“Sopranos” Writer Tells His Story
By
Sybil Maimin
How’s
this for a dream job? Become a writer for the hit
TV show The Sopranos, the highly-acclaimed situation comedy
series that takes the unorthodox view that a mob boss is in many
ways like you and I, with, for example, a daughter at Columbia
University and a weekly session with a psychiatrist. Terence Winter
landed that job after an unlikely path with stabs at many careers
and a lot of soul searching.
 Born
in a blue-collar neighborhood in Brooklyn, the Sopranos
writer attended William E. Grady Vocational High School where
he trained to be an auto mechanic. The atmosphere was decidedly
unacademic but he read and wrote stories weekly which caught the
attention of English teacher Lannie Gilbert who supported and
encouraged him. After graduation he became a partner in a delicatessen
owned by friends but left in a year unsure of what path was best
for him. Wandering around Greenwich Village, he spotted New York
University and, although completely unfamiliar with the culture
of college and without academic courses or SATs, he decided to
apply. To enhance his chances of admission he chose an obscure
major which together with his unusual background gained him entry
on the condition he take remedial courses. He attended college
full time during the day and worked full time at night, including
stints as cab driver, security guard, and, best of all, as night
doorman on the Upper East Side for two years which provided opportunities
to read and make up for huge gaps in his schooling. While at NYU
he discovered journalism and took many courses in that discipline,
building confidence in his potential but not imagining a life
as a writer. Instead, he chose what seemed like a practical path
– law school.
He graduated from St. John’s Law School in Queens and accepted
a corporate law position. “Miserable” in his job which “did not
fit my personality,” he began serious soul searching to determine
“what is it you want to do when you wake up in the morning?” To
counter the restraints of his profession, Winter had done stand-up
comedy while lawyering, leading him to realize he wanted to do
sitcom writing.
Moving to Los Angeles for “a fresh start,” he took a job as a
paralegal that left lots of time to write. His attitude embraced
a “single-minded purpose. I was going to make this happen. I never
looked at failure as an option.” After being rejected twice, he
was accepted to Warner Brother’s Sitcom Writer’s Workshop which
takes 15 out of 1500 applicants a year. The ten-week long program
that concludes with placement on an existing show provided important
breaks. Working on The Great Defender, which had a brief,
successful run enabled him to establish a reputation. Gaining
a reputation and being deemed employable gets you an agent, a
difficult yet essential feat in the business. While at Defender,
he met the writer Frank Renzulli who introduced him to David Chase,
head writer and executive producer of The Sopranos. Winter
is ideally suited to The Sopranos, having grown up in a
similar milieu. He does some research on criminal law, psychological
terminology, and medical facts, but the characters are so alive
to him, he “can’t stop them from talking.”
He is part of a four-person team of writers overseen by Chase
who presents them with a broad road map for the season. The four
get together for 10-12 hour days hashing out an outline of 30
scenes for each script. One then writes a script from the outline
and presents it to the others for further editing and changes.
A couple of days before shooting, the script is read aloud, fixed,
and read again for further refinement. “Like planning an invasion,”
the show involves finding locations (95 percent are in New Jersey,
the studio is in Queens) and props and hiring actors, stunt people,
and wardrobe handlers. During production, the workday is 14-16
hours long. Thirteen episodes are completed in nine months.
The most exciting part of being a writer, says Winter, is “seeing
something you created come to life in the mouths of actors you
respect” and knowing that “something that starts as a notion in
your head makes hundreds or millions of people laugh.” His advice
to aspiring writers is: read and compare scripts, take writing
classes, believe in yourself, and “don’t fall into the trap of
thinking you can just sit down and write a script. It is a real
craft and skill. Lots of work and training go into it.” The hardest
part of the process and 50 percent of the equation for success
is getting an agent (the other half is good writing). Have strong
samples, pound the pavement, and work the phones daily. “Keep
at it and don’t wallow in self-pity. Ultimately, if you write
a good, professional script, someone will notice it,” he promises.#
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