WRITING FOR TELEVISION PART 3: GETTING IN AND WORKING ON A WRITING STAFF
By David Jimerson, with very helpful advice from Jane Espenson, writer for Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The process of writing for television is not the same as writing for feature films. It’s not a solitary experience where you work mostly alone on a story you dreamed up and developed on your own, and then turn it over to be produced. Rather, it’s a highly collaborative process where most stories are generated and developed in great detail as a group, among all of the writing staff of a TV show, and the writer writes the script based on a detailed outline worked out by the staff as a whole.
Some may find that surprising, imagining a different, more individual process for writing a script, where staff writers develop the stories and scripts more on their own. In fact, many people go into writing for television with a number of misconceptions of what’s involved. Let’s break down some of the common ones.
You don’t get in by submitting a script to a show. Most, if not all, TV shows don’t accept unsolicited scripts, especially not from an unrepresented writer. When you’ve gone through the process and have representation, then your agent will be submitting scripts for you.
But remember, as we said in Part 1 – the scripts they submit will not be scripts you’re looking to have produced; they will only be writing samples to show you can do the job. In fact –
When submitting to a show through an agent, you don’t submit a script FOR that show. This one takes many people by surprise. The producers of a show don’t want to read scripts for their own shows; they want to read scripts which are of the same type as their show. So, if it’s an hour-long drama, they’ll want to read a script for a different hour-long drama of that type (light drama, police procedural, etc.). If it’s a sitcom, they’ll want to read a script for a different sitcom; currently, the practice is submit spec pilots. More on this later.
If you’re a writer of a show, you won’t necessarily be on set while the episode is produced. The writers write; production is generally separate. Being the writer of an episode doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be invited to the set. However, as you progress in your career and move up the ladder, you’ll have more control over the episodes you write; you’ll end up doing things that directors would do on a film – selecting cast, costumes, props, and all sorts of creative decision making.
Almost all of the work you do will be to bring other people’s visions to life. Generally speaking, you won’t be getting into television to bring your own projects to the air – that’s generally going to be done by people who have been in the business for a long time. You’re there to serve the vision of the show’s creator, or the showrunner, if that’s not the same person. Your job is to write as though your script and every script for the show were written by the same person – i.e., that showrunner. It’s something you have to be willing and eager to do to make a career of writing television.
You shouldn’t get into TV if you don’t like TV. One of the worst things you can do is go into it thinking it’s easy, or seek to work on a TV show you think is bad because you think you can do a better job of writing it than the show’s staff. You should get into writing for TV if you love it, if you want to spend your days working with highly creative and energetic people all focused on the task of bringing the show to the air each week.
That said, there are many rewards to writing TV and working on a show’s writing staff.
WHY YOU SHOULD WANT TO WRITE FOR TV
Many aspiring feature writers or directors tend to look down on television, but in truth, what you see on television is in many cases as good or better than you’re seeing in the theater. As Jane Espenson asks, have there been any legal thrillers in the last ten years better than a typical episode of Law & Order? In her view, if there have, they’ve been few.
Film writers tend to think that the scope of film is much broader and you have much more freedom and much less constraint to tell a big story. But is that true? With a TV series, you have dozens of hours over which to tell a story. Have there been many films as epic in scope and length as the story being told in chapters on Heroes? As deep and complex as the story being revealed on Lost? And as for high stakes, as dramatic as the near-extinction of the entire human race in Battlestar Galactica? TV has a lot to offer a writer in terms of creativity. What would have to be covered in a sentence in a two-hour script can be explored by an entire episode of a TV show.
Many TV writers find a lot of satisfaction in staying with a group of characters and their setting for a long period of time, with each episode being the next chapter of a long novel. There’s much more time to develop and explore than you’d have in a film. You’re not limited to two hours to tell a whole story. You can take your time with it, really get at the characters and their world, and really squeeze everything there is to be squeezed from it.
But it also has a lot to offer in terms of control. You know the old cliché; never let the writer on your movie set. Films are more a director’s medium. In TV, the writers have a great deal of control over what happens, and the directors don’t make as many of those decisions. There’s not nearly as much of a sense that it’s not being done the way you had in mind, because you get to control it much more.
And as mentioned before, it’s not a solitary experience. It’s not a lonely job. It’s as intense and as time-consuming as writing by yourself would be, but it can also be highly exciting as you work with brilliant people to craft a story. It’s a task where each person brings a unique set of skills to the table, and it’s not necessarily up to you alone to be an expert in every aspect of structuring a story or writing a script. It’s also a terrific opportunity to learn, every single day, about how others handle certain aspects of scriptwriting, and how they go about solving problems. These are advantages you don’t have when writing by yourself.
