The Toronto Screenwriting Conference (TSC) is a yearly event that brings together professional screenwriters from across Canada and the US for a weekend of networking, workshops and lectures covering topics from “Maximizing Your Software with Final Draft” to “The ‘Unlikeable’ Female Protagonist” to “Breaking into Video Game Writing”.

Founded by Canadian super-agent Glenn Cockburn, the conference is all about craft and professional development, not about promotion or fandom, so there’s not a lot of press around the event. Nevertheless, I managed to snag a couple of exclusive interviews with some of the TV writers headlining the conference.

Veteran TV writer Chip Johannessen got his start writing on Beverly Hills 90210 and went on to work in every conceivable genre before landing in one of the most prestigious writers rooms in TV history. He’s been with Showtime’s critically beloved Homeland from the start and helped usher the CIA show through more transitions and transformations and real-world political upheaval than anyone could have seen coming. I asked him about working with star/executive producer Claire Danes, navigating the end of the Brody storyline, and how the post-2016 tumult is affecting the show.

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