Television drama has come to rival cinema in its sophisticated narrative form and high production values. At the heart of this success is the television writer, and TV has become the home of some of the most exciting and high quality writing. In a series of original interviews, showrunners and writers from some of the biggest American TV dramas of recent years share their experiences and practices of the 'writers' room', on shows such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men and Game of Thrones. Christina Kallas frames these insider insights with an astute overview of the writer's instrumental role in the rise of sophisticated TV narrative, and concluding reflections which will be invaluable to writers, critics and fans alike.

Television drama has come to rival cinema in its sophisticated narrative form and high production values. At the heart of this success is the television writer, and TV has become the home of some of the most exciting and high quality writing. In a series of original interviews, showrunners and writers from some of the biggest American TV dramas of recent years share their experiences and practices of the 'writers' room', on shows such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men and Game of Thrones. Christina Kallas frames these insider insights with an astute overview of the writer's instrumental role in the rise of sophisticated TV narrative, and concluding reflections which will be invaluable to writers, critics and fans alike.

Writers' rooms can be a heaven or hell,depending on a few things. The best rooms foster inclusive and productivecreative flow. The worst create a toxic stew of bad feelings and doubt. Bothkinds and everything in between require basic knowledge of how the room works.These fundamentals are best learned before you go in. The mystery box of thewriters' room need not stay sealed shut forever. Consider this book yourcrowbar.

Charlotte Wood's online journal The Writer's Room has become essential reading for writers at all stages of their careers, and also pure reading pleasure for booklovers everywhere. Charlotte's interviews with a wide range of well-known writers range in topic from the subject matter of the writers' work to quite intricate - and intimate - revelations about the ways in which they work. Charlotte's subjects are frank about the failures and successes, the struggles and triumphs of the writing life, and extremely generous in their revelations. A must-read for writers and readers. 'For writers, an indispensable resource; for readers, a pure pleasure.' - Geordie Williamson, chief literary critic, The Australian 'It's The Paris Review for Australians - how lucky we are to have it.' - Tegan Bennett Daylight, literary critic; author Six Bedrooms, Safety, What Falls Away 'These interviews have consistently provided me with the the best descriptions of a writer's craft I could hope to find. Invaluable.' - Sophie Cunningham, author Bird and Geography 'Lets its readers eavesdrop on the best of conversations - erudite, interesting, always inspirational.' - Ashley Hay, author The Railwayman's Wife 'Interviews of grit and stamina - real talk between two adult writers about the hard yards of writing. There's never an issue that doesn't provide an insight worth bottling.' - Ailsa Piper, author Sinning Across Spain

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 they 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.

What does it take to go from being a fan to professional television writer? For the first time outside of the UCLA Extension Writers' Programme classrooms, TV writers whose many produced credits include The Simpsons, House M.D., and Pretty Little Liars take aspiring writers through the process of writing their first spec script for an on-air series, creating one-hour drama and sitcom pilots that break out from the pack, and revising scripts to meet pro standards. Learn how to launch and sustain a writing career and get a rare, intimate look inside the yearlong process of creating, selling, and getting a TV show made. Edited by writers' program director Linda Venis, Inside the Room is the ultimate guide to writing one's way into the Writers Guild of America. "Venis corrals an accessible and useful guide for anyone with the dream and the drive who needs to know, practically, what to do. An engaging and helpful how-to for hopeful TV writers or anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of this ephemeral art." - Kirkus Reviews

Charlotte Wood's online journal The Writer's Room has become essential reading for writers at all stages of their careers, and also pure reading pleasure for booklovers everywhere. Charlotte's interviews with a wide range of well-known writers range in topic from the subject matter of the writers' work to quite intricate - and intimate - revelations about the ways in which they work. Charlotte's subjects are frank about the failures and successes, the struggles and triumphs of the writing life, and extremely generous in their revelations.

In 2016 Rick Wood independently published his first novel. 18 months later, he handed his notice in to his day job and achieved his dream of becoming a full-time author. What's more, he did it writing horror books - supposedly one of the toughest genres to make a living off. A few months later, his book The Sensitives became an Amazon US #1 bestseller. That's when he decided to give something back and created Rick Wood's Writer's Room - a website full of resources on writing and publishing to help other aspiring writers achieve their dream. This is a collection of all of those resources in one neat and handy book. What types editors do you use? How do you write an action scene? What advertising platforms are there for an independent publisher? Find out the answers to these questions and more in The Writer's Room...

Barb Young has accepted an invitation from her new friend, retired detective John Mayne, to spend a week at a rural mansion in the Southern Highlands. Mayne is acting as the 'Crime Consultant' for a writers' room, tasked with turning late author Clara Jenkins's bestselling, prize-winning novel into a television series. Clara drowned 20 years ago, just after finishing the book, and her four best friends, now running a successful production company, are writing and producing the series. To add to this mix is Clara's son, also a writer, and representatives from the streaming service Gorge, financiers of the series. When one of the members of the writers' room is found dead at the bottom of a nearby cliff, the police consider it a tragic accident. However, Barb and Mayne aren't so sure and decide to start digging. But even they are not prepared for what they are about to discover ...

A professional TV writer's real-world guide to getting paid to write great television "No need for me to ever write a book on TV writing. Alex Epstein has covered it all . . . along with a few things I wouldn't have thought of. Save yourself five years of rookie mistakes. Crafty TV Writing and talent are pretty much all you'll need to make it." —Ken Levine, writer/producer, MASH, Cheers, Frasier, The Simpsons, Wings, Becker Everyone watches television, and everyone has an opinion on what makes good TV. But, as Alex Epstein shows in this invaluable guide, writing for television is a highly specific craft that requires knowledge, skill, and more than a few insider's tricks. Epstein, a veteran TV writer and show creator himself, provides essential knowledge about the entire process of television writing, both for beginners and for professionals who want to go to the next level. Crafty TV Writing explains how to decode the hidden structure of a TV series. It describes the best ways to generate a hook, write an episode, create characters the audience will never tire of, construct entertaining dialogue, and use humor. It shows how to navigate the tough but rewarding television industry, from writing your first "spec" script, to getting hired to work on a show, to surviving—even thriving—if you get fired. And it illuminates how television writers think about the shows they're writing, whether they're working in comedy, drama, or "reality." Fresh, funny, and informed, Crafty TV Writing is the essential guide to writing for and flourishing in the world of television.