With all that in mind, let’s take a look at breaking in.
USING YOUR SPEC SCRIPTS
In Part 1, we discussed how your spec scripts are you key into the business, your calling card, your demonstration that you can do what a TV needs to have done. So, you’ve written your spec scripts, and are champing at the bit to get into writing for TV – what do you do with them?
For the most part, until you have an agent, you won’t be submitting to shows or networks. Usually only represented writers will be able to do that.
You’ll be submitting to writing fellowships, writing contests, festivals, writers’ groups, and all sorts of places which can get you some attention and something to put on your résumé, all with the purpose in mind to land an agent or that first writing job.
Different places will have different requirements for what to submit. Some will want to see a specific genre and only that genre. Some will want to see spec scripts of shows in production, so everything covered in Part 1will be put to use. Others will want to see original work, original spec pilots of shows you created yourself.
And spec pilots are what many agents are going to want to see when they consider signing you on, because that’s what most, if not all, TV shows are looking for when submitting scripts for consideration of hiring you. Submitting specs for existing shows has almost entirely fallen out of practice.
Specs for Existing Shows
So why did we spend Parts 1 and 2 learning to write spec scripts for existing shows? As mentioned then, learning to write a spec for an existing show will teach the skills necessary to write an original show. The best way to learn is to recreate something which already exists.
But even more importantly, as we will see below, there are still fellowships, contests, and other programs which want to see specs for existing shows. These programs will be great tools for getting into the business, so you will definitely want to write those specs.
The Spec Pilot
A pilot, of course, is a sample episode of a prospective television series, one which doesn’t exist yet. It often serves as the first episode of the show, and as such, it’s often an “origin” story introducing the characters of the series, its premise, and a sample of what will be happening on the show from week to week.
When writing a spec pilot, you’ll be using all the skills you learned and honed when writing spec scripts of existing shows. You’ll have learned the conventions of the genre, the act-break structure, all the general ins and outs of writing a TV script. And, you’ll have learned how to write a script as an enjoyable read.
And that’s key – because again, this script is not being written because you expect it to be produced. It’s being written as a writing sample to be read by someone who can give you a job or otherwise further your career. But because it’s not being written to be produced, you’ve got a large measure of freedom you wouldn’t otherwise have. You have the freedom to let your imagination wander and take risks with concepts, with characters, with dialogue, with situations.
In essence, you don’t have to play it safe. Other, experienced writers are writing the specs which are being pitched to be produced; they’re writing the “safe” pilots that networks would be inclined to take a chance on – the doctor shows, the lawyer shows, the cop shows, the sitcoms about quirky twenty-somethings. You’re not, so you don’t have to write it to convince anyone to pick it up. You should stay somewhat grounded in reality in terms of budget, etc. – simply to show that if you were writing a script to be produced, you have that ability – but you can really let your mind soar and go for something no one’s ever done before, and possibly never actually will. Got a dream project which you’d love to write into a series concept? Use it!
It goes without saying, of course, that when you write a spec pilot, you have to give it all the same serious thought that you gave your spec of an existing show – the stories should still come from the characters and/or the central theme of what the show is really about. But you also have to come up with all of that and give it real flesh before you can create the story, work out the plot, and write the script.
There are a few ways of going about it. You can start with characters – very interesting, original, unusual characters who do things that no one else does, and create a world around them flowing from who they are and what they do. You can also approach it from the other direction – create a premise, a deep, rich, well-though-out premise, and determine the kinds of characters who would live in that world, and what they’d want from it.
Flesh everything out. Then build your story as you would as if the show were actually in production. You, of course, have the advantage of knowing exactly what the show is about, and what’s appropriate for it, because you’re the one creating it.
If you’re submitting a script to a show, and they want to be reading spec pilots, your spec should be of the same genre as the show itself, of course, so the script will end up looking on the page very much like a script for that show. As a writing sample, it should show your competence and creativity in crafting a story, writing the format of the genre, and understanding the nature of writing for TV.
So, what should it be? Of course, you need to follow the requirements of the show. A show like Battlestar Galactica (no longer in production) is sci-fi, but it’s also hard hour-long drama. Be sure you’re submitting the right thing. Your agent will know what the shows want to see and will tell you if don’t already have a suitable spec script written.
GETTING IN
We mentioned earlier that you generally won’t be able to submit a spec to an existing show for consideration as a writer until you can have an agent do it for you. So, everything depends on your landing an agent – but it’s very hard to land one without professional experience. How do you go about getting yourself established professionally and signed on with representation?
