29 - Becoming a TV Procedural Writer with Ryan Lee (CSI: Vegas)

Ryan is a story editor on CSI: Vegas (check out his next episode coming out 4/21/24!) In 2018, he participated in the CAPE New Writers Fellowship, and in 2021 he part of the Paramount Writers Mentoring Program. Today we’re getting into how Ryan turned his day job into the final thing that made the showrunner of CSI Vegas want to hire him, Ryan’s final application strategy on the time he was accepted into the Paramount Writers Program, how to be prepared for an interview with a showrunner for a TV writer position, how to deal with burnout, and so much more. BREAKDOWN: 1:41 How Ryan got a job on CSI: Vegas 7:21 What makes a good director for a writer to work with 8:41 How to communicate with other departments as a staff writer 10:11 Are Zoom (Writers) Rooms the future of TV? 11:41 Getting hired on a show you’ve never watched 12:53 Should you work on procedurals? 15:31 Writing features vs. TV 18:40 Rejected from the Paramount Writers Program seven times before getting accepted 20:54  Cape New Writers Fellowship 25:20 Interview questions for a TV writer (CSI: Vegas) 27:10 How day jobs in writing contributed to landing a job in TV writing  30:20 Working through burnout  34:00 Write a procedural, not a Succession spec  37:10 - Don’t get precious, you need many scripts 40:20 Day jobs for writers 52:53 - Getting your first rep while still in college 55:15 - Decision to not have a manager 59:40 - Ryan’s “A story”! Example of how to pitch yourself in a TV writer interview  1:02:40 - Deciding: USC vs. NYU 1:05:20 - Advice 1:09:57 TIME CAPSULE