Advice — interviews

Vickie Patik has enjoyed success in nearly every facet of entertainment, first as a singer/dancer in Los Angeles civic light opera and Broadway productions and actress on soap operas, then as a screenwriter of numerous movies for television. A frequent lecturer on screenwriting, her best-known work, 'Do You Remember Love', starring Joanne Woodward and the late Richard Kiley, won her an Emmy, a Writers' Guild Award, the Humanitas Award, the Christopher Award, D.W. Griffith Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award. Her script for 'Silent Cries' won both Christopher and Writers Guild awards. Her film directing debut, 'Now or Never',...

Dave Hackel's producing credits include such long-running hits as Paramount's comedy series 'Wings' and 'Dear John.' Hackel's first writing assignment for a series came in 1978 for the 'Barney Miller' spinoff, 'Fish,' starring Abe Vigoda. While writing episodes for several series, including one-hour dramas and variety shows, Hackel honed his expertise for comedy. Hackel was named producer of Paramount's 'Dear John' for that series' first season in 1988. From there, Hackel worked as a writer/producer on the hit Paramount series 'Wings' for a total of 122 episodes, ultimately becoming the show's executive producer during the 1993-94 season. Since 'Wings,' Hackel...

Question: What’s the best advice you can give writers to help them develop their own unique voice and style?John Truby: Voice and style are among the most misunderstood of all elements in storytelling. Voice and style aren’t simply a unique way of talking and writing. Voice and style come from content. Successful content comes from having an original story idea that is structurally well told. And this combination is extremely rare.This question is really about the writing process. Telling your story with a unique voice and style comes near the end of the process. The beginning of the process has...

David JanollariHead of Programming, MTVDavid Janollari grew up in Rhode Island. He was a popular guy who had a lot of friends. He went to Boston College for two years then transferred to NYU film school. He turned his sights on Hollywood, and a few of his loyal friends went along for the ride. David owes a lot to these friends, especially Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, Monica, and Ross. Do we need to play this out any further or have you figured out by now that Mr. Janollari had a hand in creating the hit show, M*A*S*H? Kidding, he was...

KATHIE FONG YONEDA: Everybody knows that getting hired in this business is about who you know. So, Ellen, you’ve been hired to write on over twenty shows, how do you get to know people and even more important, how do people get to know you? What is your advice on networking?ELLEN SANDLER: Actually I hate the word “networking.” It sounds so calculated, because it is. I don’t think it’s really the most productive thing to be doing – that kind of “active networking” thing.K: You mean where people are rushing at everyone handing out cards and pitching their loglines?E: Yeah....