Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients (Gardner's Guide series) [Paperback]

Dee LaDuke (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gardner's Guide series | Publication Date: March 22, 2004

Great television series all share the same salient factors that separate them from the pack. What do The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Sopranos, and other great television series have in common? Four Essential Ingredients.

There has never been enough good television to satisfy hungry viewers and advertisers. Every year, studios spend millions of dollars developing a fresh slate of programs for the new season, but only a fraction of what is developed actually gets on the air. The simple steps outlined in this book help clarify which projects are most likely to be written as pilot scripts, produced, and ultimately given a series order. Making Great Television presents a new twist on the old notion of formulaic television. By analyzing the best television has given us, a new formula emerges—the four essential ingredients common to all successful television series: Immediacy, The Mirror, Character, and Time. Great comedy, drama, half hour, or miniseries can utilize this New and Improved Hollywood Formula.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dee LaDuke identifies the crucial ingredients of creating great television programming." -- David Janollari, Executive Producer, Six Feet Under

"Read this book and then go do what she says. And hurry, have you seen what’s out there?" -- Norma Vela, Co-Executive Producer, Life With Bonnie

About the Author

Dee LaDuke recently completed her fourth season on the UPN series Girlfriends where she served as Executive Producer and is currently Consulting Producer. She has co-created and produced numerous pilots such as the series Reunited, also for UPN, and was Supervising Producer for Designing Women. She has also co-created several TV movies including Jackie’s Back for Lifetime. She began her career at Nickelodeon where she helped develop programming including the game show Double Dare. She currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and son.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Garth Gardner Company (March 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589650182
• ISBN-13: 978-1589650183
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,688,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immediacy; The Mirror; Character; and Time, July 16, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients (Gardner's Guide series) (Paperback)

Dee LaDuke has now completed her fourth season on the UPN series "Girlfriends" where she served as Executive Producer, and is currently Consulting Producer. She has co-created and produced a number of pilots for UPN, and was the Supervising Producer for the hit series "Designing Women. In Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients, LaDuke draws upon her years of experience and expertise to help aspiring television scriptwriters and producers a formula comprised of four essential ingredients common to all successful television series: Immediacy; The Mirror; Character; and Time. This formula applies to comedy, drama, half-hour programs or multiple episode miniseries. Making Great Television is not only recommended for aspiring professionals, but will prove to be of immense intrinsic interest to dedicated television fans as well.