Great write up in the NY Times about the rise of Brooklyn in film production. Just one more reason the TV Writers Studio's home borough is the place to be! Check out the article, link below:
The Real Mad Men
Throughout Cohort III's journey to capture the magnificence of the OSS in a 60-minute television drama, the OSS Society has been extremely helpful in our efforts. President Charles Pinck has been kind enough to drop by the Studio on multiple occasions, once bringing a weapons expert who provided key props and guidance. Now that the project is near completion, the OSS Society Journal featured an article covering the TVWS pilot! Click below to see the article.
Cohort II Alum Aidan Levy Sells Lou Reed Biography
Big TVWS alumni news! After an intense bidding war, Aidan Levy of Cohort II just signed a book contract with Chicago Review Press!
From Publishers Marketplace:
"Musician and music journalist Aidan Levy's FLY INTO THE SUN: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF LOU REED, covering the life and work of the late rock star from a unique perspective, has just sold to Yuval Taylor at Chicago Review Press for publication in 2015."
More information to follow after we have the chance to catch up with Mr. Levy.
The Infinitely Unique Challenges To Getting Off The TV Writer Runway
Over the past nineteen months I have had the immense fortune of being able to meet, befriend, and write with a group of uber talented cohorts in the aptly named Cohort… numero tres. We have grown quite a bit in our time together, pressing ever forward despite our shared and alternatively unique challenges, obstacles if you will, standing in the way of our inevitable success (we’re quite a squadron).
Speaking from my own little corner of the writing world perspective, with literally weeks to go before graduation, I’m finding the looming, ultra competitive world known as the television writing industry a bit intimidating. Even from the novice student’s point of view (that’s me bt-dubs), I can see that an arduous journey stands ahead of me. TV writing is not for the faint of heart. Money, relationships, the crappy jobs we hate so much but can never quit, walking the dog, getting at least 11 hours of sleep – the basic stuff we need to do just to get by, can all stand in the way of advancing our life’s passion and purpose. Because between all that stuff, ya gotta write constantly, man… and woman.
But worry not. We’re writers. It’s in our blood. Just like Rocky Balboa when he wrote that first script, Rocky. He knew he had to do it. He knew he couldn’t just be Q Moonblood for the rest of his life. He was better than that. And so are you, dear reader. And so am I. So let’s take this TV Writer’s world by storm. Seek your cohorts, hold them closely, and don’t ever let go. Unless they ask you to, because, you know, you can’t just like hold on to someone if they’re telling you to stop. We all gotta respect that shit.
By Dan Taft, Cohort Numero Tres
I LOVE DRAFT TWO
I hate draft one.
But I love the re-write.
Let me tell you about draft one:
I’m a writing tutor on-campus, and a freshman came in to tell me about his RealPolitik essay and lack thereof. “I’ve typed two words,” he tells me, “And I can’t type word three ‘cuz words one and two are too awful.”
I want to tell him,
“Four nights ago, Mr. Freshman, I set up with a notepad, a cup of tea, my laptop, and a script outline. Two hours later I had a doodle of a bunny, cold tea, and one page that said PAGE ONE: FADE IN. Bugger you, Mr. Freshman; I have a block of my own to write past.”
That advice would be completely unhelpful so I wrote my student a note on a sheet of paper: “Tape the note over your laptop when you write,” I told him.
The note said:
FIRST DRAFT IS AWFUL. WRITE IT QUICK TO GET IT OVER WITH.
THE WHITE PAGE IS YOUR ENEMY. FILL IT ANY WAY YOU CAN.
Then I went home and wrote identical notes for myself. They’re taped up over my laptop right now, and as of 9:00 PM the day after tutoring, I was 18 pages into a 64-page draft and my tea hadn’t even cooled down yet.
Page 18 said INT. CASTLE - NIGHT OH GAWD, OH GAWD, WHAT AWFUL SHIT I
WRITE, but I had it, typed up official-like, and could move off and on to page 19 and beyond.
That would be a Draft One problem, but Draft Two, darling, Draft Twos are much better.
In Draft Two, the words flow, and Poetry comes down from Heaven to nest in my fingertips as they fly across the keys, good god, everything feels easy, because-
- because Draft Two is when I clean up all the shite I shit on Draft One.
On Draft Two I think a thing like,
Eglantine has a cheesy line on Draft One page 12, wouldn’t it be funnier if we did-
or,
“Our werewolf attack victim has more lines than the protagonist. Let’s beef up Eglantine with a soliloquy in Act Four.”
And it will work.
Draft One, I hated making it, but Draft One will show you what you can do in Draft Two.
And Draft Two will be better.
It won’t be perfect. It won’t be near perfect, yet, but you can tell where the pieces will go, how the puzzle will fit together. I can keep writing and re-writing until I get to draft five, and with draft five, I’m happy. I’m grinning when I read a joke, and pleased that the lead character gets a bit of subtlety in her big motivation speech, and it all makes sense to me at last.
With draft five I can write a note to my professor:
“Dear Mr. Norman Professor Steinberg sir, I have a draft ready
for your feedback...”
In fact I wrote that note earlier today and I e-mailed it with a copy of my script. I’m leaning back in my chair right now sipping my tea, vanilla chai, and I think the whole script is lovely, I just hope he likes it, really I do, because the script is my baby and I’ve given birth to it fetus, umbilical cord, placenta and all. I can’t do any more because it’s over and the drafts are done.
You know what? On page 39, the frog-turned-human loses a magical power by chance and it really ought to come from a character decision. Let me go back and retype four lines in Act II to set it up.
Okay. The draft is ready now.
By Steve Shon
"Making of OSS" Episode #1
The first installment of the TV Writers Studio's "Making of OSS" is finally here! Go behind the scenes of Cohort III's film production about The Office of Strategic Services, a spy organization started in World War II. Episode 1 takes us inside pre-production as students welcome director Jonathan Frakes and prepare for the massive task at hand. Stay tuned for new episodes!
https://vimeo.com/85932184
