Inside the TV Writer's Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television (Television and Popular Culture) [Hardcover]

ed. (Author), Lawrence Meyers (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2010 | Series: Television and Popular Culture

Aspiring writers often ask how they can break into the television writing business. Meyers believes that the answer can be found by asking why people become television writers and what makes them successful. Inside the TV Writer s Room reveals these insights and much more. This volume, a collection of interviews with some of today s top episodic writers arranged in a roundtable format, explores the artists drive to express how the writers honed their creativity, and what compromises they have made to pursue their craft both before and after finding success. Each chapter s topic is distilled into a practical lesson for both professionals and aspirants to heed if they wish to find or maintain success in writing for television.

The book includes such leading entertainment writers and producers as Neal Baer, executive producer of the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Tim King of the groundbreaking hit Heroes, Peter Lenkov of 24 and CSI: New York, and Shawn Ryan, creator of the acclaimed series The Shield. Individual writers discuss the struggle to balance artistic fulfillment with the realities of commerce, and how they inject an original voice into a show that is often not their own creation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Inside the TV Writer s Room takes you inside the heart and soul of television writing and what really makes a show, and its writers, tick. With more than a peek into some of the best brains (and pens!) in television, Meyers insightful book shows why their hearts beat so strongly for what they do and what you want to do . . . which is to become a successful TV writer. Buy this book and throw out everything else. Period. --Chris Ruppenthal, coexecutive producer, The Outer Limits

About the Author

Lawrence Meyers is a screenwriter and producer. He has written for numerous television series, including Picket Fences and The Pretender. He is the author of Teacher of the Year: The Mystery and Legacy of Edwin Barlow.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press (June 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081563241X
• ISBN-13: 978-0815632412
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #411,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Meyers studied with Edwin Barlow in his senior year at Horace Greeley High School, where his classmate found him to be such an incredible geek they facetiously voted him "Most Likely to Become a Chippendale".
Ignoring this recommendation, Larry instead enrolled in Cornell University's School of Engineering the following autumn to study chemical engineering, eventually transferring to the School of Arts & Sciences to pursue the vastly more simple degree of Chemistry. Although he garnered a great deal of knowledge in advanced mathematics, organic chem and physics, Larry discovered his categorical imperative lay in the arts.

Prior to graduation, he studied film production and criticism, later graduating with a B.A. in Chemistry, holding a diploma in one hand and a movie camera in the other.

Following graduation, Larry enjoyed a six-month sabbatical backpacking through the United States and Western Europe, absorbing the life experiences a would-be storyteller requires. He then settled in Los Angeles to attend USC's prestigious School of Cinematic Arts. While there, he studied under Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Contact, Beowulf) and producer Lynda Obst (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Abandon, Sleepless in Seattle), both of whom were instrumental in launching his screenwriting career.

From 1992 to 2005, Larry wrote 23 hours, and produced over 60 hours, of dramatic television programming across all genres. These shows included Picket Fences, The Pretender, Roar, When I Grow Up, The Outer Limits, Andromeda, The Net, and Crossing Jordan. He also sold two feature film scripts, Superkids (with Stan Lee as producer), and 1001 Nights (with Toby Jaffe as producer). He also consulted on the groundbreaking documentary feature Villisca: Living with a Mystery.

In 2005, however, Larry sensed a monumental change coming in the world of media. Programming had become homogenized. Nobody took risks anymore. Audiences were leaving network television and movie theaters for the internet. The time had come to develop passion projects.

During this period, he wrote two books. The first is his biography on Mister Barlow. The second is a virtual round-table of interviews with television's top writer-producers, discussing their creative process and the collision between art and commerce. This book, Inside the TV Writer's Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television can be purchased right here on Amazon, at www.tvwritersroom.com, or from the Syracuse University Press.

Larry also wrote for the irreverent educational financial website, The Motley Fool. While there, he penned over 100 articles, focusing on sectors including Hotel REITs, leisure, manufacturing, financial services, and small-cap investing.

