TV Writing Tips from a Pro
On my other site, please meet Angela Nissel writer and consulting producer on “Scrubs”
So, what is the advice you most normally give writers who ask how to break into TV writing?
Get an agent. Don’t go for the super hot-shot agents, find the new one who is actively seeking new clients. Just call one up and be nice to their assistants. Assistants are gate keepers in Hollywood. If the assistant reads your work and thinks it’s good, they’ll pass it along to their boss. Some people are so rude to assistants (or they call them too much to check up on if the agent read their stuff yet.) Being a TV comedy writer is more than being able to write well. It’s such a collaborative process; you have to prove, through your every action, that you have the personality to be locked in a room with up to fourteen other people and not be the ass of the bunch. There are great writers who can’t get work because people think they are jerks.
If you’re finding it hard to get an agent, write pieces for a local paper. People in L.A. are short on time. Someone is more likely to read a press clipping than a whole spec script. They don’t care if it is from the Podunk Press, they’ll read it and if it stands out in some way, they’ll ask to see more. Plus, people in L.A. tend to think that once you have a byline, someone else has signed off on your writing so you’re somewhat legit.
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