#Headwriter

[yahoo201027]

November 18: Happy 63rd Birthday to Scottish Writer and Producer Steven Moffat, who was the writer, later Headwriter for Doctor Who, replacing Russell T. Davies following his departure from 2010 when Matt Smith took over until his own in 2017 with Peter Capaldi to follow suit that year but returned as one of the writers for certain episodes for the Ncuti Gatwa era (including the upcoming Christmas episode).

[vickiabelson]

Bruce Vilanch Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson 

We were Live with 6x Emmy Winner, Bruce Vilanch, even though he only stakes genuine claim to 2 of them, he’s got 6. Well, he was awarded 6, he gave one to his mother, one to his manager, one to his business manager, and he’s got 2 in his possession. They all still count, Bruce. And they’re all deserved. This human has brought so much joy, and so much laughter to audiences around the globe for decades. 

Bruce has written for 24 Oscar broadcasts, was head writer for 14 of them, and collaborated with hosts such as Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, and Billy Crystal, we talked about all of those: fun with Whoopi, outsider Dave, magic with Billy, and the infamous Rob Lowe/ Snow White monologue, difficult Ellen, no surprise there, wildness with Jack Palance, apologies from James Franco, great stories, all! 

We talked the Hollywood Squares, which brought Bruce front and center - put him on camera, made him a celebrity, helped him land Hairspray and his star turn as Edna Turnblat on Broadway… how the show worked, great tales about Little Richard, Garth Brooks having the funny, Whoopi, again, John Davidson hosting and the adlib that brought the house down, or was it? 

Starting as a child actor, always funny, writing the funny for the Chicago Tribune, meeting Bette Midler, a relationship that has spanned 55 years and has been a game and life changer. Writing for Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams, Roseanne, Nathan Lane, and pretty much everyone else in Hollywood. 

The pandemic kept Bruce busy - his book, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time, drops March 4th and is available for pre-order now https://www.amazon.com/Seemed-Like-Bad-Idea-Time/dp/0914091921 he wrote the book for the Dolly Parton musical, Here You Come Again, which has enjoyed successful runs across the states and is currently readying a run in London’s West End. Bruce is featured in Studio One Forever, about America’s first iconic gay disco, streaming now on Prime. 

Bruce is everywhere and has done everything. Indefatigable and talented beyond compare, Bruce can get inside the head of just about anyone - be them and make them funny. Funnier. What a gift. He’s a treasure. I adore him and I’m damn grateful he never stops working. Do us all a continued favor, Bruce, stay busy!

Bruce Vilanch Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson 

Wednesday, 12/4/24, 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET

Streamed Live on my Facebook

Replay here:

[futurecoolaunt]

Although I will never fully recover from this episode, some specific things I loved:

*space to talk about/grieve Carl (I will forever be salty about tptb killing him off 🤬)

*moments of humor sprinkled throughout the episode (reminded me of Danai's play Eclipsed)

*parallel of the post-coitus scene with the Richonne morning scene in "East" (I pray someone comes through with gifs 🙏🏾)

*the RJ reveal and discussion of how he's a combination of his mom and dad 😭

*Danai and Andy's performances were 🤌🏾 I need to hear awards talk 👏🏾

[omarfor-orchestra]

Will you still like me when noi siamo leggenda S2 will come out and I'll ship incest

[anyathefandom]

It's funny how some soap press (and podcasters) want to blame fans for tuning out, like how about y'all blame them motherfucking writers who are making the fans tune out. How about that?!!

Sidenote: And the fact that their acting like it's solely because of a ship or it's about not liking the past 2 weeks like no baby this show has been horrible for a whiiile and I think people are just fed up and that's okay because no one should be obligated to watch a show that isn't entertaining to them. Like be fucking for real please.

[anaisanais-stuff]

Forecast for 2023:

Head writing game: strong

Actual writing: weak

[teamxdark]

Heading back home, hopefully back to writing soon!

[lobselvith8]

Regarding Gaider's "Modern Elves are Partly to blame for their own oppression"

In a conversation with Christina Gonzalez and a few other people on twitter, David Gaider, the former headwriter of Dragon Age, mocked fans of the Dalish. I took issue with his statement and pointed out why people are critical of how he and the other writers handled the Dalish in Dragon Age (while Allan Schumacher of Epic Games had nothing of substance to say in response). The Dalish are nomadic as a consequence of Andrastian societies violently attacking them if they stay too long in one area. The Andrastian Chantry outlawed their religion, making them criminals as a consequence of their faith. Andrastians will threaten the Dalish with violence in an attempt to force conversion to the Andrastian faith. Templars will hunt down the Dalish, and will even torture children. Andrastian elves also suffer from Andrastian oppression as Andrastian humans can massacre all of them, down to the children in an orphanage.

