Podcast appearances and mentions of linda bloodworth thomason

I love to talk TV and I really enjoy every exchange with Susan and Sharon, otherwise known as the 80s TV Ladies. When their podcast, 80s TV Ladies, launched, they invited me to be a guest. It was a blast and over the last two years, the two podcasts have furthered a shared exploration of how women have been represented on television and the impact that representation has had on society as a whole and females, of all ages, in particular. Like Advanced TV Herstory, their show features interviews and analyzes the work of women both in front of and behind the camera. Our podcasts aim to help listeners understand how our culture shapes the television shows we watch and, in turn, how those shows shape our culture. Listen in on this engaging and informative look behind the scenes as we discuss the motivations, joys, and challenges of creating podcasts that highlight the contributions of women in television. 80s TV LADIES   Contacts Website – 80s TV Ladies - https://www.80stvladies.com/  Website – 134 West - https://134west.biz/  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/80sTVLadies/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/80stvladies/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@80stvladies  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/80sTVLadies   Awards 2024 Women in Podcasting, Nominee in Entertainment – VOTE at https://womeninpodcasting.net/80s-tv-ladies/     2024 Webby Award – Best Indie Podcast   2023 People's Choice Podcast Awards - Best Art, Best TV & Film, Best Female Hosted    MENTIONS   Podcast Episodes 80s TV Ladies (24 May 2023) – Advanced TV Herstory w/ Cynthia Bemis Abrams, Part One - https://www.80stvladies.com/episode/episode-201-welcome-to-season-2-advanced-tv-herstory-w-cynthia-bemis-abram-part-1   80s TV Ladies (31 May 2023) – Advanced TV Herstory w/ Cynthia Bemis Abrams, Part Two - https://www.80stvladies.com/episode/episode-202-advanced-tv-herstory-aw-cynthia-bemis-abrams-part-two   Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus (11 Apr 2023) – Jane Fonda on Female Friendships - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jane-fonda-on-female-friendships/id1678559416?i=1000608248297   Shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cagney and Lacey, China Beach, Designing Women, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Grey's Anatomy, Lou Grant, My So-Called Life, Murphy Brown, Remington Steele, and Scarecrow and Mrs. King    People Annie Potts, Barney Rosenzweig, Diane English, Eilish Zebrasky, Eugenie Ross-Leming, Geena Davis, Jean Smart, Juanita Bartlett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Melissa Roth, Neema Barnette, Sergio Perez, Sharon Gless, Shonda Rhimes, Stephanie Zimbalist, and Tyne Daly    Books  Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlash:_The_Undeclared_War_Against_American_Women    Lou Grant: The Making of TV's Top Newspaper Drama by Douglass K. Daniel – https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/288376.Douglass_K_Daniel    CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS AND ATVH ATVH Newsletter – tvherstory.com Website - https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/  Podcast Archive - tvherstory.com Email - advancedtvherstory@gmail.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/advancedtvherstory/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory X (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/tvherstory Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Media.Cynthia Bluesky Social - https://bsky.app/profile/cynthiabemisabrams.bsky.social PRODUCTION Video - Nivia Lopez - https://nivialopez.com/ Audio - Marilou Marosz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariloumarosz/ Music - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/  

Is “Reservations for Eight” your favorite or LEAST favorite episode of “Designing Women”? How can a simple television comedy cause us to dive into a deep discussion of First Wave Feminism? Yes, it's time for the 90's TV Babies to weigh in on Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's Designing Women.Serita Fontanesi, Sergio Perez and Megan Ruble were given the assignment: Watch nine seminal episodes of the series, from the first season to the last, that feature all seven main cast members -- and be prepared to discuss. Find out who loved it, who hated it – and who wants a reboot!Here are the episodes they watched – in case you want to check them out, too:S1, EP1: “The Pilot”S1, EP2: “The Beauty Contest”S2, EP22: “Reservations For Eight”S4, EP11: “They Shoot Fat Woman, Don't They?”S6, EP8: “The Strange Case of Clarence and Anita”S7, EP1: “Of Human Bondage”S7, EP7: “Fools Rush In”S7, EP 18: “It's Not So Easy Being Green”S7, EP 20: “A Difficult Cross To Bear” (a.k.a. “The Lying Game)THE CONVERSATIONCan Serita, Sergio and Megan agree what makes the best Thanksgiving sides?Did Designing Women help invent First Wave Feminism?Was Anthony straight? Gay? Gay coded? Or just Southern?A 90's TV Babies drinking game?? It's on. Let's go!Shipping Anthony and… Julia? Okaaaaaaaay…Did Sheryl Lee Ralph confront Harry Thomason at a political event for the Clintons – and end up with a role on the show?Cos-playing Mary Jo? Megan's considering it…SERITA ON DELTA: How discussions of body image issues have – and haven't -- changed over the past 30 years.Sharon and Megan could NOT be further apart when it comes to their feelings for “Reservations for Eight” (S2, EP22)THE LEVEL OF DISCOURSE: What the show got right in its political discussions and comedy – and what hasn't aged as well.So join Susan and Sharon – and Megan and Sergio and Serita – as they talk sweet potato mash, big Texas hair, RuPaul's Drag Race, Beyoncé – and “the 11:00 o'clock rant”!AUDIOGRAPHYWatch Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!Read the 2016 MTV News article on "Confirmation" and The Strange Case of Clarence and Anita.Watch Ladies of the 80's: A Divas Christmas on Lifetime. THE 90s TV BABIESListen to Serita Fontanesi's podcast: Not Ugly Pod. Also on Apple Podcasts and Goodpods. A weekly podcast challenging traditional colonial beauty standards one conversation at a time. CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Follow 8TL on Facebook.Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.Find more cool pods on WeirdingWayMedia.LISTENER FEEDBACKSend us a message on our 8TL website:What modern day show talks to current events in ways similar to Designing Women? When the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings were taking place, did any scripted show – comedy or drama – do an episode highlighting their characters' reactions?And let us know: Do you watch holiday movies? Where do you watch them? What are your favorites?What are your favorite episodes of Designing Women? And what do you prefer: mashed potatoes or rice pilaf?Have a beautiful Holiday season!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

Susan and Sharon continue their discussion with the creator of Designing Women, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (also Evening Shade, Hearts Afire, Filthy Rich, and more!).In Part Two of their conversation, Linda touches on the challenges of television production, her experiences with Dixie Carter, Delta Burke's struggles on the show -- and the differences between the north and south.THE CONVERSATIONLOVE IS IN THE AIR: We get the inside scoop on the real-life romances between the cast members of Designing Women and their male co-stars.When CBS refused to cast Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker – and only changed their minds three days before the pilot was shot!How Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker's mother was almost played by Elizabeth Taylor!DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH: How Linda and casting director Fran Bascom discovered Jean Smart and Annie Potts -- playing a pair of Arkansas diamond thieves… in Amsterdam?!?The president of CBS actually apologized for Designing Women at the network upfronts in New York – and was booed by the press who had seen the pilot and loved it!“KILLING ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE”: How a comment Linda overheard while caring for her mother who was dying of AIDS led her to write one of her most memorable scripts.SEND THE MESSENGER! Most of the first season scripts were written by Linda on the weekend before they were shot.The telegram Oprah Winfrey sent Linda that she still has to this day.“RESERVATIONS FOR EIGHT” – this “Battle of the Sexes” episode is a favorite of Sharon's – and Linda's!So join Susan and Sharon – and Linda – as they talk therapy, Dolly Parton, southern racism -- and Designing Women: The Play!BONUS EPISODE COMING: Find us THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1st --With special guest, television writer/producer Stan Zimmerman (“Gilmore Girls” “Golden Girls”), talking about “The Girls”, working with Rosanne, Betty White, and most recently – writing the new Lifetime Network movie, Ladies of the 80's: A Diva's Christmas!AUDIOGRAPHYRead Linda's 2018 Hollywood Reporter column: Not All Harassment is SexualRead Linda's 2017 Hollywood Reporter column: Lessons From Witnessing Four Decades of Harassment in HollywoodStream Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!The Facebook page: Facebook.com/DesigningWomenOfficialRead Designing Women producer/director Harry Thomason's autobiography:“Brother Dog: Southern Tales and Hollywood Adventures” on Amazon.Read Linda Bloodworth Thomason's romantic Southern novel, “Liberating Paris” - on Amazon.CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Follow 8TL on Facebook.Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.BEST FEMALE HOSTED - BEST TV & FILM - BEST ART PODCAST80's TV Ladies WON three People's Choice Podcast Awards!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

Susan and Sharon are honored to speak with the creator and writer of Designing Women, Linda Bloodworth Thomason. Novelist, playwright, documentary filmmaker and philanthropist, Linda is a five-time Emmy Award nominee who has created, written and produced such signature hits as "Evening Shade", "Hearts Afire", "Women of the House" and "Filthy Rich".Her TV writing career began with episodes of classic shows including "Rhoda", "Paper Moon" and "MASH". In a career spanning six decades, Linda Bloodworth Thomason is known for her singular style, mixing humor with serious topics; her lovable, outspoken characters; her unique blending of the romantic and the political, and her indelible portrait of the modern South.In Part One of a wide-ranging conversation, Linda touches on her early days working with TV legends James L. Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and Norman Lear; her astonishing success with Designing Women; living through – and writing about – historic times, and the challenged state of feminism in 2023.THE CONVERSATIONBUILDING THE PERFECT CAST: How legendary casting director Fran Bascom helped Linda nab everyone from Burt Reynolds to Delta Burke to John Ritter – and discover future Oscar winners Billy Bob Thornton and Hilary Swank!Bringing the Southern accent back to primetime TV – by way of Dixie Carter's eloquent, melodic voice. And wait, how did Susan lose her accent, anyway?All of the original four Designing Women were from the South and used their real, regional accent – except one. Can you guess who??A BOOK OF VERSE, A JUG OF WINE AND THOU -- Jimmy Carter's romantic nights at the White House with First Lady Rosalynn!The Designing Women Foundation (also known as The Claudia Foundation) – started with Linda's income from Designing Women under the umbrella of The Claudia Foundation to honor of her mother, Claudia Bloodworth. The Foundation provides scholarships and opportunities for young women in Southeast Missouri.BENEVOLENT MASCULINITY: How a certain kind of Southern man became a new archetype on Linda's shows: “Find yourself a jock who also reads poetry and loves his mother.”A GIRL, A CANOE AND THE WORLD: How a canoe from her father changed Linda's life – giving her the courage to discover herself and the world by exploring the Current River in Missouri.DARKNESS AND LIGHT: Finding out that Designing Women was picked up to series on the same day as finding out that her mom had AIDS from a blood transfusion."What's Happened to Women?" Podcast - How the next generation of women is facing our culture's onslaught of misogyny and greed with kindness and equality – and how we can help.So join Susan and Sharon – and Linda – as they talk The Idol, Shakespeare, the KKK – and Hilary Clinton's mom! AUDIOGRAPHYCheck out the fan website: Designing Women Online. Stream Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!The Facebook page: Facebook.com/DesigningWomenOfficialFind more cool podcasts at Weirding Way Media.Visit our friends Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess at their podcast “Astonishing Legends".CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.BEST FEMALE HOSTED - BEST TV & FILM - BEST ART PODCAST80's TV Ladies WON three People's Choice Podcast Awards!NOMINATED80s TV Ladies is shortlisted for an International Women's Podcast Award!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

