; Clipped), and more to be announced! GET TICKETS NOW
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, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Writers Panel
Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (creators, Eternally Yours; Ghosts) discuss the death and rebirth of their new show (thanks to Dead Pilots Society!), the "easy" eleven year path to getting it on the air, their comedy influences, and more.
Russell T. Davies (Tip Toe; Doctor Who; Queer As Folk) discusses building a story out of anger, his relationship with actors, his response to stupid notes, discovering writing, his unique process, empty staircases, and more.
Anthony King (Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat; Rooster; The Afterparty) discusses worldbuilding in the real world, what's too funny for reality, lessons learned from Jury Duty that are applicable to traditional script writing, how the game was nearly blown up, and more.
Teacher and script consultant Pilar Alessandra is ending her inspiring and instructive podcast, On the Page, after 19 years and 1000 episodes. Ben Blacker administers Pilar's exit interview, discussing why she started the podcast, invaluable advice gleaned from the writers she's interviewed, the "drunk and naked" early episodes, how to write great dialogue, tips on pitching from her children, podcast as inadvertant autobiography, workflow, her favorite episodes, and more. You can listen to On the Page wherever you get your podcasts, and visit onthepage.tv to find out about Pilar's classes and script consulting. She knows her stuff!
Cassie Pappas (showrunner, Lucky; Silo; Griselda) discusses shooting in Vegas, movies that inspired the tone of Lucky, the emotional guts of the show, getting weird with the writers, showrunning as a "creative team sport," whether or not you need to live in LA to work in TV, and more.