Gaider postulates that one could discuss how the ancient elves were "partly to blame" for their enslavement (let's keep in mind that being slaves is what he's talking about, even though he's careful not to put that into his tweet) or how "modern elves are partly to blame for their own oppression" which is essentially what we are told throughout the whole of Inquisition and the DLCs that accompanied the game (even JoH tries to romanticize the genocidal tyrant Drakon and place all of the blame on the Dales for the elves not trusting the tyrant who was invading their neighbors, forcing conversion, and massacring the people who would not convert - like the peaceful pacifists known as the Daughters of Song).

Inquisition even rectonned previously established lore on the Dalish in order to have characters like Iron Bull denigrate the Dalish. It's a game that will side-step Celene burning thousands of elves alive in Halamshiral while it will demonize the Dalish for wanting to maintain their autonomy from what's essentially a group of colonizers who want to rule over them and force them to convert, and the white Canadian writers (who are from Canada, a place known for its long history of horrific treatment towards Indigenous people) are firmly on the side of those who think that the Dalish (who, as Gaider himself once said at the Dragon Central forums before the release of Origins, were modeled after "Northern Native Americans") are wrong not to subjugate themselves to white Andrastian rulers.

Andrastian elves similarly face hardships because of Andrastian rule. In Ferelden even the efforts of the Night Elves fighting to free the nation from Orlesian rule didn't the elves any greater freedoms once Maric came to power. The Boon of the City Elf faces a number of dire consequences unless the Warden assumes control themselves as the new Bann. Inquisition ignores the plight of the elves of the Dales entirely to focus on a white human noble as the focus of the storyline in the Dales, and you can potentially help chevalier Michel de Chevin (a white man with blonde hair who is part of the chevaliers, a group who murder innocent elves as part of their initiation rite, although this isn't properly addressed in-game) while Briala's role is marginalized in-game despite being the leader of an elven rebellion across Orlais (and she strangely became white despite her in-book description making it clear she's a woman of color, which accompanying artwork confirmed).

Whether you're talking about the slavery of ancient elves or the 'modern' oppression of Andrastian elves and Dalish elves, I don't see how you can blame either the victims of slavery or the victims of racial (and in the case of the Dalish religious) persecution for the oppression they face. And Gaider doesn't seem to understand that at all, which explains the inherent problems with how the plight of the elves is framed within Dragon Age.

[isagrimorie]

I really don’t want to give Disney-Marvel any credit for how well Agatha All Along is doing, or how queer it’s been.

The reason why we’re having great storylines is because of Jac Schaeffer and her team of writers. It’s because of Mary Livanos as Executive Producer, helping Schaeffer along to push this project.

It’s because of the WGA strike forcing Disney to concede on the mandatory writer’s room and giving writers who run the show the title “Showrunner.”

It’s Kathryn Hahn being such an advocate.

If it were up to Disney-Marvel they would continue on the fuckery calling Showrunners “headwriters” and not giving showrunners creative control.

And doing things like handing off finished scripts to directors without consulting writers. Treating TV shows like movies.

And getting utter BS like Secret Invasion and the total re-write of Daredevil.

Agatha All Along is well written and has the most controlled budget of any Disney+ show.

Because who knew giving showrunners some free rein and responsibility makes it work? Or letting creatives cook, work?

HBO pre-Zaslav knew this.

The small amount I want of credit I do want to give is how Disney is actually spending money to market a show.

Because when you promote a show, Surprise! It does get watched!

I think that’s a lesson AppleTV+ needs to know too.

[nightfurylover31]

I think people need to stop blaming Ian Flynn solely on the direction IDW has taken Sonic. The dude hasn’t even been headwriter since issue 32! That was 4 years ago.

There are multiple writers for the comic, and everything has to be approved by SEGA first. There’s also rules and mandates they have to hurdle through as well. No one has free range on what can or can’t be written.

Sure, you guys can get mad and rant about it, but don’t just blame the one guy.

[yahoo201027]

November 18: Happy 62nd Birthday to Scottish Writer and Producer Steven Moffat, who was the writer, later Headwriter for Doctor Who, replacing Russell T. Davies following his departure from 2010 when Matt Smith took over until his own in 2017 with Peter Capaldi to follow suit that year.

[vickiabelson]

Today LIVE, with comedy writer, playwright, actor, and two-time Emmy winner Bruce Vilanch! Oh, thank Gd! I so need the eggs. And the laughs. 

