>> I am such a fan of the liberal arts education
because every class is going to make you a better writer.
I loved - - there were no film or television classes when I was at Rawlins [phonetic].
So I was a theater major which was great.
At everything I've learned in the theater I've used in life.
You know I learned if you're not ten minutes early you're late.
I've learned that sometimes you have to stay late and sweep the floor,
or sometimes you have the least glamorous job and you have to,
you know, you have to do the laundry.
Your wardrobe and you're just washing the smelly, dirty clothes.
But it's part of it in that you're all a team.
So I got a lot of that out of the theater.
But I got a lot of it out of every other class I took.
I was in one class, and I read this book that I have never read before.
I don't know if you guys have heard of it, it's called the New Testament.
As a nice Jewish girl I'd never read it.
But I took a New Testament class for the story.
I wanted to know how it ended.
I wasn't up to it.
But it was great, but that made me more curious.
Any class that makes you curious.
Here's how I started.
I was really lucky.
I had met a manager, very low level manager when I was doing publicity in New York.
And he said you're funny, why don't you try writing for television?
And I said, you mean like The Today Show?
I honestly I didn't know.
I don't know what I thought those little people in the boxes or whatever.
So he said, no, write a spec script.
So I said send me one.
He sent me a couple of scripts which you can now get anywhere.
I mean they're published, you can get them online,
you can get scripts for any of your shows.
And I went, okay, and I counted how many lines before a joke and how many whatever.
And so then I wrote versions of my favorite shows, shows that I knew I could write,
shows that I knew the characters of.
Because what you want in a spec script is you want to be honest to your character.
You don't want to do a spec script about the new girl and make it all
about her mother, a character we've never met.
That's cheating.
You want to do it about those people.
Don't bring in outside characters.
So you write, and you write as many of those as you possibly can.
Because, again, it's a muscle.
Everything will help you.
You will get better every single time.
Even if you think this is perfect you're going to hate it by script three.
Then write something original.
Some writer/producers who are hiring want to read original, some want to read scripts.
Getting an agent is impossible unless you have a job so don't even think of that.
The way to get in is to get a job.
And whether you get a job in your town, if you live in Orlando and they're shooting shows
and they do -- if you're living in North Carolina, if you're living in New York, LA,
they do shoot, they shoot in Vancouver.
Breaking Bad they're shooting in Albuquerque.
Get an entry level job.
Say you'll do anything.
Whether you're getting coffee, whatever, you're starting to learn.
You've got to get on that set.
The PA job, the production assistant job is the foot in the door.
It is how -- because what you do is you start by just answering phones or bringing lunches.
But you're around writers all day and you're around the directors and you're
around the producers, and you're seeing what -- you thought you wanted to be a writer
but now you go, wait, I have a flair for directing.
And you can start talking to the director.
And the director says, well, hang out with me
when you don't have something to do and I'll show you this.
We'll walk through this together.
Or you can say to the set designer why did you decide to make the wall that instead of this?
And they'll explain camera angles or color or the skin tone.
So that you really get a feeling of what you want to do.
If you are set on being a writer we need assistance in the room,
and that's the highest level of assistant who is taking down what we're saying.
And you then get to hear exactly how a script is written.
You start to feel the rhythms.
You get to know the personalities, how to pitch, when to pitch, how to --
if you're fighting for a joke and then you realize you're going
to lose the fight either how hard to fight or when to fold.
Because I always say it's not worth fighting
for a joke unless it's the last joke you're every going to write.
Then if that's the case go ahead fight.
But you'll think of another one.
So you get to know that.
And then what's happened with -- I can't tell you how many show runners started out as PAs.
They were given a script because you're in the room with us all, we like you,
hopefully you have a good personality and you know when to laugh at our jokes and when
to shut up and not to give us advice.
And then we go, you know what, in the second half
of the season why don't you write an episode.
And everybody supports the PA and then the PA gets a writing job.