There are three general approaches to finding your way in. All of them, of course, require a lot of hard work, persistence, and dedication. Your main goal is get your work out there, get it honed to a professional sheen, and get enough attention for it that you’ll be considered professionally, by an agent or someone else who can get you work.
Fellowships
One of the best starts you can possibly have for a TV writing career is to go through a fellowship, especially one run by a studio.
Television writing fellowships vary somewhat from place to place, but in general, they’re training grounds for studios to develop new writing talent, with the goal of placement on the writing staff of a television program in production. In a fellowship, you will write scripts and have them read for feedback by professional writers and execs; you’ll attend lectures by people in the business; you’ll have opportunities for working with a production while you’re still in the fellowship. Sometimes, a fellowship will arrange to have you placed with a show at no cost to that show, so you’ll be talent that’s free to them, while at the same time, you gain invaluable experience working in a real production environment.
Some fellowships are paid; some are not. Some may actually have you pay, though that is increasingly rare.
Once you’re ready, a fellowship program will work to get you placed with a going production, both within the studio that runs the fellowship, and outside it as well. You generally won’t be under any obligation to continue with that study once you finish the fellowship.
Of course, once you’ve gone through the fellowship, and especially if you get placed, you’ll be in a much better position to attract and sign with an agent.
You might think of this route as having your body follow your script to Hollywood. You’ve already gotten attention; you’ve already got a reason to move to Los Angeles. Do well at one of these fellowships, and you’ll be in a great position for landing an agent and getting placed on a writing staff. If you’re accepted into one of them, absolutely take it. It’s an opportunity you absolutely do not want to pass up.
Some of the top programs for TV include:
The Disney Entertainment Television (DET) Writing Program: One of the best-known and well-respected, this is a one-year, paid fellowship with participation of some of the best in the business. More than 200 current working professionals have gone through this fellowship, including Jane Espenson herself. The fellowship does not require any previous experience, but it does require an excellent writing sample. Details for requirements for the next fellowship will be posted summer 2009.
The Warner Bros. Discovery Access Programs: A series of programs for all kinds of different production professions, including TV writing. Many are focused on underrepresented groups.
The Nickelodeon Writing Program: Another paid, (up to) one-year fellowship, the NWP is three-phased, offering experience in writing, pitching, and networking with industry professionals in both live-action and animated television. It requires a spec script based on an existing comedic half-hour television series.
NBC TV Writers Program: This is NBC's "premier program for emerging episodic television writers with the goal of creating the next generation of showrunners and content creators." It's an 8-month program wherein writers will develop an original pilot and paired with mentors, attend workshops, and at the end of the program, are considered for staff positions.
Competitions
Scriptwriters Network, a group of writers created “for writers and industry professionals,” is based in L.A. They have a Television Outreach Program which provides feedback and critiques on televisions scripts. But it’s also a sort of a hybrid program where scripts will be evaluated through multiple phases, judged against industry standards, and if it rises to the top, the program’s runners will meet with the script’s writer and start to develop a list of potential producers, showrunners, and executives who may be contacted on the writer’s behalf. A number of working writers have taken this path.
Slamdance Film Festival holds a Teleplay Competition along with its various writing competitions throughout the year. It looks for both Drama and Comedy scripted television entries, as well as for unscripted, reality-type TV programs.
In addition, the Writers Guild Foundation maintains a list of fellowships and competitions - dig through those and find some which pique your interest.
Networking
The other general common route is having your script follow your body – you move to Los Angeles, write scripts, look for work, and try to find a way in. This is a harder road to follow.
Generally, you’d sign up with temp agencies and look for openings in the studios, as close to the writing staff of a production as possible. You meet as many people as you can, join writers’ groups (such as Scriptwriters Network, mentioned above), befriend as many people in the business as you can, and find out what’s out there and who can help you get where you want to be.
One excellent way in is to land a job as a writers’ assistant or script coordinator on a production. You’ll work closely with the writing staff and showrunner of the production you’re on, will gain immense experience, and may eventually be able to prevail upon the writers or possibly the showrunner to read your script. In some ways, these jobs are harder to get than the actual writing staff jobs, because there are at least several writers, but only one assistant or script coordinator. Because they’re a great way to get in, every aspiring writer wants the job.
You could also work for a talent agency and work your way into a position where you’ll be able to ask an agent to read your material. If you are able to find a way in to an agency and get your script read, even if you’re not signed on as talent, they may agree to “hip-pocket” you, help you along the way, and sign you once you get hired.
Always be willing to take advice and feedback from professionals in the industry, but don’t go into it expecting to sell a script or to be hired on. Take it for what it is – valuable information and the cultivation of a valuable relationship.
