The Eleven Laws of Showrunning - A Children of Tendu Special

Explicit content warning

01/27/16 • 116 min

In this brand new, supersized episode, the Children of Tendu look at the business of television from the tippity-top, leveraging their combined forty years of experience into a discussion of showrunning. In our Golden Age of television, what does it mean to lead the creation of a television, how does it work, and what are some of the sins committed by both experienced and inexperienced managers in the pursuit of getting the show on the air by any means necessary.

This episode is an in-depth discussion of Javi's essay "The Eleven Laws of Showrunning" which can be found on his personal webpage both for reading online and as a downloadable PDF.

This episode is an in-depth discussion of Javi's essay "The Eleven Laws of Showrunning" which can be found on his personal webpage both for reading online and as a downloadable PDF.

Previous Episode

Tendu or Do Not: Children on the Ledge - Staffing Season Special

We are now in the thick of that most dreaded of seasons: staffing. For three to four months, every television writer in Los Angeles waits on pins and needles to find out which shows will return the next season and which pilots get picked up to series -- and hovers over the phone to hear whether they will be getting job interviews to become staff writer/producers on those shows. To soothe your frayed nerves and talk you down during this nerve wracking time, the Children of Tendu have recorded "Tendu or Do Not: Children on the Ledge," in which Jose and Javi not only dispense useful advice on how to survive this trying time of the year, but also share war stories from some of their most harrowing staffing seasons to date. Also, Javi sings the Spanish-launguage jingle from the Schaeffer beer commercials of his youth, and Jose delivers the best ever reading of the line "large cocks."

Next Episode

CHILDREN OF TENDU LIVE AT UCLA!

As part of his "Anatomy of a Pilot" class at UCLA, writer/showrunner/show-creator/nice guy Richard (Miracles, Grimm, Witches of East End, Supernatural) Hatem invited the Children of Tendu to speak to his students, and to submit to his rigorous questioning about the business of television, the role of the writer in the writers room, the set, and in the collaborative hierarchy of series television... the Children of Tendu, as you might imagine, had some very pointed opinions about all of this! to find out more about the UCLA extension writers program - without whom this recording would not have been possible - check out their website at http://writers.uclaextension.edu