writing tips from nine television writers

WRITING TIPS FROM9 TELEVISION WRITERS

JulianTina JossFey Whedon Fellowes More&

Writing comesin many forms.

Whether you choose to write a book, a blog,

a poem, or a script,

the basic rules of writing andstorytelling still apply.

Even if you're not a screenwriter,these writing tips from the oneswho wrote your favorite shows

will help you as you seekto master your craft.

1. Vince Gilligan(Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The X-Files)

It's always a conscious choice to surprisepeople. That is always the mandate. Today,

with all the wonderful—and sometimes not sowonderful—entertainment it's harder than

ever to keep things interesting,so you have to surprise people.

— Vince Gilligan —

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2. Tina Fey(Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock)

You have to try your hardest to be at the top ofyour game and improve every joke you canuntil the last possible second, and then you

have to let it go. You can't be that kid standingat the top of the waterslide, overthinking it . . .

You have to let people see what you wrote.

— Tina Fey —

3. Jack Burditt(Mad About You, Frasier, 30 Rock, The Mindy Project, Last Man Standing)

The old cliché is "keep writing," but I really believethat's a huge part of it. I'm so much better now than Iwas three years ago when I started 30 Rock. I feel likeit's a continual learning process, the muscle that has

to be exercised . . . Keep working at it. And try andlearn your craft. It is a craft. There are great courses

and good books on it. Devour everything.

— Jack Burditt —

4. Julian Fellowes(Downton Abbey)

All drama is about tension. That terrible thingsare going to happen, the risk of this or that. It'svery difficult when a couple gets together in aseries and they're frankly well-suited and theyget married. You know you have to push them

over a cliff or something because there'snothing more to be said.

— Julian Fellowes —

5. Robert Carlock(Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, 30 Rock, Joey, Friends)

There's no more visceral reaction than people notlaughing. But when you say something that totallybombs you hope someone else says, "Oh what I

thought you were going to say was X," or "What if itwent there?" When you're writing it's as if you're

turning something over in your hands and makingsure you're looking at every side of it.

— Robert Carlock —

6. Mike Schur(The Office, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

You just hang out with people who are good at itand learn everything that they do. I don't knowthat there are little pithy aphorisms or anythingthat I can point to about how to magically makegreat television. It comes from kind of grinding it

out day after day after day with people whoknow what they're doing.

— Mike Schur —

7. Jenji Kohan(Orange Is the New Black, Weeds, Tracey Takes On…)

I think that shows that are completely dramaticare a lie because people use humor to cope. That

is how we deal with things. In the darkestsituations, there is humor. And if you don't show

that, you're not being true to real life. I think itwould be exhausting and depressing to write, towatch, and to live if it was just focused on drama.

— Jenji Kohan —

8. Mitch Hurwitz(Arrested Development)

I don't think I would have tried creating Arrested[Development] if I really thought "look at the data of what's

already been developed. They won't make this" but Ishould have—that was the evidence that existed. . . . Ithink that everyone has to jump off that cliff and make

that assumption in their own work—because the truth is,even if it doesn't happen, you have a more interesting life

if you're to sit down and write a novel than doing themath on the likelihood of it getting published.

— Mitch Hurwitz —

9. Joss Whedon(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Angel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

You know what? I never give up on anything, because youcome back around, and suddenly the thing you thoughtyou'd never do is relevant. I talked with my wife about

Much Ado About Nothing for years, and it was always like,"I don't feel like my take on the material is solid enough tomerit that." And then one day I woke up and said, "Wait aminute, I know exactly what I think that movie's about." I

definitely have had a lot of projects that stalled, but Inever know which one's going to suddenly pick itself up.

— Joss Whedon —

Looking for moregreat writing tips?

Check out the full article foradvice from Dan Harmon,

Paula Pell, Anthony Horowitz, and Marta Kauffman.

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