When is the best time?

Most of the advice I read and hear about writing a sample script for a show - is NOT to submit it to that show. The chances of getting their tone 'wrong' are too great. If you want to write for a series - submit a similar genre sample piece. Perhaps an NCIS episode for CSI for instance. A 'Friends' episode for "How I Met Your Mother".

Pilot season is going on now through May. Not much reading getting done till later.

gambit924 said:

I just want to try and make this happen before I go for my first massive undertaking.

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Do you mind if I ask what you mean by the above?

LIVIN said:

Do you mind if I ask what you mean by the above?

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Working at an embalmer's perhaps?

gambit924 said:

No I mean I want to achieve this before I put out my big fantasy screenplay. I want some recognition first so that people will at least know my name. That's why I think starting by writing on somebody elses show might be a good beginning.

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Whew. When I read "massive undertaking" I had visions of a funeral procession five miles long, with a full police guard

Good luck with your work.

gambit924 said:

No I mean I want to achieve this before I put out my big fantasy screenplay. I want some recognition first so that people will at least know my name. That's why I think starting by writing on somebody elses show might be a good beginning.

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Well, writing successfully for someone else's show would certainly get your name out there, but from my experience, that's like practicing to set off firecrackers by tinkering with nuclear weapons.

If there's anything harder than breaking into writing scripts for a running series, I don't know what it is.

You don't want your name to be known as one that submitted scripts they didn't like, and couldn't use.

If you have a big fantasy screenplay, all that matters is quality. If it really is any good, it will get your name out there a lot faster than trying to get in through the back door of television.

Think of it this way. Let's say you want to write for "Mad Men."

There are already six writers (I don't know the real number, I'm guessing) staffed for Mad Men. That means that for you to get the job, they have to fire one of them to hire you. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Film and TV are probably the hardest fields to get into as a writer. There are 80,000 books published in the United States every year. There were 155 movies made last year. The odds are really long. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it ain't easy, so it doesn't make sense to try go after something you don't want to do in order to go after something you do want to do.

Gambit, what is your goal?

gambit924 said:

Anybody else with any wisdom or suggestions or whatever?

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Working as a professional writer is always a "gamble" in the sense that you mean. Whether you work on features or in television, there's no such thing as a guaranteed paycheck for a "writer."

Even if you happen to make it as a staff writer -- which is a tremendously competitive enterprise, there's no guarantee that the show you're working on will be on next year.

But what if it's an incredibly successful show? Surely that's some kind of guarantee.

Really? Ask the writers who were working on "Three and a Half Men." One of if not *the* highest rate shows on television. Where are they going to be working next year?

And even if the show goes on, it's quite common for writing staffs and members of writing staffs to get "turned over" -- here one season, gone the next.

There are, in both television and motion pictures, a small group of writers who have some version of job security. In television, they are the writers who have moved up and become successful writer-producer show creators and who get into the business of creating and producing often many different shows for network or for cable television.

Very few people ever achieve that level of success.

In motion pictures there are a small group of very successful screenwriters, some of whom become "hyphenates" -- writer-producers or writer-directors, some of whom simply remain writers, but who achieve a sufficient number of very successful movies and establish on-going relationships with one or more successful director that they will pretty much always be able to find work for the majority of their working lives -- and will be extremely well paid for it.

Likewise, this constitutes a very small minority of screenwriters.

The rest of poor saps just have to work for a living. No guaranteed job security. You get an assignment or you sell a spec -- great. If it's a decent sale, that means your bills are likely paid for this year and maybe next. If it gets made (which happens maybe one time in ten) then you'll make even more money -- checks will keep coming. Otherwise, you hope your agent will keep looking for assignments or you'll have to start working on another spec.

If you work in TV, if you're working on a show -- great. You've got work. For now. And so long as the show runner likes you and the network likes him, and the show stays on the air, you'll keep getting credits and taking home paychecks.

Any of the above stops happening -- you're out of work. Of course, with TV, you'll keep getting residual checks, so that should keep you going while your agent sends out your sample scripts and you go around town trying to get some more work and go back to working on that feature spec that you've been polishing for the last few years.

