Once again, master-of-all-things-TV Jane Espenson has thrown up an amazingly-useful post on her blog. Those of us toiling away trying to find a way into the room know having an awesome original spec is required nowadays.

And Jane helps address the number of ways we can build a solid foundation under whatever premise and/or characters we’ve decided to tackle.

Great stuff.

I don’t usually read io9′s website because, well, I’m a sci-fi novice. But they posted up an roundtable interview with a crew of staff writers that *everyone* trying to get there should read.

Although there are super-vets like Jane Espenson (“Battlestar”) and John Rogers (“Leverage”) in attendance, there are also a couple of lower-level writers tossing their opinions in. So it’s nutrient-rich all around.

Enjoy!

I love “Parks & Recreation” – the writing is drum-tight and the cast is full of actors who should rightfully be headlining their own shows. Plus Duke Silver? Forget it…

And, while I’m a one-hour kinda guy, I’ll admit to secretly wishing my funny chops were sharp enough to belong in a room like “P&R”.

Since that probably ain’t happening (this year, at least) “The Hollywood Reporter” offers a peek inside to whet all of our appetites. Check it out.

Screenwriting contests are crazy-controversial in most situations – the vast majority are designed to hoover as much cash as possible out of aspiring writers pockets with little possibility of anything happening…even for the winners.

Which is why it’s important to be aware of the handful that can actually lead to the next step. And in TV, there are basically two biggies: The Disney/ABC Fellowship and the WB Writers Workshop.

And both are accepting applications. Right. Now.

What do these guys offer the others don’t? First of all, they focus exclusively on TV – something most competitions do not do. Usually, TV scribes are offered a side contest attached to a giant “Million Dollar Feature” extravaganza. While some of these have actually helped folks in the past (The Austin Film Festival, in particular), most are focused on features.

But not ABC/Disney or the WB.

Nope, both of these contests are focused exclusively on getting their winners staffed into a show. This is a huge huge HUGE prize and the number of entrants reflects this. Which isn’t to say you’re better off not even entering – if there was such a thing, June would be “TV Contest Season”. Don’t let it pass you by.

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!

Check ‘er out here: LISA TAKEUCHI CULLEN • WASABI MAMA

…but that sadness was lifted when I saw a new post on her blog. Everybody interested in this line of work should check out her site ASAP. And, if you’re a first time visitor, take the time to cruise her archives – they’re priceless.

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:

Interview with JERICHO and HUMAN TARGET’s Robert Levine

I’ll admit it: it’s really difficult for me to start writing some mornings. But I know I have to persevere, even if I’m not chomping at the bit to get going most days.

So I have a whole set of tricks to prod myself with into 50 WPM. “Baby @ Home” is always a good one and “Empty bank account” never fails to act like a cattle prod to the stomach. “Caffeine addiction”, incidentally, is used daily.

But one of the most powerful is the “If you don’t write it…” rule. And, even if you’re *not* consciously using it, I’ll bet you’re familiar with it – all writers are.

The basic idea is: “If you don’t execute this ridiculously-cool idea, SOMEONE ELSE WILL. Soon.” Sound familiar? It always does to me.

Most recently, “Valentine’s Day” is causing an excess of acid reflux. For close to a decade I’ve been noodling with the idea of a feature set on the holiday – and after “Love Actually”, I figured it would be easy to pitch. “”Love Actually” set in L.A. over Valentine’s Day”. Imagine how many conflicts you can manufacture on this day! That shit sells itself.

But I let myself “work it over” for way way too long. Until someone else literally wrote that movie. And scored a huge hit.

Which isn’t to say that I could have sold my script had I actually finished it. But I’d have no regrets. At the very least, that script would have been an excellent sample right now. But instead, all I get is self-hate.

So start writing. Now. Pound out a super-shitty first draft so at least you can say you finished it. Believe me, a terrible finished version is better than a masterpiece that exists only in your mind.

And there’s nothing worse than telling someone about a situation like this and having to answer the following question: “So…why didn’t you write it?”

Ugh.