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03/14/2008: A Three-Track Mind


Nic in Germany wants to know about query letters that a writer could send to agents to get their TV specs read. Hmm. I actually have not heard of this being done. I suppose there might be small agencies that would read a query letter, but it just doesn't sound like the most likely approach to me.

Now, recall that I'm not any kind of expert or authority on getting a job. I just help with the script-writing part. I don't even like to address job-getting concerns at all, because it always leads to a flurry of letters with questions I can't answer. But I will tell you what I do know. It seems to me that there are three primary ways to get into the TV writing business:

1. Move to Los Angeles and get a job as an assistant of some kind, work your way into relationships with writers or agents or executives. Then get someone to read your scripts. (Get your body here and pull your scripts after.)

2. Get into the ABC/Disney Fellowship or the Warner Brothers' program, and then move to L.A. to participate. (Get your scripts here and pull your body after.) This is what I did.

3. Become established as a writer outside the business. Become a playwright or novelist or a creator of short films for online, or otherwise gain a solid writing rep, then slide laterally into television. (Get your name here and pull your body and scripts after.)

Notice that these approaches can be combined for a multi-pronged attack. And none of them require sending letters, cold, to agencies. The problem, of course, is that there are already so many writers approaching the business on these three tracks, that there really is no need for agencies to look around for a fourth track carrying query letters about scripts from outside.

So you can certainly try soliciting agencies. Who knows? Perhaps it will work. At the same time, however, you might want to try paths one, two, three or a combination of them. (And, Nic, since you're in Germany, you might want to try looking more locally first? Get established in Germany, or check out the BBC option? It's going to be extremely hard to crack the Hollywood market from so far away.)

Lunch: gyro sandwich