“Fascinating pearls of wisdom from breaking in to breaking stories!”
– WrittenBy, WGA Magazine
— We’re sorry, “The Other Network Writers Room” is no longer available —
The Writer’s Room WAS a series of audio interviews with top TV showrunners about the art, craft and business of writing comedy for TV. Some of the most original, outspoken and successful head writers in the business share their collected wisdom, stories and advice. Volume 1: Michael Patrick King, Alan Zweibel, John Riggi, Scott Carter. Vol. 2: Larry Charles, Seth MacFarlane, Gary Janetti, Rob Cohen. Plus, we made a companion piece, THE OTHER NETWORK WRITER’S ASSISTANT which synthesizes all the practical, actionable info from the series into an 8-step program to get you writing for TV!
“Fascinating pearls of wisdom from breaking in to breaking stories!”
– WrittenBy, WGA Magazine
MICHAEL PATRICK KING
MICHAEL PATRICK KING is the passionate visionary writer/director/executive producer behind “Sex and the City” on TV and film and the EP behind “2 Broke Girls”. In this far-reaching interview he talks about what he looks for when he’s hiring writers, his unique way of running a room, how he almost blew his own job interview as a writer for “Murphy Brown”, and the worst phrase he ever heard come out of a showrunner’s mouth. (trt 79:00)
ALAN ZWEIBEL
Multiple Emmy-winner ALAN ZWEIBEL is a deeply funny and prolific writer whose comedy career spans over 30 years in the business, including co-creating “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show”, co-writing Billy Crystal’s Broadway show, writing and producing “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and winning the Thurber Prize for his novel “The Other Schulman”. Here he gives you original writing assignments he used to teach himself dialog skills, the strategy he used to get hired as one of the original writers of “Saturday Night Live” and suggests other things that can get you hired besides a spec script. (trt 60:26)
SCOTT CARTER
Multiple Emmy-nominee SCOTT CARTER is the exacting intelligence who helped define modern political comedy as Executive Producer and Co-Creator of “Politically Incorrect” and “Real Time with Bill Maher. Here he tells you how to get your foot in the door as a talkshow writer, details the system in Bill Maher’s writers’ room, his own writing process and gives you a producer’s perspective on getting shows on the air. (trt 76:33)
JOHN RIGGI
Multiple Emmy-winner JOHN RIGGI is the inspired, story-centered Executive Producer behind some of the funniest, most distinctive shows on TV including “30 Rock”, “Will & Grace” and “Family Guy”. He reveals some of challenges in the real writers’ room of “30 Rock”, how he got his start at “The Larry Sanders Show”, defines the ‘Harvard’ style of comedy and demonstrates half-hour comedy structure by spontaneously making up and ‘breaking’ a story. (trt 70:12)
“I play them all the time while I drive around the city. – GREAT! – If you can – make some more! I’ll certainly buy them – they’re sooooooo worth it and very enjoyable.” – Freddie, aspiring writer
SETH MACFARLANE
Multiple Emmy-winner SETH MACFARLANE is the young mogul and hyper-hyphenate behind, and in front of, “Family Guy”, “American Dad” and the voice and director of “Ted”. In this interview he tells you how he became the youngest person ever to create his own animated prime-time show, several lessons he’s learned, his personal writers’ room protocol, how long it takes for him to reject a writer’s spec script and one spec script he won’t read. (trt 54:48)
LARRY CHARLES
Multiple Emmy-winner and mad genius LARRY CHARLES is on a comic vision-quest that has taken him from writing “Seinfeld” to directing “Borat” and “Bruno”. In between, his magical mystery tour has included Writing and Executive Producing “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “Entourage”, “Mad About You”, “Dilbert” and “The Tick”. Oh and by the way directing Bob Dylan in “Masked & Anonymous”. In this freewheeling conversation he reveals how he and Larry David ‘cracked the code’ of “Seinfeld”, shares the joys of ‘soft-scripting’ and comes to terms with his own shadow self! (trt 65:00)
GARY JANETTI
Multiple Emmy-nominee GARY JANETTI is the engaging, articulate Writer and Consulting Producer for “The Family Guy” and “Will & Grace” where he worked his way up to Executive Producer and showrunner. Now he’s created his own show for NBC. Here he offers candid, in-depth criteria for spec scripts, gives examples of ‘sit-com speak’, and helps you understand how to use character and situation to generate more comedy. (trt 63:09)
ROB COHEN
Emmy-winner ROB COHEN has had his hand in more pilots than an Air Force proctologist, to quote Dana Gould, co-creator of Rob’s short-lived MTV cult hit “Super Adventure Team”. Here, Rob dispenses wisdom (and war stories) from the writers’ rooms of “The Ben Stiller Show”, “The Simpsons”, “Saturday Night Live”, “American Dad” and “Just Shoot Me”, including advice on how to ace an interview, submitting sketch packets, and demographic factors that effect your odds of getting hired. (trt 63:12)
THE OTHER NETWORK WRITER’S ASSISTANT is a step-by-step program to launch your TV writing career. Series host Beth Lapides & producer Greg Miller synthesize all the actionable info from the entire Writers’ Room series, and add their own advice based on years of media experience, in this practical program. FREE with Vol. 1 or 2 or buy the Writers Assistant individually on MP3.
These lively interviews were produced by Greg Miller and conducted by Beth Lapides, host of the legendary alternative comedy mother-ship Un-Cabaret. Her intimate style draws out all the juicy details, personal stories and essential info that you want to know about the writers you respect, the TV shows you love, and how to have the career you want in TV today.
GREG MILLER - Author & Writing Coach 