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Would You Thrive as a TV Writer? 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

Writer's picture: Anton SchettiniAnton Schettini
Would you thrive as a TV writer?

Considering a career in TV writing? It's an amazing, stressful, creative, wonderful, lucrative, and poverty-making industry to be in, all at the same time. The reality of working in a field that many want to be a part of fosters all those scary adjectives I mentioned above. So, I figured it would be helpful, before you pursue this path, or go to film school, or study TV, to break down the 4 most important questions to ask yourself before going "all in."


Before we get all introspective and you start asking yourself a bunch of uncomfortable questions, let's start with what you already do know about yourself. If you're considering TV writing as a career, these things will probably ring true for you:


  • You like TV

  • You're creative

  • You enjoy episodic storytelling


And this is likely not a casual, "yeah, I love some reality TV and I binge a show here or there." This is like, "I like TV in a way that, when I watch a show, I think, 'how would I do that differently?'" Or you get really pissed off by missed storytelling opportunities, or the last two seasons of Game of Thrones.


The thing is, the practicality of getting into and thriving as a TV writer is a bit more complicated than just having an inkling that you would like it. Therefore, I want to give you a bigger perspective on what it really means to write for TV. These questions will illuminate the practical day-to-day of the TV writing world and tell you whether or not this profession is for you. The idea of writing for TV is amazing. But the pursuit of this career pretty much dictates where you live, how you live, what your day-to-day looks like, what kind of money you're making, and on and on. So, let's get granular with it and see if this career is indeed for you.


And we'll start with something really basic...


1. Do you like to write?


I know that sounds like a dumb way to start, but let me elaborate. Many (actually, I would say most) people have an idea that they think would make a great TV series. And that's fine. Maybe some folks actually do! But having an idea does not make someone a writer. Writing does. The difference between writing and simply ideating is this...


Do you enjoy sitting down, alone, by yourself, and working out story problems for this fake world you've created in your head?


Do you enjoy criticizing what you've written, and having others criticize it and revising based on notes?


Do you get excited about the idea of sitting down and committing pen to paper for a new idea that you came up with overnight?


If the answer is no to any of these, you might like the ideation aspect more than the TV writing aspect. And that's fine. There are plenty of jobs, like producers and creative executives, who stand on that side of the creative spectrum. The actual task of sitting down to write a script can feel like you have a homework assignment that's due for the rest of your life. Because it doesn't end with one script. Then there's the next one, and the next one. It never ends! This can feel like a chore, or it can feel like a creative outlet.


In addition, if the majority of your feeling of achievement will come only from seeing your script on TV, then this is not the career for you. Most things never make it that far, even if you're successful. You have to enjoy the writing.


2. What are your lifestyle goals?


Pursuing a career in the entertainment industry may seem like a calling. But you need to be sure that calling coalesces with your lifestyle goals.


This includes anything related to:

  • how much free time you'd like to have

  • how much money you'd like to make

  • whether you want to own a house before you're sixty

  • whether you want to live in a city

  • whether you like your days to be cleanly structured


It comes down to this -- are there goals you have for your personal life that require stability, like money, daily work structure, a path toward advancement, age-related milestones, etc.? Some writers get lucky breaks and can work in the industry and make good money, and buy a house, and live wherever they want to live. But 90% do not. And 100% have volatile schedules.


This is one of the most important practical considerations to keep in mind when considering a career in entertainment. Be aware of what's important to you in life, and weigh that with the volatility of this industry. Being a nervous wreck every day because you're schedule keeps changing and you're not sure where your next check is coming from will really cut into your feeling of creative freedom.


3. Are you comfortable selling/networking?


When you're a TV writer, you can consider yourself a brand of one. You are the commodity to be advertised, and you need to consistently meet people and market yourself. That doesn't mean that you need to put out Facebook ads advertising yourself as a writer. It means you have to foster these relationships and keep your network alive and well.


Every connection you make in the industry has the possibility to lead to something greater. And you have to be comfortable standing up for your work. You have to be comfortable putting your work out there and telling people, "this is what I'm here to do," and "this is why I'm the best person for the job."


When I started pitching my own TV shows, I was shocked to see how much of this job was actually selling and not writing. It's all about developing relationships so that many other people are comfortable enough to say yes to your idea or to hiring you as a writer or to recommending you to their friends/network as a writer.


The TV writing profession is a small community. There's one degree of separation between nearly everybody, so keeping your connections fresh and growing will propel you forward in your career.


4. Do you enjoy collaborating?


Despite the solitude of the writing process for your own samples, once you're in a writers' room, you're in a very collaborative environment. And if you're high up on a show, then you're also collaborating with the entire crew, all the departments and the executives.


So, the heart of the question becomes, do you like working with people? And, do you like working with people in this specific way?


A TV writers' room is like an all day long conference meeting. Everyone sits around a conference table and talks through stories from morning til night, and sometimes back around to the morning again. Peoples' ideas are misconstrued and shot down. Some pitches need to be fought for. Sometimes unfair teams form or lines are drawn in the writers' room. It can all become very sophomoric. And somehow, even in those environments, you have to work with these people and create something together. That's the nature of the beast and it's certainly not for everybody.


Even within the pantheon of TV writers, there are differences


Everybody's TV writing journey looks different. And you can mold certain aspects of this career to make them work for you. For example, Mike White, the creator of White Lotus, wanted to write all episodes himself, so there was no writers' room.


Some career writers never really try to sell their own shows. They are happy to be writers in a writers' room and flourish that way, without having to do the "hard sell" of pitching.


But for the most part, these are the facts you'll need to face and questions you'll need to answer before you enter the field. That way you can avoid spending years getting to a point in your career only to realize this isn't what you want to do.

Hello!

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

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