REBECCA ADDELMAN THE ROMCOM WRITER ON HOW SHE GOT HER START.

When Rebecca Addelman moved to L.A. nine years ago, she wanted to write comedy for television. “I had Tina Fey ambitions,” says Addelman, who grew up in Ottawa. The 35-year-old is now living the show-business dream that first encouraged her to get in her car and drive west. She wrote for FOX’s New Girl for three seasons and currently writes for Love, Judd Apatow’s Netflix series. Addelman believes she had to leave Toronto in order to do that. “In Canada, there were fewer TV shows and less money,” she says. “I’m hesitant to proselytize, but there’s that old saying: If you’re a lumberjack, go where there are trees.” Addelman says that her early years of hustling—initially writing scripts on spec to get her name out there— paid off. “If you stick it out, you’ll get to know people, get a feel for the town and find your way,” she says. “Everyone I know here has.” Since her arrival in L.A., Addelman’s ambitions have expanded; she is now focused on “telling [her] whole story from beginning to end” and working on her first feature-length project as both writer and director. n

Addelman’s carerinsights Worst career mistake “Thinking that if I worked hard enough, I could control the future.” Go-to comedy subject “I always enjoy some good old-fashioned prop work. In an episode of Love this season, one of the characters purchased a filing cabinet that they had to roll beside them for the duration of the episode. That filing cabinet got a lot of laughs.” THE BEST THING ABOUT WORKING IN L.A. “You can surf before work.”