Just the funny parts : ... and a few hard truths about sneaking into the Hollywood boys' club

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Title:

Just the funny parts : ... and a few hard truths about sneaking into the Hollywood boys' club

Author:

Scovell, Nell, author.

ISBN:

9780062473486

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

xi, 316 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Contents:

Foreword / by Sheryl Sandberg -- Introduction -- Who is Nell Scovell? Every character needs a backstory ; Sports and SPY ; The setup ; The big twist ; The payoff -- Get me Nell Scovell! The Simpsons: Fugu me! ; Brush with greatness: working for Letterman ; The meet cute ; We're all Oompa Loompas ; So you want to run a TV show -- Get me a younger, cheaper Nell Scovell! Poetry is in the doing ; The ones that got away ; You sexy motherwriter ; The decade-long roller-coaster ride -- Who is Nell Scovell? "Fame whore" ; The one I'd been waiting for ; Lily Tomlin, the Kennedy Center ... and a surprise guest ; Our funny president ; Stage five of a Hollywood writer's career -- Job timeline.

Personal Subject:

Scovell, Nell.

Subject Term:

Television producers and directors -- Biography.

Television writers -- Biography.

Women television producers and directors -- United States -- Biography.

Women television writers -- United States -- Biography.

Genre:

Autobiographies

Summary:

Just the Funny Parts is a juicy and scathingly funny insider look at how pop culture gets made. For more than thirty years, writer, producer and director Nell Scovell worked behind the scenes of iconic TV shows, including The Simpsons, Late Night with David Letterman, Murphy Brown, NCIS, The Muppets, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which she created and executive produced. In 2009, Scovell gave up her behind-the-scenes status when the David Letterman sex scandal broke. Only the second woman ever to write for his show, Scovell used the moment to publicly call out the lack of gender diversity in late-night TV writers' rooms. "One of the boys" came out hard for "all of the girls." Her criticisms fueled a cultural debate. Two years later, Scovell was collaborating with Sheryl Sandberg on speeches and later on Lean In, which resulted in a worldwide movement. Now Scovell is opening up with this fun, honest, and often shocking account. Scovell knows what it's like to put words in the mouths of President Barack Obama, Mark Harmon, Candice Bergen, Bob Newhart, Conan O'Brien, Alyssa Milano, and Kermit the Frog, among many others. Through her eyes, you'll sit in the Simpson writers' room ... stand on the Oscar red carpet ... pin a tail on Miss Piggy ... bond with Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy ... and experience a Stephen King-like encounter with Stephen King. Just the Funny Parts is a fast-paced account of a nerdy girl from New England who fought her way to the top of the highly-competitive, male-dominated entertainment field. The book delivers invaluable insights into the creative process and tricks for navigating a difficult workplace. It's part memoir, part how-to, and part survival story. Or, as Scovell puts it, "It's like Unbroken, but funnier and with slightly less torture."

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Oakdale Library	921 SCOVELL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	921 SCOVELL	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi)	921 SCOVELL	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In 2009, Scovell gave up her behind-the-scenes status when the David Letterman sex scandal broke. Only the second woman ever to write for his show, Scovell used the moment to publicly call out the lack of gender diversity in late-night TV writers' rooms. "One of the boys" came out hard for "all of the girls." Her criticisms fueled a cultural debate. Two years later, Scovell was collaborating with Sheryl Sandberg on speeches and later on Lean In, which resulted in a worldwide movement.

Now Scovell is opening up with this fun, honest, and often shocking account. Scovell knows what it's like to put words in the mouths of President Barack Obama, Mark Harmon, Candice Bergen, Bob Newhart, Conan O'Brien, Alyssa Milano, and Kermit the Frog, among many others. Through her eyes, you'll sit in the Simpson writers' room... stand on the Oscar red carpet... pin a tail on Miss Piggy...bond with Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy... and experience a Stephen King-like encounter with Stephen King.

Just the Funny Parts is a fast-paced account of a nerdy girl from New England who fought her way to the top of the highly-competitive, male-dominated entertainment field. The book delivers invaluable insights into the creative process and tricks for navigating a difficult workplace. It's part memoir, part how-to, and part survival story. Or, as Scovell puts it, "It's like Unbroken, but funnier and with slightly less torture."

