Writing for Television

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > FILM > PLAYS vs. FILM > REALITIES > TV

'A television series is almost never the product of one writer locked in a room, banging out pages. It just doesn't work that way. That's a very romantic view of writing -- in fact, it's certainly the view of writing that I always had growing up, wanting to be a writer.'

-- Steven Bochco

Yes, mostly it's brainless stuff, but the real culprit is the demand for speed and repetition. You're writing as part of a team -- often with five or six other writers. And you're laboring within strict formulas for the show's characters and plots. It's like making Pintos at the Ford plant: you stamp out the body [with lots of help] and somebody else puts in the headlight. And you're doing it fast: 14 days is luxury for about 45 pages of dialogue.

If you spend two years with this stuff, plan on two more years of hard work to regain your Voice and much of your craft as a playwright. There's a reason they pay you the big bucks for this kind of thing.

On the brighter side, you'll have lots of company walking off this plank. Writers aren't the only creative casualties of TV series work. It does the same thing to performers, directors, and designers. Obviously, if the tube is your goal in life, there's no problem here.

Sure, there's equally brainless nonsense in Film, but at least there's a top end. While it used to be that the best of television could barely keep its head above the Wasteland, there's a new wind blowing thanks to shows developed by cable TV networks. The popular success of folks who brought you THE SOPRANOS and SEX AND THE CITY seems to be encouraging the commercial networks [NBC, CBS, ABC] to allow more complex characters, dialogue, and subjects.

More playwrights have been trying television series work lately as a way to make a living with their words. Besides the money, some believe this work sharpens their skills in shaping plots. And those who have not had more than a few productions at regional theatres enjoy writing for a medium that regularly puts their work in front of audiences. But most admit that they only think about the plays they'd like to write someday. The hours required in the job are grueling. When you write for TV, about the only time you'll have left for that "Real" writing you want to do is when you're sleeping.

Finding published series teleplays is like looking for chicken teeth in a dentist's office. The best of the SEINFELD scripts are about all that's recent and available. But that's a great place to start.

• Get Screenwriting Software

  As with screenplays, Hollywood types expect you to have the details of television script format down cold -- and that varies from one series to another. They usually won't give you any slack on this. The leading sceenwriting software programs all give you TV format with the click of the mouse. Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter are two of the most widely used programs in Hollywood today. Along with all the usual things, they add format templates for 50 or more of the most popular TV shows in the US. That's worth getting if you're thinking of writing a spec series script as a way of enticing a Hollywood agent to sign you on.

• Read Rick Blum's Television and Screen Writing: From Concept to Contract

  From someone who's been there, done that, in Hollywood.

  Still one of the best guides out there. A producer of more than a few successful television series. He covers all the technical and structural issues you need to know for writing teleplays for half-hour and hour-long episodes. And he lays out script format and how to pitch series concepts to Hollywood types.

  ORDER Television and Screenwriting

• And if you live in the UK or just understand that world, try writing for BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] television. If TV has a gold standard, this is it. You can find nearly everything you need to know about this in the BBC "Writersroom".