Lee Goldberg Hates Me — But Loves Writing the Pilot

Posted on July 5, 2011 by William Rabkin

William Rabkin has a new screenwriting book out on the Kindle — Writing The Pilot — and I hate him for it.

I hate him because I only meant to browse the book the other day…but I ended up getting sucked in by his engaging, smart, and entertaining voice and spent all !@#$% night reading it.

I hate him because it would be the perfect update for our long-in-print screenwriting book Successful Television Writing.…and now it won’t be, the greedy bastard.

And I hate him because I actually learned some things about a subject I thought I knew at least as well as Bill, my best & oldest friend and my long time writing partner…

You can read all the hate at http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2011/07/i-hate-william-rabkin.html

Matt Witten loves Writing the Pilot

Posted on June 30, 2011 by William Rabkin

The first review of my new book Writing the Pilot is up, and it comes from fabulously talented TV writer/producer Matt Witten (House, The Glades, Women’s Murder Club — and just about every good show out there):

I’ve written two pilots for networks, and two pilots on spec, and I found Bill Rabkin’s book to be dead on. Not only that, it taught me things I’d never thought of, or was never able to articulate. It’s a fun read, with lots of real-life Hollywood stories. And speaking of fun, that was my favorite chapter in the book: where Rabkin talks about never getting so wrapped up in the structure and plot that you forget about keeping the script fun from beginning to end.