It s much better to cling to the idea that there are a lot of smart people out there who watch television and take it seriously, and those are the people who you want to write for. I think the luckiest break I got in this business out here was working for Steven Bochco. I can never tell in a meeting whether somebody s a good writer or not. I ll look at the script first because it s not just a function of being smart. There s a lot of hugely intelligent people who are much smarter than I am, and if it s simply about a person being intelligent and articulate, I could fill my studio with smart people.
Writing is as much an ear as it is anything else.
It certainly helps to be intelligent, as well as probably educated, but to me it s the ear, it s the rhythms of how people speak, whether there s a flow in scenes, whether the writer is able to find conflict in scenes, and a general story guide. These are very inexact, unscientific talents, and the only way you can tell if someone can do it is really to read the script. So that s the ticket. If the script is impressive, then the meeting would follow. But you might have never written a thing in your life, and you can do it.