“She didn't twirl just a baton. That baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, further, faster than any baton has ever flown before, hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks!” - Julia SugarbakerSusan and Sharon continue “‘Designing Women' November” with an episode devoted to the actresses – all seven of them – who played all those outspoken Southern Women! We're talking the Original Fab Four: Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Jean Smart and Annie Potts – PLUS the three cast members that joined up later in the run: Jan Hooks, Julia Duffy and Judith Ivy.With audio clips from the show, we'll learn about each of the women, who they are, what they stand for (and what they won't stand for), and how each of the actresses carved out a special place for themselves and their characters in a show that was designed to be all about women!THE CONVERSATIONWho was Number One on the call sheet at Designing Women?Delta Burke was born in Orlando, Florida – and was named “Miss Flame” for the Orlando Fire Department!DELTA & GERALD & SIMON & SIMON: Delta Burke met her future husband Gerald McRaney on HIS show “Simon & Simon” – and then she brought him on to HERS…SIX DEGREES OF “REMINGTON STEELE”: How many Designing Women also shared the screen with Steele and Laura? Almost all of them…Julia Duffy shows up Season 6 as Sugarbaker cousin, Alison. Didjaknow? She almost played Diane Chambers on “Cheers” – and appeared later on that show as Diane's best friend!SNL alum Jan Hooks played Carlene – sister to Charlene.MORE SHERYL LEE RALPH! She turns up in Season 7 as Anthony's new wife.Alice Ghostly -- as the hilariously loopy Bernice Clifton – appeared in all 7 seasons!BY THE NUMBERS: How many women behind-the-scenes helped created the show? 20 writers, 6 producers, 3 directors – a significant percentage and huge numbers for the 80s!So join Susan and Sharon as they talk Peter Scolari, “Hacks”, ex-husbands – and our upcoming interview with the creator of Designing Women herself -- Linda Bloodworth-Thomason!AUDIOGRAPHYCheck out the fan website: Designing Women Online. Stream Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!The Facebook page: Facebook.com/DesigningWomenOfficialFind more cool podcasts at our network, Weirding Way Media.For spooky Halloween Season fun, visit our friends Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess at their podcast “Astonishing Legends".CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.BEST FEMALE HOSTED - BEST TV & FILM - BEST ART PODCAST80's TV Ladies WON three People's Choice Podcast Awards!NOMINATED80s TV Ladies is shortlisted for an International Women's Podcast Award!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

Susan and Sharon get to sit down with writer/producer/show-runner Maggie Friedman to talk about the show that inspired her to embark on a career in television: Designing Women.Designing Women (1986-1993) was created by the legendary Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and starred Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Jean Smart, Annie Potts and Meshach Taylor as the owners and staff of the Atlanta-based interior design firm “Sugarbaker & Associates”. In its seven-year run, Designing Women was known for sharp writing, big laughs and taking on issues from a feminist angle in a way that no other show had done before – or since. Maggie Friedman is best known for creating, writing and executive producing Witches of East End for Lifetime Television and Firefly Lane currently on Netflix. She has also written and produced episodes of Dawson's Creek, Jack & Bobby, Once and Again, Wasteland, Spellbound and No Tomorrow.THE CONVERSATIONHow an Ally McBeal spec script got Maggie into a room with Kevin Williamson – and onto the staff of his first show, Dawson's Creek.Maggie set her sights on getting into AFI – and did -- because a mean girl told her she couldn't!HE DID IT/SHE LIED: Those T-Shirts from the Designing Women Anita Hill episode, and the impact it had on Maggie.Which of the Designing Women are you? Sharon is a Julia, but is Susan Mary Jo – or Anthony?“Guns, and AIDS, and condoms – OH MY!” How Designing Women took on all the current issues, that are unfortunately still current today.SPOILER ALERT: What happens when you write HUGE CLIFFHANGERS – and then your show gets cancelled!Big Hair, Big Shoulders! Was the Atlanta of Designing Women accurate? Susan grew up in Georgia -- and has thoughts.Republican Dixie Carter's deal: “For every liberal rant you make Julia say, I get to sing a song!”“Georgia On My Mind”: Ray Charles sings with the Designing Women!Young Susan's brush with fame: Mark Harmon and Peter Scolari – both in one hour!“WOMEN OF THE HOUSE” – the little-known 1995 “sequel” where Suzanne Sugarbaker goes to Congress to fill her late husband's house seat.So join Susan, Sharon – and Maggie – as they talk Jackie Collins, Witches of East End, Scott Bakula, --- and how sexy Richard Hatem is!AUDIOGRAPHYFollow Maggie Friedman on Instagram.Check out the fan website: Designing Women Online. Stream Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!Find more cool podcasts at our network, Weirding Way Media. For spooky Halloween Season fun, visit our friends Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess at their podcast “Astonishing Legends".CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.BEST FEMALE HOSTED - BEST TV & FILM - BEST ART PODCAST80's TV Ladies has WON three People's Choice Podcast Awards!NOMINATED: Best Moment of Raw Emotion80s TV Ladies is nominated for an International Women's Podcast Award!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

John welcomes Alison McDonald (Russian Doll, #BlackAF) and Ryan Knighton (In the Dark, Billions) to reveal the fundamentals and unspoken rules of working in a TV writers room. How did they get the job? How much should new writers talk? What should you wear? How much money do you make? And what's for lunch? Our bonus segment is for everyone this week! John invites Ryan Knighton back to talk about travel writing and the mixed blessings of tourism. Links: The original Episode 368: Advice for a New Staff Writer Alison McDonald on IMDb Ryan Knighton on Twitter The Case Against Travel by Agnes Callard for The New Yorker ‘Designing Women' Creator Goes Public With Les Moonves War: Not All Harassment Is Sexual, a guest column by Linda Bloodworth Thomason for the Hollywood Reporter Succession on HBO Be My Eyes app UCB Training Center Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Instagram John August on Twitter John on Instagram John on Mastodon Outro by Rajesh Naroth (send us yours!) Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Our intern is Halley Lamberson. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode here. The original transcript of this episode can be found here.