Maybe that'll sell and you'll be able to break out of TV after all. Or maybe you and your friend, who've been working on a pitch for a new series will have a chance to pitch it because you've earned enough credits (after years in the trenches) to get somebody to actually listen to you, and you might have a chance to step up.

Maybe. But nothing's guaranteed. You get a job, you get an assignment, you get a staff position, you sell a spec, you get something optioned -- congratulations. Enjoy it while it lasts.

When it's over, it's over and you have to start all over again. New job, new assignment, new spec, new staff position. Maybe it'll come next week, next month, next year -- or who knows when?

If you wanted job security you should have done what your mother said and become an accountant.

If you want to be a writer -- this is all part of the job description.

gambit924 said:

I want something that will be a job, not always a gamble.

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If you feel strongly about the above statement, then perhaps you should consider a different career path. There's not a lot of job security in screenwriting.

Sure, it's entirely possible to build a career as a screenwriter. But to get to a point where you can be reasonably confident of "steady work," that will probably take a long time to achieve. And there's a good chance you'll never achieve that status at all.

But I see that NMS just covered that point more than adequately. So I'll skip that part, and will just add:

If you're serious about breaking into tv writing, do a bit more research into that part of the business. No offense, but it doesn't sound like you have a very clear idea about how things work.
There are plenty of books/websites/blogs etc. which deal with this topic extensively. Obviously none of them carry the holy grail, and everyone has to find his/her own path, but at least it should give you a better idea of what to expect. I have a feeling that writing one spec script and sending it to some random shows just won't get you very far.

If, once you're well informed, you still want to pursue a writing career and prove that you can do it, then best of luck to you.

If you want to live of your writing and sell a fantasy screenplay you've got on your desk, then writing a spec script is probably not the right way to go about it. Especially since Supernatural is scripted to a point that the writers on the show probably know what is going to happen 3 seasons in advance if the studio doesn't cancel the show by then.

If you really want to write a spec for an existing show, you should pick one with less show-changing events that can date your script with just one aired episode.

As to the first question, never. You can never send a spec script of a particular show to that show, they're not allowed to read it. (With the noted exception of promotional contests for fans.)

Job security? In entertainment? Excuse me while I wipe the coffee off my keyboard.

It doesn't exist.

Getting a gig writing for a television series is notoriously difficult, even if you have some credibility.

There's nothing stopping you from writing your own web series. The door for that is incredibly open, and the web watching public gets to decide what's good or not, at least more so than in any other venue.

A friend of mine wrote a couple of them, he now works at the WB.

Not to re-hash everything that's already been said, but as far as the spec for a specific show? That's a no-no. I haven't read a single thing that has said otherwise. I hear that even if you do write the BEST script for a show, EVER, they cannot read it due to legality issues.

My .02 for a steady job: Shit. Write a spec, get lucky and sell it, cash a check for like, what?, 200K, call me squared away.

gambit924 said:

My goal is to become a writer working steadily on something I like. A screenwriter for films can work on whatever he likes, but the work isn't steady. I want something that will be a job, not always a gamble.

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It always seemed to me that mystery writers, if one of their books sold well, might have a writing gig most like what you describe above. Think Agatha Christie, ... or my favorite (writes spy novels more than mysteries) ... John LeCarre.

Lots of great valid points brought up.

I think the most important thing is you want to work in television then do some extensive research on that. it is extremely difficult to break into.

If you have a spec script maybe enter in a contest with it. That's what i am doing. I want to work in tv also. The tv spec script is for NCIS. I'm not finished with it yet. I am also writing a feature, which is actually coming along nicely!

Write everyday even if it is only for a short time!

LOL, If you want a steady job as a writer, go be a journalist.

TV isn't steady - the show could be canceled at any point.

Anacry,

that's so true!!

One more thing to add - writing for tv and writing features are two completely different industries. There's more crossover than there used to be, but getting a job as one of the team writers for a television show is not going to have people clamoring for your movie.

(This might be different as a head writer.)