#terencewinter

The other day I listened to the latest episode of The Nerdist Writers Panel - a “must listen” episode, in my opinion - with Boardwalk Empire showrunner Terence Winter (Wolf of Wall Street, Sopranos). It’s a long show, but a few pieces stand out to me that I wanted to share.

BREAKING INTO HOLLYWOOD

I do want to warn that he broke in during the 90s, which was a very different time than now. Either way, his path is interesting, particularly the fact that he decided to abandon a lucrative career path in law to give it a shot.

MOVING FROM SISTER, SISTER TO SOPRANOS

As mentioned, Terence came up in a different era. If you look at his IMDB, it’s not what you would expect of the showrunner of Boadwalk Empire with recent credits like The Sopranos and The Wolf of Wall Street. He actually starting doing half-hour sitcoms like Sister, Sister.

In this clip he talks about how he got started and how he transitioned.

I personally loved the bit about exploring other genres even if you get started in another because I also feel like I can write a couple of different genres. It's a common frustration for writers. So I chatted a bit with well-regarded screenwriting career coach Lee Jessup on Twitter about the clip and she had some additional advice:

@partlywriter you can have a passion proj in different genre - but 4 breaking in, you have to deliver a brand reps/prodcos can sell...

— Lee Jessup (@LeeZJessup)

July 24, 2014

@partlywriter ... If they can put what sort of writer you are into 1 sentence, they will get you and you will get work.

— Lee Jessup (@LeeZJessup)

July 24, 2014

Good advice. And remember from Terence's own story, he ended up needing a bit of luck when he changed genres thanks to his friend who was hired for Season 1 of The Sopranos. What was important, though, was that he had a sample ready.

WRITER’S BLOCK

In this clip, Terence recalls how frustrated Sopranos showrunner David Chase would get with breaking stories. It’s an issue I face a lot while trying to get my stories from ideas to scripts.