578 episodes

The definitive insider's guide to our current golden age of television, Ben Blacker's The Writers Panel is an ever expanding anthology of live convention panels and intimate in-studio interviews with the writers, producers, and show runners responsible for all the shows you can't stop watching. Over the course of nearly 500 episodes and counting, The Writers Panel has sat across from guests such as Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (Key and Peele), Liz Meriwether (New Girl), and Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) to talk about the art and business of creating great television.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Writers Panel Ben Blacker

    • TV & Film
    • 5.0 • 5 Ratings

The definitive insider's guide to our current golden age of television, Ben Blacker's The Writers Panel is an ever expanding anthology of live convention panels and intimate in-studio interviews with the writers, producers, and show runners responsible for all the shows you can't stop watching. Over the course of nearly 500 episodes and counting, The Writers Panel has sat across from guests such as Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (Key and Peele), Liz Meriwether (New Girl), and Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) to talk about the art and business of creating great television.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Don McKellar (co-creator, The Sympathizer)

    Don McKellar (co-creator, The Sympathizer)

    Writer/director/actor Don McKellar (co-creator, The Sympathizer' 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould; Childstar) discusses throwing yourself into the deep end, the terrors of expectation, tradlation, and representation, collaborating with Park Chan-wook, how to know when to fight, his role on Slings and Arrows, and more.
    Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, May 19, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows!
    The May 19 show is a benefit for the Green Envelope Fund and features a Seinfeld by David Iserson (The Spy Who Dunped Me; New Girl) and a Succession written by "Fake Carol Lombardini" that takes place during the WGA/SAG strike and co-stars real Carol Lombardini!
    Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/retrospecs0519
    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.
    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
    SOCIALS:
    Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social
    Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 39 min
    Michael Jamin (Tacoma FD; Maron)

    Michael Jamin (Tacoma FD; Maron)

    Michael Jamin (Tacoma FD; Maron) discusses his new collection of personal essays, A Paper Orchestra, sharing versus oversharing, what he learned about art from David Bowie and Pharrel, and more.
    Buy A Paper Orchestra and see Jamin on his live reading tour! Info here: https://michaeljamin.com/product/a-paper-orchestra/
    Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows!
    The April 21 show features a West Wing from by Marc Guggenheim (co-creator, Arrow) and a Big Bang Theory written by Helen Shang (Hawaii 5-0).
    Starring Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), Katie Cassidy (Arrow), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), John Ross Bowie (Big Bang Theory), Hrishikesh Hirway (West Wing Weekly; Song Exploder), Ricardo Hurtado (School of Rock), Kiran Deol (Destroy All Neighbors), and more
    Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421
    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.
    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
    SOCIALS:
    Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social
    Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 37 min
    Evan Waite (Family Guy; Kimmy Schmidt)

    Evan Waite (Family Guy; Kimmy Schmidt)

    Evan Waite (Family Guy; The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) discusses the kinds of comedy he enjoys, breaking in by taking chances, his new book Life Wants You Dead: A Calm, Rational and Totally Legit Guide to Scaring Yourself Safe, and more.
    Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows!
    The April 21 show features a West Wing from by Marc Guggenheim (co-creator, Arrow) and a Big Bang Theory written by Helen Shang (Hawaii 5-0).
    Starring Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), Katie Cassidy (Arrow), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), John Ross Bowie (Big Bang Theory), Hrishikesh Hirway (West Wing Weekly; Song Exploder), Ricardo Hurtado (School of Rock), Kiran Deol (Destroy All Neighbors), and more
    Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/Retro421
    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.
    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
    SOCIALS:
    Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social
    Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 32 min
    Melanie Marnich (showrunner, Apples Never Fall)

    Melanie Marnich (showrunner, Apples Never Fall)

    Melanie Marnich (creator, Apples Never Fall; The OA; Big Love) discusses pursuing projects that explore personal questions, casting her room for their strengths, pitching her perspective on Lianne Moriarty's novel, the Apples cast's secret text chain, and more.
    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.
    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
    SOCIALS:
    Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social
    Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 44 min
    Abe Sylvia (Palm Royale; George and Tammy)

    Abe Sylvia (Palm Royale; George and Tammy)

    Abe Sylvia (creator, Palm Royale, George and Tammy; Dead to Me; Nurse Jackie) discusses making discoveries on set, healthy debate vs story breaking, working with frequent collaborators, how not outlining "reintroduces writerly delight," and more.
    Come see Retrospecs on Sunday, April 21, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows!
    The April 21 show features a West Wing from by Marc Guggenheim (co-creator, Arrow) and a Big Bang Theory written by Helen Shang (Hawaii 5-0).
    Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/retrospecs0421

    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.
    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
    SOCIALS:
    Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social
    Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 42 min
    John Orloff (Masters of the Air)

    John Orloff (Masters of the Air)

    John Orloff (creator, Masters of the Air) discusses scripts as selling tools vs scripts as production tools, integrating research into scenes, writing a nine-hour movie, Band of Brothers, and more.
    Come see Retrospecs this Sunday, March 17, 2-4pm PT at the Elysian Theater in LA! In Retrospecs, we dig those old scripts by established writers out of their drawers and expose them to the warm light of the stage. Starring actors you know and love from TV, film, comedy, and the stage. From Girls to Gilmore Girls, from the Big Bang Theory to Buffy, get NEW EPISODES of your favorite shows, written by writers who never wrote for those shows!
    The March 17 show features a Mad About You from 1997 by Ben Blacker and a Girls written by Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Brooklyn 99).
    Live or streaming/VOD tickets here: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/retrospecs

    THE WRITERS PANEL IS A COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION.
    Follow and support the show by subscribing to Ben Blacker's newsletter, Re:Writing, where you'll also get weekly advice from the thousands of writers he's interviewed over the years, as well as access to exclusive live Q&As, meet-ups, and more: benblacker.substack.com
    SOCIALS:
    Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/benblacker.bsky.social
    Twitter: twitter.com/benBlacker

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    • 45 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
5 Ratings

5 Ratings

Askredd ,

In-depth inspiration

This podcast is my weekly dose of LA and I love the fact that it's about writing and creating - not celebrities. It's so inspiring listening to the people behind some of my favorite shows and movies, plus get introduced to shows I haven't even heard of. Very inspirational for anyone working as a writer. And Ben Blacker is the perfect host.

Wouter Lammers ,

Great show!

One of my favorite weekly listens. This is a great show to listen to if you're interested in how television works, even if like me you are not a writer in any way! Interesting guests, good panel discussions and a great source for new tv shows to watch (thanks for getting me hooked on Justified!).

Hasse Stefanz ,

Great podcast!

Amazing insight into writing for television!

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