Writer/producer to present 'What makes a successful TV show?'

York College’s Humanities Film series welcomes writer/producer Chad Gervich for a discussion titled “What Makes a Successful TV Show?” at 7 p.m., April 29, in Humanities Center 218.  The event is open to the public free of charge.

Gervich will break down the creative elements of successful TV shows and examine how they’re different from other forms of storytelling -- like film, online entertainment, even novels -- and why networks and studios develop the shows they do. He will discuss current shows like “The Mentalist,” “Lost,” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” as well as classics like “Friends,” “The Cosby Show,” and “I Love Lucy,” and talk about why some succeed and others fail and how people can use this information to think of their own hit show ideas. 

Gervich is a television producer, book author, and playwright. As a writer and producer, he has worked on numerous scripted and reality shows for both TV and the Internet, including “Foody Call” on Style, “Celebrity Drive-By” for E!, “Wig Out” for Warner Brothers, “Spellbound” for the Weinstein Company, “Speeders” for TruTV, and “Reality Binge” for Fox. As an executive at the Littlefield Company/Paramount Television, he helped develop and maintain series and pilots for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, UPN, and the WB. He is the author of the bestselling TV-writing guide,” Small Screen, Big Picture,” and he writes for Writers Digest and Daily Variety.