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My writing setup, 2016

January 27, 2016 Apps, Highland, Software, Tools, Workspace

In 2011, I wrote a post detailing my writing setup. Over the past five years several things have changed, so I thought I’d give it an update.

Where applicable, I’ll include links. (Amazon links include my referral code, so you’ll help keep me stocked with pens.)

I work in an office built over my garage. My assistant Stuart works downstairs. Twice a week the rest of my staff (Nima and Dustin) comes in to work on app stuff and other projects. This year, we finally added a giant whiteboard. It’s been a godsend for planning and visual thinking.

I’m “in the office” from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., but I wander in and out of the house pretty freely.

I do a fair amount of my morning work — emails, listening to cuts of Scriptnotes — while walking on the treadmill. I MacGyvered an old film festival lanyard to hold my iPad, and use an Apple bluetooth keyboard. I find I can think coherently up to about 3.2 miles per hour. (Beyond that speed, it’s genuine cardio and I can only listen to podcasts and such.)

When I’m really writing — that is, buckling down on a specific draft of a specific movie — I do a lot of writing sprints. It’s one hour of focused writing with no distractions. If I do three of these a day, that’s a lot of pages written.

Getting away

When I start a new screenplay, I generally go away for a few days. I find that barricading myself in a new hotel in a new city helps me break the back of a story. I hand-write pages, trying to plow through as much as possible; my record is 21 pages in a day. Writing by hand keeps me from editing and second-guessing. At the start, it’s crucial to generate a critical mass of pages.

Every morning, I send what I’ve written to my assistant to type up. The Scannable app is great for this.

I find I can generally get 40 decent pages out of a good barricading session. I won’t paste the scenes together until I’m more than halfway through a script.

Hardware

When writing by hand, I like a white, lined, letter-sized writing pad with a very stiff back. It should barely bend. I’ve been using some generic Staples brand.

My preferred pen is the black Pilot G2 (0.7mm size). It’s cheap; it writes consistently; I never worry about losing one. For proofreading, a colored felt-tip pen is key. I like the Papermate Flairs. Again, cheap and losable.

I alternate between index cards and whiteboards for mapping out stories. If you’re going to be working in television, get comfortable with the whiteboard, because you’re going to be spending a lot of time staring at one.

My main computer is a 27-inch iMac. I love it.

Overall, I print very little these days. Almost everything is PDFs. But last year we replaced our decade-old laser printer with the Brother HL5470DW. It’s crazy how cheap and fast it is, and it uses a lot less power.

Stuart uses the DYMO LabelWriter 4XL thermal label printer for packages. It ends up being faster, better and cheaper than using laser printer labels.

Years ago, I had horrible carpal-tunnel problems, so I changed my setup significantly. I use the SafeType keyboard and an Evoluent vertical mouse. The keyboard is great, but command-key combos are a bear with it, so I’ve mapped a Logitech G13 gamepad to handle most of them. My desk raises so I can use it standing up. I try to be on my feet at least half the day.

For travel and kitchen duty, I have a 13-inch Macbook Pro. It’s good, but the screen is always getting overwhelmed with windows.

I used to talk on the phone a lot more, and found the Plantronics S12 headset essential. I still use it, but phone conversations are not nearly as important as they were just a few years ago.

We generally record Scriptnotes over Skype. I’m using the Shure SM7B microphone and Sony MDR-7506 headphones. This combo has worked well enough for me, but everyone has different opinions and preferences.

For recording in the field, I use the Zoom H5 four-track recorder. I love it.

When recording in the office with multiple guests, I use the Mackie 802VLZ4 8-channel mixer with a bunch of XLR mics and send the output directly into my MacBook with this cable.

After years of not using Time Machine, I just set up a one terabyte Samsung T1 Portable SSD to use as a backup drive. (If you get it, follow the advice in the “Most Helpful” Amazon review to remove the extraneous software Samsung installs.)

Software

I do all of my writing in the Highland beta. Highland was originally just for screenwriting, but version 2 adds robust Markdown support, so now it’s the only app I need for writing anything — including this blog post.

Slack is absolutely transformative. Our team doesn’t use email anymore. Everything is in Slack, sorted in channels.

