A Doctor's in the House

Q. I am an orthopaedic surgeon, med/legal technical writer and aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles.

While I make my way up the screenwriting learning curve, I am interested in becoming a medical consultant and medical technical advisor. How should I go about it?

I would contact all the medical shows and ask if they'd be interested in some free consulting. Stress that you have experience as a tech writer, i.e. you know how to translate medical talk into Common Speech. Once you have a reputation as a useful consultant -- and a sense for what the writers on a medical show need -- you can start charging. I have no idea how much demand there is for medical consultants in LA. There may be a lot of doctors who want to get into TV; and writers probably tend to ask their doctors first. But go for it, and tell us how it worked out.