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Product Description Why is TV writing different from any other kind of writing? How will writing a spec script open doors? What do I have to do to get a job writing for TV? Writing for television is a business. And, like any business, there are proven strategies for success. In this unique hands-on guide, television writer and producer Ellen Sandler shares the trade secrets she learned while writing for hit shows like Everybody Loves Raymond and Coach. She offers concrete advice on everything from finding a story to getting hired on a current series. Filled with easy-to-implement exercises and practical wisdom, this ingenious how-to handbook outlines the steps for becoming a professional TV writer, starting with a winning script. Sandler explains the difference between “selling” and “telling,” form and formula, theme and plot. Discover: • A technique for breaking down a show style so you’re as close to being in the writing room as you can get without actually having a job there • The 3 elements for that essential Concept Line that you must have in order to create a story with passion and consequence • Mining the 7 Deadly Sins for fresh and original story lines • Sample scripts from hit shows • In-depth graphs, script breakdown charts, vital checkpoints along the way, and much, much more! From Booklist Sandler, whose credits include Everybody Loves Raymond and Coach, offers worldly, practical advice for those hoping for a career in television writing. Sandler emphasizes that the most important thing to do is sit down and write, but before doing so she recommends aspiring screenwriters obtain scripts from their favorite shows and study them carefully, breaking down the structure prior to embarking on capturing the feel and characters of an established show in their own spec scripts. After structure, Sandler moves on to the arc of an episode, which follows a set path and must revolve around the show's central character. She cautions beginners against pitfalls that mark a script as a novice effort, such as introducing new characters into a script for an existing show. After a wealth of writing tips, Sandler offers hints for how to approach agents and managers, how to network at social events, and how to survive a pitch meeting. Sandler's accessible guide is an invaluable tool for anyone aspiring to write for TV. Kristine Huntley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved About the Author Ellen Sandler has over twenty years of experience in the TV writing business. She was Co-Executive Producer and writer on the Emmy-winning hit series Everybody Loves Raymond, and has written for over 25 prime-time network television series, including Taxi, Kate and Allie, and Coach. She is a highly-regarded script consultant, and in addition to her Television Writing workshops in LA and NYC, is a frequent featured speaker at schools and universities across the country. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Spec Script No one (I hope) watches television all the time, but everyone watches it sometimes. Television is pervasive and common, in the sense of communal, familiar, and available to all. Television establishes our ethical, moral, social, and, God knows, material boundaries more than any other factor in modern life. More than the movies, more than politics--no wonder you want to write for it. It's powerful! Because it is common, television is often dismissed as insignificant, unworthy of respect or care. Because it is pervasive it is voracious--television needs material, and it reproduces like an amoeba, constantly dividing and replicating itself to fill the continuing void. Television needs more, and it needs it now. That's where you come in. Your job as a writer is to supply it with content. This leads to fast, which leads to sloppy, which leads to formulaic, writing. "It's not brain surgery," you'll often hear people in the industry say about working in TV. As a way to deflate s