This week we tackle questions from our March Webinar titled The Secret To Getting Ahead in Hollywood. We host a webinar every month. Register for the next one using the link below.Show NotesFree Writing Webinar - https://michaeljamin.com/op/webinar-registration/Michael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/courseFree Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/freeJoin My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlistAuto-Generated TranscriptsMichael Jamin:You're listening to Screenwriters Need to hear this with Michael Jamin.Everyone, it's Michael Jamin. Welcome back for another episode of Screenwriters. Need to hear this. We're doing a q and a, another q and a as if you're new here. So at once a month, Phil and I, we do a free webinar on screenwriting. And sometimes we talk about writing, sometimes we talk about breaking into the business. Sometimes we talk about at Get industry types to attend your event that's coming up. Each one, each month is a different topic and it's about an hour long and it's free. But we got a lot of questions at the end and it can only have time to answer so many of them. So here are the ones that I missed. So thank you all for coming, for listening. Here are the ones that I couldn't get to.Phil Hudson:Yeah. And this is for the March webinar. And we also have the April webinar questions to get through too, because oh, weMichael Jamin:Got some many questions. A lot,Phil Hudson:Lot of questions.Michael Jamin:The March webinar, what was on, I'm so sorry Phil, I'm putting you on the spot. What was that one for?Phil Hudson:Let's, let's see if I can pull it off. One second.Michael Jamin:Yeah,Phil Hudson:Pressures on. Ding to, I've got it up. The secret to getting ahead in Hollywood. Four things you must know.Michael Jamin:Yeah, the secret to getting ahead. Okay, so here are the questions. Yeah,Phil Hudson:So hit me, Phil. Now to be clear, there are several, there were a lot of questions here. I mean, there were like 70 questions we didn't get to. That webinar is an hour long and it's dedicated to 15 to 20 minutes of q and a. And you actually, you try to push through a lot of the stuff to get to the questions. And despite that, we still have so many. So I have removed duplicate questions. So in our last episode, doing the February q and a, you answered a bunch of these and there are other questions we've already talked about on the podcast or you have talked about on your social media. So if your question is not here and we don't answer it, apologize. But that's already been discussed pretty in depth. So lots of great content just go to at Michael Jamin writer to learn more or look at past podcast episodes related to your topic because we've covered a lot of this alreadyMichael Jamin:@MichaelJaminWriter on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook.Phil Hudson:So yeah, @MichaelJaminWriter, right?Michael Jamin:Just making sure. No, I'm sorry. I dunno,Phil Hudson:My own name. Mi... Michael Jamin, some other guy.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:So cool. Well, question number one, Robert Cowie asked, is there such a thing as a perfect script or is it in the eye of the beholder?Michael Jamin:No. Such a thing. As a matter. As a matter of fact. And it's a great question. I remember working on, just Shoot Me, this was my first staff writing job. And some of the older, more experienced writers, great writers in that show, people Hall I'll interview on the podcast. They turned a script. And I remember reading it thinking, oh my God, this is hilarious. This is gold. And then they would get notes from the Showrun. I'm like, w w what? Why are they getting, this is perfect. And you can always improve. You could always make it be better or slightly different. The Showrun runner was looking for something a little different, but there's no such thing, no writer ever turned a script. You could be Shakespeare, you would get notes. It's just how it works. So there's no such thing as a perfect script.Phil Hudson:Writing is rewriting, and eventually you reach to a point where you stop because you could just spend forever trying to make it better. And then five years from now, you're going to look back and think, that was horrible. I could have done better. Yeah, because you're progressing in the art, right? Yeah. You use Picasso as an example all the time about mastery. And in the course, I think he even show examples of his work as a teenager moving into his twenties. And then he becomes so good at the rules, he can bend the rules and become something truly unique. And that's the path of mastery in any craft.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And that's actually part of the fear as I was talking to my wife Cynthia this morning, cause I'm putting, getting ready to put my book out, a paper orchestra, and I'm like, once I put it out, I can't stop tinkering with it. I'm done. I no can no longer tinker with it. I'm done. And that's going to be a little difficult for me because I can't, there, there's always things that I wish I could do different when I look it over and it's like, no, you got to let it go. And now she's like, well, that's what your second book is for, is to do things differently in your second book, but you got to let it go at some point.Phil Hudson:Yeah, excellent point. Jenin, Macumba music. And I apologize if I mispronounce that I have a pitch meeting with a big league company. I am terrified. Any tips on how a pitch meeting should go?Michael Jamin:You should pitch them what you think it should be and then you should be open to hearing their ideas and incorporate their ideas and make them feel ownership in it. Because if you say, no, no, no, this is my way, the highway, well, they're not going to have any pride of ownership, but if they bounce an idea off you and they go, oh, and that excites you. Oh, that's interesting. Yes. Even if it is your idea, but they're just rephrasing it. I love that. Make them feel like it's their idea. Make 'em feel like you're being heard, that they're listening, that you're listening to them. That way they will fight more because it's their own, now it's theirs. So they'll fight for it. So 'em in them inPhil Hudson:It's a collaborative medium, despite the fact that you're the writer. It's many hands, lots of people, lots of iterations of it. What gets submitted and is not what you shoot. What you shoot is not necessarily what's going to air because there's editing, there's lots of iterations of this.Michael Jamin:And I tend to fall in love with whatever draft I'm working on, and then we'll get a note that's terrible and I'll do the note and I'm like, oh, this is pretty good because I fall in love with whatever. And then my partner will say, don't you remember how much you hated this note.Phil Hudson:That's so funny. One note, it's a bit of a tangent, but I think is an important note here. You've said in the past what you do when you're doing a new version is every day when you sit down, you save a new draft of your script so that you can always go back and you keep that. That's not directly related to pitching, but I think it does speak to keeping your versions so that you can see how it changes and grow and go back.Michael Jamin:Yeah, that's a good point. I'm going to talk more about that. But the truth is, I save him to make myself feel better, but I almost never look at 'em. I almost never go back to them. ButPhil Hudson:Glad whenMichael Jamin:You have to allows me the, but it gives me the freedom to tear it apart. I go, I still have it, I have it. If I want it now, I can just tear it apart and feel good. But if I didn't save it, I probably wouldn't want to let go of it.Phil Hudson:Yeah, it's playing. That's what your wife taught me in acting classes we're we're going to play. Yeah, right. Cool. Bobby Kin, excuse me, Bobby Kenon, any thoughts for making the transition from playwriting to screenwriting or television writing?Michael Jamin:Well, it's good for you that you're doing that story. Story. What difference does it make whether you put it on a stage or a screen, a large screen or a small screen, who cares? It's funny, when I'm writing for television, do you think I care if someone watches it on 40 inch television or on their six inch iPhone? Do I care? It doesn't change the way I'm writing it? Maybe they'll be able to see less, but I don't really, that's not my business. That's their problem. So it doesn't really change anything. It tips from becoming a playwright. Well, obviously now you have more sets to play with because on in a play, you literally can't have too many sets because where are you going to put 'em all? How are you going to get stage them? And so plays tend to be a little more talky, whereas a TV show or a movie tends to be like, well, let's wa what are we watching now? Oh, the characters on a rollercoaster. Okay, you can't do that in a play. But is story structure a story structure? And if that's something you want to learn, for sure, we got a course, you've go to michaeljamin.com/course, and we teach story and story structure. SoPhil Hudson:Yeah, there's another question in here and it's kind of buried, so I apologize. I'm not going to find the person who said it, but they asked the question. Oh, here it is. Mark Mohawk. And I think that's a fake name. It's not really. Yeah, mark Mahaw. I was going to say, yeah, I, I'm worried I'm saying something.Michael Jamin:I was going to make a joke about his name.Phil Hudson:Can you talk aboutMichael Jamin:Mark, what is itPhil Hudson:In? I think this relates to that, talking about different sets and things. When you talk more about shooting things on your own, when shooting diy, would you prioritize dialogue for budget purposes?Michael Jamin:Well, I prioritize story. The priority is you could shoot everything on your phone. The only thing you have to have is good sound. And I would, that's critical. If the sounds bad, I don't care. You don't want to, if I'm hearing wind noises more than the dialogue, if I'm hearing the background actor of more than the foreground actor, that's a problem. So sound is really important. More so than camera, work lens with camera, you're going to shoot it on, but prioritize dialogue. You should prioritize tell telling a good story. So if you could tell a story with no dialogue, that's fine too.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Aaron Sorkin, lots and lots of dialogue. Yeah. Lots of other writers. No dialogue. I think the movie Drive, have you seen Drive?Michael Jamin:Loved it. Very fluff. Yeah.Phil Hudson:Blew my, blew my mind. Dude. Barely talks. Barely talks. Yeah. But it's so emotive and so expressive and it's just so masterfully shot. Yeah. Yeah. So you're saying if it calls for it or if that's your style, and maybe that will develop your style. I think in film school, it was an indie film school that I went to, and they focused a lot on that. It's like what assets and resources do you have? And utilize the tools that you have to make what you can. Yeah. That might be a park bench. And you've talked about that as an example in the webinar you did.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:Park bench. Two people talking could be boring. Put it in the living room. It's one of the greatest shows ever made.Michael Jamin:Yeah. All in the family, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yep.Phil Hudson:Cool. All right. This is another one of those dub boy, d a u boy. B o y I. Sorry, I slotted that. All right. Your recommendation for new writers to be good or contribute in a writer's room?Michael Jamin:What's my recommendation? Yeah,Well just know that you're not getting paid what the more senior writers are getting paid. And so, God, I was just listening to, who was I listening to? Saying the same exact thing, which is relax. I mean, you're a new writer. Just relax, soak up, learn, be a sponge. Don't feel like you have to argue, don't feel like you have to contribute too much. Y you're Jo, you're going to be white knuckling it the first several months, if not seasoned, because you're going to be in way over your head. So just absorb, don't feel compelled that you have to contribute as much as everybody else. My feeling, because just talking to hear yourself talk is not helpful to the rest of us.Phil Hudson:I was talking to a friend who is a staff writer on his first season, and he said, I asked him how it went and asked him if he was nervous to talk. And he's like, what I found interesting is I knew better than to talk very much only when I had a good idea, but I didn't feel that the people just above him, the story editor and senior story editor were talking enough, they were not contributing enough. Oh,Michael Jamin:They were not.Phil Hudson:And feedback from the showrunner, he said, was that the showrunner agreed that those people were not carrying their weight. So at what point, what's the transition point? At what point do you feel like you should be contributing more?Michael Jamin:And it's really hard to know. I mean, that's why it's so important. AndPhil Hudson:Maybe we should clarify for people too. What are those levels, right? Because it's story, it's staff writer, story editor, senior story editor,Michael Jamin:No, executive storyPhil Hudson:Editor. Executive story editor. And then it's was itMichael Jamin:ScriptPhil Hudson:Co-producer,Michael Jamin:Producer,Phil Hudson:Producer. Go ahead.Michael Jamin:Super. Then supervising producer, then co-executive producer, then executive producer. And so the higher up you go, the more you're expected to contribute. And that's why in the beginning, I didn't even know what a good pitch was. I didn't know what a good pitch was versus a bad pitch. The more you learn, the more, yeah. I mean, that's one, when we talk about it in the course, I think one of the valuable parts of the course is hopefully when you go through it, is you get a sense of what a good idea is and what's what story structure is. So you should know you damn well should be known at the end of the course. What constitutes a good pitch? What does this be? What should that beat be? What is a story? How does a story unfold? How does the scene unfold? This is all important stuff that, so you're not just throwing out ideas. I think a lot of problems, Hey, what if, well, we're not pitching, we're not playing. What if right now we're actually trying to break the story. And we're not free reigning right now. Now we're further down the road.Phil Hudson:Just a note, note on the value of that segment about knowing what a good idea is this season in the Tacoma FD writer's room, when I was sitting there, I'm trying not to talk other than I'm answering a question or providing research, because that's kind of my role. And I remember you were all trying to figure out what are we going to do for the cold open of this episode? And you were thinking of an interesting reason to get our firefighters there. And for whatever reason, this story popped in with my friend had a roommate who jabbed an EpiPen into his leg backwards, and it hooked into his thumb, but he was super drunk, and so firefighters had to come. And I just pitched that and I just remember everyone be like, that'll work. And they wrote it up and that was the working cold open. And it changed and it didn't work because they did something very similar later. But I was like, oh, perfect. That was a good idea. Proper time to bring it up. And it worked like that, right? Then that came from your course.Michael Jamin:Oh good. Yeah.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Cause I wouldn't have pitched anything. First of all, you say don't talk if you're an assistant, but secondly, I did. I knew it was a good pitch because of your course, and that's why I opened my mouth and it was on the board for a week. So yeah. Yeah. Made me feel warm and fuzzy.Michael Jamin:Absolutely.Phil Hudson:Awesome. Lorenzo, can you name a couple of screenwriters you respect and you think could be a good source of technical mastery?Michael Jamin:Well, John Hughes, I, I don't know him personally or, I dunno if this person talking about people I know personally. I mean, I love John Hughes. The Breakfast Club is a play, is a stage play, but it was a movie, but it feels like a stage play. So it very talky and wonderful and so authentic. And it really felt, he remembered what it was like to be a teenager.Phil Hudson:All of his movies capture that time. I mean, it's a John Hughes movie. You know what it is when it's coming up becauseMichael Jamin:Yeah. So is there anybody better than him? That's my opinion. No, but that's the style of writing that I like. So Sure.Phil Hudson:Michael Scott, and I think, I don't know if you want to bring this up, but occasionally when you do the webinar, you will give away a free access, a free seat in your course. Lifetime access.Michael Jamin:Yeah, that's a good reason to show up.Phil Hudson:Michael Scott won. Michael Scott was our winner. Oh,Michael Jamin:That's right. He won. Yeah.Phil Hudson:Yeah. So Michael Scott said, do you recommend attending PGA West Producers Guild of America events and networking with showrunners? I think he might mean wga a West.Michael Jamin:Yeah. I've never been to a PGA Producer's Guild event. I don't even know what kind of events they have. And show runner goPhil Hudson:The West, I think means he, he's means wga a, but Michael, I'm sorry. I've forgot that wrong.Michael Jamin:Well, I would, I'd go, but I wouldn't go for a net. I wouldn't go to network. Net networking is gross. People smell it a mile away. I say network with people at your own level, which might be which, whatever level you're at, that's who you network with. Don't network. You don't have to kiss the ass of the show of some showrunner. He or she will smell it a mile away network with people at your own because they rise up. They'll rise up as assistants become whatever, agents, managers, writers, that's your friend group. That's your circle.Phil Hudson:Yeah. I've talked in the past about the Writer's Guild of America Foundation who puts on these events. They have this thing called the Golden Ticket. And when I first moved here, that was what I did. I paid the money for that, and it got me a front row seat at all of these events. And what that allowed me to do was just have a better learning experience and the opportunity to have conversations with these people if I wanted to. And I remember I went to the WGA in Hollywood, and I was riding the elevator up, and I wrote up with John August, and I had met him at Sundance where I was doing translation work. So I was like, oh, hey John. And he was like, oh, hey. And I was like, yeah, I was the Sundance translator. He was like, oh yeah, that's right.And he was like, you enjoying la? And I was like, yeah. And that's all I said to him. And it's cause it just wasn't the right time to attack the guy who's had to go talk on stage and read the room. I understood dynamics, just acknowledge I knew who he was and we'd met before. That was it. That was the most networking I did at any of those events outside of the other people who had paid for the golden ticket and because we were talking to each other every week and sitting there and going to the festival that they put on, I met a lot more people through doing those things.Michael Jamin:That's your net. That's networking. It's not gross. It's not, Hey, what can you do for me? Hey, let's just chat. Yeah. We have something in common.Phil Hudson:Cool. Danny Casone, I'm probably messing that up. How do you develop better writing skills and how do you find someone to bounce your ideas off of?Michael Jamin:Well, the one thing we have in our course is a private Facebook group, and those people trade scripts, and they've all been through my course, so they have some degree of knowledge. So that's a great way to do it. But what was the first part? How do youPhil Hudson:Develop better writing skills?Michael Jamin:Oh yeah. You take classes. That's how you do it. You learn. I How are you expected to do it? How are you expected to do it on your own when you don't know? Yeah. Read. That's why you take a course.Phil Hudson:Read, read and apply. That's the other thing is you can get too caught up in learning how to do something. And that is a form of procrastination because you're not sitting down to execute. You're going to learn a lot more by executing and reading it and realizing how bad it is than you would learning and learning and learning and not sitting down and just doing the work. So yeah, don't procrastinate, just do the work and you'll learn a ton. But as far as ideas, like you said, it's the private Facebook group or the people you're around, all those things. Someone else asked in here, although I'm not a member of the course, can I sign up for the private Facebook group as long as I'm carrying my weight and contributing,Michael Jamin:No, sorry. Sorry.Phil Hudson:You got a lot of those requests.Michael Jamin:Sorry. Because that's just the role to get in. It's like the people who put skin in the game, they've been to the lessons, they're contributing with their knowledge with what they've learned. It's not social hour. It's like it's class. So it's like saying, Hey, can I just go to med school and contribute? Well, no, you're either in or you're out. Yeah.Phil Hudson:The And the quality of every interaction in that group is better because everyone is coming at it from the same foundation.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Yeah. I do think they're very serious. I do think the quality of the conversations in that private Facebook group, cause I see it, the comments and I believe comments, it's very high. It's much higher than, say, way higher than Reddit, way higher than some public Facebook group. It's way, hi. It's just higher.Phil Hudson:One example I'll give on that, A friend of mine was like, you got to join this Facebook group. It's awesome. And I joined and I was just trying to introduce myself. I was like, Hey, I'm Phil. I'm new the group. I just wanted to share this thing that I heard about Steve Spielberg said that the opening shot of every film is a metaphor for the whole thing. And I got berated by 50 people saying, I thought everybody knew that this is, what do you mean you're just learning? And I was like, you guys are dicks. I'm out. And I just left the group because I was like, you are not my people and I do not want to be in here with you.Michael Jamin:Yeah, there's a people, yeah, exactly. People on social media could be dicks and I don't see any of that going on. Maybe because I think they know. I'll kick 'em out if I see thatPhil Hudson:You will. Another on that note. So one thing you and I have to do for the course is there's this whole thing that you did with me, which is coming up with an idea, breaking an idea, writing the idea, and getting a pilot. And it was a pilot episode of Tacoma fd, and we still have to go over that final script because someone was like, Uhland. And the group was like, Hey, Phil, did you guys ever, did you finish it? I was like, I did. I need a, it's printed. I just need to send it to Michael so he can give me notes.Michael Jamin:Yeah, we'll do that'll talk.Phil Hudson:And he was like, well, I was just revisiting and I always thought this be this moment at the end of your act too. And I was like, dang, that's better than what I wrote. And then he was like, then maybe this is how the Eddie comes back. I was like, dang it, that's better than what I wrote. Right? This is just, they're thinking about story at the same way. And I was like, I learned some valuable things off of those two comments, and he hasn't even read the script.Michael Jamin:So yeah, it's a good group.Phil Hudson:Yeah. All right. Manola films, can you please talk about the show Bible? What is a show bible and do we need 'em, I think is the ultimate question.Michael Jamin:No, I don't think you need, no. The show Bible, when we work on a show is the writer assistant or the S script supervisor will assemble the episodes that we've shot and put it together and for whatever reason, whoever needs to look at it. I'm like, who wants to look at this? When you're pitching, you think you need a show, Bob, because you want to sell a show, but you're not going to sell a show. So what are you worried about? Your writing sample? Your script is a writing sample. It's a calling card. It's for you to get more work. Why put the, you're not going to, what are you going to do with the Bible not pitching anybody? And if you do pitch someone and they want a Bible, fine, they'll put together a Bible. But that's not what the point of your main goal right now is to have a killer script as a writing sample. That's hard enough. Forget about a Bible.Phil Hudson:There's another writer who's pretty active on TikTok and social media, and he was talking about a Bible, and I asked him, I was like, what do you think the value of the show Bible is? Because I've heard I shouldn't need one. He's like, well, you got to know where your story's going. So when you pitch, you can answer the question, what's where are we going? What's going on? So understand that much about it if you're in the opportunity to sell it. But he wasn't advocating for what I think the pros and the experts are referring to as a bi bible, which is this character and his backstory and his arc through seasons one through 10. And this is the, it's not the detailed, it's just know where you're going with your story. There are also some really interesting Bibles story, Bibles that are available online that I won't link to because they're not our ip. They're not something that you want to link out to, but you can search for 'em and find them. That again, is literally what you said. It's something that an assistant does for the show.Michael Jamin:SoPhil Hudson:Monica, and by the way, it's to help the writers, the new staff writers. We had new writers on Tacoma FD this season, and they were asking me for that, and we didn't have a Bible, and so I had to send 'em all the scripts and they had to read through all the scripts instead of just reading a bible to understand what stories have been told, who the charactersMichael Jamin:Are. They should be reading the scripts anyway. They should. That's the thing. There youPhil Hudson:Go. Yeah. Okay. I'm putting that on you guys. If you're listening. Sorry, you didn't complain when I sent you the script. Yeah. Monica B, what about if you work in a different area of Hollywood, for example, does that experience help when you are ready to pitch a script?Michael Jamin:No. No, it doesn't. I mean, it's great that you're working in Hollywood. Maybe you can make some connections, but if you are working in post and you don't want to, if you want to be a screenwriter, just know not where we, that's not the bullpen. That's not where we're pulling talent from. You're close, the closer you can get physically to the job you want, the better. So you're getting close, but eventually you want to get in on the production side, you want to get closer to the writers. It's good that you have that job, but it's not a transferrable skill.Phil Hudson:I've turned down those jobs because it's not the direction I want to go. Okay.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:So Flyboy 2 43 is starting out writing as a hobby part of the way to become a professional in your spare time if you're at the bottom.Michael Jamin:Yeah, you should be writing. Yeah. If you enjoy writing, you for sure if you like writing, but if you don't like writing, if you're not writing as a hobby, then what makes you think you're going to like it as a profession?Phil Hudson:Philip Mullings Jr. Can you use scripts that you've written on a show as a staff writer in your portfolio?Michael Jamin:Well, I don't have a portfolio. None of us have a portfolio. We just have writing. We have scripts that we've written. So if you were creditPhil Hudson:Staff, right, you have a credit that your agent's putting out there.Michael Jamin:Yeah. But if you were, say you were on a let's staff writer on floppy in the Boys on the Disney Channel, and you wrote a script, fantastic. But if you're trying to get work on some other show, a sophisticated adult show you're floppy in the boys script that was produced is not going to be of any service. So you know, have to have a writing sample that will match the tone of the show you want to work on.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Got it. Alex Zen Draw comics. What do screenwriters do when they're having health problems that may hinder their writing pursuits?Michael Jamin:Well, what are you going to do? I mean, if your health comes first, what are you going to do? You have to be healthy enough to write and healthy enough to work. So that's a problem. What do you do? You know, focus on getting healthy.Phil Hudson:I wanted to include this one because it's an area we haven't talked much about, which may be like the W G A health benefits and some of those benefits that you get from being in the guild. I can tell you, as someone who previously held an insurance license, disability insurance is probably a good idea for most people, which is if you are unable to perform your work for which you get paid, you can get a percentage of that pay. Now, that is not an endorsement for anybody or anything, but it is something to consider for every adult. If I get a hand, if I get handicapped or something, how am I going to pay my bills?Michael Jamin:Yeah. It's just very hard to prove disability if you're a writer, because as long as you have a functioning brain, you can still write. So disability's easier if you're working on a construction because you can't, how are you going to climb a ladder? But if you're hard to prove if you're a writer,Phil Hudson:Interesting. As far as the WGA benefits go for the health plan, I mean, what does that look like? And I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to earn a certain number of points or pay a certain amount into the Guild Fund every year to maintain your benefits.Michael Jamin:The health benefits being in the Writer's Guild gets you health insurance as well as pension, but you have to earn a certain number of points every year to continue qualifying for them.Phil Hudson:And if you don't qualify, is that like a Cobra situation where you're paying out of pocket for those benefits or you get youMichael Jamin:Accrue points so you have a certain, the more you work, the more points, and then if you're unemployed for a year, usually you just draw this point bank that you have and that'll deplete itself after pretty quickly depending on how long you've, your history is. And then after that, you can have a COBRA situation where you get to pay out of pocket,Phil Hudson:Which is expensive. Yeah, but prioritize your health. That's something I'm learning the older I get, especially having children now and people who rely on me is your health is the number one thing, because without it, you cannot provide for your family. You cannot do anything. So Right. Make time for that. All right, Peter Cat, this feels very Russian. Peter, p i e t e r k e t e l a a R. I apologize to everybody for my poor phonetics. What kind of stock do you put in a blacklist score of eight for a pilot in hand already?Michael Jamin:I have no idea what an eight means or what, I barely know what the blacklist is, so I'm going to say, what kind of stock do I put in that zero considering I don't even know the question.Phil Hudson:I knew that was going to be the answer to the question, which is why I included it. Because for those of us who are what we call pre WGA people trying to break into the industry, we put a lot of stock in the blacklist and what that means. But I had a volunteer at Sundance that I met years ago. She had a script that one was on the blacklist, and she had meetings about it, and then she rewrote the whole thing and changed it all up and spent two years focusing on that script instead of walking away from it and working on another good piece of material. And a lot of my conversations were pitching things to her because of your course that ultimately she was like, well, that was in my first draft. That was in my first draft. And she's just getting lots of bad feedback. So the points don't matter. The listing can get you meetings with people, but ultimately you still got to be able to put in the work, and you have to have multiple samplesMichael Jamin:Because multiple samplesPhil Hudson:That might get you into a room, but what else do you got?Michael Jamin:You tell me you got an eight or whatever, or 108 on blacklist. I don't really care. Let me just read the script. I'll decide whether I think the script is good or not. I get to decide that and whoever, whoever's reading it gets to decide. So yeah, it's not like, oh, this person's got an eight right this way. No, I don't care whether you got a zero. If it's I read it, I decide.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Another question from Peter, this was from the webinar where you talked about networking should be at your level or beneath you, right? Because yeah, and we talkedMichael Jamin:About this. That's why I feel this episode. It's my opinion.Phil Hudson:What should my beneath me look like?Michael Jamin:Oh, well, I mean, it's anyone, it's, I mean, I don't know. ThisPhil Hudson:Might be two, taking two as too. So lemme just throw the other one out. What is something that is beneath me? What is something I shouldn't spend my time doing?Michael Jamin:Well, right. Nothing's beneath you. So if your neighbor is saying, Hey, I want to shoot a movie in my backyard, sure, I'll do it. I'll help if I'm just above that level. Yeah, not, it's like, because anybody who's showing any kind of ambition, who's just trying a student at a film school, whatever, get involved in them. If they're going to get out of film school, if they want to stay in the industry, they'll stay in the industry and then they'll work their way up and then you'll be right there with them because you're helping them under their projects. And maybe they'll help you on theirs. That's your class, that's your graduating class. So is anything beneath you? No. As long as you have the time to do it, get involved these, because no one, it's so interesting when I talk about stories from my past, I think it's easy to, and I talk about, oh, this person I know this famous person, this or this successful person, that successful person at the time, they weren't successful. They were just people, and most of them didn't mount to anything in the industry, but some of them did. And that's, some of them did. That's it. So you know, get involved in everybody.Phil Hudson:But it goes back to the thing that's a common theme on our podcast, which is serve everybody. Give as much as you can without any expectation of receiving. Because if you're doing it because you, you're betting all your cards on that horse, everything you got on that horse to win the race, and then they fall out. Well, yeah, there's some manipulation and some self-serving that goes there, and intention has a smell, so we, you're going to stink. It's not good.Michael Jamin:I worked in a show called, I was a PA on a show called Hearts of Fire, which was Marky Post in John John Ritter, and also Billy Bob Thornton was on it actually. And it was a Linda Bloodworth Thomason show. And so there was two young staff writers in that show, which I kind of hung out with them a bit because they were closer to my age and they were, because they were staff writers. Maybe they're a story editor, I don't remember, but they're low. They were low and very low in the totem pole. And I hung out with them because they were closer to my level and they were nice to me. Those guys turned out to be David Cohan and Max Muk, who created Will and Grace years later. I didn't know that at the time. They were just a couple guys my age, a couple years older, and that who I didn't have to kiss anybody's butt, they, I was at pa, so they were definitely above my level, but still they weren't setting in the world on fire at thePhil Hudson:Time. Yeah.Michael Jamin:Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You could unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not going to spam you, and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.Phil Hudson:All right. Taylor Cole, I have had a consistent career as a film producer. How can I best transition into television? I'm assuming television writing.Michael Jamin:Oh, yeah. With TV writing, how can you be? Basically, you're where everyone else is. My answer to you is the same as everyone else. Write scripts, show them. If you have a movie that did really well, give a hit movie that you should have no trouble. You should, people fi, if you made a movie that no one saw, you're going to have a problem. If you made a hit movie where there a breakout at Sundance, people are going to find you. People are going to find you. And that's how I've been doing the whole webinar. I don't want to say too much because I, I've, I've coming up, I want to talk about examples of this, about people who breakout people and how they broke out. And I'm going to talk more about it. And so sign up for one of my webinars that michaeljamin.com/webinar. But, cause I'm going to talk about this for about an hour, but how can you, my advice to you is the same as everyone else. I hope you're, you're following me everywhere and just soaking it up because it's no different for you.Phil Hudson:Yeah, there you go. Shane Gamble. I live in New York City. Do you think it is better to move to LA or should I focus on the network I've currently built here?Michael Jamin:Where's Hollywood? And Hollywood is in la? There is some, obviously there's theater, there's probably more theater in New York than it is in LA that interests you. In the end, you're probably going to have to come out to Hollywood. There's not much of a network out there. This is where it is. I'm from New York. I moved out here because this is where Hollywood is, so yeah.Phil Hudson:Yep. Now there's writing there too, but if you don't have the network there in the writing space,Michael Jamin:Some shows are shot there. But the writing, most of the time the writing's done here. 30 Rock was shot and written in New York, but that's only because Tina Fay didn't want to leave New York. Everybody else does it here.Phil Hudson:Yeah.Michael Jamin:So you might get a job. Let's say you've got a job in New York writing on 30 Rock. Great. How are you going to make a career? Because that show is done. It's not on the air anymore.Phil Hudson:Good point, right? Ariba, how do I work through the problem of getting stuck between my script? Any exercises that I could help work through that I'm currently writing a short film and I find myself stuck midway.Michael Jamin:You don't understand story structure. You didn't break your story cro correctly, which is why you're stuck, which is why you don't know what your characters are going to do. You don't know what to do it. So I don't have any quick fixes for you. I could teach you story structure. I could teach you, which is what the course is. No, I don't have a tip. I teach, I teach you how to become a writer. There's no tips. It's not a tip situation.Phil Hudson:And the course is currently closed. Maybe it's not. When this comes up, probably will be. But the course is currently closed and we open it up once a month at this point for people who want to join. So yeah, best way to know about when is to sign up for the webinars because there's some specials in the webinar and you have a chance to win the course. But also, typically I can not going to promise that every time. I don't want to speak for you, Michael, but yeah, that is typically the best way to find out when the course is going to reopen.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Yeah. But yes, unfortunately I don't have any tips. I don't have any exercises. I, I'm going to teach you how to become a writer. I, I'm going to teach you how to write basically if you want, want to take the course.Phil Hudson:One of our really early episodes of the podcast talked about writer's block and about how, sorry, you're a professional and you talked about that recently on another webinar as well. So that's some place to look for some advice on this as well, is work through it, make it happen. But you got to learn the story structure.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:Cool. K M C, if I'm writing an entire series, are the accumulation of episodes enough or should I spread out to other writings too?Michael Jamin:Why we write an entire series? That's first question.Phil Hudson:That is advice.Michael Jamin:You got to write one scriptPhil Hudson:That is advice people get, Michael, is you should write an entire series.Michael Jamin:No, write one script. Write one episode that just killer. Write one. Just one. A lot of times, and we were talking, we talked about this privately where someone wrote an entire series and you read it and you're go, no, you just basically took the contents of your pilot and script and spaced it off on 10 episodes. So you have structure 10 episodes of they No Structures. They have 10 episodes of garbage, of they have 10 episodes of Boring when they should have just made one episode. That was great.Phil Hudson:Their intuition for what an entire series is was literally a pilot and everything else was just pipe and unnecessary, confusing, meandering and a lot of, I think one of the early critiques I got in writing, and I've heard many times and felt many times for other people, is a lot of things happening, but no one's doing anything.Michael Jamin:Yeah, yeah. You know, don't want your writing to be that. Learn. There's studies, study your screenwriting. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. So study what a story is. Oh,Phil Hudson:So write a good poem becauseMichael Jamin:If you had known what a story is, if that person had known what a story is, they wouldn't have done that. They wouldn't have wasted all that time.Phil Hudson:Well, I gave him the notes and at the end he's like, you, because I'd only read the pilot and I was like, well, this might be this and this is kind of how structure, what your pilot would be. He's like, you just described my full season. I was like, yeah, man. Yeah. SorryMichael Jamin:Dude. Yeah. Sorry. You screwed up. Yeah.Phil Hudson:Aaron Brown. What are your favorite examples of screenplays We should read?Michael Jamin:Anything you should read. Good. You should read bad. You should read if it's good. You got a stack on screen, please?Phil Hudson:Yeah. I've got Ladybird ready, player one, aliens, which is one of the most popular scripts I think people are recommended to read. James Cameron Unforgiven, which is the script that famously sat inside of blanking on his name.Michael Jamin:Was it Clint Eastwood?Phil Hudson:Clint Eastwood, yeah. Sat, he bought it, put it in his desk, and then waited, I think like 20 years till he was old enough to play the part. And one in Oscar one multiple Oscars. I got Drive, which we talked about recently. This is one of my favorite scripts, Armageddon, which was a big block buster, but just a bunch of scripts that I think were stood out. But I think when Oscar season comes out, the studios release their nominated scripts and you can find 'em publicly. So that's a great place to go to find really good stuff. These are what the industry says are the best scripts right now.Michael Jamin:And you can also go to the Writer's Guild in West Hollywood, or actually it's HollywoodPhil Hudson:Fairfax. Yeah, li It's in Hollywood. Fairfax. Yeah.Michael Jamin:They have a public library. You don't have to be a member, you have to make an an appointment. That's it. And you can read for free a bunch of scripts. Read good ones, read bad ones. If you read a bad one, why don't I like this? And don't say it because it's boring. No. What exactly do you not like about this? If you see a good one, why do you want, what do you like about this script? Why do you want to turn the page? What makes you want to and be specific, not because it's compelling, say it. No, because what about it? It makes you want to turn the page and so you can learn from good or bad.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Awesome. We got a few more questions here and then we'll wrap it up. Michael. Yeah. Kaya, Kaya link, again, probably ruining your name. I apologize. How long should these sample scripts be? Wait, how long should a sample sample be?Michael Jamin:If you're writing a half hour or an hour long, it should be match, whatever. If you're a drama writer, it's going to be an hourPhil Hudson:There. There's a note at the back end of this. It says, feature, should I be writing fe? I'm putting this together fe Should I be writing features every time or should I try TV scripts and all those different things.Michael Jamin:I think you should write whatever you want to write, whatever kind of writer you want to be. Personally, I think you'll learn more from being a television writer than you'll. You'll learn more in a year than you would learn in 10 years. Writing features just because of you're learning. You're working alongside other writers who are experienced. It's like, I don't even know why you wouldn't want to be a TV writer first and then move into feature writing if that interests you. But you'll learn so much from working aside alongside professional writers. There's so much to be gained from that. Whereas if you're working in features home alone, good luck. Good luck.Phil Hudson:On that note too, the industry is focused on TV right now, not features, and they're really a handful of people writing features. Yeah. It's not to say you can't be that, and there's always the indie feature side of things that you can do to write, but I mean, effectively, this is the same advice you gave on TikTok recently on that clip you did, right? Starting television and then move, expandMichael Jamin:Out. I think so, yeah.Phil Hudson:And Michael's got a lot of great stuff. We talked about it before, but go check about @MichaelJaminWriter on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and everywhere. Yeah. All right. Gianna Armin trout. How should you study other TV shows to learn story structure, breaking a story, et cetera? What should I be looking for when I'm watching other shows?Michael Jamin:Yeah, I, and that's exactly what the course goes into. I mean, the problem is if you want to just watch, go ahead. Watch as much as you can, but what you're not going to know what to look for, you're not going to know. That's the problem. And the same thing with reading. I think it's, you're just probably not going to know. And so I explained in the course, this is what you need to be looking for. These are the moments, these are the act breaks. These are the middle of two, this is the top of three. This is what you need to be looking for. These are the patterns you're going to see in smartly written indie movies, smartly written blockbusters and smartly written foreign films. And they all have a lot in common. And just because you and television as well, and just because you think, well, I don't want to learn story structure because that's formulaic and it's not formulaic. These are just things that a good story has. These are just things they have in common. SoPhil Hudson:When I was in film school, we were given the task of picking whatever show we were going to write a spec episode of, and then getting a stopwatch out and then timing the scenes. That seems logical, but ultimately what you don't realize is that's what the editing is. That's not necessarily what the script was and what it was written as. Yeah. And yeah, it's not hitting the important points, which is what beat should I be hitting here? How soon do they introduce this information?Michael Jamin:And I don't even get that. What are you going to do? You're going to write with your stopwatch next to you, or you're going to write and you go, oh, this is page three. This better happen. What do you mean? How are you supposed to make that work?Phil Hudson:That's a lot of screenwriting advice. Michael, this page on pageMichael Jamin:Three, this happened, I don'tPhil Hudson:Understand it. By page 10, this needs to happen at the end of a page 25, this moment should happen. And page 45, this should have page 60. This should happen, right? That's traditional, open, most screenwriting books. And IMichael Jamin:Don't get that. If you were to write a story, whether it's for television or just a story, and like I say, this is what happens. You need to have at the bottom of act one, if now, if you're bottom act one is on page 15 or 17, does it really matter? Does it really matter? What difference does it make it? You're off by page and a half. What the, who cares? And you could always cut it a little bit. If I don't, I don't know. I just don't approach writing that way. It's like it's a story. Whether you want to put the story on a television or on a stage or write it in a book is, and you get to decide whether you want it to happen on 19 or 17, what difference does it make? Really? What difference does it make?Phil Hudson:There you go. Hi, waha Henry are pitch decks, the new calling card. I've been asked to submit pitch decks instead of a script.Michael Jamin:Who asking? Who's asking you these? I want to know. I want names. Who's asking?Phil Hudson:My experience in Hollywood is that they are the people who are not actually producers.Michael Jamin:There is the problem. I want to know if you're a good writer first, if I'm going to get into business with you for anything, whether I'm going to finance your movie, and I don't finance movies, but that or staff you on a show, I want to know, can you write, can you tell a good story? That's the first thing. And if you can't, I don't really care what your pitch deck looks like.Phil Hudson:I had done some work for a production company out here, and the producers were like, well, we'd love to read what you have. And I was going to send my script. And they're like, do you have a story bible? This goes back to the earlier question. I said, I don't, do you have an example of what story Bible you want to say? This was years ago before I realized kind of your advice on this. And they sent me, this is one we think is really good, and it was a pitch deck. That was what piqued their interest. And then they read the script and it's like, these people are just trying to make a dime. They're not necessarily trying to put out the best content that they can, and they're intermediaries and they're not the guy with the overall deal at a studio that can just walk in and present what they want to make.Michael Jamin:Yeah, justPhil Hudson:It's aMichael Jamin:Different level. I don't understand. It's all smoke and mirrors, I think, whoa, the picture that looks great. Really. Are you trying to get hired as a writer or not? Yeah, I'm not a graphic artist.Phil Hudson:Generation X. How can you find someone to read your work who has experience and won't steal your idea?Michael Jamin:Well, where do I be doing this?Phil Hudson:Two notes on that one. I know, right? That's why I brought it. Yeah, that's why I put it in here.Michael Jamin:Where do you begin? Well, your agent will submit it and we'll only submit it to reputable places. Then the question is, well, how do you get an agent? And that'll be talking about that on all my webinars I got, I'll talk about it again at some point. How do you worried about They want to steal your idea? Well, who you're giving it to. Don't give it to some clown at Starbucks. What was the other question?Phil Hudson:How do you get someone with experience to read your work? Oh,Michael Jamin:How do you get someone to experience? Well, you have to bring more to the table. Why? Why would they, like I have experience, why would I want to read your work? If I'm staffing for a TV show, I will go out to agents and managers. Give me the, I'm not going to, I don't go to people off the street. Yeah. I don't hire people off the street, so don't give me your work. Cause I'm not going to hire you. I'll get it from an agent. Well, how do you get an agent? That's a different question. Yeah, but it's not, you don't get people like me to read your work. You. No, you don't. I mean,Phil Hudson:I think this fall, I will have known Michael for 10 years. I've asked him to read maybe three things.Michael Jamin:Yeah, it's a big deal. It's a big deal to get somebody to read again. You're telling him to sit down. Somebody said that to me on DM Me. It's like, Hey, would you mind reading my screenplay? Would I mind giving up my Saturday afternoon sitting down, reading your thing, coming up with notes, getting on the phone with you, deliver my notes? What if I said to my dentist, Hey, my two hurts. Would you mind taking a look at it? My dentist say, no, not a problem. Not at all. Go call my office. Make an appointment. Bring your insurance card and your credit card for the deductible. That's what he would say. Yeah, it's business. It's professional that. What do you expect? No.Phil Hudson:Michael kindly offered to read something and I sent him the first script I wrote, and he referred to it as a Frankenstein. And I was like, oh my gosh, I know nothing. And this was five years into studying on my own. And I didn't send you anything else to read until it was a spec I wrote in film school. So that was probably three years later. And then the last thing I sent you to read was just last year. And that was the first good thing. That was the first thing. And your note on the second thing is, I can tell you're a competent writer and you can capture the voice of the show, but all your other notes were about my structure. It still wasn't there.Michael Jamin:And then the third piece was you're like, okay, now you're finally getting it right. Yeah. Now you're finally getting it.Phil Hudson:Yeah. And I consider myself egotistically to be a smart guy, but it really took off when Michael put his course together for me. And I'm your biggest advocate for that thing. All right. Danny Casone again. Have you met Mike Judge and Mark Marinn? They're geniuses, by the way.Michael Jamin:I've worked side by side with both of them. Mark more so than Mike, because I was the showrunner of Mark's Maron show on i c. So we worked side by side for four years. Mike, a little bit less, but I wrote on King of the Hill and Beaver and Butthead and Beaver was in Butthead he would send us, well, we write the scripts, and then he would send us which videos he wanted to make fun of. And so we would watch those. Then we'd go to the booth with him, we'd watch it over his shoulder, we'd pitch jokes, and then he would run into the booth and do the voices and kind of change, do it the way he wanted to do it. But yeah, but they're both great guys. Both of them are great.Phil Hudson:There you go. All right. Final questions. There's two, but one of them is like eight questions because it's the same question we get every single time you do a q and a or anything else. Same question. So I'm going to read two. First one, amalgamation of things. Should I use a script consultant? What are your opinions about people who call themselves professional readers, who give notes? Can you recommend a good script reading service? And how much should I person pay for that service? Do you have any readers or reader services to recommend any or to avoid?Michael Jamin:Okay. Woo. I would avoid anything called a service. Anything. If you can find a retired screenwriter or a screenwriter who has time on their hands and go check out their imdp, pay I mdb paid, check out their credits, read their work. If you could find something like that, and there are people that exist, those are the ones you want to pay and pay them. Whatever they ask, the more experience they have, pay them more. I personally, I would rather find someone with more and more experience and pay them more. If they want double because they have, they've been doing for 20 years, I'll pay double because skimping just doesn't help you. I'd pay. Their expertise is worth every penny. That's what I would say with these services, you're finding people, many of them just hiring people, aspiring writers with no more credits or than you do, no more experience than you have. And they're giving you notes and you're paying for it, and they're completely unqualified to tell you anything. They read their training brochure and that's it. And that's not how it works. A man. Now, what a else do you have to say?Phil Hudson:No, I was just going to say, I think one of the things you can think about too, to get a little tell that I just discovered this week, so I mentioned that I was asked to sign on to help a screen, a Sundance project, because of my experience with Sundance. And I think that it helps them think they're going to get a little bit ahead with having a couple other alumni and fellows on that roster. And they were going to put me in as a script consultant. I went to go see what that would look like on imdb. And right there in that same thread, it's like script doctors and script consultants go under miscellaneous crew, not writers.Michael Jamin:And it isPhil Hudson:The bottom. That's the same place where I put my writer's assistant, my writer's PR credit down there, because it's just not a value. It doesn't do anything in those. People may get hired to do work at a studio level, but I wouldn't hire them to do that on my script. You need to doMichael Jamin:That job. I dunno if they get hired a studio level.Phil Hudson:I don't knowMichael Jamin:If that's a thing.Phil Hudson:So supposedly it's a thing, but you need to know how to write. And so find a writer to give you the feedback or find the writing and how to write to give you feedback. And that's again, what your private Facebook group does and what your course does for people.Michael Jamin:Find a screenwriter who has time on their hand. Maybe they're supplementing their income, but they have good credits and they know they've worked. Don't find someone who's a professional consultant reader or whatever. I would stay away from that.Phil Hudson:And last question, which is similar vein, but I think on a high note, BW asked, what does Michael think of submitting scripts to the Academy? Screenwriting contest, which is the fellows, the Nichols Fellowship.Michael Jamin:Oh, okay. Is that, I didn't realize they were the one posted.Phil Hudson:The academy is the Nichols Fellowship.Michael Jamin:Okay. Do that one. That's a prestigious one. If you win, if you come in, if you place, eh, doesn't really help you.Phil Hudson:I've, I've heard of Quarterfinalists and semi-finalists getting some meetings off of that because it's so competitive. And the right, the that's read by actual professionals are donating their time to read and score those. Right. So it's It's definitely has more clout than anything else.Michael Jamin:But yeah, go for it. Also, go for, if you have any fellowships, do those. Sure. If they're industry things, yeah. Sometimes you can get involved in the studios offer various,Phil Hudson:But this goes back, but just this whole thing goes back to just be careful where you're spending your money as a writer. Because you can spend thousands of dollars submitting scripts to festivals thinking that award or that laurel on your website or on your script is going to help you get ahead and it will do nothing for you. And they're all, a lot of them, not all of them are money making machines to fund whatever they're doing at the festival. And I can tell you firsthand that that's the case. I'veMichael Jamin:Spoken about what I would do to break into the industry if I had to do it today. I'm going to do a few a webinar. I'm going to devote a webinar to that topic again probably in a few months. Cause I have other ones I've already planned out. We're going to do first. Get on them. It's free. It's free. That's all I got to say about that. MichaelJamin.com/webinar.Phil Hudson:Perfect. Alright, Michael, I think it's a good place to call it for the today. Anything else you want to add? Time of death,Michael Jamin:Phil.Phil Hudson:Time of death is.Michael Jamin:Time of deathPhil Hudson:Is 50 something minutes. It's a long one. Yeah. Great.Michael Jamin:All right, everyone.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Beyond that, some things you can do to support yourself in writing. So again, you don't have to sign up for Michael's course. Michael's giving a lot of stuff. If you don't have the money, you That's okay, Michael. I will. That's okay. Just make sure people are clear here because they may not know you are offering 0% financing effectively on all these things. If you want to sign up when registration's open, you can do a painful a three month or a six month plan because you said you want to make it as affordable to everyone as possible. There were some partners we had that were adding financing and we removed that option just to make sure. Yeah, it was fair to everybody who wanted to get in,Michael Jamin:And if you can't pay, that's fine. You can go, I got a free lesson. Go to michaeljamin.com/free. If you want to get on my free newsletter where I give out three free tips a week, MichaelJamin.com/watchlist. If you'd like to download some scripts that I've written and read them because they think it'll help you, and they probably will. You can also find those on my website. We got a ton of free stuff. We got this podcast. So yeah, just enjoy. Take it in, take it in. Did youPhil Hudson:Mention the watch list?Michael Jamin:I did. That's our new, yeah, Michael Gemma do com watchPhil Hudson:List. Oh, I was thinking about thinking about all this stuff was blanked for a second. All right. Well, everybody, thank you so much for your time and listening in. Hopefully this was helpful to you and make sure you sign up for the webinar where you do get an opportunity to ask Michael questions live and we dive into more detailed stuff, michael jamen.com/webinar Again for that.Michael Jamin:All right everyone, we'll see you on the next one. Thanks for listening. Bring your questions next time. Awesome.Phil Hudson:Thanks Phil.Michael Jamin:Then keep writing in. Thanks. Keep writing everyone. That's our motto. Phil came up with that. Keep writing. Yeah,Phil Hudson:One good thing. You're welcome guys.Michael Jamin:See ya.Phil Hudson:This has been an episode of Screenwriters. Need to Hear This with Michael Jamin and Phil Hudson. If you'd like to support this podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving your review, and sharing this podcast with someone who needs to hear today's subject. For free daily screenwriting tips, follow Michael on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @MichaelJaminWriter. You can follow me on Instagra

