Episodes

Alex and Nick celebrate the holidays by taking a look back at an eventful 2018, for both Paper Team and TV writing, as well as revealing what's next for the podcast in the new year. What were the most popular Paper Team episodes of the year? What were our favorite shows, movies, music and books of 2018? What are some of our goals for 2019? What gifts did Alex and Nick exchange? Plus, big things are coming in the next month. The Paper Team parties on... SHOWNOTES Content 1 - Paper Team Anno...

Alex and Nick invite Michelle Badillo & Caroline Levich, writers on Neflix's One Day at a Time and Freeform's The Bold Type, to discuss their experiences working in both half-hour and one-hour TV writers' rooms. How do you approach your first days in a writers' room? What are some of the differences and challenges between breaking a half-hour and a one-hour show? What lessons can TV writers take from working in both multi-cam and drama rooms? How do you adapt to differences in tone between the ...

Alex and Nick invite Cinqué Lee, indie filmmaker and writer on Netflix's She's Gotta Have It, to have a fascinating discussion about transitioning from movies to television, as well as adapting features to TV series. How does the writers' room of She's Gotta Have It work? How do life experiences help shame themes and characters? How does writing TV compare to writing ongoing issues of a comic? What is it like working for Jim Jarmusch? What are lessons to take into writing from being on set and ...

Alex and Nick offer feedback on four more teasers and cover a couple TV headlines from the past month, including expensive overall deal and top executives leaving their networks. Plus, we give official information about our Paper Team Mentorship! The Paper Team eyes the prize... SHOWNOTES Paper Tease Entries "Valkyrie" by Jamel Northern "Together Alone" by Tyler Jordan & Mark Anthony "Totally Human" by Josh Naquin "Gasland" by Augusto Federico Amador & Diggi Singh Links "J.J. Abrams Seeki...

Alex and Nick invite Hillary Levi, creative executive at Ellation and developing shows for their streaming platform VRV, to discuss finding content for streaming and aggregation services. How does an OTT decide which content is best suited for its service? What are important aspects of a VRV project? How can a platform maintain a consistent product with rotation in its programming? How does a creative executive find writers to work with? How can creators best approach a network like VRV with pr...

Alex and Nick invite LaToya Morgan, co-executive producer and writer on AMC's Into the Badlands, to discuss how she approached building a productive career as a TV writer plus tips of what you can bring to the writers' room.

Alex and Nick discuss ways to decide what your next TV sample script should be. From business considerations to artistic and career reasons, we go over several elements that we've weighed ourselves when choosing a new project. How do you take a look at your own samples to decide what is missing? Why is it important to select the right sample? How can a new sample help pivot your career? What should you look for in choosing the right script? Plus, we look at two more Paper Tease entries and rev...

Paper Scraps Monthly V - October Paper Tease, Emmys & Diversity in TV Writing (PT109)

Alex and Nick dig into how you can effectively navigate the relationship with your agent or manager to best help your career as a TV writer. What are the differences between a manager and an agent relationship with their writers? Why is communication the most important part of that relationship? What are ways of proactively helping your reps? How should you choose the right agent or manager for you? What are some common issues between clients and their reps? The Paper Team keeps you in the loo...

Alex and Nick invite lawyer Pano Spanos, founder of Spanos Law, to discuss the essential things TV writers should know about entertainment law, from contracts to credits.

Alex and Nick offer feedback on four more Paper Tease entries and reveal the two winners for the month of September. The Paper Team dissects... SHOWNOTES Paper Tease Entries "Student Visa" by Paul Chang "The English Department" by Jeffrey Warndof "Botany Bay" by Alexander M J Smith "Migra" by Christine Torres This episode brought to you by Roadmap Writers' JumpStart Writing Competition Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. If you enjoyed this episode (and others...

Alex and Nick give an overview of what goes on inside a TV writers' room during a Roadmap Writers webinar. What is the purpose of a TV writers' room? What are the most important skills to have on a writing staff? Who's who in the room? How do shows break stories on a macro and micro scale? Why is room etiquette so important? The Paper Team calls in... This episode brought to you by Roadmap Writers Use code ROADMAP to get $15 OFF your first Roadmap Writers Program If you enjoyed this episode...

