It is the most exciting time in history to try to get a job writing on a show in Late Night TV!
So when I get emails from people asking if they should pursue an opportunity to write for Late Night TV.
I always answer with a resounding “Yes!” and I have solid reasoning to back it up.
In fact I have 200,005 reasons you should pursue a job to write for Late Night TV.
But before we go there, let’s back up for a moment and look at the traditional method people use to prepare for a career.
The Career Path of the College Grad
Most people go to college for 4-5 years, get the skill set they need to work in the career of their choice.
If it’s a specialty like doctor or lawyer, they put in an extra few years of law school or med school followed by internship and/or residency.
Now I wholeheartedly believe that education is by far the best investment one can make in one’s future.
Every single time I invested in learning a new skill set, my resulting revenue skyrocketed.
Some people tell me that paying to learn comedy writing is too expensive.
I don’t get it.
My sons are in college, just finishing up. One university costs $30,000 annually. The other one $12,000 annually.
That’s quite an investment!
According to Forbes, when they graduate they are looking at an average starting salary of $42,000 a year.
And that’s IF they land a job in their specialty.
It doesn’t take an MIT graduate to realize it’s gonna take a while to make a profit on that investment.
To make matters worse, you’re already 4-5 years in on your investment.
Which leads me to…
200,005 reasons to write for Late Night TV:
REASON 1 thru 200,000
According to the Writer’s Guild of America, the starting salary for a writer in Late Night is $4,198 per week. Most of these shows are yearly. And even if you took 10-12 weeks off per year, that’s over $200,000 a year!
That’s base starting pay!
If you write a 2-minute sketch and that gets on the air, you earn another 3,875.00 for that sketch…
… and if you write a song parody, you get ASCAP fees on top of that!
Not bad, but that’s not all…
REASON #200,001
Writing for Late Night TV is still one of the only jobs in the industry where you can get hired without experience and without a resume! You just have to show that you can write funny.
That’s how I got my job writing for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and how a lot of guys I know got their jobs. In fact, most recently, an IT guy from Peoria named Bryan Donaldson got hired on Late Night with Seth Meyers because of his funny tweets!
Other writers I know simply submitted fresh writing sample packets consistently, then they were called in for a meeting and booked the job!
Frida Deguise, one of my Skype students in Australia works with me on her joke writing. Her career is now taking off–both as a comedian and a writer. She just sold out two shows in Melbourne, Australia and was just hired as a writer on “Gruen,” Australia’s hottest variety/talk show (similar to our Daily Show). Frida, previously had zero experience and no resume in the business. She made such an impression that she got a joke greenlit her first day on the job. (nearly unheard of).
Get the Free Video: “How to get a job writing for Late Night TV”
REASON #200,002
The cost of the investment in the education (in both time and money) to get the skills for Late Night TV writing is microscopic compared to traditional career preparation. When I decided I wanted to write for Late Night TV, I dropped out of college and dedicated swapped the time I was going to spend in classes at school with time deliberately learning the craft to write for Late Night. I hired a comedy comedy writer from the Dean Martin Roasts to coach me and keep me accountable.
Every day 4-5 hours a day, I wrote Late Night-style comedy. Within 18 months I was hired at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. 18 months. Compare that with the time and money it takes to get a degree in college!
The amazing part is that–despite the fact that it was hard work–I could actually measure my progress. Once I figured out the structures and developed a process I was cranking out 80-120 jokes a day.
You saw the costs of college above, but get this; Emerson College is now offering an accredited BFA in Comedic Arts. You can graduate with a Bachelor’s in comedy! But if you go to Emerson it will cost you $42,000 a year. That’s 168,000 for that 4-year degree.
Besides, name one job that you can get right out of college that earns you a starting salary of 200k a year?
REASON #200,003
Once you’re a writer you become a member of the WGA, (the Writer’s Guild of America) where your salary is protected and you get great health benefits.
If you like to write jokes, there’s no better job in the world!
REASON #200,004
Writing for a late show like The Tonight Show gives you enormous credibility and leverage. If you’re also a comedian, it opens so many more doors. You can get booked at almost any club because the title “writer” on a well known show is a credit that can be promoted in any comedy club in any city in the U.S. and Canada. After writing for the Tonight Show, I booked audience warm-up gigs, stand-up spots on multiple TV shows, etc. Every show increased my personal appearance value.
Not only that, once you’re a writer for Late Night, you can get booked for high-paying speaking engagements due to your affiliation with the show. Years after I was writing for the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, I’m still being booked to speak all over the World.
REASON #200,005
Supply & Demand
The Late Night TV industry has totally exploded. When I was first writing for Late Night, there were 2 shows. Now there’s 9 Late Night style shows and that’s not even including Samantha Bee’s “Full Frontal” on TBS and Chelsea Handler on “Chelsea” on Netflix. With Hulu, Amazon and YouTube whispering about producing new streaming shows. Plus if you include the daytime talk shows like “Ellen, “Wendy Williams,” and Harry Connick’s new show “Harry,” you can see that Talk-Variety shows are experiencing amazing growth.
Consider the additional fact that since Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert departed Comedy Central, they’ve been scrambling to find an effective replacement. Look for 1 or 2 new shows from C.C.
Good comedy content is in high demand and continuing to grow. Problem is, the talent pool of good comedy writers is seriously thin. The next 5 years is going to be a boom period for good comedy writers. If you’ve thought about writing for Late Night TV, what you do in the next 6 months can have a huge impact on the rest of your life!