Welcome to 80's TV Ladies: Season Two!Susan and Sharon kick-off the new season with Cynthia Bemis-Abrams, the host of sister podcast “Advanced TV Herstory” -- a fascinating deep dive into the backstory of women in television, that connects the dots between TV, feminism, American culture and politics.In Part One of a two-part conversation, we'll talk about the shows, actresses and characters that stood out as landmarks for women over the past five decades. We also tease what's coming up as Susan and Sharon turn their attention from one-hour mysteries to half-hour comedies including “Designing Women”, “227”, “A Different World” and “It's A Living”!THE CONVERSATIONWhat does one do when the kids have gone off to college and “some old people have died”? If you're Cynthia Bemis-Abrams YOU START A PODCAST!How Charlie's Angels (and women's tennis?!) helped Cynthia find her way toward what she wanted to be.80's MONIED MATRIARCHS: Jane Wyman of Falcon Crest, Barbara Bel Geddes of Dallas and the importance of BIG power, BIG hair – and BIG SHOULDER PADS!SAVING FAMILY DINNERS: When you're struggling to find common ground with older relatives at family functions, ask them what their favorite shows from the 60's and 70's were…. And WHY.From James L. Brooks to Barney Rosenzweig: how feminist men helped women writers and directors advance in Television.The importance of staking out time and space to recognize and elevate women's achievements – and why it's so hard for women to do…Some favorite episodes of “Advanced TV Herstory”: Robin Means Coleman on “A Different World”; Margaret Cho on “American Girl” and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's game-changing “Designing Women” episode “They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?”The Legend of the “Difficult Woman” – how do powerful, creative women navigate a career through the maze of male Hollywood?Betty Thomas, we want to interview you!What is it like living a mile from Mary Tyler Moore's apartment?!So join Susan, Sharon – and Cynthia – as they talk what to do about "problematic men", “WKRP in Cincinnati” turkeys – and the importance of a good VHS cassette.Thank you all so much for joining us as we begin our journey into Season Two of 80's TV Ladies! Tell us what shows you love -- Go to 80sTVLadies.com and give us feedback.AUDIOGRAPHYCynthia Bemis-Abrams podcast “Advanced TV Herstory”Find Advanced TV Herstory on Twitter.Find Kenya Rothstein's podcast, “Thank You For Saying NO”Check out Totally 80s 90s Recall podcast.Don't miss out on everything 80s TV Ladies. Sign up for our mailing list!Help us make more episodes and get ad-free episodes and exclusive content on PATREON.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

