The Writers Panel

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The Writers Panel An informal chat about the process and business of writing. Hosted by Ben Blacker, co-creator of the Thrilling Adventure Hour.

Has written for CW's Supernatural and Nickelodeon's Supah Ninjas, in addition to developing pilots for various entities.

The creator and showrunner of Apple TV's THE BIG CIGAR on today's episode, discussing the responsibility of telling true...
04/06/2024

The creator and showrunner of Apple TV's THE BIG CIGAR on today's episode, discussing the responsibility of telling true stories, working on multiple projects, the state of the industry, and more.
https://benblacker.substack.com/p/the-big-cigar

A terrific conversation in today's podcast with the writer and director of The Omen prequel, The First Omen. They talk a...
21/05/2024

A terrific conversation in today's podcast with the writer and director of The Omen prequel, The First Omen. They talk about bringing their perspective to a beloved franchise, body horror, David Lynch, their writing process, THAT image from the movie, and more.
https://benblacker.substack.com/p/the-first-omen

In today's episode, writer/director Ned Benson (The Greatest Hits; The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) discusses writing...
14/05/2024

In today's episode, writer/director Ned Benson (The Greatest Hits; The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) discusses writing an earnest love story, writing through the lens of a director, the delusions of belief, when to let go, and more.
https://benblacker.substack.com/p/ned-benson-the-greatest-hits

In today's newsletter, Apples Never Fall creator Melanie Marnich (who also wrote for The OA, FX series: A murder at the ...
03/05/2024

In today's newsletter, Apples Never Fall creator Melanie Marnich (who also wrote for The OA, FX series: A murder at the End of the world, and more) answers six questions and talks about balancing research with writing, taking notes + more.

Join Melanie this Sunday 2pm PT for a live Zoom Q&A! Details: https://benblacker.substack.com/p/6-questions-with-melanie-marnich

A truly can't-miss episode today with Aron Eli Coleite (creator, The Spiderwick Chronicles; Locke and Key; Heroes) on di...
30/04/2024

A truly can't-miss episode today with Aron Eli Coleite (creator, The Spiderwick Chronicles; Locke and Key; Heroes) on dialogue and action, helpful Aron-isms, our goldfish attention spans, key differences between TV and movie writing, why development takes so long now + lots more.
https://benblacker.substack.com/p/aron-eli-coleite-spiderwick-chronicles

There's nothing on TV, so we're making new episodes of old shows. Our second RETROSPECS was a blast, with an incredible ...
24/04/2024

There's nothing on TV, so we're making new episodes of old shows. Our second RETROSPECS was a blast, with an incredible cast and terrific scripts -- a (gender swapped) The Big Bang Theory by Helen Shang and The West Wing by Marc Guggenheim.

You can stream the whole thing til Sunday if you're interested: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421

Next show is 5/19 2pm. We're doing a Seinfeld that David Iserson (New Girl) wrote when he was 17 (and which is really good!) and a Succession by everyone's favorite parody villain, Fake Carol Lombardini (which is also a terrific script).
Tix for that one: https://tinyurl.com/Retro519

We're doing another RETROSPECS live read this Sunday, 2pm, in Frogtown with another bananas cast. Would love to see some...
18/04/2024

We're doing another RETROSPECS live read this Sunday, 2pm, in Frogtown with another bananas cast. Would love to see some of you there! Tix: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421

You can also watch live or stream for a week. Same link.
We're doing a The West Wing by Marc Guggenheim and a The Big Bang Theory by Helen Shang. Both great!

Starring Debby Ryan, Jason George (Station 19), Katie Cassidy, Jim Beaver, Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), John ross bowie, Kiran Deol, Raymond Lee, Olivia Scott Welch, Ricky Hurtado, Demi Adejuyigbe, Marc Evan Jackson, The West Wing Weekly's Hrishikesh Hirway, Joel Spence, and more great folks.

Exciting cast additions to Sunday's Retrospecs live show! Debby Ryan (Suite Life On Deck), Jim Beaver (Supernatural), De...
15/04/2024

Exciting cast additions to Sunday's Retrospecs live show! Debby Ryan (Suite Life On Deck), Jim Beaver (Supernatural), Demi Adejuyigbe (The Good Place) and Jason Winston George (Station 19) join the previous announced cast, including Sherry Cola, Katie Cassidy, Olivia Scott Welch, John ross bowie, Kiran Deol, and more!

Performing episodes of The West Wing and The Big Bang Theory!

Get tix now.
Attend live or stream: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421

The brilliant AMY ANIOBI (Insecure; Silicon Valley) answers 6 Questions with great advice on writing for yourself, treat...
11/04/2024

The brilliant AMY ANIOBI (Insecure; Silicon Valley) answers 6 Questions with great advice on writing for yourself, treating writing as a job, and lots more.