For first-hand tales from the front by someone who’s currently working this path, “Amanda the Aspiring TV Writer” maintains a blog of what she’s done, what she’s learned, and what’s out there in terms of support groups, networking, etc., at aspiringtvwriter.blogspot.com. She currently works as an agency assistant, and her blog full of advice on writing, opportunities, and getting to where you want to be – not only from her own experience, but also through input and interviews from professionals in the business. She also provides links to fellowships, contests, networking opportunities, and many other resources of interest to the aspiring TV writer.
Blazing Your Own Path
This may be the longest shot of all, but in this Internet age, it’s a possibility which didn’t exist before.
In a nutshell, write and produce your own material and put it on sites like YouTube or Vimeo, where it will get noticed by the right people. Shows like South Park or Sci-Fi Channel’s Sanctuary began as Web series and were picked up for production. While this is unlikely to happen, you may still draw attention to yourself for your writing. Agents or producers may notice your work and be interested in seeing more.
Once You Have an Agent
Once represented, your agent can begin submitting scripts to existing productions on your behalf.
Your agent will actually shield you from a lot of this process and will be submitting your work to shows without necessarily telling you which. This isn’t a bad thing, because you’re blissfully unaware of all the rejections and really only hear about the shows which want to see more from you.
If all goes well, you’ll eventually find yourself on the writing staff of a TV show.
WORKING ON A WRITING STAFF
Once placed, a typical staff writer spends a great deal of time in the show’s writers room, working with the other members of the writing staff to work through stories. The story ideas may have been generated by the staff as a group, from one or a few of the writers, or they may be working from the elements of a long story arc developed by the showrunner. Or, they may have worked with the showrunner to develop that arc from a set of core ideas as to where he or she wants to take the show. However they’re conceived, there are always stories in development which the staff is tackling at any given time.
Together, as a group, they break down a story, work through the plot, decide the act breaks, and come up with everything that’s going to happen in the episode – plot, subplots, scenes, locations, characters, everything. When that story is fully developed and then approved by the showrunner, a writer is then assigned to write the script for that episode based on the outline created by the staff as a whole.
Then, the writer will get back notes. These will be notes from the showrunner for changes they’d like to see to the script. They can be flat out corrections, or requests for more detail in certain areas, or even a need for wholesale rewrites.
Once the story is written, approved, and in production, the writing process doesn’t end. There are always going to be rewrites throughout the actual production of the episode. Actors will have suggestions and corrections according to how well they know their characters. Certain things which looked fine on paper may not actually work as written. Certain actors may not be available for guest roles, or certain props or effects may not be suitable and will have to be written out. Almost until the finished episode is in the can, rewrites can and will happen.
The Ladder
As your career progresses and you climb up the writer ranks, you do start to gain control over your scripts that you didn’t have as a more junior member of the staff. You start to be able to make decisions about your episodes and do, as mentioned above, many of the things directors would normally do on a film.
On a film, the director has control over all of the creative decisions and can – and often does – make a film very different from what was in the writer’s mind, much to the writer’s chagrin. A writer of a television series, after they’ve climbed the ladder to producer, will work closely on the production of those scripts, often doing the sorts of things directors would do on a film – decisions about casting, costumes, sets, props, working with actors on re-writes.
You also may start to take on some of the more traditional non-writing producer tasks. How much you do varies by production, how much you’re asked to do it, and how much you’re willing to do it.
The credits of a TV program usually list a long line of writers and producers. There’s a ladder to writers’ titles, and they can sometimes be confusing because some of them are shared with other people who do very different things.
Television programs will have line producers who are concerned with the budgetary and business aspects of the show. These are the people whose names come after the “Produced By” credit. They can be Producers, Supervising Producers, Executive Producers, or hold other titles. They usually aren’t involved in the writing and instead tend to other production matters.
The writers go through a series of titles as well. These don’t mean that much of a change in the actual job done for the show, even though the job titles are very different. As a first-year staff writer, your title is exactly that – Staff Writer. Your second year, you become a Story Editor. The job isn’t any different; you still do the same things, but you have that new title. You then work your way up through Executive Story Editor, Co-Producer, Producer, Supervising Producer, and Co-Executive Producer. These are all automatic title promotions based on your years of experience. You may also see credits such as “Consulting Producer,” which would often be an experienced writer who’s not a full-time member of the staff.
And if you do get the opportunity one day to bring your own project to the air, or to be a showrunner on an existing show, you’ll be an Executive Producer and at the top of the television writing business.
There’s a very great deal to learn about writing for television. Hopefully, this article has given you a good start at understanding what’s involved, and a grounding for finding out what else you’ll need to know. If you think it’s something you really want to do, take what you learned here, learn as much more as you can, and give it your best shot. New writers are getting in all the time; one of them could be you!
