Would I rather finish season two of Breaking Bad tonight or go see Prometheus? I will stay home... what does that say? I have written pilots for CBS in the past, in the last two years, have been working on spec pilot ideas for one hour shows. It is rich terrain for screenwriting. People have big screens at home so the game is changing. ADVERTISEMENT: There will be a one week class at screenwritingmasterclass.com later this month about writing the one hour pilot script with major TV writers participating.

Tom, is there a minimum requirement for this class?

I'd say it's harder to "break in" to television on the merits of writing. It's much more a game of who you know. I know a handful of people who had no previous writing experience that have TV writing credits simply because they were someone's assistant. I also think the WGA MBA reenforces this practice, as it requires a certain amount of TV scripts to be given to freelancers. What ends up happening is the aspiring writer assistants end up becoming those "freelancers." It's easier for the production than having to sift through a pile of scripts and pick out a writer. Also probably why Darabont made the comment that they were going to freelance all their scripts because they didn't need a staff of writers. Honestly, some might consider this easier and others harder. Getting a writing job on the merits of something not related to writing seems harder to me. But that's me. In features, I don't know how you would get noticed if you haven't written at least one script. In TV, having never written a script hasn't stopped people from getting staffed. That said -- most of my dealings have been about spec TV pilots I wrote and not features, even during times I was favoring features. So who knows?

Those diagrams make perfect sense now that I think of it. If you look at many shows from the past year, you'll see pilot episodes of "Terra Nova" and "Smash" have over $10 million budgets, If I'm correct.

I love aspects of both. Movies are fantastic because they have spectacle and scale. They also have a definite arc, in terms of story and production, that allows you to "finish," which can be healthy. And there's the point that Producer Scott was making the other day - movies are just magic. The idea of a writer's room on a TV show is amazing, and I hope I get to experience it. That along with a set schedule means there is the constant push to be great, fast, which is exciting. Also there is some things you can explore in TV differently than in movies, like deeper or longer character arcs. I don't know which direction my career will go - I love to direct too, but I'm not sure that would be as satisfying without writing - so I'm trying to see which one starts to have doors open for me, and that's the one I'll pursue most actively. I think being a successful showrunner would be the best of all worlds, but also bad because I'd never get to see my family. So that's a reality to deal with too. I'm very excited the old way of staying separate has gone away - it'd be nice to be able to work between all three. Of course I have to be good enough for that to happen, but we'll see.

I'm eager to see PROMETHEUS - but I think BREAKING BAD is the Great American Novel of our time. But I could watch DVD 1 of BREAKING BAD season 5 AND go see PROMETHEUS. I would like to write for the big silver, but it's pretty apparent that cable TV is where it's at right now. IMO we're in a Golden Age of Cable that's analogous to the Golden Age of 70s US cinema that flourished before the corporations stepped in and re-asserted their authority. B

"B" What I wouldn't give for an edit function. Anyway, I think a writer seeking a career these days has to go for both movies and television.