reflections #4: Heated Rivalry
All your Heated Rivalry questions, answered.
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I haven’t done sponsorships in this newsletter up until this point but I really believe in founder Rae Benjamin’s vision here. She is a self-taught television writer who has worked on The Witcher and has a mission to share her experience, specifically for Black writers and people of colour looking to get their foot in the door of the entertainment industry.
In the Cut’s website has a bunch of helpful writing resources (even networking suggestions) and Rae also hosts the ITC podcast, which brings on creatives to unpack TV shows and share expertise — I particularly liked this episode that breaks down The Bear’s “Forks.” In the Cut’s next class on January 10 explores the basics of being in a writer’s room and it only costs $15 to participate.
Here’s a link to the various resources you can sign up for. And thank you In the Cut for also supporting tvscholar and my mission!
Before we start talking gay sex…
I’ve had one of those magical otherworldly writing weeks where opportunities kept arriving to my inbox and it made me feel like I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.
I was interviewed for NPR’s It’s Been a Minute podcast, I was commissioned to recap Industry’s fourth season for Elle in January, I am gearing up to attend the Sundance Film Festival in about a month, I heard from my Yahoo editor that Trust Me, I Watch Everything will continue into 2026, I had an amazing interview with Zosia (Karolina Wydra) that will come out closer to the Pluribus finale (I can’t say anything about the last two episodes yet so I’ll just say…watch them), I’m still writing frequently for The Cut and TheWrap, and received other commissions and screeners that just make me feel so…heart-achingly grateful that I quit my day job and took a leap this year.
My greatest enemy right now is just time. There’s so much to watch! There’s so much to write about! I want to do it all! Grateful for all of you for helping me get here.
So…is Heated Rivalry fetishizing gay sex? And other FAQs.
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