The long journey to becoming a TV writer starts with writing a pilot. A pilot is technically the first episode of any TV show you've ever seen. It's also the first episode of your yet-to-be-made TV show. As a TV writer, the only samples agents, managers, producers, execs, and other writers will want to see is a TV pilot sample. Therefore, this is a crucial part of becoming a TV writer.
So, let's say you've worked tirelessly on your first TV pilot. You've got what you believe is a great draft of an original episode of TV. Now what? The next steps aren't so obvious, particularly in an industry that doesn't have any clear routes, and is rife with gatekeeping. But you do know you'll have to get this TV pilot out there in some form. Somebody else is going to have to read this in order for you to take the next step.
In this article, I'm diving into how to make sure your TV pilot is ready for consumption, and how to get it into the hands of people who can help your career. Because a screenplay is really just a hobby unless you're networking with the right folks.
So, you have your draft of your pilot. Next...
Make Sure Your TV Pilot is Ready
If you're the only one who's ever read or reviewed your own work, chances are it needs some work. As writers, we get very into our own minds. We second guess things we shouldn't. We fall in love with other things that derail our stories. Everybody benefits from outside feedback. Actually, it's more than that. Outside feedback is absolutely necessary to get to the stage where you can show your TV pilot to anyone who can help your career. This is true for those writing their first TV pilot, on up to those who are being paid millions of dollars to write theirs. But who do you show your script to?
If you're a writer, hopefully you have some friends who are also writers. Pass your script to them. If you don't, look online. There are countless communities on Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, and now Threads and Blue Sky full of writers who are keen on improving their work and passing scripts off to one another. I see calls for just this kind of thing on social media all the time. Develop a community and pass your script to them. Ask for notes. You can even do this with non-writing friends. Some of the best notes I've ever gotten have come from people who don't consider themselves writers.
Once you get the notes back, review them. Some you'll agree with, some you'll think are the dumbest thing in the world. And that's perfectly fine. You don't need to listen to all of them. After all, you're the one who knows your story better than anyone. But don't ignore the obvious either. With enough notes, you'll start to see multiple people saying the same thing, or alluding to the same problem in the story. You'll get a better sense of what's woking and what's not. This may not be obvious at first, and it will be difficult to discern your feelings from what's actually working or not. But with enough practice, you'll get there. (Read more about what notes to take and which ones to reject.)
This is crucial for being able to step outside of your own head and look at your work objectively. Now's the time for a rewrite. Take all the notes you are going to focus on, re-break the story (this may mean creating a new beat sheet because elements of the story have changed), and rewriting the whole script. You'll see an enormous improvement between your first draft and second draft. And you'll even have the thought, "What was I thinking?" when it comes to something that you refused to cut before. It always happens.
Okay, you've gotten some people to review your pilot, you've refined your writing. Now what...?
Write A Second TV Pilot
I realize this will be a hard pill to swallow. You've just spent all this time and energy making your first TV pilot perfect. All the blood, sweat and tears you had was in your first pilot. And now they want you to write another one? Yes, unfortunately. In this industry, the bare minimum is to have two pilots in your writing sample arsenal. But this is not an arbitraty number, there's a reason for this.
If the people you're going to want to eventually send your material to like any of your scripts, they're immediately going to want to ask for another pilot. Why is that? See, most of the time somebody reads a script of yours, it's to get a sense of you as a writer, to see if you're the kind of person they'll want to work with in the future. It's extremely rare that they'll want to develop the exact thing you've sent them to read. So, just to make sure this first pilot wasn't a fluke and you're actually a great writer with a unique voice, they're going to ask "What else you got?" And you better have one or else you're going to be revealed as an amateur.
But it's all good! You've gone through the process before, you can do it again. So, write another pilot, refine it, pass it to friends, work on notes, rinse and repeat, and get yourself that second sample.
Getting Your TV Pilot Out Into The World
This is the tricky part. Because there's no one good way to get your work seen by industry folks. But here's a quick guide to at least know who to focus on. If you're just starting out, you're going to want to target fellow writers and managers.
Managers
Why only managers? Why not agents?
Managers are better known for taking chances on new, unproven writers. Agents are very much not. So, managers are where your efforts should lie. But where do you find managers? A lot of them act as readers for screenwriting competitions. And a win in a well-regarded competition could mean some real prospects in your manager hunt.
Another way to go is to get IMDb Pro and look up the managers of some TV writers whose work you respect. Don't go for the top echelon. Go for folks slightly above your level. IMDb Pro will list managers of these writers and sometimes even their contact information. Yes, there's a sizable monthly subscription for this, but it provides lots of good contact information. This is a little bit like cold calling. Well, it's a lot a bit like cold calling. But this entire industry is kind of a crapshoot, so you might as well throw everything you got at it.
Writers
Now, aside from representatives, the real way you get jobs in this industry is through fellow writers. Reps may be able to get your sample into the right "read piles." But when shows are staffing up, the people hiring usually just reach out to their friends. Showrunners, for example, with the blessing of the network, are the ones who hire all the other writers for their writers' rooms. So, knowing a wide swath of other writers will help your name come up in different circles when showrunners and producers need to staff up a TV show.
So, let's get into how to actually meet these writers. First of all, it's important to move to where the writers are... and that is Los Angeles. Yes, things have become more remote. Yes, writers' rooms often happen on Zoom. Yes, productions have moved out of LA. And that all makes you more mobile once you have a network. But if you're still developing a network of writers, it is very hard if you don't live where the other writers are. Not impossible, but you're doing yourself a disservice.
Now, just being in Los Angeles isn't enough. It's a big city. You want to get right in on the inside. One way to do this is to get your foot in the door as a production assistant, or better yet, a writers' production assistant job can get you close to, and sometimes, in the writers' room.
With this producion assistant position, you're meeting real working writers who are getting to know you and your work, and who may also be in the position to hire you soon enough. If they like your stuff, maybe they'll keep you in mind when they have a show.
What I've tried to stress in my book, Breaking into TV writing, is the importance of building your network. Having a great TV pilot sample to show is crucial. That's the tool, but a tool that only matters when you're in the mix. So, gear up and get out there.
