tant professor of clinical neurol-
ogy at the University of Michi-
gan.
In a way, Belanoffs teaching
assignment follows in the foot-
steps of his father, Sidney, who
taught political science at U-M.
"The Cosby show is a very dif-
ferent experience from the oth-
er shows," Belanoff said. "Bill
Cosby expects and receives much
greater reign over the materi-
al, and we follow his lead.
"Script ideas are kicked
around by the entire group, but
eventually one person will decide
to make an idea his own. He or
she will come up with an outline,
get notes on that outline from the
group, write a first draft, get
more notes and then write a sec-
ond draft.
"That script goes to the table
of writers, who review it and
make changes and suggestions.
After it goes to the actors to read,
it will come back to the writers,
who go over it line by line, beat
by beat, deciding what will stay
and what will not."
Belanoff describes his writing
style as character comedy, less
about a situation than about nor-
mal people in unusual circum-
stances or unusual people in very
ordinary circumstances. Among
this season's shows, for example,
he penned one about group ther-
apy.
`Td like to think there are cer-
tain values that I've gotten from
my heritage that I draw into the
material I write," said Belanoff,
who was raised in a Conserva-
tive Jewish home. "The perspec-
tive ultimately is moral and
humanistic and allows more in-
sight into the spectrum of the hu-
man experience."
That spectrum tragically
touched the sitcom staff with the
shocking murder of Bill Cosby's
son.
"Bill's poise throughout was
truly professional," Belanoff said.
"I know there was tremendous
difficulty for him outside the
show, but he managed always to
be nothing less than completely
involved in what was going on
around him.
"In terms of just the produc-
tion itself, we managed to be back
on schedule in less than a couple
of weeks."
When Belanoff completes his
workshop teaching responsibili-
ties in Southfield, he will be off to
another workshop in Santa Fe —
this time as a student. An avid
photographer, he will be learning
techniques and have the chance
to practice them while on hiatus
from the series until June.
' 'Writing for Television" will
be conducted between 9 a.m.
and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sun-
day, May 3 and 4, at the Plaza
Hotel in Southfield. For infor-
mation, call (810) 584-4764.
THE MICHIGAN
MODERN/1M
EXPOSITION
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