Return to Part 2
By David Jimerson, with very helpful advice from Jane Espenson, writer for Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The process of writing for television is not the same as writing for feature films. It’s not a solitary experience where you work mostly alone on a story you dreamed up and developed on your own, and then turn it over to be produced. Rather, it’s a highly collaborative process where most stories are generated and developed in great detail as a group, among all of the writing staff of a TV show, and the writer writes the script based on a detailed outline worked out by the staff as a whole.
Some may find that surprising, imagining a different, more individual process for writing a script, where staff writers develop the stories and scripts more on their own. In fact, many people go into writing for television with a number of misconceptions of what’s involved. Let’s break down some of the common ones.
You don’t get in by submitting a script to a show. Most, if not all, TV shows don’t accept unsolicited scripts, especially not from an unrepresented writer. When you’ve gone through the process and have representation, then your agent will be submitting scripts for you.
But remember, as we said in Part 1 – the scripts they submit will not be scripts you’re looking to have produced; they will only be writing samples to show you can do the job. In fact –
When submitting to a show through an agent, you don’t submit a script FOR that show. This one takes many people by surprise. The producers of a show don’t want to read scripts for their own shows; they want to read scripts which are of the same type as their show. So, if it’s an hour-long drama, they’ll want to read a script for a different hour-long drama of that type (light drama, police procedural, etc.). If it’s a sitcom, they’ll want to read a script for a different sitcom; currently, the practice is submit spec pilots. More on this later.
If you’re a writer of a show, you won’t necessarily be on set while the episode is produced. The writers write; production is generally separate. Being the writer of an episode doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be invited to the set. However, as you progress in your career and move up the ladder, you’ll have more control over the episodes you write; you’ll end up doing things that directors would do on a film – selecting cast, costumes, props, and all sorts of creative decision making.
Almost all of the work you do will be to bring other people’s visions to life. Generally speaking, you won’t be getting into television to bring your own projects to the air – that’s generally going to be done by people who have been in the business for a long time. You’re there to serve the vision of the show’s creator, or the showrunner, if that’s not the same person. Your job is to write as though your script and every script for the show were written by the same person – i.e., that showrunner. It’s something you have to be willing and eager to do to make a career of writing television.
You shouldn’t get into TV if you don’t like TV. One of the worst things you can do is go into it thinking it’s easy, or seek to work on a TV show you think is bad because you think you can do a better job of writing it than the show’s staff. You should get into writing for TV if you love it, if you want to spend your days working with highly creative and energetic people all focused on the task of bringing the show to the air each week.
That said, there are many rewards to writing TV and working on a show’s writing staff.
WHY YOU SHOULD WANT TO WRITE FOR TV
Many aspiring feature writers or directors tend to look down on television, but in truth, what you see on television is in many cases as good or better than you’re seeing in the theater. As Jane Espenson asks, have there been any legal thrillers in the last ten years better than a typical episode of Law & Order? In her view, if there have, they’ve been few.
Film writers tend to think that the scope of film is much broader and you have much more freedom and much less constraint to tell a big story. But is that true? With a TV series, you have dozens of hours over which to tell a story. Have there been many films as epic in scope and length as the story being told in chapters on Heroes? As deep and complex as the story being revealed on Lost? And as for high stakes, as dramatic as the near-extinction of the entire human race in Battlestar Galactica? TV has a lot to offer a writer in terms of creativity. What would have to be covered in a sentence in a two-hour script can be explored by an entire episode of a TV show.
Many TV writers find a lot of satisfaction in staying with a group of characters and their setting for a long period of time, with each episode being the next chapter of a long novel. There’s much more time to develop and explore than you’d have in a film. You’re not limited to two hours to tell a whole story. You can take your time with it, really get at the characters and their world, and really squeeze everything there is to be squeezed from it.
But it also has a lot to offer in terms of control. You know the old cliché; never let the writer on your movie set. Films are more a director’s medium. In TV, the writers have a great deal of control over what happens, and the directors don’t make as many of those decisions. There’s not nearly as much of a sense that it’s not being done the way you had in mind, because you get to control it much more.
And as mentioned before, it’s not a solitary experience. It’s not a lonely job. It’s as intense and as time-consuming as writing by yourself would be, but it can also be highly exciting as you work with brilliant people to craft a story. It’s a task where each person brings a unique set of skills to the table, and it’s not necessarily up to you alone to be an expert in every aspect of structuring a story or writing a script. It’s also a terrific opportunity to learn, every single day, about how others handle certain aspects of scriptwriting, and how they go about solving problems. These are advantages you don’t have when writing by yourself.
