Answers to Your Most Common Questions About Screenwriting

Here are the questions that emerging TV writers and screenwriters have asked most often at our virtual Q&As.

Do I need to live in Los Angeles? How can I secure a pitch meeting without a rep? And should writers be preparing pitch decks?

Over the last 5 years, we’ve hosted over 75 virtual workshops featuring the top women and gender expansive folks in Hollywood — many of which focused on succeeding as a TV writer or screenwriter. Each workshop ends with an audience Q&A, so by now, we have a sense of the questions that are on everyone’s minds.

We’ve heard the answers to these screenwriting questions from dozens of working writers, development execs, and representatives, and we wanted to summarize some of their responses to the most frequently asked questions.

• Do I need to live in Los Angeles or New York City to succeed as a screenwriter?

The great thing about writing is that you can work on your craft and build your portfolio from wherever you happen to live! You need a few great samples to show what you can do, so if you don’t have your samples, that’s what you should focus on. If you’re a TV writer, you should have at least two original pilot scripts that show off your writing and fit the genres of the shows you’d like to staff on. If you’re looking to write features, have at least one stellar feature script, and at least one more in the works (such as having a treatment for another screenplay). Additionally, if you’re a writer/director who’s looking to direct your own feature, you’ll want to have directed a short film to demonstrate your work. Remember, you always want to have a rock-solid writing sample you can pull out at a moment’s notice, plus an answer to the question, “What are you working on now?”

If you’re staffed in a TV writers’ room, it’s likely that you’ll need to move (at least temporarily) to the city where the room is taking place. There are some virtual Zoom rooms still happening now, but they’re less common than they were at the height of COVID.

If you’re looking to write and sell feature scripts, it’s possible to do that from your preferred city. Once a writer sells a feature, she’s not typically involved in the project any further.

You can also gain momentum as a writer by submitting your scripts to accelerators, labs, and competitions. A few of these programs are offered only to residents of a certain city, but for most of these opportunities, it doesn’t matter where you live! This is your chance to gain accolades for your work regardless of your location.

Keep in mind that you may have more opportunities to connect in person for coffee meetings with execs, agents, managers, and writing peers if you’re in a film and TV hub. But living in New York or LA is not a requirement to get started as a writer, especially in this day and age!

• How can I secure a pitch meeting without a rep?

This is a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario that’s difficult for every emerging writer to overcome.

If you have an undeniable sample and you’re ready to pitch to development execs, you’ll find it difficult to get in the room without an agent or manager. But agents and managers are much more likely to sign a writer who already has momentum.

What most of our guests have suggested is to first focus on building your community of peers. Your peers can give you notes on your samples, recommend you to their representation, or connect you with an exec who might like your work. Peer friendships are so important because you never know who will have the opportunity to refer you to a job, collaborate with you, or hire you in the future. Plus, this is a tough business, and it’s important to have support.

Some accelerators (such as the Moonshot Pilot Accelerator or Moonshot Feature Accelerator) secure one-on-one pitch meetings for you. Look for labs and competitions where selected writers can pitch to execs. Those one-on-one meetings are invaluable because now the exec knows who you are. After you get an opportunity to meet an exec, make sure to keep up the connection (without going overboard or being annoying!) and turn it into a long-term relationship. This is also a great time to reach out to agents and managers, since you’re a writer who is already actively taking meetings.

Other competitions don’t come with a pitching component, but they carry caché that can help you secure meetings. If you get an accolade, such as being a semi-finalist in a contest, you can use that opportunity to reach out to agents and managers.

Finally, several execs have shared that while they are inundated with cold query emails, they try to make time to meet with writers from their home state, or writers who are alums of their university. Do some research and find some development execs with whom you share a connection. If you see the exec speak on a panel, you could also try reaching out afterward letting them know how helpful it was.

In short, there’s no easy or magic answer to this question. Focus on building relationships, going to networking events, helping out your fellow writers, and making a name for yourself as a talented writer.

• Do I need to prepare visuals, such as a pitch deck or lookbook?

We wish we could tell you a simple “yes” or “no,” but everyone has a different opinion on this!

Wondering whether to bring visuals to your pitch? Make sure there’s a real need for your visual aid and that it’s adding to, not distracting from, your verbal pitch. Over three years of hosting our Moonshot Pilot Accelerator, several of our fellows started our intensive pitching program thinking they’d use visual aids — but only three out of 24 fellows ended up bringing visuals to Pitch Week. That’s because our guest experts, including a speech coach, a showrunner, and a development exec, often gave our fellows the feedback that their visuals were not necessary.

