showrunning consulting & mentoring
LET’S TRANSFORM VISION INTO LEADERSHIP
Throughout my career, I’ve specialized in transforming creative visions into meaningful outcomes.
Each aspect of my professional journey, from writing and showrunning to teaching and mentoring, has been rooted in a deep commitment to nurturing talent and guiding creative success. My aim is to inspire and develop the next generation of television innovators.
Here’s how I can help.
Mentoring
The television landscape continues to shift with each passing week. New shows must hit the ground running and existing ones must adapt to thrive. It can be bewildering, even for experienced showrunners. For newcomers, it can be overwhelming. This is where my expertise comes in.
Whether you’re a rookie or a veteran, if you’re in charge of a show, I can help. My understanding of showrunning has been honed over four decades, including extensive exposure to foreign productions. Working together, we'll forge a strategy that aligns your creative vision with practical challenges. Our collaboration will focus on what matters most to you, prioritizing objectives based on urgency and overall importance. Utilizing my perspective and experience, we’ll ensure your show gets on its feet to your satisfaction and stays there.
Specifically, my mentoring work includes:
An overall assessment of your situation——developing priorities, timelines, and actions.
Tutoring where needed on any aspect of showrunning from preproduction through post, including best management practices, understanding budgets, making schedules, and working with executives.
Advice on assembling and leading your production team.
Analyzing your writing needs, with guidance on hiring, team dynamics, and how to get the most from your writers’ room.
Feedback on stories, character development, outlines, and scripts as requested, helping you sharpen your creative vision and deliver it most effectively.
Consulting
Producing a successful series requires more than skilled creatives; it requires skilled executives. Showrunners thrive when working with execs who know how to speak their language, understanding the dynamic nature of creating episodes, managing writers, and leading a production team. Yet relatively little attention has been paid to giving execs the knowledge they need to excel in these areas. My showrunning consulting services are targeted to fill that gap.
Through customized interaction, I offer a unique opportunity for executives to gain a holistic perspective on showrunners and their world. Drawing upon a wealth of materials developed over a 40-year-career of writing, producing, teaching, and speaking, I work with studios and platforms to engage execs in an active learning environment that will elevate their effectiveness, versatility, and confidence when working with showrunners and the creative process.
In our consulting sessions, you'll receive:
A tailored program of presentations on how to understand and deal effectively with showrunners.
Practical case method exercises drawn from real-life situations that will hone analytical, communication, and managerial skills.
Emphasis on giving notes at differing stages of the script and production process.
Ample opportunity for Q&A; “Everything you always wanted to know about showrunning but were afraid to ask.”
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There’s no one in the field who has mentored as many young writers and contributed more to this generation of showrunning than Jeff Melvoin.
Veena Sud, Executive Producer, (Seven Seconds, The Killing, Cold Case)
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A wonderful ride through the raging waters of creating television. It’s a book full of sharp insights, great advice, and legitimate wisdom.
J.J. Abrams, Executive Producer, Director (Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Alias)
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An insightful, entertaining, insider's look at the entire process of showrunning written by one of the foremost practitioners of the craft. Jeff Melvoin's book is a gift to anyone who's ever considered pursuing a career in television or wondered what a showrunner actually does!
John Wells, Executive Producer, Director (ER, The West Wing, Shameless)
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It pains me to say, but it's rare that a book this educational is so damn entertaining.
Bill Lawrence, Executive Producer, Director (Ted Lasso, Cougar Town, Scrubs, Spin City)
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Melvoin has done pretty much everything in this business. And, more fundamentally, thought about everything. I recommend this book for any writer or aspiring writer.
David Shore, Executive Producer (House, The Good Doctor)
Workshops
Whether you’re a creative writing group, academic institution, or corporation, I offer a variety of workshops on topics ranging from script development to showrunning to creative management, delivered in person or via Zoom.
The benefit of a long career is that I’ve had the good fortune to work on over a dozen series, create the Writers Guild of America’s Showrunner Training Program, teach at USC, UCLA, Harvard, and elsewhere, lead workshops for the Sundance Institute and international writers organizations, and speak at conferences around the world. As a result, I have a wealth of material to draw upon to customize a program to fit your specific needs. If you’re interested, let’s talk.
Specifically, my workshops include:
Engaging keynote presentations on a variety of topics that can be customized to your organization’s specifications.
Group exercises using the case method, presenting participants with problems based on real-life situations..
Ample opportunity for Q&A, ensuring that participants get the information they’re looking for.
Speaking
As a seasoned educator and keynote speaker, I provide talks from 30 minutes to an hour or more on a variety of topics related to the television industry in particular and creative management in general.
Television is my long suit, naturally, but what I’ve learned over the years about leadership, creativity, and productivity applies well beyond the confines of popular entertainment.
Specifically, my speaking can cover:
Disasters I Have Known: learning from our mistakes.
All About Bosses——the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Adventures in Leadership: assembling and leading a creative team.
Understanding Television Today: how to make sense of today’s bewildering landscape.
The Center Does Not Hold: the fragmentation of mass media and its implications for society.
