By Joshua Kazemi
What no one tells you about your first TV job is that the writing part is a small fraction of the actual job, if you even write a script your first year. We’ll get to that. For the majority of TV writers, the job is mostly talking, and for first-year staff writers, it’s actually mostly listening. It’s all about getting to know your specific showrunner, your specific room, your specific show, and discovering how you can best contribute. Each TV show is a puzzle waiting to be figured out.
Here’s an inside scoop into what goes on in the room and how you can set yourself up for success.
Each Room Operates Differently
The truth of the matter is, there isn’t one way to run a show. There are so many different kinds of shows, each requiring slightly different approaches. Is your show a returning show? Is it a half-hour comedy or an hour-long drama? Limited series? Based on source material? All of these elements can affect your day-to-day job in the room. So there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for success in your first year as a staff writer. But ultimately, you’ll need to put the work in and get to know your show and your showrunner.
Almost everything on your show is dependent on your showrunner and how they like to run things. Ideally, they have made specific choices about how they want things done to best facilitate their creative flow. So in a broad sense, your job is to help them maintain their systems. Whether it be by thoroughly reading a welcome email, pure observation, or by asking thoughtful questions, get to know how things are run and participate in that to the best of your ability.
As quickly as you can, figure out what the expectations are for writers in your room. How does your showrunner prefer to hear pitches? Is it a free-for-all in the room amongst writers of different levels, or does the showrunner prefer to funnel pitches through their second-in-command? If your showrunner prefers the latter, then you have to respect that and try to understand how and why that helps their process. This way, you can provide your best work for the show. But even if they like the free-for-all approach, it’s also still important to make sure you aren’t talking for the sake of feeling like you’re contributing. You have to try your best to make sure that everything you say is valuable to the conversation. That doesn’t mean every joke needs to land, or every pitch needs to be perfect, but moreso that you pick your battles, wait for your moment, and read the room.
What Does Your Room Need?
You can very clearly and decisively prove your worth in the room by becoming an expert on your show. During the Shore Scripts 2025 TV Writer Mentorship program, showrunner Beth Schwartz gave this advice to first-time staff writers: "Know the material really really well. Watch every single episode of the show ahead of time, and email the showrunner’s assistant to ask for past scripts." Knowing the tone of the show, knowing how the characters act and speak, means that you won’t need it explained to you. You’ll save the room time, which can be better spent on breaking stories. And that’s the bulk of the job.
You can also provide value by paying attention to what your room needs and stepping up to fill that void with a positive attitude. Because, as far as actual TV writing, that’s only a small part of the job once the room has figured out and talked through every beat of an episode. And as a first-year staff writer, you may not even write a script. Staff writers aren’t guaranteed a script until they have made their way to the Story Editor level. [For more on writers’ room levels, check out this article for a refresher on TV Writers’ Room Hierarchy].
So if you aren’t writing a script, how else can you be helpful? What else does your show need? You can write outlines, story areas, or episode descriptions. You can be the one to write on the board or on cards. You can do research and write up notes for the room if no one else has been tasked with these jobs. And as disappointing as it may be to not write a script your first year, being happy to help out in any other way you can makes you valuable in the room, and it makes you someone people want to spend time with. Get to know your show and what it needs, and fill that gap.
The Real Job
A TV writer's job is to sit in a room with other writers and talk. So when you boil it down, the job of a first-year TV writer is about getting to know the people in your writers’ room. Every success you’ll have in the room stems from the relationships you build with your co-workers. You want to get to know them, figure out what they like, what they don’t like, and get comfortable enough to speak freely in a way that naturally adds to these important conversations and doesn’t disrupt them. Getting to know your showrunner will give you insight into why they run the room the way they do. This, in turn, will make you a better writer in their room.
If you’ve landed in a TV writers’ room, you’ve most likely worked really hard to get there. You’ve written a ton of spec scripts, placed in fellowships, and put in the work to elevate your writing to a professional level. So naturally, discovering that the job is mostly talking can be disorienting. In the growing pains of your first year, as you learn and adjust to this new life, there will be difficult days. And on those difficult days, it’s important to remind yourself that this is what you’ve been working so hard to do, and you’re finally getting paid to make TV. It’s an amazing job, so do whatever you need to do to learn the ropes, get to know your room, and help make some great television together.
If you’re ready to learn more about what it takes to make it as a TV writer, and what it actually looks like to work in a TV writer’s room, make sure to apply to the Shore Scripts 2026 TV Writer Mentorship Program, where you’ll hear from showrunner Beth Schwartz, Peacock exec Duane Luu, and Sugar23 Manager David Katsman, and more!
