Starting Your Television Writing Career Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop Guide ABBY FINER & DEBORAH PEARLMAN Starting Your Television Writing Career The Television Series Robert J. Thompson, Series Editor Other titles in the Television Series Cue the Bunny on the Rainbow: Tales from TV’s Most Prolific Sitcom Director Alan Rafkin “Deny All Knowledge”: Reading the X Files David Lavery, Angela Hague, and Marla Cartwright, eds. Dictionary of Teleliteracy: Television’s 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, and Events David Bianculli Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film. Third Edition. Tom Stempel Laughs, Luck . . . and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom oAf ll Time Jess Oppenheimer, with Gregg Oppenheimer Prime Time, Prime Movers: From I Love Lucy to L.A. Law— America’s Greatest TV Shows and the People Who Created Them David Marc and Robert J. Thompson Prime-Time Authorship: Works about and by Three TV Dramatists Douglas Heil Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour Scott Skelton and Jim Benson Storytellers to the Nation: A History ofA merican Television Writing Tom Stempel Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously David Bianculli Television’s Second Golden Age: From Hill Street Blues to ER Robert J. Thompson TV Creators: Conversations with America’s Top Producers of Television Drama. Volumes | and 2 James L. Longworth, Jr. Watching TV: Six Decades of American Television. Second Edition Harry Castleman and Walter Podrazik The West Wing: The American Presidency as Television Drama Peter C. Rollins and John E. O’Connor, eds. Abby Finer and Deborah Pearlman otarting Your Television Writing Career The Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop Guide “Feel the Burn” outline and = “Birthday Boy” outline and script from The George Lopez _ script from Without a Trace Show written by Luisa Leschin. written by Hank Steinberg. Created by Bruce Helford Created by Hank Steinberg. and George Lopez and Robert Borden. Syracuse University Press Published by Syracuse University Press Syracuse, New York 13244-5160 Copyright © 2004 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. The Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop and all related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WITHOUT A TRACE and THE GEORGE LOPEZ SHOW and all related WB characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WB SHIELD: ™ and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s04) All Rights Reserved First Edition 2004 04 05 06 07 08 09 O45 SaZel The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.co™ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Finer, Abby. Starting your television writing career : the Warner Bros. television writers workshop guide / Abby Finer and Deborah Pearlman. — Ist ed. p. cm.— (The television series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8156-083 1-4 (alk. paper) 1. Television authorship. 2. Television author—s Vochatiiopna l guidance. I. Pearlman, Deborah, 1965—II. Warner Bros. III. Title. IV. Series. PN1992.7.F55 2004 808.2’25 —de22 2004017002 Manufactured in the United States of America This book is intended for nonprofessional writers trying to break into the television business. Abby Finer has worked in television for more than twelve years in scripted and nonscripted programming. She is an executive producer of the comedy cable series, Kenny vs. Spenny, which airs in the United States and Canada. Abby resigned from the Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop in 2003, and she currently resides in New York City. Deborah Pearlman has been working with television writers since 1989. She has worked for USA Network and Bright Kauffman Crane (Friends) and has been director of the Warner Bros. Television Writers Workshop since 2001. Contents Acknowledgments __ ix Introduction xi Television Writing Today 1. So You Want to Bea TV Writer... 3 2. Choosing the Right Show and Doing Research _10 3. It All Starts with Story 14 The Situation Comedy 4. Starting the Writing Process 21 The One-Hour Drama 5. Choosing the Right Show 35 6. Components of a Drama Script 40 Polishing Your Script 7. My Script Is Finished —Now What? — 51 viii | Contents Sample Outlines and Scripts 8. Comedy Outline and Script The George Lopez Show 57 9. Drama Outline and Script Without a Trace 107 Voices of Experience 10. Advice from Industry Insiders 201 List of Television Terms 231 Bibliography 237 Resources 239