How to Launch a Television Writing Career
3 More Tips for Entering the Entertainment Industry
Mar 4, 2009
In part one of this article, television writer and story editor Adam Beechen offered tips for moving to Los Angeles and creating well formatted sample scripts. Here, he offers additional tips for writers to better their chances of success in Los Angeles’ entertainment industry.
Form or Join a Writers Network Through Screenwriting Courses and Conventions
Even before moving to Los Angeles, writers can and should form or join writers network at conventions and screenwriting courses. Beechen encourages writers to help others get ahead, noting that people in a writers network may end up creating and running their own shows – and needing freelancers to help them.
“It’s a competitive business, but at the same time if you help other people get ahead, they’ll remember it and come back and help you,” he states, “I hire most of my friends to write with me when I have a story editing gig because I trust them, I know their stuff, and I know their sense of humor matches up with mine.
If You Can – Get a TV Agent
These days, it’s very hard to get a producer to look at sample scripts unless they’re submitted through a TV agent. Beechen suggests looking at a list of Los Angeles agencies provided by The Writer’s Guild of America, which also tells writers if an agency accepts unsolicited submissions. If an agency only accepts solicited submissions, writers can turn to their writers network and try to get referrals from other writers who have a TV agent.
When approaching a TV agent, writers should send a query letter – not a sample script – to the agency with a one-sentence synopsis of their sample script and some information about themselves.
“Tell them about yourself and your writing background, but not a lot – keep your query letter to one page,” he says. “Let them know you’ve written a really good Family Guy or Simpsons spec [script] and ask if they’d be interested in reading them. And they’ll either say, ‘Yes, please send’ or ‘Don’t send.’”
Have Your Sample Scripts, TV Agent and Contacts Ready Before Moving to Los Angeles
For writers serious about moving to Los Angeles and pursuing a career with TV or film production companies, these tips will help give them an edge. Yet Beechen insists these tips should all be followed before moving to Los Angeles.
“It’s important to do as much legwork as you can before you go to LA,” he states. “If you can have an agent before you go, have an agent before you go. Have your sample scripts ready to go. Make sure your contacts know you’re coming. The more you do now, the less you’ll have to do later – because once you get to LA, all your time is going to be spent networking and figuring out how to put mac and cheese on the table.”
Be sure to read the first half of this article, Preparing for a Television Writing Career to learn all of Adam Beechen’s tips for entering the entertainment industry!
And learn from Adam how to avoid common screenwriting mistakes by reading The Top 4 Mistakes Screenwriters Make.
