#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.

[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.

[najaemism]

i think she knows! | karina x fem!oc smau

meet the cast: recurring cast!

synopsis. march shim and karina yu had been compared and pitted against each other for years, and the media even dubbed them as rivals simply because their careers were slightly similar. their professional lives cross when they’re both casted as leads in a new series, sparks flying both onscreen and off.

(oh—and march also runs a secret stan account for karina.)

warnings. language

— you’re the only friend i need!

(march’s friends)

yeji hwang is a famous actress and model. she’s been march’s friend since they starred in a zombie movie (“dead girl walking”) together back in 2019. she is one of her closest friends, to the point that there had been dating rumors about them.

yuna shin is an actress, model, and dancer. her first major role had been in the series, the heirs (2018) where she starred alongside march and they eventually became friends.

donghyuck lee, or better known by his professional name haechan lee, has been in the spotlight since he was a child, having been the son of a famous actor and actress. he has a half brother, mingyu kim, who is also an actor. he and march became friends through him and is one of her longest friends in the industry.

renjun huang is an actor known for starring in musicals, and sometimes does tv series and movies. currently, he is playing orpheus in “hadestown”. he and march first met on set of “after school” back in 2017, and is also one of march’s longest friends in the industry.

— for lyfers 🫦

(karina’s friends)

aeri uchinaga, known professionally as GISELLE, is an actress, singer, and businesswoman. she began her career as a child actress, then became a teen idol and musician, before eventually taking a break from music and focusing on her acting career and her cosmetic company, DOPAMINE Beauty.

minjeong kim, known professionally as winter kim, is an actress, singer, and dancer. she is currently playing eurydice in the stage musical "hadestown".

yizhuo ning, known professionally as NINGNING, is a singer-songwriter and actress. she started her career in acting in 2017 before eventually making her own music in 2020. she is also credited as a co-writer in a few songs off of karina’s album, most notably in the song “casual”.

— others!

mark lee is an actor, singer and songwriter, and music producer. he is most known for his role as peter parker in the mcu. he is known both for his acting and his music, often called an all-rounder by his peers. he is the owner of the recording studio, golden hour studios.

yangyang liu is an actor, host, and musician. he’s known for starring in comedy series and films, and is part of the regular cast of the late-night live sketch comedy variety show, “late night live”. aside from that, he also releases music on the side, his biggest hit being “end of beginning”.

wonwoo jeon is a well-known actor and filmmaker who has been dubbed as the “box office king”, since all his movies turn out to be certified hits. currently, he is working on a series (as the showrunner, producer, and headwriter) with his fiancé, mingyu kim.

mingyu kim is one of the sought after actors in the industry, and is also a director. his mother was a famous actress during her time, and he has a younger half-brother whom he is also close to. he is currently working on a limited series (as the showrunner, director, and executive producer) with his fiancé, wonwoo jeon.

PREV | MASTERLIST | NEXT

notes.

karina, giselle, winter, and ningning all met on set of the movie "dreams come true" and they've all been inseperable since then

minwon are kinda like march’s “industry parents” and they also have a production company called “bittersweet productions” bc im unoroginal and cannot think of a different name 😭

mark is basically everyone’s friend 😭 he knows a lot of people and has a lot of connections in the industry (and yes the mcu is a thing in this universe but i will not go into full detail about it… just that mark is spider-man 😵‍💫)

march has dating rumors with all her friends but especially with yeji and haechan bc shippers are crazyyyy like she would be standing next to anyone and there would be shippers immediately

taglist is still open!!!! and pls let me know if u wanna be a stan account in this smau bc i need more stan accounts 😭😭😭 pls im on my knees

taglist. @archivedmkl @yuyuy90 @linonyang @yjiminswallet @jaeyuuns @syronns @gtfoiydlyj

[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.

[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

[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 🤸🏾‍♀️

[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.

[ilikepjo24]

Azula's character was written for redemption...

So, as some of you may know, Aaron Ehasz was the headwriter and co-executive producer of the first two seasons of Avatar the last Airbender, so by all means, he had a lot of say about the creation of the characters and the 2/3rds of their development, or in some cases, 1/2nds. It's safe to say that next to nobody knows those characters and their purposes as well as he does.

And as some of you also know, after the show had ended, Ehasz made a tweet, publicly announcing that he always intended for Azula to have a redemption arc. Always. It wasn't a last minute decision, it was the end goal from the beginning. Which means that, naturally, in order to create a plotline that doesn't feel forced or odd, Ehasz needed to write a character that always had the potential to be redeemed. He couldn't create an irredeemable character and try to redeem them later. It wouldn't make sense.

Which is why Azula's character always was and still is a perfectly redeemable character.

I genuinely believe that the people that can't see that, simply fail to understand Azula's intentions.

I've had conversations with people that have had perfect understanding of Azula's state of mind, personality and actions, but still failed to understand why she's so redeemable, because they didn't understand her intentions. And I don't blame them for not understanding. You can look at Azula's character all you want, and you still won't see it. Because it isn't just about Azula. It's about the Fire Nation as a whole.

The thing about the Fire Nation is that they genuinely believe they are doing something that is good. It's not just a bunch of people that saw the opportunity to do something evil and did it for fun. Sozin did something evil for power and then gaslighted entire generations into believing they were going something good. The Fire Nation is a bunch of people that think they are doing something good.

In Azula's case, I drew a picture to help you understand.

(Disclaimer: Ozai's crown isn't historically accurate.)

As you can see in the picture, yes, at the end of the day, Azula does bad stuff, but not because she recognizes they are bad and genuinely wants to do then just because. She's s victim of manipulation from an adult she had every reason to trust and brainwashed by the same propaganda that controlled the rest of the nation.

So yes, she did bad stuff and she's a villain.

But she is redeemable.

Every time we see Azula try hard to complete a mission, she's passionate about it. She's passionate to do the "right" thing and she's passionate to make the person that loves her proud. That's why she doesn't evil stuff. It's not because she enjoys pain. It's not because she gets off on people suffering. It's because she thinks it's right, and she's rewarded with love.

Which is what makes her redeemable.

Because being passionate about doing something you think is right means you want to do right things. You just need your view of right to align with what's objectively right. So by that logic, all Azula needs is someone to teach her what is actually right and her views will align with that, and then she'd be passionate about doing the real right thing. The good stuff.

And someone that would do that for her, is someone who would obviously love her, or at the very least, someone who wants the best for her. So with time, it's logical to assume that sooner or later, she'll want to make this person proud.

There's nothing wrong with Azula's mentality of "do good, make proud". It's not inherently evil. Just easy to use. Right now, Ozai has used this to fill the blanks and turn the situation into "do fire nation good, make father proud". All Azula needs to be redeemed is for someone to remove the "fire nation" and "father" proud. Assuming that this person is Zuko, he should just switch it to "do what is considered good on a worldwide level, make brother proud" and just like that, Azula has gone from evil to good.

It's obviously easier said than done, but it is possible. Azula's mentality is what allows her to be anything, evil and good. It's really impressive and fascinating how Ehasz wrote such a character, but he did it for a purpose. This kind of mentality is perfect for creating an evil character that gets redeemed. And it's the exact same mentality Zuko also has. And Zuko hot redeemed, so Azula can too.

This proven.