Bad Timing:
I’m a pretty decent mid-career playwright just starting to get into screenwriting. I want to write for TV. Terrible timing. I know! But if I HAD to try NOW, should I arm myself with a couple of original pilots and shop them around through my theater agent (who says she has TV contacts for me when I’m ready), with the hope that someone will see something in them that they could use on their show? (I don’t need to run my own show, though I wouldn’t say no to it).

Dear Bad Timing,

Yes, the TV writing landscape is currently a disaster, but if you want to write for television, you should absolutely go for it. Being a playwright, you already know what long odds look and feel like, and writing for the demands, pace, and rigor of television will only make you a better theater maker. Having said that, your note raises a few red flags. Saying “I don’t need to run my own show, though I wouldn’t say no to it,” is akin to saying, “I don’t need my play to have a yearlong run on Broadway, but I wouldn’t say no to it.” As a fellow mid-career playwright who’s also a showrunner, I want to stress how much work and time it’s going to take to just break into writing TV. Writing “a couple of original pilots” is the equivalent of writing a couple of new plays from scratch—with all the blood, sweat, and drafts that entails. When your agent tells you they have TV contacts for you when you’re ready, what she means is: I will show your scripts to my contacts when I believe your scripts are good enough for me to put my name behind them. (As she should; this means she’s a good agent.) When your scripts are that good, they’ll get shown around and—even in this climate—doors will open for you. But not before. So, yes, jump in, learn the trade, and write television that the rest of us will be thrilled to watch. Just know it’s as hard a profession to rise in—and make good work in—as the theater. 

Rooting for your success,

Fefu

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