Give Good Meeting: Showrunner Edition

After countless months (or years) of hustling in Hollywood, and endless hours of writing, a Showrunner has not only read your stuff and liked it — they want to interview you for a staff job in a TV Writers Room. Finally, you have the chance that could change your career. Amazing! Now what? 

Through my Paramount Writers Mentoring Program and working with my private coaching clients, I have helped over two hundred writers prepare for Showrunner staffing meetings. Many, many of them landed the gigs. 

Each Showrunner is an individual and there are lots of variables at play, so preparing for these meetings is never a “one size fits all” approach. But there are some key things almost every Showrunner is looking for when they’re hiring their staff. 

Here are 5 things to consider before your interview with a Showrunner:

1. Relax, they already like your material.

A Showrunner has a finite amount of time to staff a room. So, if they’re taking the time to meet with you at all, it means they already like your material. They want to meet you to see what you specifically can bring to the table and get a sense for how you’ll fit in with the rest of the writers. Sometimes they’re already so excited about your writing, an interview is just what some Showrunners  call a “psycho check”  - it’s their way of deciding if you’re someone they could spend ten hours a day in a room with. So, do your best to breathe, relax and be yourself. As I often say, the job is yours to lose (see point #4).

2. Be prepared.

Watch or read the pilot (or several episodes if it’s a returning show). Review it more than once (I know upper level writers who’ll review a pilot two or three times before they meet with the Showrunner). But you might only get a day’s notice, or even just a few hours notice before the meeting. Still do your best to watch as much as you can.  If you have the time and it’s a long running show, watch the pilot and the first and last episodes of each season, then read the synopsis' of the episodes you don’t watch. Come in with thoughtful ideas about the show that aren’t obvious (i.e. avoid what everyone’s going to talk about, instead take the time to go deeper and discuss less obvious points). If the Showrunner asks: “What didn’t you like?” Never say you didn’t like something. Say, I was hoping to find out more about _____ or I’m looking forward to finding out what happens with the relationship between _____ and _____. I always tell writers to say what they loved and what they’d love to see more of. It’s a way to be constructive and positive even though there may be some things you didn’t respond to. As I said, you might only have a day to prepare for these meetings. If that’s the case, don’t panic. Just do your best and come up with one point that’s interesting and a little unexpected.

3. Know what you’re really good at.

All writers have different strengths (your “super power”) and different weaknesses. You might be great at structure, but not the greatest joke machine (if you write comedy); you might be incredible at dialogue and character beats, but not as skilled at the macro thinking it takes to break a season arc. A writers room needs all kinds. To get hired you don’t have to be a genius at every single aspect of script writing (I don’t know any writers who are - and please don’t pretend to be). But you do need to know what you’re really good at, and be able to articulate those things with confidence. When a Showrunner puts together a room, they are trying to create a ‘strong team’ of varying and diverse strengths that can get the job done.

4. Be yourself, rather than try to please.

Most Showrunners are not looking to hire carbon copies of themselves. They want to hire people who add something they don’t already have: writers with a different set of experiences, background, and/or expertise. Someone who can come at the story from a different point of view and push the narrative in new directions that they would never think of. So, just be you. Don’t waste their time, and yours, trying to be what you “think” they are looking for. Even though it’s easy to fall into ‘people pleasing’ when a job is on the line, try to be as honest as possible about what makes you and your writing unique and how those qualities will add to their room. A big part of getting hired is just being yourself, rather than trying to please. You don’t want to sell yourself as one thing and then they’ll be surprised – not always in a good way – when you actually get into the room and are someone entirely different.

5. Be ready to show them you’re a story machine.

What Showrunner’s need most are story machines. They’re hoping you will be full of original ideas; that your life experience and the anecdotes (what I call your “personal nuggets”) that you tell will be a great match for the type of stories they need for their show. For example, if the show is a high school comedy, come in with three funny high school stories that happened to you. Don’t “say” you have lots of stories, “show” you have stories, by telling some. Preparing these stories is just as important as preparing something interesting and helpful to say about the pilot. For certain Showrunners it’s even more important. I prepare all my Writers Program mentees to have at least a dozen of these kinds of nuggets, so they have just the right one for different kinds of shows.

Have you had a Showrunner meeting and nailed it? I want to hear from you. Tweet me @CaroleKirsch!

For more industry info and tips check out these additional resources:

For the ultimate guide to pitching a TV show that sells, check out my e-book, The Ultimate Guide to a Killer Pitch

To learn how to create your “personal logline” read my free e-book, Tell Your Story in 60 Seconds.

For my in-depth video course on breaking into the business go to: Carole Kirschner’s Hollywood Boot Camp.

And you can find my book, Hollywood Game Plan on Amazon or at Michael Wiese Productions (MWP).