Dropbox still seems like magic. In addition to storing my active projects, I keep a folder named Pending in the Dropbox with an alias on the desktop. Anything that would normally clutter up the desktop, I throw in Pending.

I still use Evernote, but mostly for household things like the grocery list. Random links go to Pinboard instead. (On iOS, I use the Pinner app.)

I’ve used a lot of GTD productivity apps over the years, including OmniFocus and Things. For the past few months, I’ve been using 2Do, which works very well on both Mac and iOS.

For outlining and show notes, I love WorkFlowy. Because it’s web-based, we can all edit the same document.

I use both Mail and Airmail, with some addresses going to Sparrow instead.1 I use Google Calendar with Fantastical 2.

I do all my RSS-reading on the iPad, using Reeder.

What I’d change

I’m pretty happy with my setup, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

My mail setup is a mess. The right combination of rules would probably allow me to sort out the wheat from the chaff, but I haven’t invested the energy. Plus, getting it to work properly in iOS would be a big challenge. Increasingly, the iPhone is where I’m doing email triage.

I’d like to push more of my email over to Slack, where it would be a better fit. An example is my D&D group. It’s six writers, so anytime there’s a conversation, it’s a chain of 20 emails, and you can never tell who is responding to what. In Slack, that thread would make a lot more sense.

Overall, the best thing that could happen to email would be to get rid of it.

  1. Google discontinued Sparrow, but the Mac app still works for now. ↩

Workspace: Leo Chu & Eric S. Garcia

November 16, 2012 Television, Workspace

Leo Chu and Eric Garcia at SDAFF

Who are you and what do you write?

We’re Leo Chu and Eric S. Garcia, and we mostly write television. We are currently the creators, executive producers, and showrunners of Nickelodeon’s live-action, single-camera, action-comedy series Supah Ninjas. It’s the #1 show in its time period for boys, and earlier this year, we won the WGA Award for Outstanding Writing in Children’s Episodic & Specials. We just finished shooting the second season, which premieres early next year.

Although we have been working in live-action for the past three years, our roots are in animation. Previously, we were the executive producers and showrunners of the animé series Afro Samurai, which aired on Spike TV and starred Samuel L. Jackson. The follow-up, Afro Samurai: Resurrection, made history when it became the first animé to ever win a Primetime Emmy Award.

Where and when do you write?

workspaceIf we are lucky, we get to write in our home office. We start our day at 10am and don’t change out of our pajamas. But when the show is in production, we have to wear pants.

We write anywhere to get the job done: the production office in LA, the one in Pittsburgh, on the plane, or in the hotel. So, in total, that’s five places. We do not write in cafés. That’s where we draw the line. If we are going to meander, we do real meandering — like driving out to Monterey Park for some delicious bing or cashing in reward points at fancy stores like Banana Republic.

Bling

The weirdest thing about being a writer lucky enough to create and run their own show is that there is precious little time to write. When we write, we tend to be really focused. We find that we do our best work in intense bursts — which is often during nights and weekends if we are in the midst of our Monday-Friday shooting schedule.

For us, the most important part of the writing process is having a clear plan about what we’re going to do. If we don’t have a plan, we always make sure we take the time to clear our heads and come up with one. To us, there is nothing worse than diving into a script with only a vague notion of what we want to accomplish. (It’s a great way to screw up what’s working.) If we need some true creative time to come up with new breakthrough ideas, we would rather remove a tree stump or clean out the closets. Creative thoughts are always running through our heads, so we make sure to nurture those ideas until it is time to give them form.

What software do you use?

Final Draft, which is what everyone uses. We know, boring. But since there’s two of us, we frequently need to be working on the same document at the same time. So, rather than hovering and fighting over the keyboard, we use this neat little thing called iChat on our Macs. Under iChat, there’s a function called Bonjour. Provided you’re on the same network, it allows us to share screens –- and both of us can type! How cool is that?!

When we are not on the same network, we use GoToMeeting. It’s kind of like Skype with screen sharing. We can see the script from anywhere we have an internet connection and hear the other person via computer or conference line. (The phone line typically works better for audio.) The catch is only one of us can type, which is useful when we want to shut down ideas from our writing partner. Simply refuse to type them.

What hardware do you use?

