“I think seniors have an advantage in one way: they are perceived to be more responsible, more reliable, more able to do excellent work with a positive attitude. Age and experience and responsibility definitely have impact in this area. People want to hire people who are reliable and who will do the job well.” – Michael Loman, Professor, Film and Television, Boston Unviersity I’ve known Michael Loman, now a professor of film and television at Boston University, since we met in Los Angeles almost 20 years ago. We moved to New York City together in 1993 and have remained close friends ever since. When I wanted to do an interview with someone who changed careers later in life, Michael was the first person I thought of. He was faced with a sudden change, met the challenge and came out the other side doing just fine. Following is my interview with him, which he managed to do while preparing for his next semester in Boston. lgbtSr: You had a successful career in television writing and producing, culminating with 10 years as the executive producer of Sesame Street. What was it like being faced with a career change in your 60s? ML: It was like being knocked over and flattened by a big tornado. Now I know what Dorothy went through, but it could have been worse. I could have had a house fall on top of me. Obviously, it was devastating. lgbtSr: When you found yourself having to think of the next step in your career, was there a process? Did you immediately think of teaching, or was there an evolution? ML: There was an evolution. I tried several ventures that failed. One venture I tried was to set up private classes to teach television script writing. I paid a lot of money for brochures and ads and I hired a student to help place the brochures in colleges and private schools in New York. I later found out that she never placed any brochures anywhere but took the money I paid her each week. So this venture failed. Then you suggested I teach and I did have a background in teaching, but on a secondary school level before I began my writing career. I had no interest in teaching secondary school. Who wants to deal with those discipline problems at my age, or any age? Teachers go through hell. But teaching on a college level made much more sense. And besides, that is the appropriate level for teaching my subject matter which is writing television situation comedy scripts. So I created a syllabus for teaching this subject and applied to every college in the tri-state area that had a big television department. No one would hire me. One professor at Princeton University called me and almost had a stroke that I had had the temerity to suggest I might teach this at Princeton. Finally, the Co-chair of the Film department at Yale University actually picked up the phone when I called and suggested I apply to the seminar program that the various colleges at Yale sponsored. This is a program that allows students to take courses that Yale does not teach. I did and my syllabus was accepted. The first day teaching I had over a hundred kids sitting in all the way down the hall trying to get one of the 15 spots in the class. The class worked out very well. The student evaluations were terrific. I taught this class for a few years and then the Co-Chair of the Film Department hired me to teach it and eventually other courses as an adjunct at Yale in the film department.