I am very excited to share the second of a two-part conversation with author and TV/film historian, Lee Gambin. His double-volume work, "Tonight, On a Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious," provides a launch pad for our thoughtful and fast-paced discussion of the issues and activists behind TV's “very special episodes,” which date back 50 years or more.   These TV events—featuring familiar, beloved characters—mixed serious topics with comedy so effectively that, in many cases, activists were born, movements were started, legislation was passed, and minds were changed.   Legendary showrunners like Norman Lear and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason used the sitcom format to normalize awareness and discussion of race relations, women's issues, representation, discrimination, divorce, alcoholism and drug addiction, sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ rights.   Fronting these issues shaped our culture in ways that should not be lost to history. Join us for a discussion of the iconic episodes and the legends who made them happen, as well as how they continue to impact us today.   CONNECT WITH LEE GAMBIN   Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 1: 1957-1985   Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 2: 1986-1998   Cinemaniacs   SOUND CLIPS   Diff'rent Strokes: The Bicycle Man (S5.E16-17)   Designing Women: Killing All the Right People (S2.E4)   All in The Family: Edith's 50th Birthday (S8.E4-5)   BOOKS / ARTICLES   Norman Lear Memoir - Even This I Get to Experience   PERTINENT EPISODES OF ADVANCED TV HERSTORY   Designing Women 1, Body-shaming 0   Sports Night: More Relevant Than Ever   Eating Disorder Movies: TV For and About Women   ATVH NEWSLETTER Sign up at https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/   CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS and ADVANCED TV HERSTORY Website:  https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/ Podcasts:  https://cynthiabemisabrams.com/advanced-tv-herstory Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/advancedtvherstory/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/tvherstory Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Media.Cynthia YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@advancedtvherstory/featured   PRODUCTION Music:  Jahzzar - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/

