Yesterday, I sat in on a zoom call put on by the Writers Guild Library. It featured Elly Lachman, Administrator of the Warner Bros. Television Writers' Workshop. I haven't applied to the television fellowships since I started writing screenplays, and when I was writing pilots I wasn't writing them very well. So I never got to the second round in the WBTWW.
A few take-aways from that informational session:
- I didn't realize that that program was run by two people: just Elly and her boss, Rebecca Windsor. (I'm just now looking them up on LinkedIn, and they both went to Northwestern for undergrad. That's interesting/encouraging - given my connection to Northwestern - I'm used to all the alumni being from USC and NYU.) Anyway, given all the reading and interviews and coordinating of the actual program, that seems like a huge job for two people.
- She said that the program is to teach the soft skills of a writers room. That they're looking for people who absolutely already know how to write. With how competitive it is to get into the program, it's no wonder. Only super standout scripts/writers will get to the second round. Things that are presented as fellowships or apprenticeships and are open to the public to apply are not where you're going to learn how to write. You'll never get in. It's an industry where you have to figure out how to do the brunt of the work on your own. (Unless you get in early and get a mentor, I suppose.)
- She said it was not common for people to get to the interview stage four years in a row before actually being admitted to the program. And how long did it take them to get to the interview stage, I wonder? Getting to the interview stage means they've written a new great spec script and an excellent original pilot each year. Good enough to be in the top one percent of all the scripts. At that point, how are they not staffed already? Why do those people need to complete a six-month fellowship in order to be deemed ready to enter a writers room on the lowest level? It reminds me of the masterclass video with Aaron Sorkin where he provides notes on a group of unproduced writers' scripts. He's a bit stunned by the quality. What's happening there? Is there just far too much good writing going around for their to be jobs and projects for everybody? Or is there a pipeline problem where some of the good stuff is lying fallow for want of attention. This bullet point ended up being a long one.
- She brought up these thoughts by Ira Glass:
The zoom event made me want to try writing a pilot again. (Kind of) Screenplays have come easier for me, but that might be in part because I started writing them later and had become a better writer at that point. I feel excited to do everything. Screenplays, short stories, audio series, television pilots. Fin.
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