Your producer is entitled to NOTHING. And if a producer suggests working out some kind of financial arrangement before pitching your show… RUN.

Do you want to write comedy? Reality? Scripted? Work in development? Write a pilot? Web series? Or maybe work as an executive? This week we have a massive 82 minute podcast with Chad Gervich… and he’s done it all!

In Emmy winner Erik Bork’s work pitching series ideas and writing pilots (and on good days, selling them to networks such as NBC and Fox), he’s learned a few things about what they’re looking for, and what makes an idea sellable – as well as what a successful pilot script tends to include…

A few weeks back, Chad Gervich created quite a stir when he wrote an article for this website advising aspiring screenwriters not to use script coverage services. As a professional script analyst who—in addition to assessing scripts for producers, production companies, and screenplay contests—works for a coverage service, Ray Morton had some strong reactions to Chad’s piece. He offers a detailed and thoughtful response here.

The absolute best way to network in the industry… is to GET A JOB IN THE INDUSTRY. If you’re not working in the industry, you stand almost no chance of breaking in.

If you want to get your pilot to producers, agents, or executives, the only thing you can do is move to Los Angeles. I know you can find script consultants, books, seminars, or agents who tell you otherwise, but THOSE PEOPLE ARE LYING.

You wouldn’t begin building a house without an infallible blueprint… so why begin a script?

NEVER use one-sheets or leave-behinds. Execs and producers may ask, but they almost NEVER HELP YOU.

When people are super-proprietary over ideas they pitch, and they think it’s the only one of its kind, A) they’re wrong, and B) it feels like amateur hour.