Month: July 2007

…to Michael  Daniels, one of the students in my "Introduction to TV Writing" class at UCLA Extension, who has landed a job as a staff writer on the CW series ONE TREE HILL. I’m not surprised at all. The goal of the class (a course which is also taught by writer/producers like Matt Witten and William Rabkin)  is for the students to complete a beat sheet that they can use to write their TV episodic spec script. But Michael grasped the concepts so quickly, and his first draft beat sheet was so good, that I told him to set aside the class assignments and just go right to script. Writing a script isn’t part of the class, but I thought if he did anything else he’d be wasting his time and money. His script was terrific…and at the end of the session, I advised him to stop taking classes…he was already as good as any professional TV writer I knew. It was time for him to get his work out there in the marketplace. Within a few weeks, his spec script landed an agent at a top agency and he was being sent out on pitches. He didn’t land any freelance gigs…instead, he got right on staff. That accomplishment alone should tell you how good this guy is. I have no doubt that Michael will rise quickly through the ranks and will be running his own show in the not-too-distant future. I just hope he remembers to thank me when he wins his Emmy…