Film and TV Producer Greg Miller

This week’s Writer Wednesday features film and TV producer Greg Miller of Ann Arbor!

Greg has pitched, sold, written, and produced film and TV projects for Fox, Disney, Dino De Lautrentiis, Oxygen, MTV, Comedy Central and others. He started in the entertainment business as a ‘reader’, evaluating books and scripts for production companies, studios and literary agencies. As a producer and writing coach, he has worked with Emmy-winning comedians and showrunners, award-winning screenwriters, New York Times best-selling authors and absolute beginners for over 20 years.

He is the author of “How to be a Writer Who Writes” and “Miller’s Compendium of Timeless Tools for the Modern Writer.”

Greg is leading our virtual “Writing for Film and TV” workshop on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. Learn more about him below!

What writing projects are you currently working on?

I’ve been working on a novel about the American Revolution for some time now and hope I’m getting close to the end. It’s my first try at historical fiction, and it will be my first viable novel. I started another novel, a psychological thriller, which I abandoned, but I’m determined to make this one work. I like the challenge of a new form, and I have written in a lot of others formats and genres: screenplays, radioplays, teleplays, treatments, stage plays, magazine features, radio & TV news, legal contracts, stand up and sketch comedy, even a scientific paper.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

First outline and rough draft, when everything is blue sky and I have the thrill of discovery.

What does your writing workspace look like?

A room with a door, dark purple walls and patterned fabrics. My “desk” was a plain wood dining room table and is usually cluttered with a legal pad, current outline and/or notes, and writing totems.

What is your No. 1 piece of advice for Film and TV writers?

1. Research the current market for your genre/budget.

2. Do it yourself.

What is your favorite non-writing hobby?

Currently, it’s ceramics.

What is your favorite piece of writing advice?

1. “Oh darling, structure is just two or three little surprises, followed every now and again by a bigger surprise.” - Peggy Ramsay, literary agent

2. “Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.” - Mickey Spillane, author

Follow Greg on Instagram at @gregmillerwrites. Visit his website.