The Writer's Room Survival Guide

Don’t Screw Up the Lunch Order and Other Keys to a Happy Writers' Room

By: Niceole Levy

Narrated by: Niceole Levy

Writers’ rooms can be a heaven or hell, depending on a few things. The best rooms foster inclusive and productive creative flow. The worst create a toxic stew of bad feelings and doubt. Both kinds, and all the ones in between, require basic knowledge of how the room works. These fundamentals are best learned before you go in. The mystery box of the writers’ room need not stay sealed shut forever. Consider this audiobook your crowbar.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Niceole Levy (P)2022 Dreamscape Media

Gifted writer, great insight

This book is not only great for those in and getting into the industry looking for insight about the writers’ room, but also those outside of the industry who just want a interesting peek at it.

On repeat

I will certainly listen to this more than once over the course of many years. Anyone who has Niceole Levy as a mentor or a show runner should count themselves incredibly blessed.

Great Resource for Everyone Breaking into TV

This book is a huge gift for anyone working to become a staff writer or recently hired and wanting to prep for the job. It demystifies exactly what goes on in a writer’s room, what the expectations are for each job, and goes far beyond just the writer’s room itself to include pretty much every aspect of being a working TV writer (other than how to actually write… But there are tons of resources out there already for that.).

From how to make sure you’re accepting jobs that you will thrive in, to how to create community, to strategies for when you’re hired to work with difficult people, to how to navigate politics, personalities, and different approaches to structuring the process, Niceole walks us through every aspect of the job with open honesty and transparency while advocating for each of us to have a healthy working environment in which we give to the best of our ability and ask for what we need.

As a queer AAPI female writer, I deeply appreciated her discussions on what it’s like to be the only person of a certain underrepresented community in the room. While there were some hard truths mentioned, Niceole also gives us strategies and avenues for how to deal with anything from mindless insensitivity all the way to toxic or abusive situations. That’s info that I wish everyone was armed with in every room, not just writer's rooms.

She also went into detail about rates and the WGA’s policies on payment for various scenarios, which was empowering.

In addition to the abundant pearls of wisdom on what it’s like to be a staff writer (and how to make the most out of every opportunity), which is where most of the book lives, she also laid out the path up every rung of the ladder from staff writer to show runner, what each job entails, and how to thrive in each one.

I also loved the advice given by a whole host of other writers, broken down by genre (drama or comedy) and gender of the writer. Speaking of genre, Nicole also dove into differences in drama vs comedy writer’s rooms and how to switch between the two which I found helpful.

I love that she narrated the book herself and found her speaking voice to be approachable and easy to listen to.

Overall, this book is like a super smart mentor who is always in your corner, not afraid to tell you the hard truth when you need it (like, don’t let your dedication to the job take over your whole life. You need to keep doing what makes you you so that (a) you don’t burn out and (b) you have interesting things to write about). And she also inspires and lifts you up when you need that as well. I highly recommend giving this book to every aspiring writer you know.

Note: It’s clear that a lot of thought went into trying to be as inclusive as possible in this book, which I deeply appreciate. However, some readers may feel excluded by the use of “he or she” throughout the book, since that languaging normalizes the gender binary and assumes everyone fits within it (which is obviously untrue). As a gender queer person, I felt excluded by that languaging and would have preferred the use of “they” or “he, she or they” when talking about a person whose gender is unknown.

Technical Note: Thls book says there’s an accompanying PDF, but there’s not one as of Jan 9, 2023. This is probably just a glitch, and I look forward to reading the PDF when it becomes available.

Required reading for TV Writers

I’m so grateful for this book. And, even though I haven’t staffed yet, Ms. Levy’s advice and stories will aid me for years to come. I got emotional at the Post Script as a second-career transitioning writer in her 40. I feel seen and encouraged. Hope to have the opportunity to thank the Author in person one day.

A Writers Must-Have

A good resource to have in your arsenal if you’re looking to get into the writers room and make a career of it. The honesty and transparency were much appreciated.