Billion-Dollar Kiss: The Kiss That Saved Dawson's Creek, and Other Adventures inTV Writing - Softcover

Stepakoff, Jeffrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1592403654 ISBN 13: 9781592403653

Publisher: Gotham, 2008

Synopsis

Now in paperback, the riveting behind-the-scenes look at how television shows are really created, from a successful writer-producer

When Jeffrey Stepakoff was graduating with an MFA in playwriting, he imagined a life in theater. Writing for TV didnÂ't even cross his mind. But he ended up in L.A. in the late eighties, when television writers were experiencing a gold rush. After the billion-dollar syndication of Seinfeld, the mania for scripted entertainment made the TV writer a hot commodity.

Weaving his personal narrative with a history of television, Stepakoff shows what itÂ's like to have a story idea one week and then have it seen by millions a week later. He also takes us inside the industry to explore the problems of media consolidation, interference by executives, lack of diversity, and what reality television is doing to quality scripted television.

About this title

About the Author:

In his eighteen-year Hollywood career, Jeffrey Stepakoff has written for fourteen different TV series and worked on seven staffs, including those of Sisters, the Emmy Award–winning The Wonder Years, and DawsonÂ's Creek, where he was co-executive producer.

From Publishers Weekly:

From 1988 until 2004, Stepakoff led a charmed life. A co-executive producer of Dawson's Creek and a writer on Major Dad and The Wonder Years, among other shows, he achieved his lifelong dream: working in television. The 1990s were the glory days, Stepakoff says, when big money was thrown at everyone. Armed with an M.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon and several key Hollywood contacts, Stepakoff parlayed youth, ambition and luck into gigs on several shows—both as a writer and producer—netting himself a fortune in the process. He details the money, the madness and the industry in his memoir, in which, along the way, he explains how to break in, how the industry works (from development deals and pilots to bona fide hits) what agents do and why. He chronicles the people and the experience, admitting there is nothing "more intoxicating than making TV shows every week," and noting that a successful show can demand 16-hour workdays to churn out 22 episodes a season. He also explains how, with the advent of reality TV, the party ended. Would-be TV writers will crave these behind-the-scenes details of a writer's life—even if that life no longer exists. (May)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Gotham
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1592403654
• ISBN 13: 9781592403653
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336