Over the last six months, we’ve discussed microdramas (aka verticals) several times on Scriptnotes. For readers who don’t know, microdramas are a format originating in Asia in which a filmed narrative is broken into very short episodes intended to be watched on your phone. They’re often called verticals because they’re shot to be watched on […]
Television
Whither Westworld
Like most writers, I’m trying to understand these wild moves at HBO Max. Cancelling Westworld? Sure. Happens all the time. That’s TV. Ditching an unaired season you’ve already shot, like what just happened to Minx? That’s heartbreaking, but I guess not unprecedented after Batwoman. Pulling Westworld off the service is just bonkers to me. My […]
PayUpHollywood progress, an update from ‘Christian’
Three years ago — October 8, 2019 — a writer who went by “Christian” emailed about their experience as a writer’s PA, explaining how they were expected to do the jobs of multiple support staff on a tiny salary. We discussed their email on the show, including the issue of needing to have a car. Last […]
The Odd Joy of the Wizard/Paladin
On Scriptnotes 541, Craig and I discussed which of the classic D&D attributes (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity and Charisma) were most important for an aspiring film and TV writer. We ranked intelligence first, while acknowledging that charisma was important for the social aspects of the job. We felt wisdom was gained through experience — […]
Uncredited writing by a script coordinator
On Scriptnotes episode 432, a listener asked what could be done when a writers room assistant or script coordinator was doing actual writing but not getting writing credit. This morning, another listener wrote in with their own tales of uncredited work and how they pushed back. As this listener makes clear, writing credit and low […]
Writers PA left to pick up the tab
Our mailbox keeps overflowing with new tales of assistant-dom. Producer Megana Rao reads every one and sorts them for future episodes. She also forwards a handful to me. This one, from a writers room production assistant (WPA), felt like one that should be read in its entirety, so I got the author’s permission to publish […]