Episode 10: Julia Lewald

Home Town: I was born in Wisconsin and raised in Texas. So I appreciate the Packers and the Cowboys (go, football!)

Current Town: The Greater Los Angeles area – specifically, Glendale, CA – for many (!) years.

What are you working on now?: Here’s what every writer will tell: I’m either working on a project or hustling for the next one – it never ends. But specifically, I was fortunate to write on X-Men: The Animated Series (yes, the 90’s one), and the show will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year, so I’m working on ways to celebrate the show; cons, fests, etc. But I also have episodes on series currently now on Netflix and Amazon Prime, and the internet.

Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person: I’m going to say that being a voracious reader as a child played a big part in my desire to be a writer. For as long as I can remember, I always had a book I was plowing through (Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’, any and all science fiction, etc.), and I always carried a spiral notebook with me in whatever bag I was dragging to school, and would just write down thoughts, ideas, poetry, everything a young person might jot down as a personal passion BUT NEVER with any thought that I could actually make my living as a writer. That concept was completely foreign to me. My ‘grand plan’ was to go to college after high school and then go to a graduate school – medicine, law, that kind of work. I grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the idea of ‘working in Hollywood’ never once entered my mind – until it did.

One day, my senior year in college in Lubbock, I bumped into a friend in a parking lot who said she was moving to California to student teach music. She knew I loved to write – short stories, that sort of thing – and she said, ‘I hear they pay people to write out in Los Angeles. You like to write. You want to come out with me?’ And in that single moment my life changed. She and I caravanned out to California – then she went north and I went south, and the rest is (my) history...

I’m taking a few moments to tell this story because I want you to understand that, when I came out to Los Angeles, I did not know a single person. Not one. No family or friends to crash with. No university alumni association. Nothing. What I DID have was my parents’ support if I could get into a graduate school out here in Los Angeles – and I thought a graduate degree in journalism (a type of writing, right?), film school (again, a foreign concept so many years ago), or law school (a law degree couldn’t hurt in The Business, could it?) would ‘buy’ me a few years to learn my way around Los Angeles. I was accepted into Southwestern University School of Law, so ‘law’ it was, and that was that.

Three very long years later I passed the bar and began practicing entertainment law, always with an eye on how to make the transition to writer – film, TV, I didn’t care. So I kept writing spec scripts and trying very, very hard to network with people (remember, this was before the internet existed).  I left law when I reached the point of ‘remaining a lawyer – and making decent money’ or getting out and spending all my energy on trying to ‘break in’. I became a PA (Production Assistant – gopher) at a commercial production company and did anything that came my way that got me closer to a writing gig. Note: it took YEARS. Sidenote: as a writer, I found it valuable to read every script I could get my hands on (again, no internet) and taking improv comedy classes. Learning what it takes for a performer to speak on stage has been extremely  helpful in my writing.

One summer I joined a softball team – note: I do NOT play sports – to be with a couple of friends, who then introduced me THEIR friends. One of their friends there was writing for the new Disney Afternoon shows, and she said that anyone could go in and pitch once a week, and you didn’t need an agent. Those were the magic words, because I didn’t have one. NOTE: I didn’t have any ‘plans’ to write for animation, and I certainly didn’t know how, but I was happy to jump on the opportunity.

The folks at the Disney TV animation division were very patient and good-natured. They let me come in every week for months, pitching ideas for Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers. They were gracious about giving me notes and insights into the process, and I tried to be a sponge. One day, I pitched an idea that they liked, and asked if I wanted to go ‘to outline’. I leapt. Then they gave me more notes and asked if I wanted to go to script. I leapt again. And then they asked if I was interested in joining the staff. I spent three fantastic years there. I met some of my best friends – and my husband. And after three years, I joined the freelance universe.

If you could change one thing about television, what would it be?: Based on my own experience, I’d say the biggest ‘challenge’ for writers is finding that one, single way in. Getting that first ‘break’ is just plain hard.  It’s very difficult, and there are many gate-keepers standing in the way.