I am very excited to share the first of a two-part conversation with author and TV/film historian, Lee Gambin. His double-volume work, "Tonight, On a Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious," provides a launch pad for our thoughtful and fast-paced discussion of the issues and activists behind TV's “very special episodes,” which date back 50 years or more.   These TV events—featuring familiar, beloved characters—mixed serious topics with comedy so effectively that, in many cases, activists were born, movements were started, legislation was passed, and minds were changed.   Legendary showrunners like Norman Lear and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason used the sitcom format to normalize awareness and discussion of race relations, women's issues, representation, discrimination, divorce, alcoholism and drug addiction, sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, and LGBTQ rights.   Fronting these issues shaped our culture in ways that should not be lost to history. Join us for a discussion of the iconic episodes and the legends who made them happen, as well as how they continue to impact us today.   CONNECT WITH LEE GAMBIN   Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 1: 1957-1985   Tonight, On A Very Special Episode: When TV Sitcoms Sometimes Got Serious Volume 2: 1986-1998   Cinemaniacs   SOUND CLIPS   Diff'rent Strokes: The Bicycle Man (S5.E16-17)   Designing Women: Killing All the Right People (S2.E4)   All in The Family: Edith's 50th Birthday (S8.E4-5)   BOOKS / ARTICLES   Norman Lear Memoir - Even This I Get to Experience   PERTINENT EPISODES OF ADVANCED TV HERSTORY   Designing Women 1, Body-shaming 0   Sports Night: More Relevant Than Ever   Eating Disorder Movies: TV For and About Women   CONNECT WITH CYNTHIA BEMIS ABRAMS and ADVANCED TV HERSTORY   Website Podcasts Instagram  Twitter Facebook  YouTube   PRODUCTION   Jahzzar on Free Music Archive 

