TELEVISION.
A lifetime of watching it, studying it, teaching it, writing it. And now, helping other writers do it better.
Hi. I’m Rachel Brethauer.
I love this work. Full stop.
Got a story problem? Let’s solve it.
Need someone to dig into your script and tell you not just what isn’t working but why—and help you find your way through? That’s my favorite thing.
Want to break a new story from scratch? Genuinely one of my top five ways to spend time.
Looking for someone to get pedantic about your grammar, spelling, and punctuation?
I’m not a coverage reader. I’m a story editor who gives a damn about your oxford commas AND how your story makes people feel.
Both matter. Neither is negotiable.
My People.
You’ve written some things. You love coming up with new stories. You care deeply about television and film — maybe you’re an AMC A-Lister, maybe you have every streaming service and zero FOMO. You write comedy, dramedy, procedurals (your girl has seen every episode of original recipe Law & Order, no notes), horror, thriller, or a rom com that deserves to exist. You want a collaborator who will get into it with you, not just hand you a list of problems and wish you luck.
Not Quite.
You’re deep in sci-fi or fantasy territory — aliens and dragons are genuinely not my story language, and you deserve someone whose brain actually lives there. Same goes for superhero stories, unless your superhero is a lawyer who gets her powers during perimenopause (cougar puberty, if you will) — because that’s not really a superhero story, that’s a human story with a great hook. Supernatural stuff, ghosts, witches, things that go bump? Totally on board, as long as we’re grounded in human truth. It’s not the genre, it’s the ungroundedness.
I’m not your type? No hard feelings! Might I suggest Entourage?
The Work
Wonderland Avenue
Pilot — Drama
A divorcée moves her daughters to Los Angeles to kickstart her career as a singer-songwriter. Once settled in Laurel Canyon amid rock royalty, they find themselves falling down the rabbit hole of the early ’70s L.A. music scene.
🏆 Best Graduate Pilot, Film Outside the Frame · Sundance Episodic Lab Semifinalist · Fox Writers Lab Semifinalist
American Zealot
Feature Film
Shortly before graduation, a Catholic schoolgirl plots to murder her best friend’s abortion doctor.
Produced via Film Independent / LMU Incubator Lab · Festival run 2016–2017
No One’s Little Girl
Pilot — Comedy/Drama
After her mother’s untimely death, a woman with no marketable skills falls into a job as one of the first VJs in Canadian music television — while raising her teenage sister and uncovering the shocking secrets her mother left behind.
🏆 Cinestory TV Fellowship Semifinalist · Writers Lab Quarterfinalist
The Credentials
The Education
MFA in Writing & Producing for Television, Loyola Marymount University — one of the top five film schools in the country. Then stayed to teach screenwriting, TV history, and media studies for six years, because apparently once you love a place it’s hard to leave.
The Copywriting
Multi-award-winning copywriter for Chevy, Cadillac, Microsoft, Xbox, SiriusXM, Buckley’s, and a lot of others. Two decades of writing fast, to deadline, in someone else’s voice, without getting precious about it. Which is, not coincidentally, exactly what a TV writers room needs.
The Comedy Chops
Improv and sketch training in Toronto and Los Angeles, including the Upright Citizens Brigade. The story of how long it took to finally get there could be a Hallmark movie. With swears. And dick jokes.
The Scripts
Sundance Episodic Lab Semifinalist. Fox Writers Lab Semifinalist. Cinestory TV Fellowship Semifinalist. Writers Lab Quarterfinalist. NBC Writers on the Verge Top 5%. Best Graduate Pilot, Film Outside the Frame.
The Obsession
In grade eight, we had to give speeches to the school. My topic? Sitcom spinoffs, mainly of the 1970s. I’m not playing around with this TV stuff, gang. It’s my lifeblood.