INSIDE THE WRITER'S ROOM

Television drama has come to rival cinema in its sophisticated narrative form and high production values. At the heart of this success is the television writer, and TV has become the home of some of the most exciting and high quality writing. In a series of original interviews, showrunners and writers from some of the biggest American TV dramas of recent years share their experiences and practices of the 'writers' room', on shows such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men and Game of Thrones. Christina Kallas frames these insider insights with an astute overview of the writer's instrumental role in the rise of sophisticated TV narrative, and concluding reflections which will be invaluable to writers, critics and fans alike.

Christina Kallas is an awarded filmmaker, book author and professor for film. 42 Seconds of Happiness (2016), an intense and remarkable indie film currently in the festival circuit, won Best Feature Film at WTxFF, Best Ensemble Cast at Harlem Int'l Film Festival, Indie Spirit Award and Best Ensemble Cast at Princeton Independent Film Festival, and Best American Film at the Jaipur International Film Festival. It was also in official selection at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival and the St. Louis Int'l Film Festival, where Kallas was nominated for the Emerging Director Award 2016. She is currently editing her sophomore feature as a director, The Rainbow Experiment.

Prior to relocating to NYC, she has worked for over 15 years as a screenwriter and producer. Screen credits include the feature films Mothers (2010), Best Foreign Language Film entry at the 83rd Academy Awards; The Commissioner (1998), starring John Hurt, in Official Competition at the Berlin Int'l Film Festival; I.D., a PolyGram film production (1994); as well as several Best TV-awarded series.

From 2005 to 2013 Kallas was President of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE.) She was honored for her outstanding contribution to the international writers' community including the European Screenwriters Manifesto and the World Conference of Screenwriters. She is teaching at Columbia University's and Barnard College's Film Programs since 2011, and is the author of six books in her three writing languages, including Creative Screenwriting: Understanding Emotional Structure and Inside the Writers' Room (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2010 & 2014).