Jan Hooks is better remembered for her five-year run on Saturday Night Live (1975) (1986-91) on the series she impersonated actress ranging from Bette Davis, to Ann-Margret, to Sally Kellerman, to Jodie Foster. After she left the show, she was proposed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason to replace Jean Smart on CBS's Designing Women (1986). She accepted. She played the role of Carlene Dobber for the final two seasons. She has also played memorable characters in feature-films including, Tina (the Alamo girl) in Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), and Dixie Glick in Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004). #JanHooks#kinison #truecrime #truecrimecommunity #truecrimepodcast #crime #murder #podcast #truecrimeaddict #serialkiller #serialkillers #truecrimejunkie #horror #unsolved #murderino #podcastersofinstagram #truecrimeobsessed #mystery #ssdgm #truecrimefan #killer #truecrimememes #unsolvedmysteries #creepy #paranormal #podcasts #history #tedbundy #criminal #scary #podcasting #coldcase #murdermystery #bookstagram #death #buzzfeedunsolved #crimescene #truecrimepodcasts #missingperson #missing #halloween #crimejunkie #news #myfavoritemurder #spooky #supernatural #truecrimestories #homicide #ryanbergara #shanemadej #murderer #podcaster #truecrimebooks #memes #spotify #podernfamily #boogara #shaniac #jeffreydahmer #police #s #justice #forgotten history #The Aftermath #SNL --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/daniel-hudson9/message

Designing Women was hardly the first show to feature clashes between performers and producers (go read about All in the Family some time). But the very public war between creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and breakout star Delta Burke included Emmy nominations, fat shaming, and a secret Barbara Walters special that no one involved with Designing Women knew Delta had filmed until it aired. Dixie Carter got dragged into the fray along the way, while Annie Potts and Jean Smart wisely stayed out of it. Join us as Mark walks Kasey through the history of Designing Women, why Nacogdoches is a key part of his favorite joke, and what Dixie Carter had to say in a TV Guide cover story meant to do damage control. And yes, Mark bought a copy on eBay just for this episode. Logo: Jessica Balaschak Music: Caveman of Los Angeles by Party Store Music --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/american-scandals/support

That's right - 24 hours of recording later, and we STILL have more to say about season 2. So, whatcha say, finale-finale? We'll do a behind-the-numbers; revisit some of our favorite moments of the season; a revisit references we've dug into along the way.  Stick around for “Extra Sugar”, where we learn about the woman, the myth, the legend: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. 

