Yahlin Chang: Be persistent and do your research

Acclaimed television writer and producer Yahlin Chang, known for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Shades of Blue,” and “Supergirl,” joined us on the One Question Podcast. Yahlin shared her personal journey of pivoting from journalism to television writing and highlighted the importance of persistence, doing the research and breaking down the steps so you understand what it’ll take to do what you love, and being ready to take advantage of a lucky break in building a meaningful career.

Michael Horn

Today, we’re excited to welcome television writer and producer Yahlin Chang. Yahlin has written and produced film for acclaimed shows, most notably the Handmaid’s Tale, Shades of Blue, and Supergirl. Before working in television, she also built a career as a journalist, and we’re thrilled to have her on the podcast today.

Julie Lammers

Yahlin, as Michael mentioned, your career path shows how someone can successfully pivot from one field to another, moving from journalism into television writing and production. Some middle and high school students might worry that choosing one path might limit their future options. What lessons from your career change could help young people understand how to successfully shift directions while still building a meaningful career?

Yahlin Chang

What the keys were to making that change successfully, I can really only answer it by telling you specifically my specific story, which is very different. Everyone who works in TV writing has a different story about how they got in. The general thing was just dogged persistence and doing a ton of research, talking to everyone I knew about how to become a TV writer. When I was in college, I took a book out of the library that said How to Become a TV Writer. It was written by someone who had done like a single freelance episode for Dukes of Hazzard way back when. This is in 1992. And, you know, I read a book about it. But for me, I just always wanted to write for television.

I didn’t really know how, but I loved that form of art. I used to watch Dallas and Dynasty and Falcon Crest with my family every Friday and Saturday night. And we’d sit there together and learn what America is by watching these crazy shows. And then as I got older, I watched better shows like LA Law and China Beach and ThirtySomething. And I just loved that specific form. So I knew that I wanted to be involved in some way. And then when I learned about the writers room, which is how episodic TV gets written, you’re workin