Our students have been busy pitching their projects to industry insiders. Recent people they've pitched to include:
Bill Dubuque (OZARK, THE ACCOUNTANT)
Marquita Robinson (BLACK-ISH, GLOW)
Sahar Jahani (RAMY, 13 REASONS WHY)
Christina Nieves (GENERA+ION on HBO)
Barbara Nance (ARMY WIVES)
Rob LaZebnik (SIMPSONS)
John Bauman (Manager)
Dawn Comer Jefferson (JUDGING AMY)
Jorge Rivera (BETRAYED, WGA Latino Writers Committee)
There's a Seat in the TV Writers Room for You
In April, we held an open house for upcoming students to learn about our MFA in Writing and Producing for Television.
Here at the TV Writers Studio, you'll learn from one of Hollywood’s most experienced writers whose former students are in writers rooms right now. MFA Director Ken LaZebnik has written and produced hit shows for over 25 years, including TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, PROVIDENCE, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, ARMY WIVES, WHEN CALLS THE HEART, and a soon-to-be-announced series for a top streamer!
The Long Island University, Brooklyn MFA in Writing and Producing for TV - what we call the TV Writers Studio – gives students the experience of being in a writers room, exactly as it unfolds in Hollywood. In this two-year MFA program, you’ll form a writers room and create a TV series. You’ll break stories in the room, develop character arcs, write first drafts, second drafts, and then move into production, working with a professional director, a professional casting director, SAG-AFTRA actors, and complete the cycle of production by the end of your second year. The TV Writers Studio mirrors exactly what you’ll do in Hollywood. And you’ll do it all at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, the creative capital of the world.
You’ll learn from showrunners and award-winning TV writers. Recent guest speakers have included:
Sneha Koorse (THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY)
Niceole Levy (FATE: THE WINX SAGA)
Zoanne Clack (GREY’S ANATOMY)
Valerie Woods (QUEEN SUGAR)
Brian Anthony (STATION 19)
Ben Snyder (GRAND ARMY)
Theresa Rebeck (SMASH)
Sahar Jahani (RAMY)
Dawn Prestwich (Z: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING)
Ligiah Villalobos (UNDER THE SAME MOON)
Maria Escobedo (EAST LOS HIGH)
Alexa Junge (FRIENDS)
T. J. Brady (NARCOS
The Future of the TV Writers Room
Now in its second year, we hosted a FREE symposium on the Future of the TV Writers Room with showrunners and writers:
Valerie Woods
(SWEET MAGNOLIAS, QUEEN SUGAR, and the recently announced COWBOYS OF CALIFORNIA series)
Niceole Levy
(FATE: THE WINX SAGA, CLOAK & DAGGER, S.W.A.T., and feature THE BANKER)
Sneha Koorse
(THE WITCHER, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, THE AMERICANS)
Alexa Junge
(FRIENDS, THE WEST WING, GRACE AND FRANKIE)
Zoanne Clack
(GREY'S ANATOMY)
Dawn Prestwich
(Z: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING, THE KILLING, MELROSE PLACE)
Jorge Rivera
(BETRAYED, Co-chair of the WGA Latino Writers Committee)
hosted by
Ken LaZebnik
(TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, PROVIDENCE, WHEN CALLS THE HEART, ARMY WIVES, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, and Director of the TV Writers Studio)
We covered the topics:
Zoom Beyond
Having lived through the pandemic year, what lessons do we carry into the future of the TV writers room? Does zoom have a place in our future? How does it impact our creative work? Who is advantaged by Zoom? Is it the writers or the studios? What are the implications of creating more international projects?
Breaking Stories
How do streaming networks and serialized storytelling affect how we break those stories? Has television become ten-hour movies, or is there a return to contained storytelling?
Let’s Get Independent
Presented with SeriesFest
What is the future of creating work for television independently? Is it possible to break out of the studio model in terms of development? We heard from independent television creators who are doing just that:
Matt Ferrucci is an award-winning director & writer whose dark comedy KENSINGTON won Best TV Pilot at the 2019 SOHO International Film Festival in New York and Best of Fest at the 2020 First Glance Film Festival. Matt wrote and directed for two seasons on the Comedy Central sketch show Triptank, directing Keegan Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Nat Faxon, Cheech Marin, and Pete Holmes, among others.
Bri Castellini is the Film Community Manager for Seed&Spark, a graduate-level adjunct professor for digital media, an independent filmmaker, who’s known for the 2017 short film Ace and Anxious (writer/director, 149k views on YouTube) and for her podcasts Burn, Noticed and Breaking Out of Breaking In.
Shannon Goldman is the founder of Super G Films, a New York-based production company, who has directed, edited and produced several feature length films, many of which debuted at top film festivals and released to critical acclaim.
Jacqueline Pereda is a writer, producer, and comedian who wrote, directed and produced her half-hour comedic pilot, GENERATION POR QUÉ? which was a 2020 Official Selection at Seriesfest and is licensed by HBO and HBO Max to air in May 2021. Her comedy has appeared on TruTV, Funny or Die, Mas Mejor, WhoHaha, Brown Girl Magazine, the Women in Comedy Festival and Brooklyn Comedy Festival.
Liann Kaye is a Chinese American filmmaker based in NYC. For five years, she was the director of video for Global Citizen’s international music festivals, working with artists such as Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Coldplay, and Metallica. Her award-winning short "The Blessing" premiered at festivals across the country last year, winning "Best Comedy" at the New York Short Film Festival.
Alum Jorge Rivera on Scripts & Scribes
TV writer/producer and Vice-Chair of the WGA Latino Writers Committee Jorge Rivera (Class of 2012) talks about writing fellowships, making the move from the east coast to LA, breaking into the writers room as a LatinX writer, and so much more!
You can listen here.
Writing the Pilot: Creating the Series
In March, we had a free webinar William Rabkin, one of the great thinkers about writing television.
In 2011, Rabkin wrote a book that has become a bible for television writers: WRITING THE PILOT. He has now followed that book up with CREATING THE SERIES.
Bill Rabkin on why he wrote Creating the Series:
A lot has changed about the television business since 2011. And when I say “a lot,” I mean everything. The way series are bought. The way series are conceived. The way stories are told. The way series are consumed. The kinds of stories that can be told. The limitations on content at every level. The limitations on form at every level. And maybe most important of all: The restriction on who is allowed to sell a series.
What’s far more confusing about the future is that there are as many changes in the business models for “broadcasters” out there, and no one knows which ones will prevail.
And the changes in the delivery model are actually affecting the way our viewers watch our shows – and that in turn is affecting the shows that are being bought and produced.
And the only thing that’s certain is that everything is going to keep changing. Well – almost everything. Because the one constant in this new television world is the need for great writing. Strong concepts, rich characters, intriguing plots. And more even than great writing: a voice. There’s a desperate hunger out there for a fresh, original vision, something that can cut through the clutter of all those hundreds of other shows out there.
But in order for that voice to be yours, you’ve got to understand how TV writing has changed – and what it may be changing to. This book is about addressing the changes that have overtaken the TV business – and more importantly, have overtaken TV storytelling.
I’m going to be talking about all the changes I listed above, and how they may – how they must – affect your pilot.
We ❤️ TV. Do you?
What episode of TV do you love the most?
In February, we had a contest where people could show their love of TV and win a $50 Amazon Gift Card!
Entrants recorded a one-minute audio clip describing their favorite TV episode, and then we made them into videos to post on social media this spring.