I have been tagged in the “why TV” meme twice now.  Once by Matt Thornton over at Writerling and also by cousin Jane of If this is LA.  So here goes:

My parents didn’t let me watch TV growing up.  My mother, the child psychologist, would not allow any television on school nights and limited it to one show on weekends.

I showed her, didn’t I?

I was always a writer.  I self-published a book of short stories in the fourth grade and aced just about every essay I wrote in high school, whether I knew what I was talking about or not.

I fell into writing professionally.  I had a summer job where they let me write some stuff mostly because I was so opinionated.  After university, they offered me some freelance work writing.  I thought I’d make enough to go to Europe and then I’d get grad school figured out.  But instead, the freelance writing gigs just kept coming my way.  It was years before I had time to go to Europe.  Maybe I’ll get to grad school yet.

In the early days, I wrote everything: books, tv, educational materials, magazine articles, some computer games.  But when I found myself the single mother of a toddler, I was motivated to make as much money as I could in the least time possible.  A TV writer was born.

Isn’t that inspiring?

I’ve always loved TV — I guess because of its illicit nature in my formative years.  But when I started writing television, it just felt right.  I knew I’d found my medium.  I am at home on a script page.  It seems like a natural way to express myself.

I love a story room and the company of fellow writers.  It’s great to share the vision of the final product and to know you can turn to them for support when the script turns vicious.  I love production and the way your work grows and changes in the hands of a capable team.  I love auditions — the way the same scene can be a horror in one actor’s hands and a work of genius in the hands of another.  I like the editing room and the fact that the right music can save your ass.  I love PAs and ADs and staying up all night to gang bang a script after a disastrous read through.  I like the words “story department”.

The pay check pretty good too.

I watch a lot of TV.  I think TV is the medium of our time.  If you have a need to tell stories, it’s the natural choice.  Especially here in Canada where hardly anyone sees homegrown films, television is the way to reach the biggest audience.

But there are frustrations to it, too.  There are things that really bug me about the business and politics of the industry.  So these days, when I ask myself “why TV?”, I’m really asking “does it have to be television?  Could it be another medium?”  More and more, the answer is “yes.”  I like the possibilities of the web too.

But as a viewer, my heart belongs to TV.

Tag time: kh, you’ve got the space over there on Detritus.  Allow me to welcome you to the scribosphere with an invite to participate.