Writing a Legacy: TV & Film Writer, Meredith Post -Part Two-

ACT V: R&R (Research & Recovery)

Trapped in a body that was failing her, supervised by physicians who failed her worse, Meredith Post had to face the fact that her life and career were on hold. But, despite her mental and physical anguish, the fire that burned in Meredith's soul refused to dim. Her physical form was trapped in a hospital bed, but her mind and heart could still travel to the furthest corners of her imagination. Whether on paper or in her mind, Meredith never stopped writing, editing, and perfecting her stories.

With no place to be and nothing but time, Meredith saw an opportunity to grow and evolve past her physical hurdles. She took to the TV in her room and researched every show that aired at the time. Day and night, she analyzed what material worked, what didn't work, and what nobody thought to try… rather, what nobody had the balls to try. Soon enough, she saw the best and worst television had to offer and determined that the only way to see the kind of show she would want to watch was to create it herself. So, in her decade of recovery, Meredith did what only a strong, determined, self-aware writer could do; she channeled her thoughts and emotions into what would be the first of many stories to exemplify her medical experiences. The first was the aforementioned series, "The Grass Is Always Greener."

"Grass" came about after Meredith received a visit from a friend, the young up-and-coming rapper Chris Webby, who showed interest and promise in acting. Meredith wrote a TV pilot as a way to turn her tragedy into a laugh-out-loud TV comedy while also creating a starring role for Webby. Meredith added a collection of quirky characters and outlandishly funny situations, and "Grass" was born.

As Meredith worked tirelessly on "Grass," soap operas were losing favor among viewers, and all aspects of television were changing drastically. Reality shows were popping up, explicit content was pushing the boundaries of what could be broadcast, streaming services were becoming the norm, and the world Meredith came from ceased to exist. But this wasn't an issue for Meredith because she had no intention of looking back. Instead, Meredith made deals, cast and crewed her production, and planned to shoot three one-hour episodes of "Grass" to start. Unfortunately, a $500,000 deal she'd struck fell through just as cameras were set to roll, which reduced the budget significantly and caused some collaborators to exit the project abruptly. Then, without a solid deal in place and due to some unforeseen red tape, many cast and crew members (including Webby) were no longer able to commit. Fortunately, Meredith was adaptable and found a way to press on (with Webby's blessing) despite her budgetary hindrances. She rewrote the pilot script as three webisodes with a cast and crew composed of students, volunteers, interns (including me), and Meredith's friends and family. With everything in place, "Grass" was set to grow… until it inevitably didn't.

Despite Meredith's pilot winning multiple awards, "Grass" has yet to be picked up. Meredith recalls some of her past agents and managers made enticing promises but didn't come through. That all changed when Meredith was referred to another A-list agent a few years ago. She considers herself lucky to have signed with Rashidi Hendrix, who works with her on multiple projects. Meredith notes how difficult it is to sell a script without representation, and that a manager and/or agent can also coach you in writing something they think they can sell, based on their knowledge of the marketplace and broadcast mandates.

Meredith never gave up on "The Grass Is Always Greener," and she still hopes to produce it someday. But in addition to "Grass," Meredith also processed her medical mishaps and Lyme Disease misdiagnosis into her award-winning 2011 dark comedy feature script appropriately titled "Tick". This script is much darker than "Grass," but her humor still shines through. Who can resist the tagline "sometimes love bites"? In "Tick," a thirty-nine-year-old TV writer, Makenna — a woman who is about to have the life she's always wanted — loses it all due to a trusted doctor's misdiagnosis and treatments that nearly kill her. Makenna plots revenge and kidnaps her doctor, only for an unexpected love connection to develop. Writing "Tick" enabled Meredith to cathartically express her feelings, create a world that is fair, and give her well-developed characters the justice (or comeuppance) they deserved. She nods to Neil Simon when she speaks about her intention to turn a tragedy into a comedy. She repeats with an amendment and a devilish grin, "I do believe laughter is the best medicine… laughter and cats."

When Meredith speaks of "Tick," she cannot help but tie it to her agenda to help others "make it" in the industry. She would love to round her cast out with unknown future stars and talent she's worked with in the past. Of course, that doesn't mean she wouldn't throw Anne Hathaway, Mila Kunis, or Lizzy Caplan — who she believes are all great fits for "Tick" — out of an audition room, but if she can help an up-and-comer shine, she will happily find a way to do so.

