About the Author

Neil Landau is a bestselling author, producer, and award-winning screenwriter who runs the Writing for Television Program in UCLA’s illustrious Department of Film, Television and Digital Media (his alma mater). His credits include Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Melrose Place, The Magnificent Seven, Doogie Howser, M.D., The Secret World of Alex Mack, Twice in a Lifetime, MTV’s Undressed, The Young & the Restless, Monarch Cove and 1-hour drama pilots for CBS, ABC, ABC Family, Warner Bros, Disney, Lifetime and Fremantle. Neil has also served as Executive Script Consultant for Sony Pictures Television and Columbia Pictures.

His animated movie projects include Tad: The Lost Explorer (aka Las aventuras de Tadeo Jones), which earned him the Spanish Academy “Goya” Award and Cinema Writers’ Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; Tad2 is in production, from Paramount. Neil co-wrote and served as Co-Executive Producer on the animated feature Capture the Flag, also for Paramount; and he wrote the animated movie Sheep & Wolves for Wizart Animation (The Snow Queen). All are to be released in 2016.

Neil is the author of the The TV Showrunner’s Roadmap (Focal Press, 2014); The Screenwriter’s Roadmap (Focal Press, 2012); and 101 Things I Learned in Film School (Grand Central Publishing, 2010). He has been a member of the Writers Guild of America, West since 1987; is a faculty member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; and sits on the advisory board of “Direct-to-Series” via the film and TV branch of the Consulate General of France. He is also Co-Chair of the Curriculum Development Committee—a joint venture between UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the Time Warner Foundation. Neil gives lectures and hosts workshops around the world on the art and craft of screenwriting: NeilLandau.com