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this illuminating memoir, sitcom writer Scovell (Newhart, Murphy Brown, NCIS) details her career as a highly successful television writer over the last three decades, during which she was usually the only woman in the room. Scovell revised her ambition to become a serious journalist when she landed a job at the satirical Spy magazine in 1986, thereby launching her new career as a master of snark. Scovell's first foray into television writing was a spec script for It's Garry Shandling's Show; the script was killed but it put her on Hollywood's radar. During her tenure at Late Night with David Letterman, which she started in 1990, she worked well with the host, but nevertheless encountered a toxic, male-centric culture. After years of writing jokes and scripts for various shows, she created Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In the 20 years since, Scovell has repeatedly felt the sting of toiling in Los Angeles, "where rejection and failure are the bread and butter of this gluten-free, nondairy town," and in an industry that continually looked for a cheaper, younger version of her. But in working with Sheryl Sandberg as the co-writer on Lean In, she was reminded of a timeless lesson: doing something that is meaningful to oneself might also have an impact on others. Scovell's memoir is wonderfully entertaining and ultimately uplifting. (Mar.) Correction: An earlier version of this review listed an incorrect month of publication. © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

A TV writer reflects on carving out a career in male-dominated Hollywood.Scovell, a veteran writer, producer, director, and show creator, minces few words when skewering the toxic atmosphere for female talent in Hollywood. In her frank memoir, the author, who collaborated with Sheryl Sandberg on Lean In, escorts readers through the beginnings of her career writing for SPY magazine in the 1980s while unpacking the emotional baggage of two botched marriages. At 26, she spontaneously flew from New York to Los Angeles to meet with an executive producer only to be placed in the first of many competitive, sexist, "penis party" writing teams and learning one industry lesson after another. A talent for comedic timing and impressive spec scriptwriting ushered Scovell into the writers' meetings of some of TV's top programs over a career that now spans over three decades. She reflects on the mixed success of scriptwriting for an impressive array of popular programs, including The Simpsons, Coach, and Murphy Brown. She also created and produced Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed and even wrote jokes for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. "The ratio of fun versus not fun varies from show to show," she acknowledges, commenting that "the people, the process, and the product" are the determining factors. As Scovell's career matured and her confidence bloomed, so did her role as a wife and mother of two. Her fearlessness was clearly evidenced when the David Letterman sex scandal broke and the author made a controversial and risky career move by speaking out about a marked lack of gender diversity in the late-night TV arena. Photographs, newspaper mentions, and script clips further illuminate the author's rise to prominence. While arguing that the industry still has a long way to go "in changing its casual acceptance of inappropriate behavior," Scovell counts herself among the many who have made successful careers in show writing and creative collaboration.A breezy, affably written amalgam of memoir, advice, and workplace survival guide from the front lines of the entertainment industry. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

People who pay attention to who's operating behind the scenes to bring us the shows we watch on television certainly know Scovell's name; but even if the name doesn't ring a bell, her work should. She's been a part of such shows as NCIS, The Simpsons, Murphy Brown, and Late Night with David Letterman. Although her memoir's title suggests the book is going to be a laugh riot and indeed there are lots of funny things going on here Scovell has something serious to talk about, too: the culture of harassment and gender bias in the entertainment industry from the 1980s, when she was just getting started in TV, right up to the present. And she has some startling stories to tell, incidents from her own life that clearly required courage to reveal. Scovell comes across as a smart, energetic, determined woman, someone who is always shooting for greater success and who really hates it when she fails at something. A revealing and timely portrait of a professional writer and the industry in which she works.--Pitt, David Copyright 2018 Booklist

