The screenwriters of some of your favorite TV dramas and comedies, from "Friends" to "Firefly," share writing tips for writers in all fields.

1. WRITING TIPS FROM
9 TELEVISION WRITERS
JulianTina Joss
Fey Whedon Fellowes More&

2. Writing comes
in many forms.

3. Whether you choose to write
a book, a blog,
a poem, or a script,
the basic rules of writing and
storytelling still apply.

4. Even if you're not a screenwriter,
these writing tips from the ones
who wrote your favorite shows
will help you as you seek
to master your craft.

5. 1. Vince Gilligan
(Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The X-Files)

6. It's always a conscious choice to surprise
people. That is always the mandate. Today,
with all the wonderful—and sometimes not so
wonderful—entertainment it's harder than
ever to keep things interesting,
so you have to surprise people.
— Vince Gilligan —
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7. 2. Tina Fey
(Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock)

8. You have to try your hardest to be at the top of
your game and improve every joke you can
until the last possible second, and then you
have to let it go. You can't be that kid standing
at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it . . .
You have to let people see what you wrote.
— Tina Fey —

9. 3. Jack Burditt
(Mad About You, Frasier, 30 Rock, The Mindy Project, Last Man Standing)

10. The old cliché is "keep writing," but I really believe
that's a huge part of it. I'm so much better now than I
was three years ago when I started 30 Rock. I feel like
it's a continual learning process, the muscle that has
to be exercised . . . Keep working at it. And try and
learn your craft. It is a craft. There are great courses
and good books on it. Devour everything.
— Jack Burditt —

11. 4. Julian Fellowes
(Downton Abbey)

12. All drama is about tension. That terrible things
are going to happen, the risk of this or that. It's
very difficult when a couple gets together in a
series and they're frankly well-suited and they
get married. You know you have to push them
over a cliff or something because there's
nothing more to be said.
— Julian Fellowes —

13. 5. Robert Carlock
(Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, 30 Rock, Joey, Friends)

14. There's no more visceral reaction than people not
laughing. But when you say something that totally
bombs you hope someone else says, "Oh what I
thought you were going to say was X," or "What if it
went there?" When you're writing it's as if you're
turning something over in your hands and making
sure you're looking at every side of it.
— Robert Carlock —

15. 6. Mike Schur
(The Office, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

16. You just hang out with people who are good at it
and learn everything that they do. I don't know
that there are little pithy aphorisms or anything
that I can point to about how to magically make
great television. It comes from kind of grinding it
out day after day after day with people who
know what they're doing.
— Mike Schur —

17. 7. Jenji Kohan
(Orange Is the New Black, Weeds, Tracey Takes On…)

18. I think that shows that are completely dramatic
are a lie because people use humor to cope. That
is how we deal with things. In the darkest
situations, there is humor. And if you don't show
that, you're not being true to real life. I think it
would be exhausting and depressing to write, to
watch, and to live if it was just focused on drama.
— Jenji Kohan —

19. 8. Mitch Hurwitz
(Arrested Development)

20. I don't think I would have tried creating Arrested
[Development] if I really thought "look at the data of what's
already been developed. They won't make this" but I
should have—that was the evidence that existed. . . . I
think that everyone has to jump off that cliff and make
that assumption in their own work—because the truth is,
even if it doesn't happen, you have a more interesting life
if you're to sit down and write a novel than doing the
math on the likelihood of it getting published.
— Mitch Hurwitz —

21. 9. Joss Whedon
(Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Angel, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

22. You know what? I never give up on anything, because you
come back around, and suddenly the thing you thought
you'd never do is relevant. I talked with my wife about
Much Ado About Nothing for years, and it was always like,
"I don't feel like my take on the material is solid enough to
merit that." And then one day I woke up and said, "Wait a
minute, I know exactly what I think that movie's about." I
definitely have had a lot of projects that stalled, but I
never know which one's going to suddenly pick itself up.
— Joss Whedon —

23. Looking for more
great writing tips?
Check out the full article for
advice from Dan Harmon,
Paula Pell, Anthony Horowitz,
and Marta Kauffman.
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