Just got back tonight from watching a panel discussion that was a part of the New York Television Festival. The panel I saw was sponsored by TV Land and featured a group of writer/producers: Mike Scully (The Simpsons), Phil Rosenthal (Everybody Loves Raymond), Diane English (Murphy Brown), Stan Lathan (Def Comedy Jam), and Bill Perksy (The Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl). While it was a treat to see the great and funny minds behind so many great and funny shows, listening to Persky was amazing. The man was involved with one of the funniest shows in the history of television and is as sharp today as he was when he was writing scripts with Carl Reiner.
Persky had some great advice for all the aspiring writers in the audience looking to get into the industry: there's so much mediocrity out there that all you have to be is good to succeed. Just be good, he said, and someone will find you. It's probably not the practical advice that some people were looking for - one guy said he would have preferred a phone number to get an agent - but I really appreciated it.
The festival aims to do for TV what events like Sundance have done for film. It was founded by a friend and former coworker of mine from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. There are lots of screenings over the weekend and more panel discussions with some very big names. If you're in New York and are interested in TV, I recommend checking it out.
Posted by Doug at September 29, 2005 11:09 PM