With all that in mind, let’s take a look at breaking in.
USING YOUR SPEC SCRIPTS
In Part 1, we discussed how your spec scripts are you key into the business, your calling card, your demonstration that you can do what a TV needs to have done. So, you’ve written your spec scripts, and are champing at the bit to get into writing for TV – what do you do with them?
For the most part, until you have an agent, you won’t be submitting to shows or networks. Usually only represented writers will be able to do that.
You’ll be submitting to writing fellowships, writing contests, festivals, writers’ groups, and all sorts of places which can get you some attention and something to put on your résumé, all with the purpose in mind to land an agent or that first writing job.
Different places will have different requirements for what to submit. Some will want to see a specific genre and only that genre. Some will want to see spec scripts of shows in production, so everything covered in Part 1will be put to use. Others will want to see original work, original spec pilots of shows you created yourself.
And spec pilots are what many agents are going to want to see when they consider signing you on, because that’s what most, if not all, TV shows are looking for when submitting scripts for consideration of hiring you. Submitting specs for existing shows has almost entirely fallen out of practice.
Specs for Existing Shows
So why did we spend Parts 1 and 2 learning to write spec scripts for existing shows? As mentioned then, learning to write a spec for an existing show will teach the skills necessary to write an original show. The best way to learn is to recreate something which already exists.
But even more importantly, as we will see below, there are still fellowships, contests, and other programs which want to see specs for existing shows. These programs will be great tools for getting into the business, so you will definitely want to write those specs.
The Spec Pilot
A pilot, of course, is a sample episode of a prospective television series, one which doesn’t exist yet. It often serves as the first episode of the show, and as such, it’s often an “origin” story introducing the characters of the series, its premise, and a sample of what will be happening on the show from week to week.
When writing a spec pilot, you’ll be using all the skills you learned and honed when writing spec scripts of existing shows. You’ll have learned the conventions of the genre, the act-break structure, all the general ins and outs of writing a TV script. And, you’ll have learned how to write a script as an enjoyable read.
And that’s key – because again, this script is not being written because you expect it to be produced. It’s being written as a writing sample to be read by someone who can give you a job or otherwise further your career. But because it’s not being written to be produced, you’ve got a large measure of freedom you wouldn’t otherwise have. You have the freedom to let your imagination wander and take risks with concepts, with characters, with dialogue, with situations.
In essence, you don’t have to play it safe. Other, experienced writers are writing the specs which are being pitched to be produced; they’re writing the “safe” pilots that networks would be inclined to take a chance on – the doctor shows, the lawyer shows, the cop shows, the sitcoms about quirky twenty-somethings. You’re not, so you don’t have to write it to convince anyone to pick it up. You should stay somewhat grounded in reality in terms of budget, etc. – simply to show that if you were writing a script to be produced, you have that ability – but you can really let your mind soar and go for something no one’s ever done before, and possibly never actually will. Got a dream project which you’d love to write into a series concept? Use it!
It goes without saying, of course, that when you write a spec pilot, you have to give it all the same serious thought that you gave your spec of an existing show – the stories should still come from the characters and/or the central theme of what the show is really about. But you also have to come up with all of that and give it real flesh before you can create the story, work out the plot, and write the script.
There are a few ways of going about it. You can start with characters – very interesting, original, unusual characters who do things that no one else does, and create a world around them flowing from who they are and what they do. You can also approach it from the other direction – create a premise, a deep, rich, well-though-out premise, and determine the kinds of characters who would live in that world, and what they’d want from it.
Flesh everything out. Then build your story as you would as if the show were actually in production. You, of course, have the advantage of knowing exactly what the show is about, and what’s appropriate for it, because you’re the one creating it.
If you’re submitting a script to a show, and they want to be reading spec pilots, your spec should be of the same genre as the show itself, of course, so the script will end up looking on the page very much like a script for that show. As a writing sample, it should show your competence and creativity in crafting a story, writing the format of the genre, and understanding the nature of writing for TV.
So, what should it be? Of course, you need to follow the requirements of the show. A show like Battlestar Galactica (no longer in production) is sci-fi, but it’s also hard hour-long drama. Be sure you’re submitting the right thing. Your agent will know what the shows want to see and will tell you if don’t already have a suitable spec script written.
GETTING IN
We mentioned earlier that you generally won’t be able to submit a spec to an existing show for consideration as a writer until you can have an agent do it for you. So, everything depends on your landing an agent – but it’s very hard to land one without professional experience. How do you go about getting yourself established professionally and signed on with representation?
There are three general approaches to finding your way in. All of them, of course, require a lot of hard work, persistence, and dedication. Your main goal is get your work out there, get it honed to a professional sheen, and get enough attention for it that you’ll be considered professionally, by an agent or someone else who can get you work.