Bruce has written for 24 Oscar broadcasts, was head writer for 14 of them collaborated with hosts such as Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, and Billy Crystal, and won his two consecutive Emmy Awards for the Billy-hosted Academy Award telecasts. Bruce has also written for the Tonys, Grammys, and Emmys, The Donny & Marie Show, The Star Wars Holiday Special, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, Bette Midler--Diva Las Vegas, the sitcom, Bette! to name but some, and did a 4-year stint on Hollywood Squares as both a performer and head writer. 

Writing for the aforementioned Billy and Bette as well as Lily Tomlin, Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell, Paul Reiser, Elizabeth Taylor, and Robin Williams, to name but a very few, Bruce also wrote three Broadway shows for Bette, three for Michael Feinstein, one for Diana Ross, recently wrote the book for two jukebox musicals, and starred on Broadway in one himself, as Edna Tuurnblad, in Hairspray, as well as off-Broadway in his self-penned one-man show, Bruce Vilanch: Almost Famous. 

Bruce penned the lyrics for the farewell song that Bette sang to Johnny on his final broadcast of The Tonight Show, which won him an Emmy Award.

Featured in Bosom Buddies, Law & Order, and Mahogany, Bruce also appeared on Celebrity Fit Club.

With the greatest T-shirt collection on the planet, Bruce wears red glasses and has been involved in various philanthropic causes, such as AIDS awareness, gay rights, and animal welfare. How could you not adore him? I do. And so look forward to sitting down, albeit virtually with him again. When last we met it was just pre-pandemic, the world’s turned upside down since then - cannot wait to hear his take. If only he could save us. His humor will surely help. 

Bruce Vilanch Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson 

Wednesday, 12/4/24, 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET

Streaming Live on my Facebook

WednesDaily by Toni Vincent & @peter_and_paul_ Cartoons

[futurecoolaunt]

This episode was EVERYTHANG!!!

Danai did her big one 🫠

No lies were told when they said this was for the Richonners 😭

I am Richonne trash through and through 🤸🏾‍♀️

[seventeendeer]

just started book 3 of my ATLA rewatch and, all goofs aside, I do think it's a massive shame how many genuinely interesting ideas are in here which never get to shine because the headwriters are fundamentally uncomfortable with the themes they inserted into their own story.

they want to write a story introducing kids to the concept of war, but all of their main characters are inexplicably insanely competent and powerful, so we only get a handful of scenes depicting the war with any amount of realism. these scenes usually involve very minor one-off characters, and while evocative to adult viewers to an extent, they are likely to go over kids' heads because they're not grounded in the central narrative.

the writers are eager to borrow concepts from various asian mythologies and schools of thought, but they cherry-pick the parts they think are "cool" or "deep", while ignoring or shouting down ideas that don't neatly line up with what they themselves are already able to relate to (see the whole "opening the chakras"/"letting go of katara" plotline).

they want to portray strong, independent female characters standing up to sexism, but every female character must still on some level aspire to be someone's wife (and the dark-skinned girls are depicted as already fitting the mold perfectly; it seems to be the price they pay to be allowed in the story at all. the writers attempted to branch out a little in the sequel series with korra, but immediately felt so uncomfortable they felt the need to put the character through an insanely traumatic plotline as punishment for creative choices they made!).

there are many more of these, but you get the pattern. it's what happens when creatives like the idea of doing something meaningful, but ultimately can't bring themselves to leave their own comfort zones.

I'd honestly be interested in reading fanfiction of ATLA by writers who have a better understanding of the themes it's trying to depict, because there are a lot of interesting pieces on the board and I would love to see them moved around by players who aren't fucking stupid and actually know what the hell they're talking about

[thephantomcasebook]

Do you know anything about the production of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms? George said he was involved in the production and it seems like the showrunners did a good job, but after what Spotchnik, Rian Condal and Sarah Hess did with HOTD I can no longer believe or get excited about anything else in the Ice and Fire universe.

From what I understand GRRM is the Story Editor for "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

He wrote the first three episodes and the last two episodes as well as story edited the entire season.

The showrunner for "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" was the writing assistant for GRRM and Condal when they were writing Season 1 of HOTD. Once HOTD started he and GRRM went and began developing "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" and Condal was given full control when Spotchnik left of which he fucked up in a whole slew of ways, so much so that WB went out of pocket to get a "Ghost Showrunner" to come in and get production off the ground.

So I do have more faith in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" because GRRM is the headwriter and the guy who helped write Season 1 of HOTD (Pre-Sara Hess) is the showrunner.