Paper Team

Alex and Nick invite Sue Chung, writer on Agent Carter, The Brave, and The Red Line, to discuss her experiences working on TV dramas, including comic-book adaptations, limited series, and action-driven content. What are ways of handling that first week in the writers' room? What was the writing process for Agent Carter and The Brave? How did The Red Line approach representation and social issues? What are differences writing on a limited series over an ongoing show? How was the experience of pitching and selling a pilot? The Paper Team parachutes... Content Writing comic-book adaptations, action-driven content, and limited series, with Sue Chung (01:30) Final Advice, Resources, and Next Week On (43:38) Links Sue Chung on Twitter The Red Line on CBS Agent Carter Gotham If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick renew their popular Paper Tease session and give feedback on five of your TV pilot teasers. Paper Tease Entries "Princi-pal" by Michael Hager "Black Market Freelancer" by David Crosman "The Psychics" by Varta Torossian "F.M.A.C." by Ahmed Aki Aslan "Leopold: The Lost Elephant" by Jordan Sandfer Want to get feedback on the teaser of your TV pilot in an upcoming Paper Tease session? Find all the information you need at http://paperteam.co/teaser If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick mark one hundred and fifty episodes of Paper Team with an incredible celebration all about your favorite moments from the podcast and new advice from past guests. Which favorite episodes and iconic moments have our listeners and guests chosen? How are writers staying at the top of their craft? What are the records Paper Team has shattered over a hundred and fifty episodes? We also feature updates and fresh insight from several of our TV writer friends, including: Liz Alper, Chris Monfette, Michelle Badillo, Caroline Levich, Gretchen Enders, and Ning Zhou. The Paper Team raises a glass... Content 1 - Favorite moments chosen by our listeners, our guests, and ourselves (00:00:44) 2 - Updates and new advice from past guests ft. Liz Alper, Chris Monfette, Michelle Badillo, Caroline Levich, Gretchen Enders, and Ning Zhou (01:33:07) 3 - Looking back at three years of Paper Team and special thanks (02:01:46) Links Breaking in as a TV Writer Later in Life ft. J. Holtham (PT92) TV Staffing 101 (PT101) International TV Writing Models ft. Des Doyle (PT122) Building Your Career as a TV Writer ft. LaToya Morgan (PT111) Comedy v. Drama II: Blurred Lines (PT143) Common Mistakes to Avoid in Your TV Scripts (PT148) Rewriting Your TV Script (PT90) Disney ABC Writing Program ft. Kristi Shuton (PT130) CBS Writers Mentoring Program ft. Jeanne Mau (PT131) NBC Writers on the Verge ft. Karen Horne (PT132) Warner Bros. Television Writers' Workshop ft. Rebecca Windsor (PT133) Fox Writers Lab ft. Moira Griffin (PT137) VR Storytelling ft. Michael Masukawa (PT102) Paper Team Mentorship I – “Mid-Death Crisis” Overview (PT128) Paper Team Mentorship II – “Mid-Death Crisis” Beat Sheet (PT134) Paper Team Mentorship III – “Mid-Death Crisis” Outline (PT138) Paper Team Mentorship IV – Staffing Update With Paul (PT147) Paper Team Mentorship Patreon updates

