Steven L. Sears - The Non-User-Friendly Guide For Aspiring TV Writers

Book Description

Steven L. Sears has had a successful career in film and television encompassing over three decades. From his beginnings as a staff writer on NBCs The A-Team, to Co-Executive Producer on the hit TV series Xena:Warrior Princess for MCA/Universal, creator and Executive Producer of Sheena: Queen of the Jungle for Sony/TriStar Television, and many pilot and development deals with major studios and production companies, he has amassed a huge amount of experience and knowledge about the inner workings of the entertainment industry.

In The Non-User-Friendly Guide for Aspiring TV Writers, Sears shares that experience and gives advice for those considering a career in television writing. Instead of the traditional academic and sterile approach, Sears answers questions from a personal, first-person perspective. These questions have been culled from the real world, people seeking out his advice and looking for the experience that most books dont have. Some of what he writes about are hard and difficult facts to accept about the business, while other times he gives his opinion based on extensive experience. All of it is unsweetened and direct. Even if you dont like his answers, Sears will certainly make you think hard about your approach and choices when pursuing a career in an extremely difficult Industry.

Experience and Advice from the Trenches

Steven L. Sears

Digital Edition October, 2014

WordFire Press
wordfirepress.com

ISBN: 978-1-61475-237-0

Copyright 2014 Steven L. Sears

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law.

The authors and publisher have strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in creating the Million Dollar Writing series. We dont believe in magical outcomes from our advice. We do believe in hard work and helping others. The advice in our Million Dollar Writing series is intended to offer new tools and approaches to writing. We make no guarantees about any individuals ability to get results or earn money with our ideas, information, tools or strategies. We do want to help by giving great content, direction and strategies to move writers forward faster. Nothing in this book is a promise or guarantee of future book sales or earnings. Any numbers referenced in this series are estimates or projections, and should not be considered exact, actual or as a promise of potential earnings. All numbers are for the purpose of illustration. The sole purpose of these materials is to educate and entertain. Any perceived slights to specific organizations or individuals are unintentional. The publisher and authors are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, financial, or other professional services. If legal or expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Cover design by Janet McDonald

Art Director Kevin J. Anderson

Cover artwork images by Steven L. Sears

Book Design by RuneWright, LLC
www.RuneWright.com

Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, Publishers

Published by
WordFire Press, an imprint of
WordFire, Inc.
PO Box 1840
Monument, CO 80132

Contents

Dedication

Dedicated to:

Burt Pearl

The Million Dollar Writing Series

When seeking advice, always consider the source. Many self-appointed experts write how-to books without themselves ever accomplishing the thing they are trying to teach you how to do.

In the Million Dollar Writing Series, each of our authors has sold a minimum of one million dollars of commercial product in their field. They have proved themselves, and here they share their wisdom, advice, and experience with you.

There are many factors in becoming a successful writer, and we cannot guarantee that youll break into the top levels, but we hope you find the advice to be useful and enlightening.

Preface

The TV industry isnt a very user-friendly business. Oh, theyre very friendly and personable, and Ive met with countless warm welcomes at pitch sessions and working lunches, but its almost impossible to figure out. Ive published over 125 novels with more than fifty bestsellers but I havent been able to figure out TV yet.

Steven L. Sears has. Weve crossed paths at countless pop-culture and media conventions where we were both guest speakers (me to talk about my Star Wars novels, Steven to talk about his work on Xena: Warrior Princess). Weve been friends for twenty yearsquite close friends, actually.

Because we got along so well, we naturally decided to try working on something together, and I came out to LA to stay with him while we developed a few pitches to take to the networks. But I realized that I knew little about the industry itself, all those secret handshakes and decoder rings. (It turned out that just watching TV did not give all the qualifications to write for TV.) It was going to take a career to learn all the things that I needed to know and fortunately, Steve had spent his career working on countless television shows as a writer, producer, show runner, and series creator. You know the shows: The A-Team, Riptide, Hardcastle and McCormick, Swamp Thing, Superboy, Walker-Texas Ranger, Xena: Warrior Princess, Sheena, and so many others.

He already knew the stuff. And he had been putting together his advice, a large database of experience and knowledge, culled from his helping others online and in classes. He let me read his notes, and I found that he was able to present all that important information in an easily accessible manner. How cool was that? Like having a mentor on a stack of printouts.

I urged him to polish up all that material into a book and, despite his reluctance to become a book writer (having seen how glamorous my life as a writer is), I succeeded, and Im very pleased with the result. And The Non-User Friendly Guide for Aspiring TV Writers just happens to fit perfectly into the Million Dollar Writing Series that my own WordFire Press is publishing. (Im sure Steven makes a point somewhere in this book about knowing the right people.)

In The Non-User Friendly Guide he shares his experience in a simple and conversational manner. Its like having lunch with Steven and asking him questions about the business. Without having to watch him eat.

Kevin J. Anderson
September, 2014

I. Introduction

This book is an experiential book. By that, I mean that you arent going to find academic discussions on the Entertainment Industry, diagrams of story structure, or pedantic examinations of the creative process. No, this book is all about my experiences and the knowledge I have gained from them. Im going to attempt to write it in a very accessible and friendly manner, much like I would speak if you were to just sit with me for lunch and ask questions or ask for advice. Sometimes, these might be questions that are just curiosities that occur to you, some things you dont normally hear people talk about. Or questions about the difference between the theory of the Industry and the reality of it. Thats the real core of this book.

So how did this come about?

In my many years of working as a professional in the Television industry, I have had numerous people ask me questions about the business. With the expansion of the Internet, this has increased a hundredfold. Obviously, there would be many things that just kept cropping up over and over again. Not too long ago, I finally got it through my head that it would be easier to document my answers so that I wouldnt have to retype everything each time I was asked.