You're welcome to read my Sweatshop spec if you want. PM me your email address if you want it. That goes for anyone. I'm not a paranoid psycho like the dude from the Poker Movies thread in OOT .

thanks

im a dumbass and apparently can't read, im sure you explained how you broke in somewhere. can you just tell me what post it was? lol, sorry man. this is my dream job, and writing is basically all i do, I like to hear stories.

It's not a long thread bro

Idk what post it was but the short version is, I was working as a writers' assistant on a sitcom when I met my current writing partner, also a writers' assistant. We wrote a pilot and gave it to a senior writer on the show we were on. He passed it on to an agent at CAA where he was repped. That agent "hip pocketed" us, which means he signed us unofficially until we did something, at which point he signed us officially. A few months after being hip pocketed our agent got us a meeting on a show and we got our first job as staff writers.

I should send my gay Jewish friend from Harvard a memo on this.

harder to make it- as an actor, or writer?

by "make it" I mean not have to ask for money from parents back home.

Also, you should call him Threefer.

Aight, I tried to read most of this thread, ignore any question I ask if you have already and I'll go back:

Is your goal to write for the movies, or was TV writing your thing all along?

I always hear stuff like, "if a producer doesn't like page 1, it's going in the trash." In your experience, is that the case?

Can a regular Joe like me, with no experience in writing get a job as a PA? There is literally nothing else I want to do. I like a million other bums have been writing specs for a while, and I'd walk through walls to get them in the hands of someone. I have no problem working up.

I'm a NJ guy, so I'd have to start in NYC if anything. Does that put me behind the 8 ball right out of the gate? Everytime I talk to someone in the know, I get, "Move to California." Obviously that's not something I can just up and do right now.

I (like im sure everyone) am also writing a workplace comedy spec. How many pages was yours, and how many pages are your scripts usually. In movies I know it's usually a minute a page, but I've seen South Park scripts that were 39 pages, and other comedies that are 26.

Also, are you far enough along that you can be picky about your work? I see you are on Beavis and Butthead now. When Running Wilde ended, did you have the pick of the litter? Or did you just jump at the first offer. (and who wouldn't, working for Mike Judge, that's amazing)

thanks man.

Where do you look for jobs anyway? that Mandy.com? or, like everything else, is it just "who you know?"

Actor I'd say. I once went to a panel at the WGA where Marc Cherry, creator of Desperate Housewives, was talking about the difference between the two and made a good point: with writing, at least you can always write. You're creating a product that, even if you're struggling, you can use to get out of you're hole if the product is good enough. With acting it's just you. You yourself have to be in front of people and either they like you or they don't. That has to be very hard to deal with.

My goal is to one day write movies and only do TV if it's something my partner and I created. I'd like to be able to only staff on other people's shows if it's something I really wanted to because of the material or the creator.

Bit of an exaggeration but yes it's pretty easy to tell if it a script is not worth reading within the first 10 pages or so.

It's hard for me to speak to NYC bc I've never lived there. I would strongly recommend you move to LA though if you are serious about getting into the business. It will be infinitely easier to do so out here. Once you are here you won't need any experience at all to get a PA job. You just need to know someone on a show and they can get your resume to the right person. Once you move out here you will start meeting people and it won't be too hard to meet people on shows/movies.

You should shoot for between 35 and 40 pages. Definitely under 40.

Definitely don't have our pick of the litter, but we are trying to be more selective this year for the first time. Beavis and Butthead is not a full time job like the other shows I was on. We go in about once a week. But, yes, between working with Mike Judge and Mitch Hurwitz are kind of trying to build a good resume that will land us on other good shows. But we are hoping this year to either sell a pilot or only staff on shows that we think are good for our resume, will be of high quality and have some "cache." Of course, if nothing happens in the near future we may be forced to take a job on a show that doesn't fit that bill simply bc we need the money but fingers crossed it doesn't come to that.

Do you mean where would you find PA jobs? I don't know Mandy.com but the best way to get PA jobs is just by knowing people. Which is why you should move to LA as soon as you can.

If I ever wanted to act I would probably just try to write small roles for myself in my own material. Making it as an actor is superrrr hard.

this **** fascinates me guys. thanks for doing this thread. growing up in LA but not in the business in any way (besides knowing some friends parents) and it's always interested me in how it happens in Hollywood. I have a real negative pessimistic perception of the entertainment industry and would never rec anyone go out there to try to make it in the mainstream aspects of it. But it still interests the **** out of me because i have a part of me that really enjoys the seedy LA lifestyle. So if you have any stories about hookers, drugs, crazy actors, writers, or other shakiness, please share. I always think of Nick Cage as a writer in Leaving Las Vegas saying "f it".

I do know some people who are more into independent films/stage/improv, writing and directing/producing and acting in LA. They seem to be enjoying life very much.

RE: nepotism - I think it's far, far, less prevalent in the entertainment business than in most others. Things like where you went to college, who your parents are, etc, matter far less in this business than what you can do to help someone make money TODAY.

Yeah but the notion of identifying what "could make money" seems so much more unquantifiable in this business. So it would seem that doing favors, who you know, politics, etc, would carry more weight than cut and dry data.

Really? Well, re: acting specifically it seems like there is so much of it. It's way, way harder to break in as an actor without any family connections in the biz than it is with them. Half the famous actors out there are related to another famous actor. I'd guess this might have something to do with acting being such a subjective talent that it's easier to do well at it with the right connections and not much talent.

Like I said above though, you don't see it too much with writing, in my experience anyway.

how many professional writers are there in hollywood? ballpark, obviously. and how many idiots running around hollywood thinking they are writers, when they are actually no talent hacks that would be lucky to get a scriptwriting job in Van Nuys?

Having a good last name definitely helps you get in the room, but ultimately I think the cream rises to the top. There are probably a lot of reasons the progeny of famous actors are more likely to be successful, but it's not exactly nepotism. The best example Aloysius could come up with as someone who has had some success they wouldn't have otherwise had was Colin Hanks, but I don't think you can argue that he's untalented.

instead of the usual "will you read my work," and chance I could read yours? understood if no

Kate Hudson
Jaden Smith and Willow Smith
Rumer Willis
Sophia Copolla
Roman Copolla
Emma Roberts
Miley Cyrus
Brice Howard
Eva Amurri (Susan Sarandon's daughter)
Tori Spelling
Spencer Grammer
Scott Caan
Abbey Elliot

According to the WGA website, they have about 8000 members and about half of them are employed. Obviously, there are many, many more "aspiring writers" than that. I don't really share your hostility to them though . There are a lot of yet-to-be-employed aspiring writers out there who actually have a lot more talent than the employed ones. One thing I've learned from having broken through to being a paid screenwriter is that a lot of people I know who have yet to make it are much better writers than many of the consistently employed professional screenwriters I've met. Quite a shame.

edit: just wanted to add that I have found it interesting that the TV comedy writing world is very small. I've only been doing this for 3 years or so and I can't walk into a writers room without knowing/having worked with half the people in there.

Yeah like I said above, just pm me your email and I'll send you the spec we wrote that got us our agent.

well, "getting in the room" is probably a helluva lot further than most people get.