Financially, the buck stops with me, it's interesting to work this way. The good news is that if you have something to say on film, there are more and more places to go for financing of your projects. I'm personally attracted to cable because of the opportunities to produce unusual stories for cable. 200-250 TV movies made per year, years ago less than 100. My experience is that material rules if you are a first-timer trying to get noticed.
Good material attracts attention of execs, producers and stars.
Has a deal at Viacom. Went from the barrios of LA to the suburbs of San Diego to Hollywood. Recently worked for Mexico's Televisa, writing 110 episodes of soap opera. This is a unique business. If you are valuable, people use you, so keep getting used in bigger and better ways.