Alex and Nick invite Joey Tuccio, CEO of Roadmap Writers, to discuss ways of establishing yourself as a writer when you're starting from outside the entertainment industry. How can someone outside LA get noticed as a writer? What can writers do to position themselves for success before trying to break in? What traits do succesful Roadmap writers share? How can writers make the most of their meetings with executives and reps? What are the biggest challenges for aspiring writers breaking in now? ...

Alex and Nick give feedback on six new Paper Tease scripts and announce the two August 2018 winners.

Alex and Nick invite Michael Masukawa, manager of strategy and business development at Secret Location, to discuss emergent forms of VR storytelling. What are the unique challenges of developing VR content? How do you work across VR devices? Why is branded content so popular? What does a VR script look like? What makes for a good VR experience? How is VR evolving? The Paper Team puts on their headsets... SHOWNOTES Content Starting in LA, working in TV development, transitioning from linear ...

Alex and Nick go over what you need to know about how TV writers get jobs in a writers' room, and how you can best prepare yourself for this process. From samples to showrunner meetings, get tips and advice on getting staffed. What is staffing season in TV? What are staffing differences between broadcast and cable? How is a TV writers' room staffed? How do the network, the studio, the production company and the showrunner work on hiring the room? What are ways to ace a staffing meeting? How sho...

Alex and Nick host two panels about the TV writers' room. Guests include Alison Schapker, Monica Macer, Chris Levinson, Grainne Godfree, Nina Bargiel, Vicky Luu, Adam Stein, Alison Tafel, Britta Lundin, Brittani Nichols, Hilliard Guess and Lauren Bradley.

Alex and Nick celebrate the ninety-ninth episode of Paper Team with a jam-packed retrospective of the podcast, including clips chosen by our listeners, popular moments, and new insights from past guests. What are some of our listeners' favorite moments and episodes? What new advice do some of our most popular guests have to share? How has Paper Team evolved over nearly one hundred episodes? From assistants to writers and producers, we also get updates and fresh tips from several of our awesome...

Alex and Nick invite Justin Michael Terry, writer on Stargate Origins, to discuss working, acting, and writing across different TV genres, in both comedy and drama. What was the process of writing Stargate Origins? What are the challenges in writing something within a pre-established canon? How do you approach writing mini episodes fitting a larger format? What lessons from improv and comedy can writers take? How do you transition writing between genres? The Paper Team dials the gate... SHOWN...

Alex and Nick answer more TV writing questions and react to recent TV business news, including WGAW's yearly earnings, CAA's Amplify database, Snowpiercer reshoots, and industry mergers. Where should you get feedback on your TV scripts? Is it better to write single-cams over multi-cams? Should a one-hour drama writer switch to writing half-hour comedies? How much of an impact does Netflix have on TV viewing habits? What influence do the AT&T/Time Warner and Disney/Fox mergers have on content? ...

Alex and Nick invite Mike Alber, co-creator of Disney XD's Kirby Buckets, to discuss everything about running a kids show, from producing a pilot and staffing a writers' room, to generating new material and staying creative. What is the process of selling a show? What is the journey of getting a pilot produced? How is a writing staff assembled? How do you transition from writer to showrunner? How is a kids television show made? What was it like working on Death Valley and Supah Ninjas? What was...

Alex and Nick discuss the advantages and disadvantages of writing episodic and serialized television. Which format is better suited to your story? How does breaking a season change based on serialization? Why do serialized stories provide more developed character arcs? When is an episodic script more accessible to an audience? How is TV production impacted by the level of serialization? Plus, a major announcement and two more Paper Tease entries. The Paper Team connects the dots... SHOWNOTES...

Alex and Nick invite Miranda Miranda Sachetta, composer for Transformers: Prime Wars and The Voice, to discuss writing music on scripted and unscripted television shows. What is the process of writing a piece of music for a television show? How does the communication between the composer and creatives work? How are motifs and themes used? What can TV writers learn from music composition? How does music for scripted shows differ from unscripted? The Paper Team takes a cue... SHOWNOTES Content...

Alex and Nick offer tips and tricks to solve common TV writing obstacles. From procrastination, prose, and loglines, to characters, dialogue, and scene work, get actionable advice to troubleshoot your screenwriting problems. Can't find time or discipline to write? Having trouble coming up with ideas? Is your TV show premise unexciting? Does your TV script not have enough conflict? Are your characters uninteresting? Is your dialogue not working? Are your scenes running too long or too short? Pl...