Episode 14: Cindy Appel





Home Town: Arlington, VA

Current Town: Los Angeles, CA

What are you working on now?: Star Trek: Picard on Paramount +

Tell me, if you will, a story from your childhood that explains who you are as a writer or as a person: I grew up in the DC area, so always had a lot of friends from other countries. Some were from financially struggling immigrant families, some were ambassadors' kids who were used to a certainly worldly privilege. But I remember a million little culture clash moments where I realized my American way of doing things didn't have to be the "norm." Some people eat dinner at 10pm. Some people take siestas. Socialism can be great. We don't have to buy so much stuff. A lot of people speak more than two languages. Work isn't everything. Old people are valuable. True "freedom" is never really what society tells you it is. All of these little moments opened my mind and heart to a bigger world out there I was dying to see. It made me feel so free.

If you could change one thing about television, what would it be?: Representation, representation, representation. We are still in the dark ages. It's gross.

Who are or were your television heroes?: Carol Burnett! Amy Poehler! Other than that, it's hard to have heroes in this business. People are complicated, and honestly it's tough to tell most of the time who is creatively responsible for the shows you love.

What kind of television excites you?: Anything that straddles the line between weird and solid, traditional storytelling. I might be old-fashioned, but I like rooting for characters. I also love going down the rabbit-hole.

What advice do you have for TV writers just starting out?: Network as much as possible. Be good to the assistants. Form a community with people that you can grow with, because eventually you'll be able to give each other work. Also, write only what you want to. What's the best story you can tell? What's your unique voice? Don't try to write something because you think the market wants it. 

Any Plugs?: Watch Star Trek: Picard, but, er, especially season 3 because it's a master class in how to bring an epic story with epic characters to a "close" or... possibly not.

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