OnWriting: A Podcast of the WGA East

Kaitlin sits down with Lorene Scafaria to discuss her latest film, HUSTLERS, as well as her writing processes for both adapted and original projects, the importance of portraying women and their relationships in a dynamic way, the work in sex work, and much more. Lorene earned her first Writers Guild credit with the acclaimed teen comedy NICK AND NORA'S INFINITE PLAYLIST. Since then, she's written and directed three films: SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, THE MEDDLER, and - most recently - one of this year's most buzzed-about films, HUSTLERS. Inspired by the New York magazine article "The Hustlers at Scores," HUSTLERS follows a group of strippers, when the 2008 economic collapse, devise a scheme to scheme to take their lives back by turning the tables on their Wall Street clients. The film was released in theaters on September 13, 2019. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow Kaitlin on Twitter: @KaitlinFontana Follow the Guild on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Kaitlin sits down with writer, showrunner, director, and playwright Warren Leight to discuss his career from stand-up comic to playwright to showrunner of IN TREATMENT and LAW & ORDER: SVU, running writers' rooms, how to shift the focus of a show with such a powerful legacy, the importance of having your work - and your writing team - reflect the real world, and much more. Warren Leight got his start in the entertainment industry with credits on features like MOTHER'S DAY and THE NIGHT WE NEVER MET (the latter of which he also directed). He also wrote for the female stand-up comic quartet the "High Heeled Women." From there, he eventually moved to the stage, penning plays like MAYOR and the Tony Award-winning, Pulitzer Prize finalist SIDE MAN. Warren joined the writing staff of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT for its second through seventh seasons, when he left to be the showrunner for the HBO series IN TREATMENT. He returned to the LAW & ORDER roster in 2011, when he became showrunner for LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT. He worked as showrunner for SVU for its 13th-17th seasons, and is returning to the helm for its 21st. LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT is chronicles the lives of the Special Victims Unit of the New York City Police Department, a squad of detectives who investigate crimes of sexual assault, child abuse and domestic violence. The NBC series - which is now the longest-running live-action television series in the United States - will premiere its 21st season on September 26, 2019. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow Kaitlin on Twitter: @KaitlinFontana Follow the Guild on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Season 4 host Kaitlin Fontana talks with Lauren Ashley Smith about being the Head Writer for the HBO series A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW, her writing process, the importance of having diverse voices in entertainment, how she runs her writers' room, and much more. Lauren is a writer, actor, comedian, and producer, and the first black woman to be the Head Writer of a sketch television show. Before her work on "A Black Lady Sketch Show," Lauren was Head Writer of the critically acclaimed late night show, "The Rundown with Robin Thede." As a comedian, Lauren hosted the Zagat webseries, “Chefs Eating Tacos," and has appeared on VH1.com, The Scene, Refinery29, and the Netflix original series, “The Characters.” A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW is, as its name implies, is a sketch-comedy series with a cast, writers' room, and directing roster comprised entirely of black women. The series, created by Robin Thede and co-executive produced by Issa Rae, premiered on HBO in August and was recently renewed for its second season. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow Kaitlin on Twitter: @KaitlinFontana Follow the Guild on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline spoke with Solvan "Slick" Naim—writer, director, rapper, actor, and creator of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series IT'S BRUNO!—about the ways that music informs and shapes his work, the importance of diversity-focused mentorship programs in the entertainment industry, his advice to those who are just starting to try launch their careers in film & TV, translating his love of his dogs into his show, and much more. Solvan "Slick" Naim is an Award winning Algerian-American writer, director and rapper who was born and raised in New York City. Slick's filmmaking career started by way of his music career: as a rapper, he wrote treatments to his songs and began directing his own music videos. His debut feature, FULL CIRCLE, won 5 festival awards including the Audience Award at the 2013 HBO Urbanworld Festival and was acquired by EOne. His short film "Stanhope" was one of five shorts selected by HBO for their 2015 HBO Short Film Competition and took home the grand prize for Best Film. The film won several other festivals including NBC Universal's Short Fest, receiving the Best Director and Audience Awards. In 2015, Slick was selected by Sony Pictures as a finalist in their Diverse Directors TV Program. He was a second unit director for several episodes of the Netflix series THE GET DOWN. Slick was later selected for FOX and NBC for their TV Director programs, and eventually went on to direct shows for them as well. IT'S BRUNO! is his debut as a series creator. IT'S BRUNO! - which premiered on Netflix in May - follows a Brooklyn native and his Puggle dog, Bruno, through the small adventures they encounter every day as they navigate their native Bushwick. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline spoke with playwright, screenwriter, and showrunner Gary Lennon about embracing rejection; the elements of a successful writers' room; his philosophy on putting real life in your fiction; the new seasons of POWER, HIGHTOWN, and EUPHORIA, and much more. Gary Lennon's somewhat tumultuous childhood paved the way for the start of his writing career: his first screenplay, for the 1995 film DRUNKS, was an adaptation of his stage play, BLACKOUT – a series of semi-autobiographical monologues about alcoholism. Since then, he has been a consistent fixture in the film and television worlds, with writing credits on shows like THE SHIELD, JUSTIFIED, and ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK. He's currently the co-showrunner of the Starz crime drama POWER, and is an executive producer on the forthcoming Starz drama HIGHTOWN and the HBO teen drama EUPHORIA. POWER tells the story of James St. Patrick, a ruthless drug-dealer under the nickname "Ghost", who wishes to leave the criminal world in order to support his legitimate business interests as a nightclub owner. The sixth and final season will premiere in August. EUPHORIA, which premiered last month, follows a group of high school students as they navigate drugs, sex, identity, trauma, social media, love and friendship. HIGHTOWN follows federal Fishery Service Agent Jackie Quinones, whose life of partying and less-than-enthusiastic relationship to her job are upended after she discovers a body in Cape Cod Bay, and finds herself at the center of the Cape’s gruesome heroin epidemic. It's tentatively set to premiere in early 2020. