Advice to New TV Writers

A young woman I know recently sent me an email, asking for some advice on how to open the door in the business as a writer. Here is [basically] our correspondence, although I’ve expanded a bit:

“Wondering if I could ask your advice. My dream job is to work on the writing staff at ‘The Office’ or ‘How I Met Your Mother’. If I know zero people on the show, is it still reasonable to submit a spec unsolicited to the production office? I am at my wit’s end and don’t know how the hell to break through… so close yet so far. Any advice you could offer me would be amazing.”

Since I seem to get this type of question a lot, I thought I’d put down my answer here, so that others can maybe get some help on this, as well. My (expanded) answer:

Hey -
I know it can be frustrating trying to get ahead (or even noticed!) in this business. Here’s my advice:

I assume you are a writer that’s not sold any scripts or very few.

You cannot assume you’ll get a job as a writer on staff anywhere. The way it usually works is that you get a job as a writer’s assistant at some show you like or love (or can put up with). In the meantime, you’re writing specs scripts for shows you like/understand. You work for a season or two as the assistant while learning how the room works, what the protocols are, what’s funny, what’s not. Eventually, if they like you, they move you up by adding you to the staff, at which point you get assigned a script or two for the season (while writing on the rest).

Spec scripts are not sent to the show they were written for. They are used to show other shows/agents/producers how well you can emulate the first show. If you send it, unsolicited to the production office of the show it’s written for, they will return it or ignore it at best. If someone at the show actually does read it, it usually rings so far off their day-to-day experience (in writing the show they know so well), that it doesn’t get you anywhere. Use your specs to find an agent, and to show other show’s producers and showrunners what you can do. You’ll need an agent eventually anyway, so try to get one now, although it’s very hard if you don’t have a sale in hand.

The biggest key in this business is who you know. Keep working every relationship to get to know the working writers and producers. Get a job somewhere, working horribly long hours as a writer’s assistant (in which you basically transcribe what happens in the room, type up endless rewrites and format everything to be perfect. Great spelling, grammar, punctuation and attention to detail do not hurt you in this area. After you’ve done that for a while, you may be able to move up, if someone takes a chance on you.

The second biggest thing is persistence. I can’t tell you how many people fell off the path along the way in my career. Do not ever give up or you will be replaced by someone else in the line.

There are always exceptions, of course, and you’ll probably read or hear about the kid who wrote one script and sold a series, or a six million dollar movie script, or got hired to write five eps of a show based on one spec he handed to a showrunner in an elevator. But they are few and far between…

Hope this all doesn’t sound too discouraging but that’s how it works — from my perspective. And you’ll hear fifteen different ways of how to do it from fifteen different people, so just add this to your list of stuff you read about the business once.

Take care and keep working it!

So that’s what I wrote… hope it helps someone out there. And if anyone at a show needs a writer’s assistant, please let me know and I’ll get her in touch with you!