I’ve mentioned finding these panels around Christmas on my Twitter feed (if you aren’t following me but would like to – sign up to follow @jeritalledawson) and I have finally found the time to listen to the first panel with writers Damon Lindelof, Jane Espenson, Erin Levy & Drew Z. Greenberg.

The panel covers shows from Battlestar to Dexter, from Lost to Buffy, from Mad Men to Caprica, and more. The writers talk candidly about how they got into their jobs, what role finding representation played in their lives; they talk about writing spec scripts and breaking in, what a writer’s room is like, and what it really means to be a TV writer (hint: you must be a tad bit mad to want to do this).

I’ve learned more about the reality of writing for TV from those 75 min of candid talk than I did since plowing through Russel T Davies’ “The Writer’s Tale”.

Damon Lindelof in particular covers very thoroughly the reality of writing Lost, and it’s nothing like I imagined it to be.

Deadlines, writing a shooting script in two weeks, the meaning of character and the structure of story, how much of your own personal story you should put into your scripts, these and many more topics are thoroughly covered and should be interesting to any writer, not just those thinking about breaking into scriptwriting.

You can listen to the podcast directly on the web page or download it for free to the medium of your choice.

Links:
Nerdist Writer’s Panel: Damon Lindelof, Jane Espenson, Erin Levy & Drew Z. Greenberg
All Nerdist Writer’s Panels to date