Non-User-Friendly Guide for Aspiring TV Writers

What do The A-Team and Xena: Warrior Princess have in common? Writer/producer/author Steven L. Sears.

Steven L. Sears has worked as a writer, story editor, producer and creator in television, film, digital media and animation. His lengthy career has encompassed over fifteen separate television series, and development deals with a number of the major studios in the industry, including Columbia Studios, Sony/Tristar Television, Rhysher Entertainment, Artists Inc., Cookie Jar Entertainment, Digital Pictures, and many others.

Ironically, Steven never intended to be a Writer at all. He originally moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, but soon found himself writing audition scenes for himself. Those audition scripts became popular and, on the advice of a casting director, he thought he would try writing scripts, just for the fun of it. He had no idea how that would change his life.

Steven’s initial foray into professional television writing came with being hired as a staff writer on the Stephen J. Cannell Productions hit TV series Riptide, for the NBC Television Network. He followed that up by adding his talents to the writing staff of one of the more popular genre series of its time, The A-Team, also for NBC.

From there, he continued his career by writing and working on such popular series as Hardcastle & McCormick, JJ Starbuck, Stingray, Walker: Texas Ranger, Highwayman, Robin's Hoods, Hollywood Detective, Father Dowling Mysteries, Hardball, Grand Slam, Jesse Hawkes, Superboy, S.H.E. Spies, and many other television favorites. His animation experience includes Itsy Bitsy Spider, Transformers: Rescue Bots, and working with the legendary animation director Don Bluth as writer on the short feature The Gift of the Hoopoe.

More than just a writer, Steven also moved up through production as a story editor and producer. After producing Swamp Thing for USA network and Raven for CBS, he moved to a series that has made its mark in television and pop culture history, as co-executive producer of Xena: Warrior Princess. He followed that up by co-creating the latest incarnation of the legendary comic book heroine Sheena for Sony/TriStar Television, which ran for two seasons.

Still involved in television and film development, he recently branched out into the literary world, partnering with Peter J. Wacks to write the epic book series Villanne, as well as co-creating and writing the graphic novel Stalag-X with the popular sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson. He shares his knowledge and experience in the television industry with other writers in The Non-User Friendly Guide for Aspiring Television Writers.

Learn more about Steven at pondalee.com.

Click here for a high resolution photo of the author.