...and The Clue of the Unhappy Temp

So Ryan Howard, the best temp ever, had this to say in a recent interview when asked for advice on breaking into television writing. Very interesting, and a lot of food for thought.

"Yeah, my advice is, the most traditional path, and there’s no harm at all in trying it, is to write sample scripts of your favorite shows, because those are always eventually if you do become a writer are used as your samples that you send to a show to prove that you can write comedy or drama if that’s what you wanna do. But these days I think a better path to stand out especially people coming out of college, is to do something that is very clearly you and your voice that people could discover. I did standup and Greg saw me do it which led to me being hired on the show, because in standup you can really tell what someone’s voice and style is as a writer. I mean I also had writing samples, and those are good to have too. Like I think the Lonely Island guys and Andy Samberg and them on SNL, they were basically discovered by making internet shorts and they were good enough that they found a following, so I’d say anything that you can do that really makes your writing entertaining and stands out and able to stand on it’s own as entertainment right away. Anything that you think could entertain your friends or anyone, I’d work hard and do it. And I think that’s also the best way to develop as a writer because I spent a year doing standup without getting a laugh. Really, when I started, the audience will teach you what’s funny and smart and I think it’s great to get out there and try and make something entertaining and interesting rather than write sample script after sample script."

You can check out the rest of the interview here.