"This place looks like Johnny Sack's office," Seth MacFarlane noted at the outset of our comedy showrunner panel. It was the first of many obscure TV references during the hourlong discussion, during which Ryan Murphy revealed the only two artists to deny their songs to "Glee" and Doug Ellin admitted he takes notes on "Entourage" from bloggers. Below is our conversation with Chuck Lorre, "The Big Bang Theory," "Two and a Half Men" (CBS); Doug Ellin, "Entourage" (HBO); Steven Levitan, "Modern Family" (ABC), run with Christopher Lloyd; Ryan Murphy, "Glee" (Fox); and Linda Wallem, "Nurse Jackie" (Showtime).

Read the article in the Hollywood Reporter.

Get more in-depth info from the Other Network Writers Room.

SUPER DUPER SALE on The Other Network Writers Room - CD's or mp3 downloads. Now 2/3 off!

There is simply nothing else out there like these info-packed and completely entertaining audio programs.

Get straight talk and inside advice about the art, craft and business of writing comedy and writing for tv from award-winning writer-director-executive producers like Seth Macfarlane (Family Guy, American Dad, the Cleveland Show), Larry Charles (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Borat), John Riggi (30 Rock, Larry Sanders), Alan Zweibel (Saturday Night Live, It's Garry Shandling's Show), Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City) and others. From breaking stories to breaking into the business, The Other Network Writers Room takes you inside the room where the action is.

Available as single downloads, 4-set volumes or get all 8 hour-plus interviews on CD or mp3. Downloads available instantly. Do I have to mention what an amazing gift these make for the creative in your life who's interested in comedy or writing as a career?

There's still time to listen to these and submit your work to the Other Network Comedy Contest, Deadline Dec. 15. Or listen to them and don't submit. Either way, they'll give you insight, advice and inspiration for your creative work for years to come.

Get the Other Network Writer's Room audio programs right now. Super sale ends Dec. 31.

Seth MacFarlane is the creator of Family Guy, American Dad and now the Cleveland Show spin-off, does the voices for many characters and is pretty much the definition of a multi-media mogul.

In this exclusive clip from The Other Network Writers Room (sorry for the crappy camera work - it was intended for audio and is essential listening for anyone who wants to be a comedy writer), Seth tells how he got to make the pilot for Family Guy and what he looks for when he reads a spec script.

Enter the Other Network Comedy Contest and get your work seen by top showrunners, agents and execs. The deadline is December 15, so get writing!

The Other Network Comedy Contest deadline is Dec. 15, 2009 and we're happy to announce a special guest judge this year: Erin Keating.

Erin is a development consultant at IFC TV focused on original series development and production. Before that she was director of programming and development at Magna Global Entertainment, produced for ComedyNet, was a development consultant to BBC America, worked at NBC and Comedy Central.

The contest deadline is Dec. 15, 2009 and this year, the contest is accepting any comedy format: TV spec scripts, original TV pilots, feature screenplays, plays, personal essays, sketch packets, shorts, produced pilots, even standup - with potential winners in every category. And what do winners win?

Other contests give you cash or software. The Other Network Comedy Contest is the only contest that actually gets your foot in the Hollywood door: we put winners work into the hands of top TV showrunners to put you on their radar - and get their feedback on your work.

Previous winners have had their work reviewed by Bob Odenkirk, Alan Zweibel, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, Cindy Chupack and other top comedy professionals, plus managers at Brillstein-Grey, agents at Metropolitan, execs at Starz and Comedy Central. Get details and enter now.

Larry Charles says he wants to be remembered as much for his failures as for his successes -- which is probably a lot easier to say when your successes include Borat, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Mad About You, Dilbert, The Tick and Religulous.

We're granting Larry's wish, and reassuring you that no one wins all the time, by posting a piece Larry performed at Un-Cabaret's Say the Word. He calls it "Fragments of Failure". We call it "The Road to Success".

When I was first submitting scripts to agents I actually had a file folder titled 'Rejects' and used to dutifully file all my rejection letters. Stephen King used a rusty nail in the wall to tack up his rejections like trophies. So remember this quote from IBM founder Tom Watson: "If you want to succeed, increase your rate of failure". And start failing!

But before you do, you might want to take some more specific advice from Larry in this inspiring and informative hour-long download. Or get Larry's interview along with inside info from other top showrunners including Michael Patrick King, Seth McFarlane and John Riggi in the indispensible Other Network Writers Room series.

In almost any Hollywood pitch meeting, some executive will inevitably ask you something like 'But what are the stakes'? Or 'Can we raise the stakes'?

Maybe that's why so many plots turn to someone having to save the world - or the whole universe! Those stakes are high enough, right?

In this illuminating clip from The Other Network Writers Room, 30 Rock Co-Exec Producer and Writer John Riggi talks about times when the stakes are too high and plot overshadows character. Many successful current comedies like 30 Rock and The Office, focus on microscopic plots, and great characters, and 30 Rock earned 22 Emmy nominations this year.

With comedy, I think the important thing to remember is that the stakes that are important to the character aren't necessarily global. And in fact, a character's out of proportion caring about their often-miniscule goal, is part of what makes it funny.

According to eHow, "the single most important task of running a TV show is delivering scripts". But we think it might be getting hired.

Here's the latest hopeful/depressing assessment from the Hollywood Reporter:

Read it here and/or read in situ at HR and/or get their free pdf on this season's TV showrunners.

Showrunners: The green room

By Nellie Andreeva

Showrunners don't get much greener than Matt Nix. Before being handed the reins of USA Network's "Burn Notice" in 2007, he had never even set foot in a writers' room. When he convened his scribes for the first time, Nix walked up to the whiteboard and started writing down ideas.

At least, until one of his hires told him that was an assistant's job.

Get your work read by top showrunners
DEADLINE: DEC. 15, 2009
Fill out this form to enter now

Previous winners have had their work seen by agents at UTA and Metropolitan, managers at Brillstein-Grey, executives at Fox, Comedy Central and Starz/Film Roman, producers and award-winning TV creators like:

ALAN ZWEIBEL ("Saturday Night Live", "It's Garry Shandling's Show")
BOB ODENKIRK ("Mr. Show", "Saturday Night Live", "Tenacious D")
JOHN RIGGI ("The Comeback", "30 Rock", "The Larry Sanders Show")
JAY KOGEN ("The Simpsons", "Frasier")
BILL OAKLEY & JOSH WEINSTEIN ("The Simpsons", "The Mullets")
WINNIE HOLZMAN ("Wicked", "Thirtysomething", Creator of "My So-Called Life")
BRYAN FULLER ("Wonderfalls", "Heroes", "Pushing Daisies")
CINDY CHUPACK ("Sex and the City", "Everybody Loves Raymond")
BRENT FORRESTER ("The Office", "King of The Hill", "Undeclared")
ROB COHEN ("The Ben Stiller Show", "The Simpsons")
JON KINNALLY ("Ugly Betty", "Will & Grace")

>> YOUR WORK <<
- Can be an original piece of writing or
a 'spec' of a TV series that has aired
- Any comedy format on paper, DVD, CD, mini-DV, VHS
(essay, sketch, short, animation, monolog, etc.)
- Multiple submissions & re-submissions OK
(but please do a serious re-write!)
- Individual or group copyright ok

>> HOW TO ENTER <<