Are you taking a meeting? READ THIS FIRST!

This is a short one but maybe the most valuable advice I have given since don't park in Les Moonves' space. When you are lucky enough to get a meeting with a producer or story editor or writer or agent or executive… always ALWAYS…

GOOGLE THEM BEFORE THE MEETING!
Now that we have such a thing, it is inexcusable to go into a meeting not knowing exactly who the person is and what he has done. Maybe

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Why I'll never be a judge on AMERICAN IDOL

Watching the twelve semi-finalist girls on AMERICAN IDOL earlier this week I was struck by how similar they were.  Big voices all doing Maria Carey and Alicia Keys.  Ya need someone to belt out a power ballad?   Ya need someone to show off and do useless runs in the middle of songs for no reason?  These are your gals.  The judges fawn all over them while I just shake my head.   Not only are these

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Brandon Tartikoff

Taking a break from all of yesterday's controvery, here are a few Friday Questions and Answers.
ajjjj begins:

What do managers do, and is it worth it to have one or submit to them when you're starting out?
Generally they make out the line-up, decide on the pitching rotation and… oh, you mean that kind of manager. Sorry. My head is into spring training.

In theory, a manager has just a few

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What they're saying in writing rooms all over town about Charlie Sheen

DISCLAIMER: What I am illustrating in this post is the type of thing that goes on in writers rooms.  If this is a sensitive subject to you I completely understand.  Don't read this.  Come back tomorrow.  Commenters are making it seem I'm personally attacking Charlie Sheen.  No.  I'm letting you inside the process.  One of my objectives with this blog is to do just that.  There are not many that

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I actually received this stupid note

This is one of those “what’s one of the stupidest notes you’ve ever gotten?” posts.

In the late ‘90s I was directing a sitcom that starred the junior senator from Minnesota. At the time, he was just Al Franken. When I see him on CNN acting very senatorial, it’s odd to think that at one time I was telling him, “stand over there”. But he was a pleasure to work with and very funny. I’m

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Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh Khan (Hindi: शाहरुख़ ख़ान; born 2 November 1965), often    
credited as Shah Rukh Khan, is an Indian film actor, producer and
television host. Often referred to as "the King of Bollywood", Khan has
acted in over 70 Hindi films.

Born	2 November 1965 (age 46) New Delhi, India
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Shah Rukh Khan, King Khan, SRK, The Baadshah of Bollywood.
Occupation	Actor, producer, television presenter
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Gauri Khan (1991–present)

   

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My final Oscar thoughts (for this year)

The Motion Picture Academy has got to figure out what it wants. Trying to straddle the line between stature and hip isn’t working. The end result is that is the show is COP ROCK. You can’t have it both ways.

You can’t have Justin Timberlake make “Banksy” jokes one minute and cart out Kirk Douglas the next. You can’t do a tribute to Lena Horne and let Gwyneth Paltrow anywhere near an

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