Writing for TV

Writing Routines: A Holistic Approach to Crafting Your Weekly Writing Schedule

January 23, 2019 by Amy Suto 1 Comment

If you think I’m writing these blog posts in part so I can spend my mornings browsing aesthetically pleasing photos of coffee and desks and people writing in dramatic lighting, you’d be 100% right.

Also, it’s January, so I’m on that Self Development Kick that we all get when advertisers are hammering into our minds how we can be better, and our new years’ resolutions haven’t faded from our minds for the next 11 months.

Okay, I say that but I love setting and achieving my new years’ resolutions. Maybe it’s my obsessive compulsion tendencies and love for color coding and aggressive goal-setting, but I just adore making elaborate goal tracking whiteboards and sharing my insane notecarding process on my Instagram.

*as it turns out, if you write a pilot full of logic puzzles and mysteries, you have to figure out how all those logic puzzles and mysteries actually work*

What Makes a Successful Weekly Writing Routine

When I was thinking about my most successful years, I realized that it comes down to how much control I have over my weekly schedule. If I have more flexible hours, I’m able to design my writing routine around creatively inspiring activities that feed into what I’m working on. If I’m struggling with a boatload of freelance projects, I find myself feeling creatively exhausted and my writing suffers.

The best weekly writing routines are holistic and well-rounded: an ideal schedule includes activities that are creative, kinetic, and reflective, and support your writing process so that you can hit the page feeling energized and inspired.

So, using my own trial-and-error, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to build your perfect weekly writing routine:

[Read more…]

The Americans: Day 4 of 31 Days of Spy Films & Television

December 24, 2018 by Amy Suto Leave a Comment

When I started this blog series, I was just going to rattle off my favorite spy content and highlight the best of the best.

That was before I finished The Americans.

Because I work on a spy show, I knew I had to see the full series. I, like so many people I know, gave up around season 1 because I found it a bit dull. On the spectrum, I prefer a bit more elevated spy thrillers because I find that if you get too grounded you run the risk of something too muddled and pedantic rather than a slick and gut-wrenching show that hits in an emotional place while keeping the tension high.

[Read more…]

A Writers’ Life in 2018: Novel Writing, Freelancing, First Episode of Television

December 3, 2018 by Amy Suto Leave a Comment

It’s December! You know what that means: a lengthy reflection on the year that’s passed, with all the ups and downs and status on my impending carpal tunnel!

Amy’s Best Posts of 2018

Before I dive into the shape of this year and what I’ve been up to, here are some of my top posts of 2018. You can always look in my Most Popular Posts section for an overview of the content I care about.

I didn’t blog a ton this year, because it’s been a crazy year of beginnings, endings, and adapting to new jobs and writing projects.

It was a year of learning new skills (like how to make money as a freelance writer on Upwork) and engaging with my creativity and self-reflection on a deeper level than I’ve done in the past.

[Read more…]

How to Write a Series Bible for Your TV Show

January 2, 2018 by Amy Suto 9 Comments

It’s the top of the New Year and I hope you’re as ready for this year as I am! Every year after Christmas I let my OCD tendencies take over and deep clean my apartment and get my projects in order by making a project calendar. I also get started on new scripts, so I thought I’d write this post about how to write a killer series bible for your TV show.

Let’s write stacks on stacks of final drafts this year guys, OK?

add some red string and I’m at serial-killer level of preparedness for this year

What is a Series Bible?

If you’re writing a TV show at the top of the year, I wanted to talk a little about writing a series bible. For those of you new to the world of TV writing, a series bible is the document that is like hey guys if we made a TV show about Wonder Woman saving us from the horrors of 2017 HERE’S WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE

spoiler alert: it would look like AWESOME

So what would you include in a series bible? [Read more…]

How to Work with a Writing Partner (and not murder each other!)

October 31, 2017 by Amy Suto 3 Comments

It’s a Friday and I’m going to meet up with another writer at his office like I do almost every Friday, mainly because I want to steal all of the butterscotch from the reception candy bowl (I’m not twelve, I promise you). I’m carrying a container of the very real, very ridiculous pizza flavored nuts brand Dee’s Nuts — I kid you not — that is integral to our plot. Okay, maybe not integral but like there is a sophisticated, layered inside joke throughout the script about this container of nuts and our main character just happens to be nicknamed Dee (like I said, I’m not twelve.)

We’re working on a pilot that, if you’ve had drinks with me in the past three months, you’ve probably heard me pitch to you in the same breathless tone of voice that I get when I describe why I love Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. (But don’t talk to me about any of the sequels. Just don’t.)

I’ve written some of my favorite projects with others: Jen Enfield-Kane and I wrote and were co-showrunners on CON at USC. Noah Suarez-Sikes and I have had a litany of never-produced yet incredibly lovely writing projects that we’ve worked on together (and hopefully will have another soon!) I’m working with Sandy Valles (an actress known for her role in CON oh and also QUEEN OF THE SOUTH) on a pitch based on an awesome idea her and her brother came up with.

I love television writing in part because of how collaborative it is: you get to play make-believe with other talented creatives. Together, you make something cool that people will hopefully turn into GIFs and needlessly complex Fanfiction for years to come.

However, this doesn’t mean that the writing process is a dream. Writing with a partner or in a television room means there are a lot of different perspectives and approaches to story — which can be great at certain times and a roadblocks at others!

So if you’re starting in a television writers’ room or are about to embark on writing a script with a writing partner, here are some things you should keep in mind so that you get along with other creatives and homicide stays on the page: [Read more…]