He became the first U.S. journalist to comprehensively cover the companies and stocks in the short-term consumer lending sector and became one of the leading analysts for the sector. In 2006, he co-founded a private equity venture, PDL Capital Inc. Larry also acts as expert consultant on Credit Services Organizations in Texas, often edits congressional testimony for payday lenders across the nation, and pens groundbreaking news and analysis for BigGovernment.com, BigJournalism.Com, BigHollywood.com, and BigPeace.com

Lawrence Meyers is a veteran writer-producer of dramatic television. He has written for Picket Fences, The Pretender, The Outer Limits, Early Edition, and Crossing Jordan, among others. He also devotes part of his time to entrepreneurial efforts in the fields of finance and entertainment.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feast for those wanting to write in TV, July 14, 2010

By 

Joseph Lindsey "Joseph Lindsey" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside the TV Writer's Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television (Television and Popular Culture) (Hardcover)

I once found myself on bar stool in Hollywood seated next to the writer Elmore Leonard, eventually striking up a conversation I told him how much I enjoyed his work and of my own desire to write but that my spelling and grammar was so bad I never bothered to start. He looked me up and down with disgust and said, "That's got nothing to do with writing." He finished his drink and left me with those words. Elmore Leonard freed me that day and set me on the path of a writing life.

What I didn't have was any experience writing in Hollywood or a road map of how to go about getting such knowledge. That is what Lawrence Meyers new book, Inside the TV Writer's Room, does; it sets one free onto an honest road of what it takes to write TV in Hollywood. The book talks directly to you from the inside out and lets you know it's okay to be yourself. In fact, the book insist that you be yourself and guides you in finding your own voice.

From the start, you know you're not reading another book by some hack TV writer whose credits are two episodes of Gilligan's Island when in the introduction; Mr. Meyers challenges the reader with this opening:

...aspiring television writers are asking how to break into the television business. They are asking the wrong question. The real answer to knowing how is to ask why and what.

Chapters that follow Mr. Meyers honest opening are not only insightful but instructional as well, asking you a series of how questions not from a professorial tone, but from the answers given to Mr. Myers from his group of seasoned writers. This all leads the reader to practical advice for succeeding in TV.

What is so great about Inside the TV Writer's Room is that it's less a monologue of instruction from a veteran of the TV writing world as Mr. Meyers is, and more a journey of those who write in TV now and how they got there. Mr. Myers has edited the book in such a way that it gives the reader the feel of being invited to a dinner party with some of Hollywood's top TV talent. And what a feast it is as these highly accomplished TV writers carve up not only where they came from and how they got where they are today, but also share some secrets. Writers who have credits ranging from Chicago Hope, to Star Trek, to CSI: Miami discuss writing for TV in an honest and open tone. That's something a rookie writer trying to find his way in Hollywood will rarely get face to face. Reading the book one gets the sense these writers genuinely like not only what they do, but also each other. I found that comforting in what is widely known to be a cutthroat business.

What makes Inside the TV Writers Room fun, (and I've never read a book on writing that was fun like this one is) is that in each chapter Mr. Meyers gives you a short list of suggested TV episodes to watch that correspond with the chapter you are about to read. I took this instruction to heart and watched episodes from shows as diverse as The Unit written by David Mamet, Deadwood by David Milch, and an episode of Six Feet Under by Alan Ball. Viewing those shows gave me a greater point of reference and insight into what the discussion was about and how it plays out when it goes from concept, to paper to performance.

It's in the realm of performance that Mr. Meyers really gets it when it comes to writing, because he tells you that knowing the actors process is key to crafting the written word for the actor. When Mr. Myers talks of actor/writer Frank Military he says, "Frank Military became a successful actor because of his ability to sweep the thought aside. The same is true as to how he became a successful writer."

Sweep the thought aside. That is without a doubt the best piece of advice I have ever read when it comes to not only acting, but also writing. Not knowing what the actor goes through with the writers words is akin to trying to find your way in the dark with a flashlight that hold no batteries. As a former actor, I always found it frustrating when trying to explain to writers where I was coming from, because most of them just didn't get it. Mr. Meyers understand this and for that reason more than once in the book he suggests that writers take acting lessons. With insight like that this book will surely sent you on the right path to writing for TV whether your spelling and grammar is proper or not.

If you want to write for TV, Inside the TV Writer's Room is the book for you, it cares about your outcome because it doesn't simply just tell you how, it helps you find out why and what you should be doing to get to that how.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with clear, winning instructions perfect for an aspiring TV writer or college-level libraries catering to them, September 11, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside the TV Writer's Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television (Television and Popular Culture) (Hardcover)

INSIDE THE TV WRITER'S ROOM: PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR SUCCEEDING IN TELEVISION collects interviews with some of today's top episodic writers and explores the artists' keys to succeeding in the television writing world. From compromises on creative efforts to how to start writing and find a unique focus, this is packed with clear, winning instructions perfect for an aspiring TV writer or college-level libraries catering to them!