OnWriting: A Podcast of the WGA East

Writers and showrunners Julio Torres and Jeff Schaffer discuss their work on some of TV's most acclaimed comedy series. Julio Torres is a writer and comedian who wrote for Saturday Night Live and the HBO comedy series Los Espookys, the latter which he co-created alongside Ana Fabrega and Fred Armisen. He then went on to write and direct the 2023 surrealist dramedy film Problemista. After Problemista, he created, wrote, and starred in the critically acclaimed surrealist comedy series Fantasmas, which premiered in June 2024 on HBO. Jeff Schaffer is a film and television writer and director known for cowriting cult-classic features like Eurotrip and Bruno and for his work on acclaimed television series like Seinfeld, The League and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He served as showrunner for Curb Your Enthusiasm from 2009 until the end of its twelfth and final season, which concluded in April 2024. --- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Host Anya Epstein is joined by Laura Eason to discuss gaining confidence as a first-time showrunner, the art of adaptation and collaboration, hiring diverse writers to give life to diverse characters, navigating delicate topics with the nuance that they require and much more. Laura Eason is a screenwriter, showrunner, executive producer and playwright. She began her television writing career as a staff writer for four seasons of House of Cards, for which she received both an Emmy nomination for Drama Series and a Writers Guild Award nomination for Writing in a Drama Series. After House of Cards, she went on to serve as co-Executive Producer and writer for the 2019 miniseries The Loudest Voice in the Room. Laura is currently the showrunner, executive producer and writer of Three Women. The Starz limited series, which is based on Lisa Taddeo's 2019 book of the same name, is intimate and haunting portrayal of female desire that finds three – or really, four – women on a crash course to radically overturn their lives. Three Women premiered in the US in September 2024, and is available to watch on Starz. This episode is hosted by Anya Epstein. Anya is a TV writer and producer, and the co-showrunner of series like The Affair and In Treatment. --- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Host Greg Iwinski sits down with Gabe Sherman to talk about Gabe’s path from New York real estate journalist, to writing a book about Roger Ailes, to writing a movie about one of the most famous people on earth: Donald Trump. Gabe Sherman is a journalist, author and screenwriter known for writing The Loudest Voice in the Room, the 2014 bestselling biography of Fox News president Roger Ailes. As a journalist his work has appeared in publications like The New York Times, The New Republic, The New York Observer and GQ. He previously served as national affairs editor at New York magazine and is currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair and a regular contributor to NBC News and MSNBC.  Most recently, Gabe wrote the screenplay for The Apprentice, the 2024 feature that follows Donald Trump's career as a real estate businessman in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn. The Apprentice was released in the US on October 11, 2024 and is now playing in theaters. This episode of OnWriting is hosted by Greg Iwinski. Greg is an Emmy-winning comedy writer and no-award-winning performer whose writing includes LAST WEEK TONIGHT and THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT. He recently finished writing the first season of GAME THEORY WITH BOMANI JONES on HBO, and can be found on Twitter @garyjackson. --- Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast

Host Zhubin Parang talks to MSNBC Union members Amy Hooker and Andrew Joyce about staying flexible in the challenging newsroom environment, how to handle an election season where unprecedented events happen weekly, and winning a strong union contract that helps them do both of those things as effectively as possible. Amy Hooker has worked as an associate producer on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes since 2018. Andrew Joyce is a segment producer with at MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show and Alex Wagner Tonight, with over a decade of experience in journalism. Amy and Andrew both served on the bargaining committee that negotiated MSNBC Union’s recent groundbreaking contract wins. Zhubin Parang is a co-executive producer and writer on The Daily Show, as well as a former member of the WGAE Council. --- Before it was a podcast, OnWriting was a print publication. Check out OnWriting: The Print Archives. Read shownotes, transcripts, and other member interviews: www.onwriting.org/ Follow the Guild on social media: Twitter: @OnWritingWGAE | @WGAEast Facebook: /WGAEast Instagram: @WGAEast