The Writers Room with Sam and Jim – Details, episodes & analysis

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Sam and Jim invite Teng Ky-Gan into the room and together they work on his historical limited series about the Dalai Lama, tentatively titled "The Fourteenth". 

Join us in the room for a discussion about creating dramatic drive for a character who is seemingly flawless, choosing an interesting slice of life for a biographical story, and creating dramatic questions to build a story around.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Claire into the room and together they work on her mall comedy, tentatively titled "Forever 21 Forever".

Join us for a discussion on  grounding your script in what you want to say about the world, creating simple characters who can drive a story, and making sure your show doesn't lose it's engine.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Marc into the room and together they work on his as of yet untitled comedy about an investment banker turned caddy after a fall from grace.

Join us in the room for a discussion about shedding nuance on a first draft, creating a comedic character with a dramatic drive, and creating laughter to make the world a better place.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite their friend Tania Lotia into the room. Together they talk about hard won room skills and then they break an original idea, submitted to us by Steve Holbert.

More about Tania Lotia:

Tania Lotia is a Los Angeles-based television writer who grew up in Karachi, Pakistan. After graduating from UCLA, she attended law school where she interviewed for the CIA. Then, she opted for a more creative path. 

Tania is a graduate of the CAPE New Writers Fellowship and the Fox Writers Lab. Her script DJINN was featured on the 2017 WeForShe list of top pilot scripts written by women. 

Currently, she is a writer and supervising producer on Netflix’s THE WITCHER. Previously, she wrote on WITCHER: BLOOD ORIGIN (Netflix), CARNIVAL ROW (Legendary/Amazon), Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER TV series adaptation (Media Rights Capital/Amazon), SWAMP THING (Atomic Monster/WBTV), and TRIBES (Sony), and a couple other projects she’s not allowed to talk about... 

Tania is the current co-chair of the Asian American Writers Committee of the WGA West. 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Nate into the room and together they work on his high school comedy, tentatively titled, "Specialists".

Join us in the room for a discussion of creating deep characters that serve the story, writing kids in a way that feels true to adolescence, and creating strong internal drives. 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Sarah and Paula into the room, and together they work on their high-school comedy feature, tentatively titled, "Maggie and Lenny Go to Nationals".

Join us in the room for a discussion on using character to pitch scenes, creating compelling and useful backstories, and working with a writing partner.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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In this Scene Study episode, Sam and Jim invite Zach Freshley and J Hunter Richardson back in to the room to read and rework scenes from their pilots. If you'd like to follow along, you can download the scenes from our website! Scenes can be found by clicking the Guests tab.

In our first segment, we read the opening to "Under Investigation", a light drama about a private investigator who's wife suddenly reappears years after going missing. Sam and Jim work with Zach to bring out the character of his protagonist in the first scene of his pilot.

In our second segment, we read the opening to "Punx Not Dead", J Hunter Richardson's pilot about a punk rock medium trying to make a living in the valley. Sam and Jim work with J to create connective tissue in order to create a series of scenes that build as well as establish his characters and world.

Special thanks to Meagan Daine for helping out as a voice actor!

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Doris McGill into the room, and together they work on her comedy about finding your place and fitting in, tentatively titled "Baby Gay".

Join us in the room for a discussion on crafting scenes that serve the core story, establishing the engine of the show in the first scene, and creating a  logline that makes readers ask for more. 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Jerry Landry into the room and together they work on his semi-dystopian comedy, tentatively titled "Dust Country".

Join us in the room for a discussion about how to build layers on to a character with each scene, making sure that each scene has a turn and gives the reader new information, and creating memorable antagonists.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays

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Sam and Jim invite Claire Nauman into the room, and together they work on her "Love Interest of the Week" dramedy procedural, tentatively titled "Love Is...".

Join us in the room for a discussion about making your characters essential to the story, crafting the central relationship so that it drives story, and sustaining a season long arc in a procedural.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @thesamandjim

Producer: J.R. Zamora-Thal
Logo Design: Julien Debar-Monclair, @jude.orange
Music: Buddha Rays, @buddharays