It’s been a tough staffing season this year:

• The show I was freelancing on just found out they aren’t coming back. It was a network one-hour, very high profile, so this isn’t just bad news…it sucks.

• The showrunner I know at a similar show that was picked up just let me know that they’re fully staffed at my level – I had to delete a reflexive “Guess I’ll just pray someone doesn’t work out” response.

• My powerhouse agency dropped me as politely as they could have…which means they gave me a glowing recommendation to a smaller boutique.

• Had an ultra-lame (on my end) meeting yesterday for a new Fox one-hour. The creator was cool, interesting, had great energy, and is a damn fine writer. But I was so geeked up, I’m afraid he may have drowned in the deep pool of desperation I left behind.

• My Mom finally lost her battle with cancer after three years in March…two days after my daughter’s first birthday.

So things could definitely look better on paper. My past inclination would have been to consider folding up my tent and finding a nice, thoroughly-unfulfilling job in customer service that can provide health insurance for my kid.

But I know how success is measured in Hollywood – and it ain’t by the yard. Of course, I know people who’ve blown up overnight but this is super-rare, almost like finding money floating down the street. Nice to hear about (and even better to experience) but never something one should count on.

Instead, I look at where I am relative to November 2008 – zero hour for my journey. And, seeing what I have now as opposed to then, is striking.

• Cancelled or not, I worked on a network series last year. Had it been picked up, I would have been in position to interview for a permanent staffing gig. This is huge in a way I didn’t anticipate – the showrunner actually references it when he’s referred me to friends at other shows. Having him say, “We were ready to bring him into the room, if we got a pick-up” is a massive vote of confidence from one pro to another.

• My original series is almost ready to pitch – and the producer I developed it with is so high-end that we’ll be pitching to the head guys at HBO, Fox, and Showtime. He’s also started talking to director/friends about possibly attaching to the project. The entire list is Academy Award-nominated and/or winners. Which still stuns me to contemplate.

• After establishing a relationship with Showrunner #2, we have an open dialogue. I love their show and think I can wedge myself in the door if any opportunities ever pop up. If nothing else, they have my A sample and it came from another showrunner. So my intro couldn’t have been better.

• My new agency liked my samples and were thoroughly impressed with how I ended up at their door. Staffing seasons in the future will be a very different exercise than the past two with my former reps – I finally feel like I have someone who hears my voice. Again, this is huge.

• I have a ton of samples now, some pretty good. I try to write for eight hours a day during the week and, if nothing else, I’ve been able to evolve my writing in the last eighteen months to a place where I’m comfortable tackling just about anything. What’s up “Fringe”? How you living “Leverage”?

• I’m a known quantity to at least four network showrunners. Two of them don’t have a show right now but, when they do, they know my name and my writing. And I have an open line of communication to the other two – one of whom brought me in for a meeting yesterday.

• The producer on my original pilot is friends with the EP of a huge ABC drama – and he just told me to use his name to get my sample on her desk. Probably too late in the season to get staffed up. But they gotta hire freelancers and, at the very least, I’ll be on their radar from here on out.

• Should things not work out with my new agent, my old guy is more than willing to take calls on my behalf – which is far from ideal, but waaaaay better than having no one at all to send your stuff out. His name and agency will give me legitimacy as long as he’s there.

• Plus more positives that I just can’t see today…

Bottom line: no matter the speed, if you bust your ass and work every connection you can imagine, you can move forward. It just may not be as fast as you’d like – but, then again, I know I’m gonna appreciate the hell out of my first staff writing gig!

I happen to know a bit about “Life’s” creator Liz Tigelaar and it’s no surprise that she wrote on two of the three shows mentioned above. In fact, her resumé is chock full of awesome credits and the story of how “Life” leap-frogged over pilots with stronger pedigrees last year is inside-Hollywood legend.

If you want to learn a bit more about someone who followed the assistant->staff->showrunner path we’re all trudging along, check out her interview over at the WGA’s website:

Check ‘em out ASAP:

Drama Spec Script 2010

Comedy Spec Script 2010

Although I didn’t engage her services, I did appreciate the interviews she did on Julie Grey’s old site. And when I came across an interesting article “Are You Good In The Room?”, I was happily surprised to see she had started her own blog.

Finding folks whose TV careers are in second gear and willing to share details can be rare…so be sure to give her site a shot.

This Is Your Pilot Speaking

One of the cool things about writing for TV is the hierarchy built-in by the WGA. Unlike acting for instance, there are clearly-defined rungs on the way up to becoming a showrunner.

The WGA has a *great* resource detailing the different staffing positions, their salaries, and the specific responsibilities each job entails. Check out Writing for Episodic TV (it’s free) and you’ll not only get some great info but also some inspirational quotes from heavyweights like John Wells and Amy Lippman.

Once you’re sure you’re ready, there are a number of ways to query an agent – the most powerful being The Referral (it’s so important, I’m capitalizing it!). There’s no better intro than having an established professional step up to the bat for you.

But that’s not the type of query I’m writing about today. I’m going to talk about a “blind” email query – which is to say an unsolicited request for a read.

This can be a controversial subject – Alex Epstein raised the subject with a former agent’s assistant and she dismissed the idea out of turn as futile and a waste of time.

Luckily, my “research” has proved otherwise. When I queried agents who’d never heard of me in mid 2008, I ended up being read at Endeavor, William Morris, ICM, UTA, and Gersh. For the few who don’t know these names, I’m talking about *serious* talent agencies with the largest TV departments in the world.

So how’d my email go? This is the gist of it:

NAME: Ari Agent
SUBJECT: “NAME OF MY PROJECT”