Fellowships
One of the best starts you can possibly have for a TV writing career is to go through a fellowship, especially one run by a studio.
Television writing fellowships vary somewhat from place to place, but in general, they’re training grounds for studios to develop new writing talent, with the goal of placement on the writing staff of a television program in production. In a fellowship, you will write scripts and have them read for feedback by professional writers and execs; you’ll attend lectures by people in the business; you’ll have opportunities for working with a production while you’re still in the fellowship. Sometimes, a fellowship will arrange to have you placed with a show at no cost to that show, so you’ll be talent that’s free to them, while at the same time, you gain invaluable experience working in a real production environment.
Some fellowships are paid; some are not. Some may actually have you pay, though that is increasingly rare.
Once you’re ready, a fellowship program will work to get you placed with a going production, both within the studio that runs the fellowship, and outside it as well. You generally won’t be under any obligation to continue with that study once you finish the fellowship.
Of course, once you’ve gone through the fellowship, and especially if you get placed, you’ll be in a much better position to attract and sign with an agent.
You might think of this route as having your body follow your script to Hollywood. You’ve already gotten attention; you’ve already got a reason to move to Los Angeles. Do well at one of these fellowships, and you’ll be in a great position for landing an agent and getting placed on a writing staff. If you’re accepted into one of them, absolutely take it. It’s an opportunity you absolutely do not want to pass up.
Some of the top programs for TV include:
The Disney Entertainment Television (DET) Writing Program: One of the best-known and well-respected, this is a one-year, paid fellowship with participation of some of the best in the business. More than 200 current working professionals have gone through this fellowship, including Jane Espenson herself. The fellowship does not require any previous experience, but it does require an excellent writing sample. Details for requirements for the next fellowship will be posted summer 2009.
The Warner Bros. Discovery Access Programs: A series of programs for all kinds of different production professions, including TV writing. Many are focused on underrepresented groups.
The Nickelodeon Writing Program: Another paid, (up to) one-year fellowship, the NWP is three-phased, offering experience in writing, pitching, and networking with industry professionals in both live-action and animated television. It requires a spec script based on an existing comedic half-hour television series.
NBC TV Writers Program: This is NBC's "premier program for emerging episodic television writers with the goal of creating the next generation of showrunners and content creators." It's an 8-month program wherein writers will develop an original pilot and paired with mentors, attend workshops, and at the end of the program, are considered for staff positions.
Competitions
Scriptwriters Network, a group of writers created “for writers and industry professionals,” is based in L.A. They have a Television Outreach Program which provides feedback and critiques on televisions scripts. But it’s also a sort of a hybrid program where scripts will be evaluated through multiple phases, judged against industry standards, and if it rises to the top, the program’s runners will meet with the script’s writer and start to develop a list of potential producers, showrunners, and executives who may be contacted on the writer’s behalf. A number of working writers have taken this path.
Slamdance Film Festival holds a Teleplay Competition along with its various writing competitions throughout the year. It looks for both Drama and Comedy scripted television entries, as well as for unscripted, reality-type TV programs.
In addition, the Writers Guild Foundation maintains a list of fellowships and competitions - dig through those and find some which pique your interest.
Networking
The other general common route is having your script follow your body – you move to Los Angeles, write scripts, look for work, and try to find a way in. This is a harder road to follow.
Generally, you’d sign up with temp agencies and look for openings in the studios, as close to the writing staff of a production as possible. You meet as many people as you can, join writers’ groups (such as Scriptwriters Network, mentioned above), befriend as many people in the business as you can, and find out what’s out there and who can help you get where you want to be.
One excellent way in is to land a job as a writers’ assistant or script coordinator on a production. You’ll work closely with the writing staff and showrunner of the production you’re on, will gain immense experience, and may eventually be able to prevail upon the writers or possibly the showrunner to read your script. In some ways, these jobs are harder to get than the actual writing staff jobs, because there are at least several writers, but only one assistant or script coordinator. Because they’re a great way to get in, every aspiring writer wants the job.
You could also work for a talent agency and work your way into a position where you’ll be able to ask an agent to read your material. If you are able to find a way in to an agency and get your script read, even if you’re not signed on as talent, they may agree to “hip-pocket” you, help you along the way, and sign you once you get hired.
Always be willing to take advice and feedback from professionals in the industry, but don’t go into it expecting to sell a script or to be hired on. Take it for what it is – valuable information and the cultivation of a valuable relationship.