We both have two computers: iMacs for home and MacBook Airs when we’re on the road. In the writers’ room, we use white boards to break stories and a large cork board with index cards to track character arcs and season storylines.

Leo Chu and Eric Garcia work face-to-face

But let’s get really low-tech for a moment and talk about another type of hardware that is inexplicably overlooked – chairs! In our home office, we have these amazing LifeForm chairs from Relax the Back. We don’t care that they look ridiculous. The entire chair is made out of memory foam and contours to your butt and supports your back like crazy. We’ve tried Eames and Aerons and other ergo brands, but these are the Cadillac of Chairs. (For the record, we do not own stock in Relax the Back, but they should seriously send us coupons for how much we go on about these chairs, chairs, chairs.)

And while we’re at it – desks! We arrange them face-to-face like detectives. (Hey, if it works for solving murders, it works for writing!) We’ve tried other configurations, but we find this works the best. The computer screens have the added benefit of providing privacy so we don’t have to stare at each other all day. This set up also comes in handy when pitching jokes because Leo can’t see Eric when he rolls his eyes… and Eric can’t see Leo’s tears.

What (if anything) would you change?

Eric would write in a little cabin nestled in a deciduous wood with a burbling stream running by. And he would go out and take more walks. Leo would like more massages, an architecturally significant home, and a white butler (like Woodhouse on Archer) who brings him pie.

Workspace: Cherry Chevapravatdumrong

November 6, 2012 Television, Workspace

Who are you and what do you write?

cherry chevapravatdumrongI’m Cherry Chevapravatdumrong. I write for Family Guy and I also write books.

I co-wrote a Family Guy book called It Takes a Village Idiot and I Married One with Alex Borstein. I’ve written two YA novels, She’s So Money and DupliKate.

I also have a short story in an anthology that’s being published next year by Candlewick. The YA stuff is under the name “Cherry Cheva” which is also where you’ll find me on twitter: @cherrycheva

Where and when do you write?

workspaceMostly at the Family Guy office, five days a week. It’s a regular day job with fairly regular hours, although on occasion we’ve ended up staying there till super late at night (typical for comedy shows…and I’ve heard of much worse, like staying all night every night, and/or working weekends, so no complaints here). Our staff is huge, so we’re actually rarely all in the same room at the same time (when we are, there’s always a few people sitting on the floor); rather, we usually break into smaller groups and go off to various other offices/conference rooms to work on different sections of the script. Divide and conquer!

When I’m by myself writing a Family Guy script or doing book stuff, I generally do it at home. Not really a café person; occasionally a library person. I’m pretty much a weekend warrior when it comes to non-Family Guy stuff, since it’s nearly impossible for me to motivate to write more after having just spent a whole day at the office doing it. Hell, it’s hard to motivate after spending the whole day doing any job, which meant I was a weekend warrior back in my assistant days as well. I’m definitely not a “get up early and do it before work!” kind of person.

What software do you use?

Final Draft for Family Guy scripts and other script stuff, Word for outlines and book stuff.

What hardware do you use?

At Family Guy, we’re on Macs, and in the main writers’ room we have a big long conference table that has monitors every few seats, plus a few couches, so that everybody can be looking at the same thing at the same time as the writers’ assistant types.

family guy room

The New York Times ran a photo that shows what it looks like when we’re all around the table.

There’s also a TV for when we’re rewriting animatics (the rough, black & white early version of an episode that’s basically all the storyboards strung together) or colors (version after it’s been animated), so we can watch it as we go, and we outline stuff on big whiteboards that have wheels so we can move them between all the different rooms as necessary.

People generally handwrite notes on their scripts, so we have many, many containers of pens and pencils all over the table. Like, way more than enough, which is great for when people are doing bits involving throwing them around the room or chucking them at the ceiling.

At home I have a Dell desktop and one of those wavy ergonomic keyboards. I don’t have a laptop, which everyone thinks is insane but is actually fine because on the rare occasion I’m trying to work somewhere that’s not my house, I just bring a pen and legal pad and I’m just jotting down notes or whatever.

I still have the same desk I acquired the first day I moved to LA (I was subletting from this girl who didn’t want her desk anymore so she gave it to me; it’s gigantic so I have lots of surface area to throw stuff everywhere). I also sometimes do that thing of putting up notecards on a corkboard when I’m trying to loosely outline something (one scene or chapter per card, depending on what I’m working on).

