Book Review: Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box by Alex Epstein

Crafty TV Writing is, most obviously, a manual for aspiring writers wondering how the industry and the process works and how to break into the business, or for professional television writers who want to improve their scripts and advance their careers.

Author Alex Epstein is also the author of Crafty Screenwriting:Writing Movies that Get Made, and provides ongoing writing advice on his blog, Complications Ensue. The co-creator of the series Naked Josh and head writer for Charlie Jade, he outlines everything from understanding the structure and process of writing for television, coming up with ideas, writing a spec script, getting an agent, landing freelance gigs, being hired as a staff writer, working your way up the ranks, to creating your own show ("the holy grail").

While he's a graduate of Yale University and the UCLA School of Film and Television, Epstein suggests that watching television with a writer's eye is more valuable preparation than formal education. But he does provide information about schools, seminars, internships, entry-level jobs, awards and competitions, as well as lists of resources such as where to find scripts online and which screenwriting software programs are most valuable.

But besides television writers and wannabe writers, there is another audience for the book. Crafty TV Writing will also appeal to the television fan keeners who want to take a peek at the wizardry behind the curtain, to discover how television shows are put together from the writers' perspective. And that's a good thing for me, because while I am not qualified to evaluate advice on making it in the TV business, I'm something of an expert at being a nerdy fan.

Some fans might not want the process demystified, might not want to think about the tricks behind the magic of television. But armchair students of television will find illuminating Epstein's discussions about the hidden template of a show—"the sum of all things that must remain consistent from episode to episode"—and the structure of a show, the teasers, tags, and act-outs that are designed to get viewers to return after commercial breaks, and again next week.

Article Author: Diane Kristine Wild

Diane writes about boring things during the day, pop culture things by night. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news and information about Canadian television. Follow her on Twitter @deekayw for more random thoughts.

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