Breaking Into TV Writing: How to Get Your First Job, Build Your Network, and Claw Your Way Inside the Writers' Room

Seasoned screenwriters love to tell young screenwriters, "Work on your craft, and the attention and work will come." This is false.

TV writing is a walled-off industry that embraces those with a pre-existing network and keeps away those without one. There is little information for the aspiring screenwriter about how to break in, meet people, and start rising up. Even those who study TV/Radio/Film are taught to simply "get a production assistant job," but there is so much more to it than that.

Breaking into TV Writing contains all the crucial information left out of most screenwriting books. When looking for helpful guidance and resources, aspiring TV screenwriters are often left with few helpful answers and far too many unanswered questions:

• What should your first script look like, and when should you show it to your boss?
• Which assistant jobs are worth your time?
• How do you break into the elusive TV writers' room?
• What kind of money can you expect to make in the various roles in which you might find yourself?

Anton Schettini provides a rare insider's glimpse of the modern-day network and streaming TV writers' room. Here, you will find practical advice, career-path strategies, and first-hand accounts for how to establish your network, grow within it, and acquire the necessary tools to become a TV writer. The industry would love to tell you to put your head down, work hard, write a lot, and pay your dues; Schettini will show you why that hackneyed mantra is misleading, and how you can put yourself into the best position to break through all the barriers and see your work on the TV screen.