Alex and Nick discuss the latest TV writing news on staffing submissions, and answer your TV writing questions about career obstacles, spec scripts, and how valuable ideas actually are. Plus, we announce an upcoming Paper Team travel. Reminder Paper Tease is back! If you'd like a chance to get feedback on the teaser of your TV pilot, you can now submit it at http://paperteam.co/teaser NOTE: We'll actually be off next week for Labor Day, but we'll return on Monday, September 9 for our jam-packed 150th Episode Special! Content Announcements: Austin Film Festival and Paper Tease (01:21) Audience Questions: Specs, the value of ideas, and impostor syndrome (03:44) TV Writing News: Fellowships, staffing submission threads, and commercials (22:42) Links "Desperate Networks" - Bill Carter The TV Writer's Roadmap - TV Calling Justin Marks' thread on cover letter submissions Justin Marks' thread on staffing "Disney Confirms Disney Plus-Hulu-ESPN Plus Bundle For $12.99 A Month" - Deadline "TV networks vowed to cut back on commercials. Instead, they stuffed in more" - LA Times If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick discuss the many common mistakes to avoid in your TV scripts. From structure and character to dialogue and formatting, we go over the frequent problems we've encountered, and our advice on fixing them. Content 1 - Before the draft (01:41) 2 - Macro mistakes: structure, acts, stories (13:54) 3 - Micro mistakes: scenes, dialogue, prose (28:37) 4 - On the page (42:07) If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick catch up with their first mentee Paul Chang, recently staffed on a Disney animated series, to hear about what he's been up to and get his perspective on being a new staff writer in television. How do you prepare yourself for staffing opportunities? How do gauge which representation is right for you? Why is it important to celebrate all the wins? How do you deal with imposter's syndrome? How do you stay present and useful in the writers' room? Links Paul Chang on Twitter Paper Team Mentorship I – "Mid-Death Crisis" Overview (PT128) Paper Team Mentorship I - Paul's Update Paper Team Mentorship II – “Mid-Death Crisis” Beat Sheet (PT134) Paper Team Mentorship II - Paul's Update Paper Team Mentorship III – “Mid-Death Crisis” Outline (PT138) Feedback and Notes: Building Your Reading Onion (PT08) If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick share the many TV business resources they use for networking, meetings, contact management, writing news, and everything to navigate the television industry. We go over our personal recommendations we've used over the years, and why they matter to us. Content 1 - Books (00:42) 2 - Apps/Software (11:34) 3 - Hardware/Tools (28:57) 4 - Websites (35:39) 5 - Podcasts (55:23) Links "Small Screen, Big Picture" - Chad Gervich "How to Manage Your Agent" - Gervich Chad "Hollywood Game Plan" - Carole Kirschner "This Business of Television" - Howard J. Blumenthal "Producing Animation" - Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi "The One-Hour Drama: Producing Episodic Television" - Robert Del Valle "Desperate Networks" - Bill Carter "Make Your Contacts Count" - Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon Networking 101: How to Talk With People in Hollywood (PT05) Airtable Contacts+ Teamweek Trello Boomerang Slack Discord WhatsApp Line WeChat Google Voice @Voice Aloud Reader (TTS Reader) Evernote Google Keep Venmo Vistaprint Moo Stickermule Whatshalfway Doodle IMDb Pro Studio System Variety Insights WGA Find a Writer Screenwriters Rant Room The Business Industry Standard The Treatment WGF Podcast Australian Screenwriters Podcast Screen Australia Podcast Happier in Hollywood 3rd & Fairfax The Writers Panel Scriptnotes Children of Tendu

Alex and Nick look at the latest TV writing news and answer your questions about classes, branding yourself as a nascent writer, and advice about managers. Plus, we announce the return of a fan-favorite segment and we need your help for a very special episode. Announcements 1 - Paper Tease is back! If you'd like a chance to get feedback on the teaser of your TV pilot, you can now submit it at http://paperteam.co/teaser 2 - We need your help for our 150th episode! Do you have a favorite Paper Team moment, guest, or episode? Send us your suggestions at ask@paperteam.co to be featured during our milestone event. Content Announcements: Mentorship update, the return of Paper Tease, and our 150th episode (00:28) Audience Questions: TV writing classes, branding, and managers (05:08) TV Writing News: Big Little Lies drama and new OTTs (21:09) Links Paper Team Mentorship Updates on Patreon Should You Pay for TV Writing Education? (PT19) TV Writing Resources We Use (PT139) Comedy v. Drama II: Blurred Lines (PT143) "Inside Andrea Arnold’s Loss of Creative Control" - IndieWire "WarnerMedia confirms its Netflix rival will be called HBO Max" - The Verge "Disney Unplugs FX Plus Subscription Service After Fox Merger" - Deadline If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick invite Tamara Becher-Wilkinson, writer and co-executive producer on Doom Patrol and Daredevil, to discuss her writing process, breaking stories across different genres, and her experiences in the writers' room. What are ways of overcoming procrastination and imposter's syndrome? How can you stay creatively fulfilled while working across multiple genres? What has the experience been working on both DC and Marvel properties? What was the writers' room of Doom Patrol like? Why does representation matter in genre? How do you balance meta and absurdity with grounded characters and stakes? The Paper Team patrols... Content Writing Heroes and Breaking Genres with Tamara Becher-Wilkinson (00:32) Final Advice, Resources, and Next Week On (48:09) Links Tamara Becher-Wilkinson on Twitter Doom Patrol on DC Universe Daredevil on Netflix Runaways on Hulu Warehouse 13 Covert Affairs Cop Land "When Rabbit Howls" - Truddi Chase Resources "Writing for Emotional Impact" - Karl Iglesias Children of Tendu If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick revisit the topic of one of their seminal episodes: Comedy versus Drama. Should you still declare a major in the age of dramedies and blurred formats? Are boundaries and page-count still relevant as a TV writer? How should you approach staffing and your writing samples in today's era? Content 1 - What we covered three years ago and what prompted this episode (00:33) 2 - How these blurred lines have affected TV staffing and the industry (11:52) 3 - How this evolution has impacted our own TV writing (21:30) 4 - Frequently asked questions (31:26) Links Comedy v. Drama: Declare Your TV Major (PT02) TV Writing for Comedy & Drama ft. Michelle Badillo & Caroline Levich (PT115) Paper Scraps Monthly – Records, Routine, and Resolution (PT140) If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick discuss how to take feedback in your TV writing. Whether you're on staff or working on your own projects, why and how should you take notes, and when should you say no? Why is it important to be malleable with your TV scripts? What are the differences in approaching notes as a staff writer and with your own material? How do you deconstruct feedback and understand what needs to be fixed? How should you take a note? When is it worth saying no? How do you reject a note? Content 1 - The mindset of receiving criticism (00:23) 2 - Why and how to take a note (07:26) 3 - Deconstructing feedback and "the note behind the note" (15:10) 4 - Why and how to reject a note (20:16) Takeaways and Next Week On (27:28) Links Feedback and Notes: Building Your Reading Onion (PT08) If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick welcome Charla Lauriston, writer on Hoops, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and People of Earth, to discuss pitching in the writers' room and working as a stand-up comedian. How can you be effective in a writers' room? Should you gauge your own pitches? How does stand-up translates to TV writing? What is the process of writing a comedy routine? How do you sustain a TV writing career beyond that first job? The Paper Team is a laugh riot... Content Performing In and Out of the Comedy Writers' Room with Charla Lauriston (00:30) Final Advice, Resources, and Next Week On (46:33) Links Charla Lauriston Charla Lauriston on Twitter Charla Lauriston on Instagram Hoops on Netflix If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick answer your questions about writing routine, episode formats, and international writing education. Plus, we give our thoughts on the latest TV writing news, including The Good Place's final season and the UTA/Paradigm rumors. Content Records, shout-outs and reviews (00:28) Audience Questions: international writers, music routine, formats, experience (07:39) TV Writing News: The Good Place and UTA/Paradigm (25:09) Links Should You Pay for TV Writing Education? (PT19) TV Writing Resources We Use (PT139) La Femis (Cursus Ecriture et Création de Séries) Storyhive Putting Yourself Out There (PT75) Breaking in as a TV Writer Later in Life ft. J. Holtham (PT92) "The Good Place Boss Explains Why He's Ending the Show" - TV Line "UTA-Paradigm Deal Chatter Heats Up as Agencies Feel Urge to Merge" - The Hollywood Reporter If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co

