Search results
May 26, 2020 · This week, host Gray Jones interviews veteran comedy writer Ken Estin, showrunner of Cheers and Taxi and creator of The Tracy Ullman Show, and Paula Finn, the author of Sitcom Writers Talk Shop. Episode 099 is sponsored by Pilar Alessandra of onthepage.tv.
Ken Estin began his career as a free-lance writer whose first professional script was a Taxi episode for which he won the Writers Guild Award. Ken became the showrunner (head writer-producer)...
- 94
- Executive Producer at The Estin Company
- 99
Jan 11, 2019 · Author Paula Finn and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Ken Estin (“Taxi,” “Cheers,” “The Tracey Ullman Show”) chat with Daniel Ford about Sitcom Writers Talk Shop: Behind the Scenes with Carl Reiner, Norman Lear, and Other Geniuses of TV Comedy.
- The Rules Aren’T For Them: They Trust Their instincts.
- Even Great Writers Get blocked.
- They Suffer For Their Art.
- Success Doesn’T Always Breed confidence.
- The Work Is Harder Than It Looks!
- Cast of Characters
When I asked Carl Reiner if he uses any rules or formulas for joke construction he responded, “No, I think the seat of your pants. If you’re a real writer, you don’t worry about the technique of it; you go by the seat of your pants.” Leonard Stern spoke of the undefinable: “There’s a formularization for many jokes, but it’s very hard to explain. Su...
James L. Brooks described his struggles while writing Terms of Endearment: “…I was stuck. I was stuck in my script, and I couldn’t go backwards and I couldn’t go forwards. And I spent every day blushing. I’d literally be blushing...It was just intolerable. And I went out one night, and there was a concert pianist there who did pretty well all over ...
Norman Lear recalled the torment he went through over deadlines: “The early years of my career were filled with an incredible amount of fear and anxiety. I always wrote in a clutch. By one o’clock in the morning, I hadto start writing or else. I remember sitting on the phone with a shrink after vomiting and literally weeping for hours. I had four h...
I asked the writers if they had confidence in their ability to always find the funny. Without hesitating, Larry Charles responded, “No, not at all. Not ever. Not from one day to the next.” Steve Skrovan concurs: “Every time I finish a script, I think that’s it, that’s the end of my career. I’m done, I have no more stories. There are no more stories...
As Bill Persky points out, “The thing about writing comedy is . . . you do not know how you do it. So when I get up in the morning, I don’t know that I still can do it. And until you do do it, you really aren’t sure you cando it. And that’s a little frightening. It’s not like a brain surgeon who gets up one day and says, ‘Oh Jesus, where do I make ...
James L. Brooks: Room 222 (Creator), Mary Tyler Moore (Co-Creator), Taxi (Co-Creator), The Tracey Ullman Show (Co-Creator), The Simpsons(Co-Developer) Larry Charles: Seinfeld, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm Ken Estin: Taxi, Cheers, The Tortellis (Creator), The Tracey Ullman Show(Creator) David Isaacs: M*A*S*H, Mary(Co-Creator), The Simpsons, W...
Nov 15, 2018 · In this first part of a two-part episode, Paula and Ken discuss their experience inside TV writers rooms and the components of good comedy writing. Paula will provide an inside look into her new book and Ken will tell the story of how his first professional script for Taxi earned a Writers Guild Award.
May 18, 2020 · This week, host Gray Jones interviews veteran comedy writer Ken Estin, showrunner of Cheers and Taxi and creator of The Tracy Ullman Show, and Paula Finn, th...
- 54 min
- 182
- GrayJones
Ken Estin began his career as a freelance writer whose first professional script was a Taxi episode that earned him a Writers Guild Award. Ken became the showrunner (head writer-producer) of Taxi two years later and won his first Emmy when he was twenty-eight.