By the way, "Grass" and "Tick" aren't the only scripts Meredith has shelved for the moment. She has 300 pages of memoir material, four stage plays, and twenty film and TV scripts she fears will never be sold or made in her lifetime. But those of us who read them know they weren't all for nothing; if nothing else, they're a great sample of Meredith's skill and creativity and a great learning resource for new screenwriters who want to see how the pros do it. And they're still relevant, well-written, and just waiting for the right people to pick them up and breathe life into them.

ACT VI: Meredith Post, Teacher

It's hard to imagine finding a silver lining after the medical hell Meredith Post endured. But if anything comes close, it's Meredith's discovery of a skill she never knew she had and a second career she never knew she'd love. One day in 2009, while still laid up in the hospital, another patient asked her if she would be willing to teach her the craft of screenwriting. Meredith happily obliged — and she really enjoyed it — which encouraged her to add another profession to her resume.

Upon her release from the hospital, after almost twenty years and one hundred twenty-nine surgeries, Meredith returned to her home in the quiet, greener-than-green town of Norwalk, Connecticut. She continued working on "Grass" and several other pilots but also started taking on screenwriting students and interns to pass on her knowledge. Meredith helping others to develop skills and excel at their craft was her way of paying tribute to Douglas Marland, who had given the same gift to her. So, Meredith invited six to eight students at a time to meet at her home once or twice a week and acquainted them with their first writer's room environment.

Where most film industry internships consist of fetching coffee and trying to work your way up "eventually," Meredith prided herself on teaching things you wouldn't learn in film school. These simulations took place in Meredith's spacious but cozy living room. Participants sat facing each other on comfy furniture, surrounded by walls of signed movie memorabilia, shelves of production draft scripts, and Meredith's WGA award, which was awe-inspiring for any budding writer who attended. Some would sip water, others coffee or tea, and we would share ideas, table-read scripts, and plan meetings. Sometimes, Meredith's fluffy cats would even join us to listen in.

It was not difficult to be inspired in the Post home. After all, Meredith's whole family is full of artists. Her son, Philip, played an altar boy in the Meryl Streep/Philip Seymour Hoffman drama, "Doubt". In his teens, Phillip founded a successful clothing line called dertbag. Meredith's daughter Chloe, also a successful clothing designer, designs garments for Oscar winners and A-list celebrities. Meredith's younger daughter, Madeline (Mimi), works in the TV industry as a producer in L.A. Last but certainly not least, Meredith's husband, Frank, is an accomplished artist in many mediums, including photography, painting, and sculpting. His past clients included Diana Ross and the late Christopher Reeve. (Note: Diehard fans of "Days of Our Lives" may recognize three popular long-time characters' names, as they were christened after her own children.) With so much creativity bursting out of every corner, I could not have asked for a better, more conducive place to learn.

So, what specifically did Meredith Post teach her students? Everything from formatting to story structure to building stronger tags at the end of scenes and acts to keeping a story engaging and moving forward like a runaway train. Now, as you may suspect, Meredith takes writing very seriously, so she held her students to a high standard. Old fashioned as it may seem, Meredith encouraged her flock to write ten pages a day (by hand, in a notebook) every day. If you're a writer, as her philosophy implies, then you should always be writing. She equates a writer's skill to that of an athlete. If a muscle goes undeveloped, it loses its strength. I was surprised when I realized Meredith's ten-page challenge wasn't as easy as it sounded. I, myself, can crank out ten pages on my laptop a day with minimal effort, but to do it on paper with a pen or pencil — that's a different skill to develop completely — and, boy, is it time-consuming! But that's part of the point. A writer should always be writing.

Meredith also encouraged her students to network and keep their typing fingers on the film industry's pulse. At any given time, she knows what deals are being made and what companies are looking for what content. She knows what's "hot" today and what may be "hot" tomorrow. In this way, she set her protégés up for success by not only preparing students for screenwriting as an art but also how to navigate it as a business, too.

I asked her if she had any tips for screenwriters of any level. Of course, she was thrilled to oblige and had some great tricks of the trade to share:

As a screenwriter, a teacher, and as a former script reader for production companies, Meredith warns against some rookie mistakes she commonly sees in scripts. She says too many writers try to equate their own lives to television or theatrical drama, but they probably shouldn't stick so closely to the source material. "Real life is never as dramatic as something that can be scripted," she says — and that says a lot coming from her. "You need a great story with great characters to drive it, you need a protagonist who wants something — and the more (they) want it, and the more desperate (they) are to get it, the better — and then you find a reason (they) can't have what (they) want … and then you need to also add in there, why the f**k do I care about this story, why do I care about these characters?" Meredith also notes a mistake she commonly sees in pitches is when writers don't reveal their endings; pitches left vague can be unsatisfying for the reader/producer/executive/etc., and reduce the chances of the script being sold.