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline sat down with the one and only Tom Fontana (for his very first podcast!) to discuss his writing process, running less-than-traditional writers' rooms, mentoring writers, his latest series - CITY ON A HILL, and much more. Tom Fontana's extensive résumé includes writer, producer, showrunner, and (co-)creator credits on several groundbreaking television series, including OZ, HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET, THE PHILANTHROPIST, COPPER, and Netflix’s BORGIA. He has received international recognition for his writing, including five Writers Guild Awards (three for Episodic Drama and three of the East's honorary awards), three Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, and four Television Critics Association Awards. He is currently the showrunner for CITY ON A HILL, the crime drama series created by Chuck MacLean which recently premiered on Showtime. CITY ON A HILL—a fictional account of the 1996 "Boston Miracle" that changed the city's reputation for violent criminals, racism, and corrupt law enforcement—follows Brooklyn-raised Assistant District Attorney Decourcy Ward as he and forms an unlikely alliance with corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran, Jackie Rohr. Together, they take on a family of armored car robbers in a case that grows to involve, and ultimately subvert, the entire criminal justice system of Boston. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline was joined by writing team Robert and Michelle King—creators of THE GOOD FIGHT, their new series, EVIL, and the Writers Guild Award-winning show, THE GOOD WIFE—to discuss the upcoming seasons of THE GOOD FIGHT and EVIL, the difference between writers' rooms in LA and NYC, life as a married writing team, and more. Before their work on THE GOOD FIGHT and EVIL, the Kings co-created the political satire/science fiction BRAINDEAD and the police procedural IN JUSTICE. THE GOOD FIGHT- a spin-off of the Kings' award-winning series THE GOOD WIFE - follows attorney Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) as she loses her employment after an enormous financial scam destroys both the reputation of her goddaughter Maia (Rose Leslie) and Diane's savings, leading them to join Lucca Quinn (Cush Jumbo) at one of Chicago's preeminent law firms. The show's third season premiered on CBS All Access earlier this spring, and was recently renewed for a fourth season. EVIL is the Kings' upcoming series which follows a skeptical female clinical psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a blue-collar contractor as they investigate supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and other extraordinary occurrences to see if there’s a scientific explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org/-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline was joined by writer and director Alex Ross Perry to discuss his upcoming film HER SMELL (which is in theaters on Friday, April 12), their shared Philly roots, his Kim's Video alum-heavy list of frequent collaborators and much more. HER SMELL follows '90s punk rock superstar Becky Something as she grapples with motherhood, exhausted bandmates, nervous record company executives, and a new generation of rising talent eager to usurp her stardom - and eventually must retreat from the spotlight to try to recapture the creative inspiration that led her band to success. Alex's career kicked off with the 2009 feature film IMPOLEX - an absurdist comedy inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow. Since then, he has written seven other features - five of which he also directed - including indies like THE COLOR WHEEL and QUEEN OF EARTH, as well as the 2018 Disney film CHRISTOPHER ROBIN. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline spoke with David Mandel - the showrunner of the HBO hit series VEEP - about his amazing career trajectory, his strong opinions on writers' rooms, and their mutual obsession with Robert Caro. VEEP follows Selina Meyer, the Vice President (and, later, President) of the United States, and her team as they attempt to make their mark and leave a legacy without getting tripped up in the day-to-day political games that define the American government. The Emmy- and WGA Award-winning series – which is an adaptation of the BBC satire THE THICK OF IT – is currently in its seventh and final season. Before David Mandel’s tenure as VEEP showrunner, he was a writer, director, and executive producer for CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. Prior to that, he wrote for the seventh, eighth, and ninth seasons of SEINFELD; for the 18th, 19th, and 20th seasons of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2003 film adaptation of THE CAT IN THE HAT, and was a writer and co-creator for CLERKS: THE ANIMATED SERIES. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Caroline and WGAE Indie Film Caucus Director Jenna Bond sat down to speak with writer, director, and comedian Bo Burnham about his feature film debut, EIGHTH GRADE, which received a Best Original Screenplay nomination in this year's Writers Guild Awards. EIGHTH GRADE follows Kayla - an anxious thirteen-year-old - as she tries to survive the last week of her disastrous eighth grade year before graduating to high school while simultaneously hosting a video blog on YouTube in which she gives life advice. Bo's own career also started on YouTube, where he published a number of viral comedic music and skits starting in 2006. His online popularity quickly translated into an IRL career when he signed with Comedy Central Records in 2008. Since then, he released a series of comedy albums and stand-up specials, appeared in a number of feature films, and co-created, wrote, and starred in the MTV comedy series ZACH STONE IS GONNA BE FAMOUS. -- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews:www.onwriting.org-- Follow us on social media:Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast