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01/25/2008: Playing Your Way Into Television


Want another way into the business? I now know of two playwrights who were -- get this -- invited into television.

One of them was a colleague of mine from the ABC/Disney writers' program, and the other was a young woman whom I met the other day on the picket line. Both of them were young playwrights recruited into television without them reaching out for it -- someone with television connections attended a play and then things happened.

I don't think this happens a lot, but it is certainly illustrative of a larger truth -- if you want to write, go out and write. Write spec scripts for contests, look for writers' assistant jobs, absolutely, but if you can also establish yourself as a respected writer of plays, short stories, novels, non-fiction books, essays, reviews, recaps, comedy pieces, columns, profiles or as a journalist, you will doing yourself a tremendous favor when it comes to making an impression in Hollywood. You probably won't get recruited, as my two examples were, but then again, it's certainly more likely than if you're not out establishing yourself as some kind of a writer!

Lunch: quesadillas