When reading scripts, Meredith also looks for visual elements, which she says are vital from page one. As a woman with a background in art, words that paint a vivid picture are especially important to her. Though they may be considered a bit wordy by today's screenwriting standards, not a letter is wasted in a Meredith Post script. Once you enter a scene, you can see, smell, and practically taste every detail on the page, and Meredith looks for such flavor when reading the scripts of others, especially when selecting students for her own program. But, make no mistake, Meredith excels at brevity. She credits her mentor, Douglas Marland, for teaching her such a valuable skill. "Always say everything in the briefest but most interesting way possible. And always find the perfect words to say it with," Meredith advises.

When teaching her interns, Meredith considers herself tough but fair. She rewards talent and effort and provides real-world opportunities for her students when they become available. 

Over fourteen years, and until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Meredith estimates that over 200 students from all over the world walked through her door in search of a real-world education. She still keeps in touch with many of them, including several who work in New York and Los Angeles today.

ACT VII: Meredith Post, WGA Strike Captain

When it comes to the entertainment industry, there is no class a person can take that will prepare them for everything. Whether you went to film school, worked an internship, or learned from Meredith Post, herself, the business is unpredictable, as are the people running it. Deals get made, promises get broken, companies go under, people get canceled, sets burn down, and a million other situations will occur that can affect everybody from the ground up. One great example is the current Writers' strike. Since May 2023, The Writers Guild of America has taken on major studios in the most important battle to date, and Meredith is just one of many writers who have a lot at stake.

Though Meredith's success can be attributed to her skill, talent, work ethic, and tireless effort, as well as help from smart, selfless mentors, great opportunities, and being in the right place at the right time, Meredith also gives a lot of credit to the WGA. She believes the Guild probably saved her life. Literally. If it weren't for the excellent medical benefits provided by the Guild, Meredith doesn't know if she would be alive today. In addition, Meredith says the Guild has always been supportive of her and has returned from previous strikes with rules and regulations that protected her and allowed stronger contracts and better pay to be negotiated on behalf of its writers, so she always supports Guild strikes 100%.

This particular strike is of the utmost importance to Meredith because of how it impacts daytime writers. Writers of soaps (now streaming) currently make less money (and do more work) than writers did when the same shows were on major networks twenty years ago. “(It’s) one of the reasons winning the strike, holding out … solidarity — it’s so important.” Meredith fears the soap opera genre will soon be a lost art, though she's determined to do all she can to preserve it, going as far as suggesting adding a new show to the dwindling daytime lineup –– which is an endeavor Meredith gladly offers to scribe. She cites soap operas as a form of storytelling that allows characters to be explored on a deeper level because audiences spend up to five hours a week becoming acquainted with their lives, decisions, and inner workings — a luxury that's not afforded to writers and audiences of sitcoms, prime time dramas, or especially movies.

Soap writers aren't the only ones faced with the threat of being reduced to a "gig economy" profession. Long gone are the days when a writer could be contracted for multiple-year employment and enjoy the benefits that accompanied them. Meredith, herself, recalls the job security she felt when she was under contract. Now, writers need to earn enough to receive benefits and then figure out how to keep them.

Studios and producers are not the only obstacles standing in the way of writers earning fair working conditions; this time around, the Guild must also rise against the machines. Like right out of a big-budgeted blockbuster sci-fi movie, networks and producers intend to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write — and even replace — WGA writers, which is a fight Meredith promises the Guild will not back down on. And with the SAG-AFTRA union joining the fray to wage their own war against AI, this dogfight promises to be one for the ages.

On a personal level, Meredith vehemently fights against AI being used to replace actual writers. She became understandably heated when explaining her position: "There is no way … a computer can process emotions like pain, like love … it's different for every single individual, and it's something that a computer, no matter how sophisticated it might be, will never feel first hand. And my contention is, a computer will never be able to write a script equivalent to a James Brooks, or a Nora Ephron, or — you know, whoever the hell you like — because they can't feel emotion. And writing is emotions. To be human is to have emotions." 

Meredith cites the excruciating physical and emotional pain she felt firsthand every time she was rushed to an ER, and as a daughter, she related to her mother's struggles with polio and post-polio syndrome. As humans process those emotions uniquely, Meredith can't fathom how Artificial Intelligence will ever come close to duplicating them. "The one thing that will not change, in my mind,… people want to feel like they're not alone. They want to connect with someone else's story. They want to be entertained; they want to be distracted from whatever is going on in their life, and laugh, and cry, or just escape," she explains. "People want and will always want good stories driven by complex and compelling characters, something no robot will ever be able to do — all it can do is regurgitate something written by a human or humans who won't get credit unless we prevent that from happening."