New York Review of Books Review

STEALING THE SHOW: How Women Are Revolutionizing Television, by Joy Press. (Atria, $26.) A former TV critic for The Village Voice reports on some remarkable women who have managed to make shows on their own terms, including Diane English ("Murphy Brown"), Shonda Rhimes ("Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal") and Jill Soloway ("Transparent"). A LAB OF ONE'S OWN: Science and Suffrage in the First World War, by Patricia Fara. (Oxford University, $24.95.) Fara offers a vibrant series of profiles of women for whom the war presented an opportunity to take on roles in the scientific and medical realm, previously denied them. BACK TALK: Stories, by Danielle Lazarin. (Penguin, paper, $16.) Short fiction that probes the lives of American women whose privilege doesn't protect them from society's burdens. Beautifully crafted, these stories aren't without viscera; sublimated rage fills the crevices between them. BRAZEN: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, by Penelope Bagieu. (First Second, $24.95.) A celebrated French graphic novelist, Bagieu brings together colorful, whimsical portraits of women - some known and some obscure - who broke the mold and lived life as they wanted. JUST THE FUNNY PARTS:... And a Few Hard Truths About Sneaking Into the Hollywood Boys' Club, by Nell Scovell. (Dey St./Morrow, $27.99.) In this memoir of life as a TV comedy writer, Scovell lays out the years of toxic misogyny she endured on various sets, and catalogs the men who were antagonists instead of comrades. It's not a short list. MRS., by Caitlin Macy. (Little, Brown, $27.) A bristling, funny, savage novel that homes in on the conflicted lives of three ultrawealthy Manhattan wives and the corrupt man on whom they take vengeance. Along the way it focuses boldly on the depths of women's experiences and their struggles with male power. THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID: What Men Need to Know (And Women Need to Tell Them), by Joanne Lipman. (Morrow, $28.99.) Lipman, a seasoned journalist and newspaper editor, investigates the plight of working women with sympathy and reams of data, uncovering innumerable institutionalized prejudices. I WROTE THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU: Essays, by Tim Kreider. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) In Kreider's pleasurable and well-wrought essays, an affable hero gamely bumbles through adventures rich with moments of fleeting profundity and moral reckoning. THIS WILL BE MY UNDOING: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, by Morgan Jerkins. (Harper Perennial, paper, $15.99.) These challenging essays show how a sexist, racist culture prescribes black identity. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books

Library Journal Review

Comedy writer (Murphy Brown; The -David Letterman Show) and producer Scovell's laugh-out-loud account of her struggles in the male-dominated world of TV is a worthy read. Harvard-educated and a former sports writer, Scovell shares credentials with the various men she meets on the job. But she quickly comes to realize that gender matters very much in the entertainment world. The story of her struggles and persistence, successes and failures will intrigue readers. What is most amazing about this book is the author's lack of bitterness and the honest way of telling stories, such as her leaving David -Letterman's show because of her discomfort with the sexually charged atmosphere of the writers' rooms. The author relies on her amazing friends, such as Bonnie and Clyde director Arthur Penn, Sheryl Sandberg, and veteran comedy writer Irving Brecher, whose wisdom helps her cope with emergencies. VERDICT Scovell's compelling story of her life, leavened with much good humor, lets readers know the Hollywood world judged her often as a "woman writer" when she was seeking to be known as a writer, yet she never gives up. For all readers interested in Hollywood and how it works. [See Prepub Alert, 10/4/17.]-Amy Lewontin, Northeastern Univ. Lib., Boston © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Sheryl Sandberg

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Stage 1 Who Is Nell Scovell?
Chapter 1 Every Character Needs a Backstory	p. 11
Chapter 2 Sports and SPY	p. 21
Chapter 3 The Setup	p. 35
Chapter 4 The Big Twist	p. 49
Chapter 5 The Payoff	p. 67
Stage 2 Get Me Nell Scovell!
Chapter 6 The Simpsons: Fugu Me!	p. 85
Chapter 7 Brush with Greatness: Working for Letterman	p. 107
Chapter 8 The Meet Cute	p. 121
Chapter 9 We're All Oompa Loompas	p. 135
Chapter 10 So You Want to Run a TV Show	p. 151
Stage 3 Get Me a Younger, Cheaper Nell Scovell!
Chapter 11 Poetry Is in the Doing	p. 173
Chapter 12 The Ones That Got Away	p. 189
Chapter 13 You Sexy Motherwriter	p. 203
Chapter 14 The Decade-Long Roller-Coaster Ride	p. 215
Stage 4 Who Is Nell Scovell?
Chapter 15 "Fame Whore"	p. 233
Chapter 16 The One I'd Been Waiting For	p. 249
Chapter 17 Lily Tomlin, the Kennedy Center ... and a Surprise Guest	p. 263
Chapter 18 Our Funny President	p. 281
Chapter 19 Stage Five of a Hollywood Writer's Career	p. 293
Job Timeline	p. 305
Acknowledgments	p. 309
Photo Credits	p. 313
Permissions	p. 315

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (5)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

New York Review of Books Review

Library Journal Review

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