Alex Harvey-Gurr

Writing Consultant

United States

Portfolio
Skatter
06/07/2011
E3 2011: EA Press Conference Recap | Skatter

EA's press conference at this year's E3 was one of the smaller of the five press conferences going on all day June 6 th and the morning of June 7 th. While it may have been small compared to Microsoft or Sony, it certainly wasn't a disappointment.

Skatter
06/07/2011
E3 2011: Ubisoft Press Conference Recap | Skatter

Ubisoft is celebrating 25 years and at this year's E3 they showed consumers exactly why they have such a long-standing legacy in the video game industry. Cycling back and forth between comical mock eight-bit parodies of actual games and game trailers and demos, the Ubisoft press conference was both entertaining and exciting as they previewed this year's lineup of Ubisoft games.

Skatter
06/12/2012
E3 2011: Nintendo Press Conference Recap | Skatter

Nintendo's press conference was by far the most anticipated conference of this year's E3 because of Project Café. We on the Skatter Tech team were the third, fourth, and fifth people to be seated in the event, and had literally front row seats to the event held at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Skatter
07/25/2011
Motorola Droid X2 - Verizon Wireless (Review) | Skatter

Launching a year after its popular predecessor the Droid X, the Motorola Droid X2 is back for another round this summer. There are many aspects about this smart phone that are appealing, particularly because it did not meander too far away from the original Droid X, and the areas where it does differ are generally for the better, such as a new dual-core Tegra 2 processor and a gHD display.

Fightingbroke
06/07/2014
What You Need to Know About Pilot Season - Fighting Broke

Pilot season is the busiest season in the television industry, something which the general public doesn't gets to see. This outlines a timeline that breaks down everything that happens in pilot season, detailing briefly how pitches and scripts are ordered in the summer and fall, pilots are ordered in January, pilots are cast and made in February through April, and then networks decide which ones to order to series in May.

Fightingbroke
06/08/2014
How Television Pilots Are Made - Fighting Broke

Pilots are the tip of the spear in the television industry. The first episode of most television series, whether it's a half-hour comedy like BIG BANG THEORY, an hour-long drama like HOUSE, or a cartoon like ARCHER, determines if that show is on the air for five seasons, or fades into history after the third episode.

Fightingbroke
06/09/2014
How Many TV Pilots Get Ordered Each Season - Fighting Broke

Millions are spent on a single pilot, but how many come to fruition and make it on air? Breaking down the numbers reveals very few get ordered to series in May, but the numbers for the current 2014-2015 season show some interesting trends in Hollywood today.

Fightingbroke
06/11/2014
Straight-to-Series: The Pilot-Free Way of Making Television - Fighting Broke

Straight-to-series orders are becoming more prevalent in wake of the success of shows like Netflix's HOUSE OF CARDS, with the Big Four committing to 15 of these projects between them. The straight-to-series approach has several advantages over the pilot system, although it is a riskier financial commitment for networks.

Fightingbroke
06/12/2014
The Kings of Television: Creatives and How They're Packaged - Fighting Broke

Creatives, i.e. writers, actors, directors, and producers, are the primary driving force behind the television industry, both in terms of content creation and getting series greenlit. This outlines the different types of talent in television, and details how agents and studios package talent on projects in order to get networks to greenlight those projects.

Fightingbroke
06/13/2014
How Do You Write for TV? - Fighting Broke

"How did this show get on the air?" I asked my roommate while watching CSI. "I can call every 'twist' they've written." "Why don't you go write for them and see if you can do better?" she said. A few months later I moved to Los Angeles, hoping to break into the TV industry.

Fightingbroke
06/15/2014
Inside the Writers' Room - Fighting Broke

The writers' room is, as Zack Stentz, writer-producer of FRINGE and TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, puts it, "the collective brain of a TV show." It's where the creative minds behind the show come together and figure out the characters and break stories. Without functioning writers' rooms, shows wouldn't get off the ground.

Fightingbroke
06/16/2014
Showrunners: The CEOs of Television - Fighting Broke

For some TV writers, being a staff writer or even a mid-level writer-producer isn't enough. They don't want to just write the story; they also want to pick the cast, the wardrobe, the sets, deal with network executives, even decide what the soundtrack is. They want total creative control.

Fightingbroke
06/17/2014
Why Actors Are Switching from Film to TV - Fighting Broke

Talent (actors and actresses) are an integral part of the television business: they're the faces of the show! It used to be that talent would transition to film after making a name for themselves on television, but now the opposite is starting to happen.

Fightingbroke
06/18/2014
Why Movie Directors Are Starting to Direct Television - Fighting Broke

Separate but not equal. Such has been the case for television and film in Hollywood, with film typically seen as "superior." Like the cootie-ridden child on the playground, television has repelled feature directors for decades. This is largely because the driving creative force in television has always been the showrunner, followed by the writers and producers.

Namelessmagazine
05/01/2011
Nineteen Metal Memories

Nineteen. I see the stares. Not as many as I would have guessed after all my mother's yelling. Times have changed since she was young and purportedly rebellious. Each one counts every metal stud, hoop, and dangle. What do they think about them? None know that each piece of metal is a memory.

Namelessmagazine
05/01/2011
Lithium

Alex Harvey-Gurr Day 1: I've never done anything like this before, but my shrink told me it might help with things. I'm losing myself to my mind. Neurotransmitter imbalances and genes that nobody understands have been controlling more and more

Namelessmagazine
01/03/2011
Zuruck Bleiben Bitte

Alex Harvey-Gurr It will start in Berlin. You will set your bag down on the stoop after stepping out of the cab where you will have just spent the last thirty minutes driving from the Tegel airport listening to the Turkish driver chatter in a language you'd never heard before while trying to muffle scared sobs with your scarf.