Meredith is determined to help the WGA win their war against those who would wipe out the previous screenwriter paradigm altogether, and that's why she became a Captain in the current strike in the first place. In her position, Meredith heads a team of mostly daytime writers who she keeps informed about changes and progress and how to navigate the information provided. Then, she helps her team to organize and attend picket lines.

Beyond picketing and sharing information, Meredith and other WGA writers are limited in what they can do. They are still able to write spec scripts, as long as they don't shop them or take any work that goes against Guild rules. Otherwise, unless they transition into writing stage plays, comic books, or other non-struck studio TV/Film work (See WGA STRIKE: SAQ (Seldom Asked Questions)), then their typing hands are still tied. This kind of downtime can be frustrating for any WGA writer (or WGA hopeful). Meredith keeps busy during the strike. In the past few months, she updated two old stage plays, and she's perfecting a prime-time grounded sci-fi drama TV series she created with her manager, Rashidi Hendrix, which they are excited to pitch hard when the strike ends. She leads by example when she reiterates, no matter what, "a writer should be writing."

Meredith hopes the strike will make things better for future writers and will ensure they get paid commensurate with their talent and experience. "Storytelling is an art, passed down from writer to writer, not something you can program into a computer and print out," Meredith explains. "We are not just fighting for what's fair and right in this strike; the entire future of writing as a profession is in danger of being lost as negotiations drag on with no resolution in sight. I want to see writers get the same benefits I did … It's time to change the rules again to include streamers, but in a way that will help writers."

TAG

Meredith doesn't know what's ahead for film and TV writers. If WGA demands aren't met, who knows what will happen to your favorite scripted shows when there's no one left to write them? Will they even exist in the future? And that scenario isn't promising for emerging writers, either. When Meredith first pursued a writing career, she moved in a straightforward path: she wrote a play. She got it produced. An A-list agent signed her. She entered a TV Writer Development Program. Her spec script got her hired on a show. But that was then. Writers like Meredith were able to sell a script and build a steady career in the past – she still remembers the thrill of seeing her name in the writing credits on CBS for the very first time and receiving her first paycheck – but are the days when that was possible for a budding writer long gone? And if so, where do a writer's goals and dreams lie now?

Regardless of the state of the industry, Meredith isn't looking back — she just keeps writing and moving forward. I asked Meredith, when she looked back at her life and career, whether or not she had any regrets. After a moment of contemplation, she answered by explaining that she had no regrets about her life or family (except for trusting the wrong doctors, that is). Meredith acknowledges that she lost a lot of time to surgeries and hospitals that she would have preferred to have spent with her family at home and writing scripts. But it was simply out of her control. The irony is not lost on Meredith how much her life compares to a soap opera storyline: every time her "character" overcomes an obstacle, another extreme hurdle lies just ahead. But, like the most popular soap characters, not illnesses, kidnappings, or even threats of death could keep Meredith from returning full force and ready to work every time. Besides, Meredith admits that if she'd never gotten sick, she would never have written "Tick" or "Grass" or started teaching, which was an unexpected detour that she ended up loving and becoming immensely proud of.

So, is the grass really greener on the other side? Meredith answers without hesitation: "No. Other than the sickness, which I would not wish on anybody, I had an amazing life. I got the career I wanted. It wasn't easy. I didn't know anybody; I didn't have any connections; I'm really proud of that." Meredith thinks she did the best she could with what she had, which was talent and the willingness to work hard and learn her craft.

Despite living with chronic pain, fatigue, nausea, and an ileostomy, Meredith continues to write every day. Her career canvas would likely expand exponentially if she could attend screenings and meetings in person. But, as Meredith would have to travel with a wheelchair, temperature-controlled pills, and cases full of medical supplies, it is simply not possible. As of this writing, Meredith has undergone 129 surgeries and takes up to thirty medications per day (sometimes more). Not to be deterred, Meredith fights on and adamantly refuses to stop writing until one of her scripts earns her an Oscar nomination. With Zoom and other virtual meeting programs becoming the norm after COVID, Meredith is able to operate and conduct business with minimal complications. In other words, she's ready to trek back to the top!

Many lessons can be taken from the life and career of Meredith Post. But, I think the most important ones for me are that talent is not to be wasted and that pain and misfortune should never be used as an excuse to keep someone from doing what they love. Meredith openly demonstrates how she used her art to heal herself and to express it in a way that can help others heal their wounds, too. If we can follow her example and see past the darkest moments of our lives to find the light and beauty beyond it, we might just be all right. Keep writing, writers.