What it's like to be the only woman in a TV writers’ room

Channels with Peter Kafka

Vox Media Podcast Network

Business News, News, Tv & Film, Technology

4.4 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2018

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TV writer and "Lean In" co-author Nell Scovell talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about her new book, "Just the Funny Parts ... And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boys’ Club." Scovell says TV is hierarchical, meaning bad behavior at the top — including sexual harassment — trickles down to other employees. She also talks about what has changed since "Lean In" and what happened when she publicly criticized her former boss, David Letterman. Plus: How writing an episode of "The Simpsons" is like chiseling a sculpture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's show is brought to by IBM.
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0:12.9	Let's put Smart to work.
0:14.7	Learn more at IBM.com slash smart.
0:38.3	This is Recode Media with Peter Kafka. That is me. I'm part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. I'm here at Vox Media headquarters in New York City. This is the part where I ask you to tell a friend about this show. See how quick that was? Painless. What do you think, No? Oh, I'm at Vox Media, too. Nell also agrees that she is at Vox Media.
0:39.9	That is the voice of Nell Scovel.
0:40.9	Did I pronounce it correctly?
0:41.5	You did.
0:42.7	Congratulations to me.
0:44.0	She is a TV writer.
0:45.1	She is a book writer.
0:47.0	She wrote a book called Just the Funny Parts.
0:49.4	She also wrote with Cheryl Sandberg, a book called Lean In.
0:50.2	Many of you have heard of.
0:55.0	Welcome, Nell. Oh, nice to be here. Thanks for joining me. This has been on my list for many months. I'm very psyched to read this. I'm very psyched to read this. I'm very psyched to talk to you.
0:59.4	What's the best way to describe this book? It's a mashup of genres, right? It is. It's a memoir,
1:06.1	but it also includes a lot of information about writing.
1:12.3	Yeah.
1:12.9	There's some how to, right?
1:14.2	How to.
1:15.0	How to make a Simpsons script?
	...

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