Another Question - TV writing / screenwriter jobs

Television currently has a much higher risk factor when it comes to the money than movies do. Their tolerances for failure are much thinner, and the strategies available to them to recoup losses on shows that flop are more meager. So the television networks are very very picky about who they allow to be a producer. And those producers are also very picky about who they allow to become a writer on those shows. If you're a newbie, they probably won't even look at you. There are thousands of other more experienced writers who are pleading for the oportunity to launch their own TV shows. So they are well ahead of you in line.

One way for a newbie writer to get into television is to become a staff wroter on an existing show. So you pick your target show (like CSI) and you write a spec TV episode script, but NOT for CSI, instead you write that spec episode for a DIFFERENT (but comparative) TV show, like Law & Order. Then you send the producers of CSI your spec script for Law & Order. They will (hopefully) read it and will (hopefully) be very impressed with your ability to caopture the tone of the Law & Order series, and also the voices of the characters from that show. And then they (hopefully) will consider bringing you on board to be a staff writer for CSI.

Nataanii said:

Also, The Sundance Film festival or Tribeca or Caanes film festival, do they help a 1st time filmmaker get noticed? What are the benefits of submitting a film into one of these film festivals?

Click to expand...

Caanes, Sundance, and Tribeca are quite possibly the three biggest names in the whole festival scene around the world. Caanes and Sundance were "it" for quite a long time (something like thirty-plus years now I think). As for Tribeca, that festival was only recently started right after 9/11 as an effort to bring people back to Lower Manhattan again. In just a few years, (and with gazzillions of dollars in advertising between Budweiser and American Express and even an American automobile manufacturer) Tribeca has become synonymous with Caanes and Sundance as being one of "the" festivals to go to.

Meanwhile, just ten or fifteen years ago, a veritable explosion of film festivals began to besiege the entire filmmaking world so that today there are literally dozens of film festivals going on at any given week throughout the world. They're everywhere now. But the "big three" of Caanes, Sundance, and Tribeca are still "the big three." Each festival has its own distinct focus. Caanes is mostly international fair and also mostly the big studio stuff. Sundance is more independant stuff. Tribeca is still working through the task of trying to figure out its own niche, I think. The internet is starting to play out in the unfolding of new types of i-festivals (or e-festivals) that take place entirely on the net, or else which operate in conjuction with live-and-in-person festivals.

From what I'm told, getting into any of the "big three" festivals is kinda hard. I wouldn't know where to begin myself. I suggest you start with the internet by going to their official web sites. I'm sure they have sections on entrance reqirements.

The thing about festivals is they are places to meet other people. And meeting people and making a good impression and filling up that little black book is what this industry is about.

I think first you'll want to learn the craft. Script writing has a lot more to it than it seems.

You have story, characters, dialog, format, story arc, and so much more than you need to learn how to manipulate and show. You have to study other scripts, write, write, write, and practice. Break down the elements, apply them. So I suggest taking it one step at a time.

Start with learning how to write a script, then worry about selling it or place it. JMO.

http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/TVFAQ.html


http://www.wga.org/subpage_writersresources.aspx?id=156

NBC has a diversity program, if you fit in that category. It's on their website, you actually apply to be a staff writer and submit sample scripts for a show.

Disney also has a great television writing fellowship. I encourage everyone who has a good spec to apply.

I'd suggest a stop in at tvwriter.com

Plot Device said:

Caanes, Sundance, and Tribeca are quite possibly the three biggest names in the whole festival scene around the world.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't consider Tribeca as one of the biggest festivals if the continents outside North America still count.

Here's the A-list of festivals you can attend according to Wikipedia:

• "A" Festivals: The festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Shanghai, Moscow, San Sebastian, Montréal, Locarno (since 2002), Karlovy Vary, Mar del Plata, Cairo and Tokyo are listed as "A festivals", or "category one" by the International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF).[1]

I have been to Berlin a few time times (as a journalist) and they have a great program for young film makers. There's lectures with great movie makers - including Q&A. I think Francis Ford Coppola was there a few years ago and caused a riot. I guess other festivals would do the same. I personally hope to get to visit Cannes in the next couple of years.

A-Festivals are a great place to meet equals, but it's not that easy to get your film into the screenings unless it has great quality or fits some kind of theme they're focusing on.

I would try to start with smaller local festivals and then work my way up.