Alex and Nick share the TV writing resources they use for the screenwriting craft, from books, websites, and podcasts, to apps, tools, and hardware. We go over some of our personal recommendations for television writer resources that we've discussed over the years, and why they matter to us. Content 1 - Books (00:30) 2 - Finding Scripts (11:05) 3 - Apps/Software (14:19) 4 - Hardware/Tools (19:08) 5 - Websites (25:46) 6 - Podcasts (34:55) 7 - Miscellaneous (39:06) Links "The Cheeky Monkey" - Tim Ferguson "Writing the TV Drama Series" - Pamela Douglas "Television Writing from the Inside Out" - Larry Brody "The TV Writer's Handbook" - Ellen Sandler "Write to TV" - Martie Cook "Elephant Bucks" - Sheldon Bull "Crafty TV Writing" - Alex Epstein "Successful TV Writing" - Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin "The Coffee Break Screenwriter" - Pilar Alessandra "The War of Art" - Steven Pressfield "The Hollywood Standard" - Christopher Riley "The Emotion Thesaurus" - Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman William C. Martell's Blue Book series "On Writing" - Stephen King WGF Library TV Calling Script Library Other TV script library Final Draft Highland Scrivener Sublime Text Slack Moleskine Notebooks Kindle eReaders Kobo eReaders Time Timer ThinkVision P27h-10 IPS Monitor TV Tropes John August Blog Go Into The Story Blog r/screenwriting (reddit) r/worldbuilding (reddit) "Screenwriting Lessons From" series on TV Calling Hemingway Editor Thesaurus RhymeZone Rainy Mood Bose QuietComfort 35 II Noise-Cancelling Headphones Paper Team Cheat Sheets on Patreon Breaking Bad Insider Podcast

Alex and Nick advance in their Paper Team Mentorship with winner Paul Chang, and his comedy pilot MID-DEATH CRISIS. Step three: an outline of the pilot episode, with every act broken down scene-by-scene. We answer some feedback and discuss our thoughts on the outline live. Content Updates and listeners' thoughts on the second mentorship episode (00:37) Discussion of the "Mid-Death Crisis" outline (07:24) Links "Mid-Death Crisis" outline Paper Team Mentorship I – "Mid-Death Crisis" Overview (PT128) Paper Team Mentorship I - Paul's Update Paper Team Mentorship II – “Mid-Death Crisis” Beat Sheet (PT134) Paper Team Mentorship II - Paul's Update Paul Chang on Twitter If you enjoyed this episode and others, please consider supporting us on Patreon at paperteam.co/patreon! :) Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode. You can find Paper Team on Twitter: Alex - @TVCalling Nick - @_njwatson For any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: ask@paperteam.co