Anatomy of My Career [13 Years in the Making]: Part I

I rarely write about myself on this blog, for the same reason I don’t write Facebook status updates; I can’ t imagine anyone would be entertained by reading snippets of my life [nor do I enjoy posting personal details so that people who don’t know me can comment on them]. However, I feel posting a timeline of my career may be helpful to writers who are wondering, “Am I climbing the ladder fast enough?”

When I decided I wanted to be a writer, I had no connection to the industry. I had no idea what the timeline of a TV writer’s career looked like. I constantly panicked asked myself, “Am I networking enough? Am I writing enough? How long does it really take to break in?”

The truth is, every TV writer’s career path is different. Some people seem to break in overnight. I did not. Below, I’ve mapped out my career -- every script I’ve ever written, the major connections I’ve made, etc. -- in chronological order. I hope this post provides answers for students who have the same questions I did. For instance, “Yes, it’s normal to write a couple of scripts that you don’t want to show anyone before you write one that you’re proud to submit. Or, in my case, four scripts you don’t want to show anyone…

Part I: The High School & College Years

1997: My sophomore year in high school, my best friend and fellow writer, Gina, and I bought tickets to the Daytime Emmy Awards in New York City and snuck into the pre-awards show dinner (and later, the after party) where we met actress Beth Chamberlin. Beth sent us shooting scripts from the daytime drama, Guiding Light, to provide us with examples of correct script formatting. These were the first real scripts I had ever seen.

1998: As juniors, Gina and I co-wrote our first script, a spec episode of Guiding Light, for our writer’s workshop class. The script was read by Beth, our teacher, and our 10 classmates. Despite our prayers, the script did not land us a job on GL and we were forced to continue our high school career.

1999: Gina emailed Mickey Dwyer-Dobbin, the Executive in Charge of Production at Procter and Gamble, and told her our story: We’re from Kansas. We want to be writers. We’d love to meet you.

To our amazement, Mickey emailed us back and invited us to her office in New York City. We flew to the city for spring break, met with Mickey, and asked her for an internship, only to be told that interns must be college age. Mickey encouraged us to call her after completing our first year of college.

2000: Gina and I moved to St. Louis to attend Webster University. During my four years there, I wrote a spec Frasier, a spec Seinfeld, an original screenplay, and a stage play. Those four scripts were read only by Gina, my professors, and select classmates. My stage play was exceptionally awful. Gina’s was selected by the university to be performed by the Webster Conservatory.

2001: Post freshman year of College. We called Mickey, landed internships (Gina at Guiding Light, me at As the World Turns) and were then told by Webster that we were unable to received college credit for our internships because we were freshman. Internships are supposed to be completed junior or senior year.

We went to New York anyway.

(For those of you wondering how I could afford to move to New York, as well as fly there several times while in high school: I began working at a local bank as a teller at age 16. I worked 3 pm – 6 pm five days a week, 8 am – 12 pm every other Saturday, and full-time every summer. When I moved to NY, I took out a five thousand dollar loan for housing and extra spending money, which I repaid monthly until after I graduated college.)

2002: My sophomore year of college. Mickey contacted the Dean of Fine Arts at Webster University and encouraged him to meet with us and consider a collaboration between the School of Communications and the Conservatory. The collaboration: Gina and I wrote and directed the pilot and second episode of an original half-hour series. Other SOC student participated as DPs, sound designers, PAs, etc. Conservatory students participated as actors, set designers, costumers, and make up artists. We sent the tapes to Mickey. She congratulated us… and didn’t offer us a job. We were forced to continue our college careers.

2003: I moved to LA the summer between my junior and senior year of college to intern at Beacon Pictures (this time, for credit, which was required to graduate.) I found a room for rent on Westside Rentals and my parents loaned me three months of rent, which I finally repaid when I landed my first writing job at In Plain Sight.

2003: I spent the fall of 2003 writing a 65 page, four-month story projection for Guiding Light. I sent it to the P&G executives I met while interning in New York. They congratulated me, but did not offer me a job. I was forced to complete my last semester of college.

2004: I graduated Webster in May of 2004. Soon after, Gina moved to LA. And I moved back in with my parents, determined to pay off the remainder of my NYC loan, as well as my credit card bill, by the end of 2004.

After six years, seven scripts, four years of college, two internships, one 65 page long story, and $7500 in loans (not counting student loans for college), I had a BA in scriptwriting.

And I moved back in with my parents to work as a bank teller.

A month later, I was offered a job with a local news station as a camera operator/set PA for their morning show. I wanted the job, but it paid virtually nothing. So I did both; I worked from 3 am – 7 am at the news station, 9 am - 6pm at the bank, and from 8 pm – 2 am, I slept.

It’s important to note that during these six years, I was not writing full time. Not even close. I was busy with other things, like high school. And trading clothes with my girlfriends. I was not actively trying to break in. But I was networking to the best of my ability and doing everything I could, while attending school, to create opportunities for myself, as well as to take advantage of the opportunities I was offered by others. (And praying that one of those opportunities would turn out to be my “big break.”) The fact is, my experiences in high school and college didn’t result in a big break but rather, little breaks, that helped build a resume that eventually landed me a PA job on According to Jim.

My plan was always to move to New York City after graduation to write for daytime television. But by 2004, soap opera ratings were steadily declining and very few writing staffs were based in New York. All signs (and my father) were encouraging me to move to LA.

But I hated LA.

To be continued…