For first-hand tales from the front by someone who’s currently working this path, “Amanda the Aspiring TV Writer” maintains a blog of what she’s done, what she’s learned, and what’s out there in terms of support groups, networking, etc., at aspiringtvwriter.blogspot.com. She currently works as an agency assistant, and her blog full of advice on writing, opportunities, and getting to where you want to be – not only from her own experience, but also through input and interviews from professionals in the business. She also provides links to fellowships, contests, networking opportunities, and many other resources of interest to the aspiring TV writer.
Blazing Your Own Path
This may be the longest shot of all, but in this Internet age, it’s a possibility which didn’t exist before.
In a nutshell, write and produce your own material and put it on sites like YouTube or Vimeo, where it will get noticed by the right people. Shows like South Park or Sci-Fi Channel’s Sanctuary began as Web series and were picked up for production. While this is unlikely to happen, you may still draw attention to yourself for your writing. Agents or producers may notice your work and be interested in seeing more.
Once You Have an Agent
Once represented, your agent can begin submitting scripts to existing productions on your behalf.
Your agent will actually shield you from a lot of this process and will be submitting your work to shows without necessarily telling you which. This isn’t a bad thing, because you’re blissfully unaware of all the rejections and really only hear about the shows which want to see more from you.
If all goes well, you’ll eventually find yourself on the writing staff of a TV show.
WORKING ON A WRITING STAFF
Once placed, a typical staff writer spends a great deal of time in the show’s writers room, working with the other members of the writing staff to work through stories. The story ideas may have been generated by the staff as a group, from one or a few of the writers, or they may be working from the elements of a long story arc developed by the showrunner. Or, they may have worked with the showrunner to develop that arc from a set of core ideas as to where he or she wants to take the show. However they’re conceived, there are always stories in development which the staff is tackling at any given time.
Together, as a group, they break down a story, work through the plot, decide the act breaks, and come up with everything that’s going to happen in the episode – plot, subplots, scenes, locations, characters, everything. When that story is fully developed and then approved by the showrunner, a writer is then assigned to write the script for that episode based on the outline created by the staff as a whole.
Then, the writer will get back notes. These will be notes from the showrunner for changes they’d like to see to the script. They can be flat out corrections, or requests for more detail in certain areas, or even a need for wholesale rewrites.
Once the story is written, approved, and in production, the writing process doesn’t end. There are always going to be rewrites throughout the actual production of the episode. Actors will have suggestions and corrections according to how well they know their characters. Certain things which looked fine on paper may not actually work as written. Certain actors may not be available for guest roles, or certain props or effects may not be suitable and will have to be written out. Almost until the finished episode is in the can, rewrites can and will happen.
The Ladder
As your career progresses and you climb up the writer ranks, you do start to gain control over your scripts that you didn’t have as a more junior member of the staff. You start to be able to make decisions about your episodes and do, as mentioned above, many of the things directors would normally do on a film.
On a film, the director has control over all of the creative decisions and can – and often does – make a film very different from what was in the writer’s mind, much to the writer’s chagrin. A writer of a television series, after they’ve climbed the ladder to producer, will work closely on the production of those scripts, often doing the sorts of things directors would do on a film – decisions about casting, costumes, sets, props, working with actors on re-writes.
You also may start to take on some of the more traditional non-writing producer tasks. How much you do varies by production, how much you’re asked to do it, and how much you’re willing to do it.
The credits of a TV program usually list a long line of writers and producers. There’s a ladder to writers’ titles, and they can sometimes be confusing because some of them are shared with other people who do very different things.
Television programs will have line producers who are concerned with the budgetary and business aspects of the show. These are the people whose names come after the “Produced By” credit. They can be Producers, Supervising Producers, Executive Producers, or hold other titles. They usually aren’t involved in the writing and instead tend to other production matters.
The writers go through a series of titles as well. These don’t mean that much of a change in the actual job done for the show, even though the job titles are very different. As a first-year staff writer, your title is exactly that – Staff Writer. Your second year, you become a Story Editor. The job isn’t any different; you still do the same things, but you have that new title. You then work your way up through Executive Story Editor, Co-Producer, Producer, Supervising Producer, and Co-Executive Producer. These are all automatic title promotions based on your years of experience. You may also see credits such as “Consulting Producer,” which would often be an experienced writer who’s not a full-time member of the staff.
And if you do get the opportunity one day to bring your own project to the air, or to be a showrunner on an existing show, you’ll be an Executive Producer and at the top of the television writing business.
There’s a very great deal to learn about writing for television. Hopefully, this article has given you a good start at understanding what’s involved, and a grounding for finding out what else you’ll need to know. If you think it’s something you really want to do, take what you learned here, learn as much more as you can, and give it your best shot. New writers are getting in all the time; one of them could be you!
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