History Main / WritersSuck

** When Moffetta, the writer of the long-running detective series "Bolton", disappeared, the producer, unwilling to renounce to his CashCowFranchise, searched for replacements and ended up hiring Mickey as the main writer and Mortimer as his assistant-except Mortimer ''never watched an episode and needed Mickey to explain him what the series was about''. [[ExecutiveMeddling Mortimer then uses his influence on the producer to alter Mickey's scripts in nonsensical ways]] until Mickey quits and decides to ''go searching for Moffetta to save the show'', the main actor leaves the show after reading Mortimer's first solo script (Mortimer promptly casts ''himself'' as Bolton and gives the character superpowers), and the target audience (adults to whom the sponsor sell watches, aftershaves and other adult products) to leave and be replaced by kids who love his nonsensical plots. Too bad for "Bolton" that Moffetta had faked his disappearance because he, the main actor and the director were sick of the series and were trying to kill it and replace it with a new adventure show, resulting in Mickey and friends helping them shoot the pilot and stream it at the same time Mortimer's first episode is broadcast, stealing his audience-and finally getting the already furious sponsors to cancel the series after the last episode paid-in which [[TakeThat Mortimer's Bolton is exposed as an impostor and accidentally kidnapped by a Martian robot previously introduced by Mortimer]].
** The "Darkenblot" saga has him as the writer of the movie retelling the events of the second story. The movie is a terrifying ClicheStorm that prompts Mickey to repeatedly ask Minnie who was the writer (she had said it was a friend of hers) and, once he found out, remark he recognized his style... And [[BigBad Phantom Blot]] to swear revenge for his portrayal in this movie (something he had not done with the first one). Still, [[SoBadItsGood most people liked it because it was that bad]], and Minnie ''loved it''-because Mortimer accepted her suggestion to add her to the story as an ActionGirl, and [[RonTheDeathEater turned police officer Neve, the main female character in the actual story, in an evil robot]] as extra ass-kissing.

* Averted in ''Series/{{Castle}}''; Richard Castle is charming, charismatic, in control and a pretty cool guy, all things considered. He is a bit of a vain, goofy milquetoast who tends to be the butt of the joke from the more down-to-earth cops he works with, but on the whole we're clearly supposed to find him a pretty likable and well-adjusted guy.

** At Act I Scene V, Cyrano acuses [[ManBehindTheMan Cardenal]] [[MagnificentBastard Richelieu]] of being a SmallNameBigEgo playwright who will find pleasant that Cyrano interrumpted the play of a colleague.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In [[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E8ActBreakTheBurningManDealersChoice "Act Break"]], Maury Winkler and Harry are a pair of middle-aged writers who have written 17 unsuccessful plays in 22 years. Each one took six months to a year to write but most of them closed after only one night and none of them got anywhere near Broadway. They are two months behind on the rent for their filthy, cramped office and the [[CrankyLandlord landlord is threatening to throw them out]].

* "WebOriginal/NothingLikeTheSun" characterizes the writers as pathetic, sexually frustrated creeps with an unachievable longing to [[GodhoodSeeker become all-powerful]], because they resent that as PunyEarthlings they lack any divine powers, and started writing fiction as a coping mechanism. [[spoiler:They ultimately get what's coming to them by the hands of their own creation]].

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'', the writer is at the very bottom of the lead actress' campaign to sleep her way to the top. It's an old Hollywood joke: "There was an actress who was so dumb, she slept with the writer."

* In ''Film/ShadowOfTheVampire'', the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] Max Schrek eats the cinematographer for ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''. The director yells at him ("We ''needed'' him!"), demanding that Schrek not eat the rest of the crew. Schrek then muses, "I don't think we need the writer..."

---> Roger Myers: The rest of you start writers thinking up a name for this funky dog; I dunno, something along the line of, say... Poochie, only more proactive. [Leaves]\\
Writer: So, Poochie okay with everyone?

*
''Webcomic/PennyArcade'': "[[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2022/08/26/the-parasite The Parasite]]" features a ChattyHairdresser surprised that you can write for a webcomic and yet still be considered as being employed. Gabriel (the comic's artist) agrees.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/PennyArcade https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pa_4.png]]]]