Successful Television Writing

by Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin

Do you dream of a job as a successful television writer on a hit show? Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin give you practical but essential advice to help make your dreams a reality. They teach you how to discover the "Franchise" or structure of a television show in order to write a successful and eye catching spec script. The four-act structure is covered, along with the elements that go into telling a good story. After you've blown them away with your spec script, learn how to pitch confidently and concisely. You'll also find invaluable information on how to work with producers, how to handle your first writing assignment, and tackle revisions. Also included are Writer's Guidelines, and beat sheets, from several television shows to help you familiarize yourself with the way writer's work.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Film

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 2003

About the author

Lee Goldberg is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over forty novels, including Malibu Burning, Calico, Lost Hills (the first novel in his acclaimed "Eve Ronin" series), 15 "Monk" mysteries, five "Fox & O'Hare" adventures (co-written with Janet Evanovich), and the new thriller Ashes Never Lie, the second in his "Sharpe & Walker" series.. He's written and/or produced many TV shows, including Diagnosis Murder, SeaQuest, and Monk and he co-created the Hallmark movie series Mystery 101.

Reviews

[DJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good solid 4.0⭐️ read about writing for the broadcast television industry.

This book doesn't go into the semantics of writing a television episode with formatting tips and basically how to divvy up your story to fit within the time. What this book does give is candid advice about the industry itself. An insider's POV that you may not have or would never know without experiencing this firsthand.

I enjoyed the way the book read. It was like chatting with a BFF who has all this knowledge and gave you the truth rather than take an easy route and feed you a bunch of nonsensical information that panders to your dreams. It was fun to read. The examples and real life knowledge dripped from the pages (or oozed from the screen since this was on my kindle) and it was helpful.

It is dated, by shows that haven't existed for a long while. I know streaming channels have changed some of this game, BUT... The advice and knowledge is still applicable and viable even today. And while most shows (even broadcast ones) don't really have an opening credit sequence, their advice on really understanding what a show is rings true. WATCH these things and get to know the SHOW before diving into a spec script.

Even more helpful are the Appendices that have examples of Show Episode/Leave-Behind material-beats. That's like invaluable. Even if today's leave behind is more an email, you can see what to do, or the best way to tackle it.

I highly recommend this to anyone looking to get into the game. This book was honest about the reality of TV writing vs. the dreams we all have. It helps to have someone in your corner, and the authors of this book.... I really felt had your back.

Definitely a worthy read for this genre! Couldn't recommend more.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Successful Television Writing is a short, entertaining read with possibly a broader appeal than its How-To book status confers. Though it does indeed take the reader through the steps of becoming a US TV writer (writing a spec script; pitching to get a freelance TV writing gig; how to work successfully as a staff writer; etc.), it also provides some insight into the TV industry as a whole.

For example, the authors mention a scene in ‘The Drop-In’ episode of The West Wing, where Sam and Toby are arguing in the White House, and their argument continues in the next scene, but suddenly they’re in an upscale bar. The reason why is a pretty interesting look at just how difficult it can be to maintain the integrity of a TV script despite all sorts of production difficulties going on during the filming process.

Probably my only criticism of this book would be… um, well, you know when you’re bored and flipping through TV channels and you end up watching ten minutes of some appalling syndicated show and you think, ‘who writes this crap’? Well, the answer is: Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin write this crap. For this reason, the book is not titled Successful, High-Quality Television Writing. But I’m nitpicking.

Oh, and a final note: this book this very specific to the US TV industry. You can probably learn tricks that carry over into writing for TV in other countries, but the process is likely to be substantially different.

[August · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read some good how-to books about writing, particularly regarding novels and short stories. They're usually either instructional booklets with lots of exercises, or they're memoirs of a sort, the writer's version of an autobiography about them and their craft. This book was a glorious combination of both of those, plus a friendly business manual. Goldberg and co. are extremely helpful when it comes to an overview of the TV writing world, because they don't give too many generalizations or too many specifics; it's a graceful balance of the two that paints a realistic portrait of what working in the industry looks like. And trust me, they were realistic about it: at every opportunity, they tried to scare away those who aren't serious about this field. Good thing, too -- it sounds like someone out of their element would likely commit social suicide (at the least, eesh) if confronted with 112-hour work weeks, bitchy producers, and the verbal abuse that TV writers take every day. I was left incredibly excited about my future, though with a much more realistic idea of how my path is going to go over that "I'm moving to L.A." hill, and for that, this book deserves the five stars I'm giving it. Plus it was a fun, smooth read that left me with a lot of useful tidbits. I plan to read it again in the years to come as I reach the milestones they lay out.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Lee & William offer lots of valuable and interesting information on the industry, their story, the structure and appendices of great examples. I especially loved the pitches & leave-behinds with the accompanying beat sheets. I feel much better prepared as I hammer out my sit-com specs. Recommended for anyone interested in writing for television.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this book has a lot of useful information and the exercises are excellent. The advice is fantastic as well. The only drawbacks are that it was drama-centric, totally leaving out comedies, and it appears to be very dated. Otherwise, I would definitely recommend because there is a lot of good stuff in here from industry insiders.

[Janea West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. A writer's guide to pursuing a career in tv writing. Gives you the ins and outs, including the smallest of details (like what not to wear to a meeting). The only downside is the book was written in 2003, with examples pulling from that time period (i.e. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc.) but hey it still did the job.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The top three things I liked about this book: Good insider information and what to expect; nice emphasis on hard work; good exercises at the end of each chapter. The book also contains a nice dose of humor.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chock-full of very useful, practical advice!

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelente guìa si quieres entrar a la industria de las series (en EEUU)

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides good insight into the world of television writing.