Why do you want to write for television? Make sure to tell us how you bring a fresh and unique perspective to your storytelling.
Some of my earliest memories are sitting with my parents, enjoying a good story. With my mom, it was Goodnight Moon and the Hardy Boys. With my dad, it was Abbott & Costello, Martin & Lewis, and every Sunday night at 7pm: Wild, Wild West.
TV always fascinated and interested me. I mentioned previously that I am a ravenous reader. My appetite for television is a close second. I was blessed to grow up watching Lucille Ball and Dick VanDyke, Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Star Trek, the shows of Norman Lear, Garry Marshall and Aaron Spelling. My first attempt at a spec script was a Quantum Leap story in college.
By the time I started working in television, Must See was on NBC, and Brandon Tartikoff was one of my heroes. I still have the announcement NBC put in Variety honoring him when he died.
Later I discovered and devoured everything I could find from Aaron Sorkin, J. Michael Straczynski, Joss Whedon and Chuck Lorre. I love it all. Even shows supposedly aimed at the lowest common denominator inspire me.
TV has the power to influence attitudes and decisions. Everyone mentions Archie Bunker, but my favorite example is my best friend commenting that he didn’t feel he was starting late in life getting married in his 30’s, because the FRIENDS were all our age and still single.
Being a writer, expressing myself in words and stories, is my calling. My dad was called to be a police officer; my mom felt a calling to be a nurse and teacher. My calling is storytelling. I started college studying engineering, but I couldn’t get away from it: I was, am, and always will be, a storyteller.
Everything I write, regardless of its purpose, always starts with a story. Stories make both the most confusing intellectual exercise and the most mundane task far more interesting and understandable.
I am a translator. Not of foreign languages, but between people who think they are speaking the same language, but not understanding each other. Stories open people’s eyes, helping them understand that there truly is more that unites us than divides us.
I want to write great TV. I want to change the world with epic, multi-part stories that connect with people. As a storyteller, I can use words to communicate life, understanding, change and possibility. Writing can make a difference. And TV is where the greatest stories live.
By the way, I am a 46-year old, conservative, straight Christian white male. I’ve been a cop, a train conductor, a TV news producer, an actor, an entertainment journalist, a playwright, and a video editor. Sure, there are a lot of people like me, but all rolled into one? Not so much. Oh, and I’m also the guy you want on trivia night at the bar, cause I’ve got a ton of shit in my head that’s pretty worthless outside of there or the writer’s room. Yeah, I’m Cliff Claven. That’s how much I love TV.