That said, there have never been more opportunities / outlets for writers – how many channels, streaming services and internet spots are there today compared to just a few years ago? There is a need for writers – it all begins with the words on the page.

Note: if you really want to do this, I suggest you tell everyone you know that you’re working on this. I was a lawyer, and had met many, many people here in Los Angeles, but it was through mutual friends playing softball that someone gave me the ‘key’ to my own entry into the world of writing, because friends knew I wanted to be a writer. Be nice to people. You never know when an opportunity may present itself.

Who are or were your television heroes?: The thing that sustained me in Texas as a very geeky young gal was reruns of Star Trek: TOS. It was magic to me.  So let’s say everyone involved with that are my heroes. Sadly, I rarely saw a female writer’s name on any TV show – even the great D.C. Fontana (Star Trek: TOS) used her initials, so for a long time I didn’t even know she was a woman. When I was young, there weren’t many women writers for me to emulate. Like I said, I just never thought writing in Hollywood was a viable career option. 

The world for female writers has changed in many ways in the last several years, and for that I’m grateful. But there is still much work to be done, to ensure that everyone can have a shot to be considered for an assignment, at least.

Also, my local PBS station in D/FW was the first in the nation to carry Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Finding that series was like discovering the lights from a distant planet where I felt I belonged – I ‘understood’ their language.

What kind of television excites you?: It’s an embarrassment of riches today. Huge fan of ‘Midnight Mass’, ‘Succession’ ‘Billions’, ‘The Crown’ – and that’s just off the top of my head. And I love and respect smart comedy, like ‘Ted Lasso’, ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ and ‘The Good Place’.  And I have a special place in my heart for ‘Rick & Morty’.

What advice do you have for TV writers just starting out?: Here’s the hard truth: put in the work. Put something on paper. I have been there when a producer asked an enthusiastic writer for a ‘writing sample’ to read (a spec script, a feature, or an original pilot, etc.), and that person had nothing. The producer, and that opportunity, immediately moved on to someone who HAD a ‘writing sample’ to read. I am fairly confident when I say that no one will hire anyone that they don’t know without first ‘reading’ that person. So create something. It’s hard. I know it’s hard. But that’s part of this business. Discipline yourself. Note: you don’t have to write it all in one day – that’s not how this works anyway. Come up with a premise, then write an outline, then write your script – break it down into steps and you can do it. Make yourself ready so when opportunity comes then you can pounce.

I can also recommend some screen-writing classes offered by various universities, etc. It’s a place to meet people who share your same passion, and with luck you’ll come out of the class with a writing sample. And when I moved to Los Angeles, I HAD to move to Los Angeles to ‘break in’ to Hollywood. Now there are people all over who have writing careers who are not in Los Angeles, so that’s a game-changer, too.

There’s a ridiculous number of resources out there for anyone who wants to write for TV. You can do a little digging on-line and see what books rise to the top of the ‘writing for TV’ genre. Read ‘em. Check out websites like the Writers Guild of America West, and The Animation Guild (TAG). On Twitter, there are some of the hardest working and most talented writers in the business today who offer tons of insight for free! Again, do some digging. What TV shows do you love? Check out IMDB.com and see who works on them. Learn who these people are.

I love what I do. I am grateful every day that I get to do this work. I still pinch myself that I’m out here in ‘Hollywoodland’. 

Any Plugs?: Funny you should mention – in celebration of the 30th anniversary of X-Men: The Animated Series, my husband Eric and I have published a book through Abrams Books: X-Men: The Art and Making of the Animated Series. It came out in October 2020 and offers a deep-dive into the making of the series, with gorgeous artwork and behind-the scenes stories. It’s available on Amazon. If you’d like an oral history of the making of the series, check out my husband Eric’s previous book: Previously on X-Men: The Making of the Animated Series, which talks at length about the writing process. It’s also available on Amazon.