MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA: WRITING FOR SITUATION COMEDY {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a special series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio and co-sponsored by the Writers Guild of America. Held in New York and moderated by both Museum television curator Ron Simon and TIP-East president Martha Greenhouse, this seminar aims to offer a forum in which inexperienced writers can learn from a panel of active, successful industry writers. Simon introduces Greenhouse, who briefly discusses her role in TIP-East (an organization formed "To Increase Production" on the East Coast) before introducing the panelists: "Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Square Pegs" writer Susan Silver; "All in the Family" Emmy-winner Lee Kalcheim; "Cosby Show" scribe John Marcus; and "Mork and Mindy" and "Police Squad" writer/producer David Misch. Greenhouse explains that each of the writers serves as a teacher for writing classes held by the Writers Guild, and she asks the panelists to tell the story of how they got into the business; all of the writers seem to agree that it takes a combination of timing, luck, and talent. The majority of the seminar then is taken up by a mock "pitch meeting." A "pitch meeting" is a discussion between the producers of an established show and a writer regarding ideas for potential episodes of the series in question. Greenhouse explains that in past classes the Guild has used "Murphy Brown" as the test series, but that for this seminar, she has decided that the more unconventional new series "Seinfeld" would be more of a challenge. Greenhouse then brings up a student from one of the classes to pitch three ideas for "Seinfeld" episodes. The student discusses his concepts, and then the panelists all comment on his performance. Silver encourages the young writer to try to "sell himself" more, while Kalcheim tells him he needs to be persistent and confident in his ideas. All of the panelists then choose the idea they liked the best -- a plot line in which the character of George Costanza loses a videotape of his living will and testament -- and ask the writer to come up with more details for the story on the spot. As the writer does his best to improvise, the panelists recount their own personal "pitch nightmare" stories.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: December 5, 1991 Thursday 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:48:01
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:23745
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ron Simon … Host, Moderator
- Martha Greenhouse … Moderator
- Lee Kalcheim … Panelist
- David Misch … Panelist
- John Marcus … Panelist
- Susan Silver … Panelist