What (if anything) would you change?

I would write more (and/or procrastinate less)! I’m SO LAZY. I’m fine if there’s an actual deadline, I can totally kick it into high gear then, but if there isn’t one staring me right in the face, yikes. This is probably also a problem with writing at home most of the time…it’s so easy to be like “Oh, there’s the TV.” “Oh, there’s the kitchen where the snacks live.” “Oh wow, what if I turned on some music and had a one-woman dance party for the next hour?”

At Family Guy, of course, it’s different; that’s like an actual office job so you just do it, no problem. There I would just change the available candy to be more often the kinds I like (yeah, look at me, complaining about the free food).

Workspace: Josh Friedman

October 12, 2012 Workspace

josh friedman

Who are you and what do you write?

I’m Josh Friedman. I created the TV show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, co-wrote War of the Worlds, and adapted the James Ellroy novel The Black Dahlia.

I used to have a blog called I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing but we broke up a couple years ago and I haven’t heard from it since.

I’m also working with the one and only John August on Chosen, a very cool pilot John’s writing for 20th TV and ABC.

Where and when do you write?

workspaceI write almost exclusively in my office at 20th Century Fox. I have a TV deal there and with it comes a wonderful office in a building with a number of other writers.

It’s a perfect set-up for me — I love sitting at my desk with the door open so I can ensnare any of the other writers and suck them into a conversation. Any pee-break can easily turn into a fifteen minute rant about whichever network executive has given whichever one of us notes on this particular day; it’s a nice way to vent, procrastinate, bond, and, lest it get lost in the sentence, procrastinate.

I’m not a fan of writing in public spaces because it reminds me of when I used to write in public spaces. But I do like the constant distraction and stimulation I get from seeing other writers pacing in front of the Xerox machine trying to figure out how to cut twelve pages out of forty-three.

Perhaps due to these tendencies I tend to, as my co-showrunner on TSCC used to say, “burn a lot of daylight.” But I’m at peace with that: I get most of my actual typing done in the late afternoon and the evening. When I’m really working hard on a script I’m probably most productive from 7PM to 11PM. I like ordering in dinner, eating at my desk, and cranking out three hours of really focused writing. I’m a big believer in stopping when you’re on a roll so you can more easily pick it up the next day.

I listen to music all the time when I work; I think it’s because I used to do my homework in front of the television. But I can’t stand silence. I’d guess eighty percent of everything I’ve written has been accompanied by Bruce Springsteen bootlegs. Like Bruce, I believe there is no such thing as writer’s block.

What software do you use?

Final Draft. I’ve never known anything else. I don’t even understand why people don’t like it. It’s better at its job than I am at mine. I choose to remain ignorant to its shortcomings.

What hardware do you use?

MacBook Pro 13”, a big ol 27” iMac, and an iPad for reading scripts and emails and such.

I also use legal pads for early stages of doodling and asking myself questions. I like to put a question mark at the end of almost every sentence when I’m starting a project — it makes me feel like I’m not committing to anything and I have less anxiety. “He is a cop” will always be written as: “Is he a cop?”

The most important writing tools I use are my four whiteboards hung on my walls. I never used them when I wrote movies but since I started doing television I have become totally addicted to them. They’re on almost every surface of my office.

I have a swivelly chair in the middle so I can sit and spin round and round looking at the different boards. One board usually has all of the characters listed. One has ideas for scenes. One is near my desk and I use sort of as scrap paper. The fourth is reserved for the outline as I break the story. Eventually all of the boards will be covered with the outline and then I start writing my draft…

When I’m finished writing a draft, I read it backwards. I can’t explain why. It’s the same way I read magazines.

What (if anything) would you change about how you work?

I would write more for myself. Either a screenplay on spec, or prose, or resurrect my blog. I’d write nonfiction, maybe. Just more writing in other genres, I guess.

Too many screenwriters tend to forget they were writers before they were screenwriters. Maybe some of them weren’t. But I was. I miss writing other types of things and I’d like to do that more.

Also, I wish I wouldn’t get so pissed off when people give me notes. I’m working on that one. Sort of.

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