San Diego Comic-Con Panel-Writing for TV: Nine Things I Took Away From (Number 3 Will Surprise You)

Attending the San Diego Comic-Con was one of the items on my bucket list. I partially completed this since it was different this year for this international convention. Even though Uncle Rony is roaming around, this didn’t discourage the many panelists from attending. In fact, it was easier for people around the world to attend this huge convention. They had to attend from home.

I managed to make a few panels this year, and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about writing for television or a novel. While there are some concepts that intermix with both topics of the panels, there are some differences in regards to what you are writing for. In this post, I’ll breakdown the panel session about writing for television.

The Panelists

There was a lot of information that was given at this panel from professionals that have worked in writing for television. The panelists included were Bob Goodman, the writer for Elementary. There was also Niceole Levy, the writer for Cloak & Dagger. Letitia Baylor works for NBCUniversal Networks as a manager for scripted content. Last but not least, Spiro Skentzos, the writer for Arrow, moderated the remote panel.

The 9 Important Points I Took from The Panel

1. The two types of specs you should write as a TV show writer

Spiro Skentzos reveals that the two types of specs that you should be aware of are specs for existing shows and original pilots. The panelist breakdown the importance of both of them. If you want to make writing for TV a career, it is going to be crucial that you know how to write specs for an existing show. This becomes important later on throughout the panel because it makes you understand the reason why its crucial. Producers are also looking for original pilots too, but they have to trust that you know how write for an existing show.

2. Emulate the show’s voice. Learn how to mimic

According to Bob Goodman, once you break into the TV writing industry, being able to emulate the show’s voice is one of the skills that is important. You are basically mimicking the show. You can even apply this skill to other career industries.

3. Writing for TV is just like other jobs

This is where you understand why knowing how to write specs for existing shows or learning to to mimic a show is important. Just like other jobs out there, TV writers are constantly coming in and out. They can leave or be let go from the show at any time. The people in charge need someone that can fill in that role. They want to make sure that their candidate knows how to do their job.

4. The importance of the first 10 pages of an original pilot

Top executives and editors are always reading scripts from existing shows, making sure that they are set and ready to go. If you are pitching an original pilots, it’s important that the first 10 pages grab the reader’s attention according to Letitia Baylor. As one of the top executives herself, she reads an average of about five scripts week. Not only is it important to get the reader’s attention, but it’s also important that you can maintain the reader’s attention. Maintaining attention will be another important skill that will be necessary as a TV writer.

5. The job as a TV writer

According to Spiro Skentzos, your job as a TV writer is to hook the audience and be able to maintain that audience. Most major TV shows have to get paid via commercials. People will tune out of those commercials until the show comes back out the commercials. Majority of the audience comes back a few minutes later into the show if the episode is doing well. If it’s not, people will change the channel and watch something else. If the episode is really good, people will be willing to sit through commercials so they won’t miss a single minute of the episode, so it’s a return on investment for both the show and the advertisers. To clarify, it’s like teasing whats next after the set of commercials. People need a reason to come back and tune in.

6. How not to describe someone, especially a woman

Letitia Baylor gives an example about how you shouldn’t describe a woman by saying that “she’s pretty but she doesn’t know it yet.” He reason is because there are many other different ways of describing someone. The way I see it is that someone shouldn’t describe a woman with that phrase because you might be passive aggressively calling her ugly. This also shows that the writer is not brave enough to tell a woman that she is pretty. I also point out that it’s pointless to call a woman pretty because she has already been told that several times by others. Thats when it becomes important to find a different way to describe her.

7. Write about stuff you know

Obviously, it’s easier to write about stuff that you know. When you write about things you don’t know about, you have to allocate additional time to research. Depending on how the research goes, it an make your work feel tiring and boring. The audience can tell what kind of energy and passion you put in your work. Besides, writing about stuff you now about gives your work some authenticity. You are confident about the stuff you know.

8. TV writing is tougher than you think

Jamie Page stated that writing for TV is like a house of cards. Even though everything is ready and set to go with actors, producers, equipment, final scripts, etc., one single slip up and everything falls apart. This can cause the show to be postponed, cancelled, or not even aired. while everything seems that it’s guaranteed, tv writers have to acknowledge the fact that all of that could change at any moment.

9. TV writing is tougher than you think

Jamie Page stated that writing for TV is like a house of cards. Even though everything is ready and set to go with actors, producers, equipment, final scripts, etc., one single slip up and everything falls apart. This can cause the show to be postponed, cancelled, or not even aired. while everything seems that it’s guaranteed, tv writers have to acknowledge the fact that all of that could change at any moment.

Final Thoughts

A lot of this can be applied to almost any profession. Learning the skills to obtain and maintain the job is important. It doesn’t hurt to grab and maintain attention from others. You have more confidence about your work when you write about what you know. Not everything is set in stone so it is important to keep that in mind, even when everything else is prepared.