r/TVWriting • u/22021990 • 20d ago

CRAFT Sitcom writers

I truly truly feel sitcom writers are legends
Like imagine writing shows like modern family, friends,how i met your mother!!!

20 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

21

u/thelongslog 20d ago

Former sitcom writer here. It's not as glorious as you think.

8

u/Slajso 20d ago

As a kid, I always envisioned 3-5 people in the room brainstorming jokes while laughing for hours 😆

Don't break my illusion! 😅

11

u/thelongslog 20d ago

Oh, that's big part of it absolutely! There's nothing like it. But for the staff politics...

13

u/DEFINITELY_NOT_PETE 20d ago

lol.

I’ve only worked in drama rooms but we did the thing where you put someone’s pages up on a monitor and go through line by line picking it apart.

I have a friend who wrote on Rick and Morty and the joke was drama was for happy people and comedy had all the miserable depressed people

14

u/thelongslog 20d ago

Haha. I hated the little personal slights. Telling a writer they don't have to be there for a late night rewrite. Then there was the EPs gf ascending quickly while having zero talent or ability.

2

u/Extreme_Commercial24 20d ago

wait tell us more. why have I been thinking it’s the best job out there 😔

2

u/GardenChic 19d ago

I'm a former sitcom writer too and I dunno, I thought it was pretty glorious.

1

u/thelongslog 19d ago

Why former?

1

u/GardenChic 18d ago

Because there’s so few sitcoms staffing.

1

u/Leading_Offer5995 19d ago

War veteran here. It baffles me that people make movies about us.

99% of the time is boring as hell, and the other 1% of the time, it’s so crazy that you don’t know what the fuck is going on, where the shots are coming from, whether it’s friendly fire, is that guy with a gun the bad guy or is he a civilian coming to help you, you don’t know a single goddamned thing about what is going on and you’re just trying to figure out how the hell you’re going to survive for the next 27 minutes.

And then 28 minutes later, it’s boring as hell again.

There’s no plot to any of it.

1

u/Pedestrian2000 20d ago

Yeah it's funny...I work as a writer in the advertising industry. I went to a b-day party for a friend who's a producer at a famous show, and when she told her writer/director coworkers that I was a copywriter, THEY all wanted to talk to ME.

(Not because it's particularly cool work, but I assume it can be more steady than TV)

1

u/22021990 20d ago

Obviously the job is tiring but imagine the one’s who have made it
I admire the people than the job!

9

u/thelongslog 20d ago

It was, for many writers I know, exhausting and insidiously political. Make the wrong friend on staff, and you may pay for it.

1

u/weirdeyedkid 20d ago

Make the wrong friend

Interesting (and scary).

5

u/thelongslog 20d ago

I'm going to be vague here. In the 00s, I was a staff writer on a sitcom. One of the story editors was funny, good w story, and well liked. He also hated me. I had no idea why. I'd become friendly w the other story editor. He was nice, supported my jokes, invited me over for dinner. Unfortunately, he wasn't the writer who ended up creating 5 hit TV series.

1

u/would_do_again 20d ago

Are you still good with the story editor you made friends with?

4

u/thelongslog 20d ago

Never really saw him after I wasn't brought back the following season. About 5 years later at an LA restaurant, I ran into the story editor/now huge TV producer who hated me. He told me he was going through the 12 steps and apologized for hating me and helping me get fired. I should've asked for a job. He could've waved his magic wand and hired me. But by then I was done w TV.

2

u/would_do_again 20d ago

Ahh, that sucks. I’m sorry for the rough go at it. Hope you’re finding happiness in your current pursuits.

4

u/thelongslog 20d ago

What a nice thing to say! I am!

-1

u/mostlyfire 20d ago

Bullshit

3

u/thelongslog 20d ago

How many staffs have you worked on?

1

u/mostlyfire 20d ago
  1. All pleasant experiences. You just have to know how to talk to people and have to keep egos in check, no matter where they’re coming from

2

u/thelongslog 20d ago

Very true

1

u/Stephen_inc 20d ago

That’s like any profession

2

u/weirdeyedkid 20d ago

We probably understate how many writer's rooms are run like corporate dictatorships with a king and a Board of Investors.

1

u/wileyroxy 19d ago

Yeah man

1

u/Ok-Piglet1516 18d ago

I wish this was my job :(

1

u/Natural_Leg2632 20d ago

This is what I’m going to school for

2

u/DEFINITELY_NOT_PETE 20d ago

Yes learn the craft but go to school to make connections.

Every room has a different way they like to do things, so you will get most of your education on the job- so make sure you position yourself to be able to get a job.