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How This TV Writer Learned How to Write Extremely Fast

Steven Levitan knows how to make television that sticks with you. The Chicago-raised writer-producer has been crafting comedy gold for over three decades, starting with his early days writing for Wings to co-creating the Emmy-winning Modern Family. He's written hundreds of episodes of TV—the dream for many of us.It's clear he's figured out a few things that work. In a recent and far-ranging interview, Levitan offered tons of insight on his process, including how he writes so much and so quickly. - YouTube www.youtube.com Levitan learned this lesson early, back when he was a TV news reporter fresh out of college, he said. He would show up on a scene, have to think on the fly, and prep a segment he would have to do live, all while under an intense time crunch.So later, when he showed up in a TV writers' room, "fast" meant something different."Oh my god, we're going to need the script so fast," he remembered his colleagues saying. When they told him they needed it in a week, Levitan's response was, "Well, that's an eternity to me right now." His news background had trained him to work under impossible deadlines, and it gave him an edge that would serve him throughout his career.Part of his issue, he said, is also that he has some anxiety about a task hanging over him, so he doesn't procrastinate. He wants to get an assignment done and off his plate.Working in a room, he's obviously going to have a mix...

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Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday

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