Tread Perilously's Women First month continues with a Designing Women episode called "The Pride of Sugarbakers." When Sugarbakers sponsors a junior league softball team, Mary Jo agrees to coach. Unfortunately, her style is more suited for a Pee Wee league. After the team loses six games, Julia suggests a more aggressive system which favors her protegee, Randa. Will it work? And will Mary Jo discover she needs to be more competitive? Will it have an effect on her son, Quinton, a comically inept ball player? Meanwhile, Suzanne tries to protect her new Cadillac from foul balls and Carlene recalls her childhood days of playing ball with a "puhtatuh." Erik immediately calls the temperature on talk radio in the early 1990s. He also empathizes with Delta Burke. Justin recalls fond memories of watching the series as a child -- one of the few he was allowed to see when he was young. Gerd Shockley comes out against Designing Women creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason for surprising reasons. Justin's memories of Dixie Carter's time on Diff'rent Strokes gets confirmed by Erik. A discussion about The Big Lebowski breaks out. Memories of the Thomasons' connections to the Clintons lead down a very specific rabbit hole and character actor Dennis Burkley gets a special spotlight.

Matthew & I discuss and/or mention in passing: Karen Carpenter, The Ayds Diet Plan, Real People, That’s Incredible, Hello Larry, Diff’rent Strokes, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Skip Stephenson, Cathy Lee Crosby, Fran Tarkenton, Love Sidney, Tony Randall, Teachers Only, Jean Smart, Lynn Redgrave, Tim Reid, WKRP in Cincinnati, Joel Brooks, Norman Fell, Filthy Rich, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Designing Women, MTV, Fred Silverman, Mary Tyler Moore, Grant Tinker, The Cosby Show, Golden Girls, Family Ties, Dallas, Dynasty, Luke & Laura, General Hospital, SNL, Charles Rocket, Joe Piscopo, Eddie Murphy, Gail Matthius, Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Dream On, Family Ties, Little House On The Prairie, The Katzenjammer Kids, Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Oreos, Fig Newtons, Ritz Crackers, 2-XL by Mego, Teddy Ruxpin, Willie Tyler & Lester, Gone With The Wind, Modern Family, Wine, Eve Arden, Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley, Valerie Bertinelli, Eddie Van Halen.

In this episode Ru and Michelle discuss Instagram, Twitter, getting teeth whitening, Jennifer Connelly, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Designing Women, Parents, and Bananarama,This episode is sponsored by Facetune, Blue Apron, Talkspace, and TodayTix.

Headlines in late summer 2018 caught me at my core - prompting me to realize why we cherish some of the finest writing & acting onTV - from Murphy Brown and Designing Women. We DO need to pay closer attention to the power and influence of media. Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's guest column in The Hollywood Reporter sheds light on her creative exile, suffered at the hands of CBS' Les Moonves. Resources: The Hollywood Reporter Linda Bloodworth-Thomason guest column(Sept 12, 2018) 2016 Podcast episode: Designing Women 1, Bodyshamers 0 2017 Podcast episode: Designing Women's Earnest NYE      

The one where we talk about Christine Blasey Ford, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, and Vanessa Solivan. Plus some recs to help you keep on keeping on.

Between the VMA's and Yom Kippur, we've got our own version of the high holidays here at Pop Rocket: The SUMMER JAMS episode! We will anoint OR NOT anoint the title of Song of the Summer to the most banging artist of the past few months. And yes, the band is back together again. The full panel - Guy Branum, Karen Tongson, Wynter Mitchell (don't forget) Rohrbaugh, and Margaret Wappler - put on their Grammy judge hats and measure up the best cuts from music makers this past season. What criteria make a tune a summertime anthem? Is it the dance beat? The song's ubiquity? The convertible factor? A dark city feeling? Does the magic of Cardi B's "I Like It" rest solely on its sample of Peter Rodriquez's I Like It Like That? Is Zedd, Marren Morris, Grey's "The Middle" too much negotiation and not enough sex, love, and urgency? Find out which song made Silas get down like no one was watching and which panelist has a knack for converting jams into pet cat lullabies. Shout outs also go to honorable mentions and listeners' suggestions that didn't quite make the cut. All Abouts Margaret is all about Mandy Moore's newly remodeled mid-century modern home in Pasadena. Wynter is all about TV writer and producer Linda Bloodworth Thomason's op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter where she channels a glowing fury and details the misogynistic bullying she faced from disgraced former CBS CEO Les Moonves. Les Moonves, Go fuck yourself! Karen is all about the post-BBC reboot of The Great British Baking Show. Guy is all about Cynthia Nixon's appearance at the old school, crusty Brooklyn gay bar The Metropolitan before the New York Governor Primary. With Guy Branum, Karen Tongson, Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh, and Margaret Wappler. Summer Jam Finalists: Cardi B - I Like It Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey - The Middle Ariana Grande - R.E.M. Maroon 5 - Girls Like You Lizzo - Boys Years & Years - All For You Migos - Walk It Talk It Drake - In My Feelings Drake - Nice For What Calvin Harris feat. Dua Lipa - One Kiss Troye Sivan - Bloom Summer Honorable Mentions: Big Freedia feat. Lizzo - Karaoke Years & Years - If You're Over Me Matt Rogers - Be A Bitch To Your Friends (This Pride) Aloe Blacc - Brooklyn in the Summer You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter. If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram. Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.

American TV storytelling sometimes struggles with a good New Years plot. Or it did until Linda Bloodworth-Thomason fired up her typewriter in 1989 to deliver the January 1, 1990 episode of Designing Women entitled “The First Day of the Last Decade of the Entire 20th Century.” It is pure art, as performed by the four original actresses: Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Jean Smart and Annie Potts. It’s written by creator and showrunner Linda Bloodworth Thomason, directed by co-creator husband Harry Thomason. Yup, this was the one that included Charlene's dream with Dolly Parton. And then there’s the hair…

On this week's LadyWatch agenda: Ryan and Jason discuss the Lady implications of our empty Supreme Court Justice seat (and what that could mean for Cicely Tyson types everywhere), Meryl talking about Africa and Rosie talking about autism and both of them getting the hot water, Leslie Uggams' monster hit 'Deadpool' and the Ladies on parade in 'Zoolander 2, Laurie Metcalf's stunning work on 'Horace and Pete', Buzzfeed's profile of the Queen of Late Night Schmaltz Delilah, Roseanne's new medicinal enterprise, Sarah Ferguson's philanthropic parenting, Mavis Staples' new hipster record, Sally Kirkland's lost and found (and found and found) love, Julia Sugarbaker rises again thanks to Linda Bloodworth Thomason, Glenda Jackson steals a role from Kathleen Turner and pulls back a stump, plus what Suzanne Somers might have to do with Florence Henderson's sex drive, and much much more!

"It was like Nixon going to China." Commentary by guest & media/gender scholar Wendy Burns-Ardolino;  Season 4 of Designing Women. Delta Burke's weight gain, tabloid harrassment. Rumors of Burke being "difficult to work with" Linda Bloodworth Thomason writes "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?" & Burke sends TV's first direct message about bodyshaming to the America.   Resources: Delta Burke's 1998 Delta Style: Eve wasn't a size 6 and neither am I Wendy Burns-Ardolino's (2015) TV Female Foursomes and Their Fans: Featuring the Golden Girls, Designing Women, Living Single, Sex and the City, Girlfriends, Cashmere Mafia and Hot in Cleveland  

Linda Bloodworth-Thomason on the Clintons, "Bridegroom" and the power of the image

BRIDEGROOM is a documentary directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship — a relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof. The story of what happened after this accidental death– of how people without the legal protections of marriage can find themselves completely shut out and ostracized– is poignant, enraging and opens a window onto the issue of marriage equality like no speech or lecture ever will. On May 7, 2012, the anniversary of Tom’s death, after a year of documenting his own grief, Shane decided to make a video tribute to his partner entitled “It Could Happen To You.” This film, posted on YouTube, received over 3.4 million views and has been translated into over 20 different languages. The impact of Shane’s YouTube video and the raw nerve it touched, tells us this is an important story that needs to be told. With the incredible support from influential people like Brad and George Takei and Neil Patrick Harris, Bridegroom was successfully funded on July 19, 2012 by over 6,500 people on Kickstarter.com becoming the most funded documentary in the history of crowd funding, and released in the fall of 2013. Here is short 10 minute video short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR9gyloyOjM "Bridegroom" Film Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kv1xQgfVQA    

BRIDEGROOM is a documentary directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship — a relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof. The story of what happened after this accidental death– of how people without the legal protections of marriage can find themselves completely shut out and ostracized– is poignant, enraging and opens a window onto the issue of marriage equality like no speech or lecture ever will. On May 7, 2012, the anniversary of Tom’s death, after a year of documenting his own grief, Shane decided to make a video tribute to his partner entitled “It Could Happen To You.” This film, posted on YouTube, received over 3.4 million views and has been translated into over 20 different languages. The impact of Shane’s YouTube video and the raw nerve it touched, tells us this is an important story that needs to be told. With the incredible support from influential people like Brad and George Takei and Neil Patrick Harris, Bridegroom was successfully funded on July 19, 2012 by over 6,500 people on Kickstarter.com becoming the most funded documentary in the history of crowd funding, and released in the fall of 2013. Here is short 10 minute video short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR9gyloyOjM "Bridegroom" Film Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kv1xQgfVQA