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Does This Work? Dec 24, 2009

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One morning, a few years ago, when I had a show in production, I got a call from an executive at the studio. He was calling to tell me that he couldn't be at the runthrough that afternoon, but he had a question about a certain line...

My Friend's Place Dec 17, 2009

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Writers, like farmers, can find the bad news in any kind of weather. When it rains, a little too much, farmers complain about the bumper crop, which means over supply and collapsing prices. When it rains a little too little, they complain about parched soil, no crops, lower income...

Important Phone Calls Dec 10, 2009

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Let This One Go Dec 03, 2009

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Official Transcript Nov 26, 2009

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A lot of companies now offer a cool service. They'll take your strings of voice-mails and automatically transcribe them into text. There's an iPhone app that does a pretty good job of this, called Voxie. And it's also a service of Google Voice, the Google-brand telephone service that lets you use one number for pretty much everything...

What Really Happened Nov 19, 2009

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I have a friend who is a psychiatrist. I once asked her what she does when she thinks a patient is lying to her. "How can you really help someone," I said, "who isn't telling you what really happened?..."

David Lloyd, RIP Nov 12, 2009

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In January of 1990, almost twenty years ago, I pitched a joke in the writers' room of TV's long-running, phenomenally popular comedy Cheers. The actual joke is forgotten – it wasn't a good one (I didn't pitch anything good, or even decent, for a while) but I was young, and it was my first real job, and so I knew about what someone who was twenty-four and starting his career knows, which is to say, nothing...

Cave Nov 05, 2009

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So, every writer has a Sinatra moment – you know what I mean, a moment when you got a note or a request from the studio or the network – change this character, make the mom younger, add a dog, don't mention cancer – you know, just the general stuff that every writer in Hollywood eventually has to deal with when the "art form" they've chosen – and yes, in case you didn't hear it, I made little quote marks in the air when I said "art form" – but when the "art form" that you've chosen requires $17 million worth of expensive equipment and three hundred people to bring to life, rather than a six dollar set of oil paints and a piece of canvas, you end up having to listen to a lot of people...

Part of the Process Oct 29, 2009

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I have a friend who is working on a television show with two studios involved (which means two separate sets of studio executives, all giving notes and thoughts and suggestions on every single rewrite) and three non-writing producers, doing the same, and a separate set of network executives, doing the same...

What I'll Never Do Again Oct 22, 2009

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The last time I went to New York, I got off the plane and headed to the cab line and thought: wait a minute. The line is huge. And the cab is going to run me about sixty bucks. So, overcome with a sudden attack of parsimony, I took the train. Bought a metro card, the whole thing. Got out on 51st street, headed to my hotel, and when I checked in they asked, “Do you need any help with your bags, sir?” and I said...

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