In the cases where our fellows did benefit from visual aids, it was because they needed to illustrate a complicated web of character relationships or because they were describing non-human beings in a fantasy world. Additionally, only one out of 24 fellows used a deck during her entire pitch. One screenshared for just a small portion of her pitch, and another decided to send a link to a PDF that the execs could refer to as needed. That’s because when you screenshare a deck, your face gets much smaller on the Zoom screen. It’s important to connect person-to-person, and you don’t want anything to get in the way of that.

Now, if you’re a writer-director pitching a feature, it’s another story. As the director, you need to have a strong sense of the visual world of your project.

Our workshop guests have had mixed feelings about “leave-behinds” — documents you can send over to an exec at the conclusion of a meeting. Some feel that it’s a great excuse to follow up and that it helps the exec make the case for your project to higher-ups. Others believe that it’s putting the expectation of more unpaid labor on writers, and that it opens up the opportunity for the exec to pick apart your idea that they were previously excited about.

In terms of including a pitch deck or lookbook with writing contest submissions, this can be a mixed bag as well. We’ve reviewed over 2,000 submissions for our Moonshot Pilot Accelerator and Moonshot Feature Accelerator, and for our application, it’s optional to add supporting material like a deck. When you have a deck or lookbook that really communicates your vision, it can certainly add to your submission! We’ve been impressed by decks that give a clear sense of visuals, comps (comparable shows), and/or arcs for a season and series. However, some decks can really detract from a submission, especially if the visuals or comps communicate that a writer doesn’t understand her own project.

Never share a hastily made deck, because it can hurt your chances; only add one to your submission when it’s really helping you communicate your vision.

• Do I need to have a script written before I pitch, or can I just pitch my idea?

It depends!

More often than not, writers early in their careers need to have a written script in order to pitch their project. When you haven’t proven yourself yet, you’ll need to show that you don’t just have a good idea; you also have the writing chops to pull it off. That goes double for TV pitches, since the creator typically plays a major role in the writers’ room. The development exec will want to read your work!

Meanwhile, a seasoned writer with a lot of credits to their name will usually create the pitch first, only writing the script if they’re getting paid to do so. We spoke with a showrunner who primarily works on pitches when she’s not in a writers’ room. Once a project gets optioned for development, that’s when she’ll put pen to paper.

As you work your way up in the business, gaining credits and improving your writing samples, you’ll be more likely to get an exec interested in you and your idea with just a pitch!

Now, if you’ve been asked for your take on a piece of IP (intellectual property, such as an existing novel that a company has the rights to and wants to adapt), you’ll go in with a pitch, even if you’re a newer writer. For example, if an exec brings up a piece of IP in a general meeting and likes your initial take on it, you’ll spend some time familiarizing yourself with the IP and go back with a more thought-out pitch on how you’d adapt it. You wouldn’t write the entire script without being hired to do so.

• How can Moonshot Initiative help me with my goals?

Build your portfolio: If you don’t have a sample yet, join us for our Write a Pilot in 30 Days course to go from the seed of an idea to your full first draft in just one month!

Make your writing undeniable: If you have a draft of your pilot script and you need structure, accountability, and feedback for undergoing the revision, join our Revise a Pilot in 30 Days course.

Learn to pitch: Not sure how to pitch? Register for our How to Pitch Your Project course to get in-depth instructions and personalized feedback on your pitch.

Secure pitch meetings: Apply for our Moonshot Pilot Accelerator or Moonshot Feature Accelerator for the chance to hone your pitch and learn about the business in a three-week virtual intensive, followed by a week of one-on-one pitches to companies such as HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, Starz, Neon, Warner Bros. Discovery, and many more.

Prepare for your first general meeting: Moonshot Members can watch our workshop with development executive Jasmine Russ as she runs a mock general meeting with a writer. Also read “Tips for Acing a General Meeting” in our member resources folder on the Video Library page.

Understand the industry: Moonshot Members have access to dozens of workshops in our library, including showrunners, TV writers sharing how they got staffed, writers’ room support staff, development executives, representatives, an entertainment lawyer, and more. Learn on your own time from women and non-binary folks who have succeeded in this business!

Build your community of peers: Moonshot offers tons of ways to build your community! Apply to our film challenge for the chance to be placed on a complete crew that writes, shoots, and edits a short film in just one weekend. Moonshot provides your vetted teammates, cinema-quality gear courtesy of our sponsors, production insurance, location permits, and a premiere screening. Apply to our Moonshot Pilot Accelerator or Moonshot Feature Accelerator to not only pitch your project, but build community with fellow emerging writers. Become a Moonshot Member to join our private forum. Take one of our courses, such as Write a Pilot in 30 Days or How to Pitch Your Project, and get to know your cohort at virtual meetups. And join us for our in-person networking mixers in cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.