SitcomWriter
Los Angeles, CA
Female, 33
For over ten years, I’ve had the extreme pleasure of being staffed on several half-hour network sitcoms, rising in the ranks from Staff Writer to Co-Executive producer. My writing partner and I are now developing our own material.
I always knew this is what I wanted to do. I assumed it's what everyone wanted to do. And since everyone can't be a sitcom writer they "settle" for being a doctor, lawyer, indian chief whatever. Imagine my surprise when I discovered people actually want to be things like doctors and save lives instead of writing dick jokes. Crazy. How would I reply to being told it was hard to make it as a writer? I guess I'd say I can't imagine doing anything else. This is my dream job. It's worth putting in the effort. Someone has to be the lucky one who gets to do it. Why not me? But I'd also say that I'm not under any illusions of this being a cake walk. I came to Los Angeles knowing that if I didn't find meaningful writing work in five years I'd go back to the East Coast and re-think my career choices. I wanted to be a writer. I didn't want a career as a want-to-be writer.
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If you want to write solo, write dramas or movies. Comedy is a communal effort. Yes, you do get to write alone sometimes, but that just feels like a little break where you get to sleep in and type in your underwear. The majority of your time is being surrounded by very funny people eating snacks.
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Sometimes I like to be the bigger person and think why do I get to decide what sitcom is funny/original/worth the ratings? I mean if millions -MILLIONS- of people love Two and a Half Men they can't all be wrong. Then I watch Two and a Half Men - and I'm as stumped as you are. My best guess is that it's easy. You get home from a hard day at the office and sometimes it's nice to not have to think. The characters are basic. You know what they're going to do. The plot lines are easy to follow. You know what's going to happen. And it's chock full of extremely dirty jokes that we're not allowed to do on other shows so it send those "They went there" shivers down your spine. Also there are fart jokes.
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OMG yes. Hours are long. Deadlines are fast approaching. You're tired. You're stressed. What's the best way to take it out? Argue with someone over which dick joke is funnier. It happens all. the. time.
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Help Desk Technician
Does it get aggravating answering people's dumb questions all day long?
Football Official
Do you think it's ok for NFL refs to play fantasy football?
Zookeeper and Animal Trainer
Are a lot of people in your line of work vegetarian/vegan?
In high school, I was talking to a friend who mentioned she wanted to be a doctor more than anything in the world. I assumed she meant anything in the world except a TV writer. Nope. She actually wanted to be a doctor. Up until that moment, I just assumed everyone would write TV if they could, just like everyone would rather be rich or thin. But since this was the real world and I was middle-class and chunky, I would settle for veterinarian. As soon as I realized this passion of mine was unique (ish), I never looked back (though I'm still chunky). There were a lot of shows I loved growing up: The Simpsons, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Strangers with Candy, Mr. Show ... but I think what really helped my sense of humor was watching stand-up comedians with my dad when I was really young. I'd use his stomach as a pillow and I knew something was funny when my head would shake from his laughter.
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I can't think of any comedy scripts where this happened. I think CSI is an example of it on the drama side. But, and I cannot over emphasize this... It is EXTREMELY hard to do.
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This is tough. I think Strangers with Candy, an old Amy Sedaris show on Comedy Central should have gotten the audience of a 2 and 1/2 Men. I think Spaced a British show starring Simon Pegg is close to perfect. Actual American Network Sitcoms? Right now not enough people watch Community (perhaps too insider?). And not enough people watch Cougar Town (perhaps they still think it's a show about an old woman humping young boys?) in my humble opinion.
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