Join Amy this Sunday 4/14 11am PT for our live Zoom Q&A! Details in the post: https://benblacker.substack.com/p/6-questions-with-amy-aniobi

First cast announcement for the April 21 RETROSPECS show! Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), Brandon Routh (Superman Retu...
28/03/2024

First cast announcement for the April 21 RETROSPECS show!

Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, Katie Cassidy (Arrow), Kiran Deol (Destroy All Neighbors), Ricardo Hurtado (School of Rock), and Hrishikesh Hirway (The West Wing Weekly; Song Exploder) perform a "NEW" The West Wing by Marc Guggenheim (co-creator of Arrow) and The Big Bang Theory by Helen Shang ( The Lord of the Rings on Prime).

Get your tickets NOW: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421

Our first Retrospecs show was an absolute blast! Casts were amazing, scripts were hilarious, and we had a lovely, fun cr...
18/03/2024

Our first Retrospecs show was an absolute blast! Casts were amazing, scripts were hilarious, and we had a lovely, fun crowd. Thanks to everyone who came out.

Next show is Sunday, April 21 2-4pm at The Elysian. We're doing a The West Wing spec by Arrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim and a The Big Bang Theory spec by Helen Shang (Hawai'i 5.0)!
Get your tickets now: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421

If you've been putting off getting tickets for Sunday's inaugural Retrospecs show, stop doing that. It's going to be a f...
14/03/2024

If you've been putting off getting tickets for Sunday's inaugural Retrospecs show, stop doing that. It's going to be a fun show with a killer cast. Lookitem!
Tix: https://tinyurl.com/Retro317

Ben Blacker is starting up a new live script read show that fans of Writers Panel and Dead Pilots Society will surely en...
06/03/2024

Ben Blacker is starting up a new live script read show that fans of Writers Panel and Dead Pilots Society will surely enjoy.

In Retrospecs, great actors read early, fun, great, (embarrassing?) spec scripts from pro writers when they were starting out.

First show is March 17, 2-4pm PT and features a Mad About You spec Ben write in 1997! And Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine; One Day at a Time) offers up the GIRLS spec that got her into the NBC program.

Terrific cast that includes Victoria Moroles, Raymond Lee, Vella Lovell, and more!
Tickets (live and streaming/VOD) and cast info here: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/retrospecs

You heard from his partner last week, now hear from Harley Quinn co-creator and Abbott Elementary EP (and Bleep My Dad S...
01/03/2024

You heard from his partner last week, now hear from Harley Quinn co-creator and Abbott Elementary EP (and Bleep My Dad Says originator) Justin Halpern in today's newsletter.
Join Justin and Patrick Schumacker this Sunday for the live Zoom Q&A in which you'll ask the Q's!
Info: https://benblacker.substack.com/p/6-questions-with-justin-halpern

In today's episode, writer/director J Blakeson (Culprits; I Care A Lot) talks about The Disappearance of Alice Creed, wr...
27/02/2024

In today's episode, writer/director J Blakeson (Culprits; I Care A Lot) talks about The Disappearance of Alice Creed, writing crime stories, why he dislikes Final Draft + more.
Also: an interview with Ben and some movie recs!
https://benblacker.substack.com/p/writerdirector-j-blakeson

In today's Re:Writing, Patrick Schumacker (co-creator, Harley Quinn, Kiteman. Hell yeah.; EP, Abbott Elementary) answers...
23/02/2024

In today's Re:Writing, Patrick Schumacker (co-creator, Harley Quinn, Kiteman. Hell yeah.; EP, Abbott Elementary) answers questions about the state of TV, gives a tip to break in, tells you what to write as a staffing sample + more. https://benblacker.substack.com/p/6-questions-with-patrick-schumacker
Paid subscribers: ask YOUR q's of Schumacker + Just Halpern March 3 via Zoom!

The great Ed Solomon (Men In Black; Bill and Ted; three Steven Soderbergh collabs) is back on the pod with more great ad...
13/02/2024

The great Ed Solomon (Men In Black; Bill and Ted; three Steven Soderbergh collabs) is back on the pod with more great advice on objective + subjective storytelling, choosing a career path, switching gears from comedy to crime, rewriting, listening to the voice of your inner GPS + lots more.
https://benblacker.substack.com/p/ed-solomon-returns

Should have posted this episode last year. Maybe we could have saved the show! Anyway, it's a really great chat with Our...
16/01/2024

Should have posted this episode last year. Maybe we could have saved the show! Anyway, it's a really great chat with Our Flag Means Death creator David Jenkins about his background in theater, how he thinks of comedy, stakes, staffing his shows, people touching his face, and more.
Listen/subscribe: https://benblacker.substack.com/p/our-flag-means-death-creator-david

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