top of page
Search
Writer's pictureAnton Schettini

Failure in the TV Writing Industry

To write is to fail...



I Googled that as I thought of it, and I think that might be an original. Or I've copied it from somebody way better than me, in which case, I failed.


The point is, in the TV writing trade, and in writing in general, failure comes with the territory.


The failure to finish, the failure to get an agent or manager, the failure to get the attention of a studio, the failure to sell, the failure to be a success.


All of these are works in progress, much like whatever it is you're writing.


Therefore, you can't really think of it as failure. What you can think of it as is a learning moment.


Failure as a Step Toward Success in TV Writing


Maybe you didn't write a word today and this broke your promise to yourself.


Maybe you're looking around at your peers and they seem miles ahead of you.


First of all, it's all relative.


And second of all, it's all in pursuit of your end goal.


You need failures to make it to where you want to be.


In your writing, you need to make a thousand bad moves until you realize which track you're supposed to be on.


And it's the same thing in your career.


I tried so many genres until I realized what my "voice" might be. I tried so many avenues to try to break in until, at some point, one of them worked.


You'll never know what the right track is going to be, but you will get better at deciphering what is not working.

Hello!

I'm Anton, a TV writer and author of Breaking Into TV Writing, a career guide to TV writing.

You can order Breaking Into TV Writing now anywhere books are sold:

DMP_8716-Edit_edited_edited.jpg

Sign up to receive a free guide:

7 Proven Ways to Land Your First TV Job

Thanks for submitting!

bottom of page