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Writing for television is something that many dream of, but after ending that chapter of his life, TCU film Professor Richard Allen says he does not miss one bit of it. Today he is usually seen walking around Moudy in worn-in jeans, a short-sleeve, button-down shirt, and tennis shoes – he certainly stands out in the sea of collared shirts, boat shoes, and khaki shorts. In just the short walk from his office to a classroom, he will often be stopped by students who want to talk to him or ask for favors. Before teaching at TCU, he spent twenty years writing for soap operas. To his students majoring in Film, Television, and Digital Media, he is their idol. Those who aspire to write for television look up to him and ask questions about what it was like and how he got there. And he is always nice enough to take the time to chat with whomever—he is rarely alone in Moudy.  

It’s puzzling that he would abandon a career that thousands try and fail at each day, for a job as a teacher, especially when it was his lifelong dream to be a writer in showbiz. “Growing up in New York, I was so close to Broadway, I became wrapped up in the spectacle of theater and dreamt of someday putting on a show there.” While soap operas aren’t the same, he did come close. Writing was a lifelong passion, and he wanted to turn this into a career anyway he could. He remembers after grad school moving to Chicago with the woman who would be his wife. She aspired to acting, while he wanted to be a writer. “It was a very scary and very emotional time. We were living with her parents for a year there, and then finally we knew we had to move to Los Angeles.”  It sounds easy enough, but it wasn’t. “I remember standing in the airport with her and she was crying, telling me how she didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to leave, or get on the plane. And during the entire flight she was crying, and I was holding her hand and trying to tell her it was going to work out.” It was a new experience and no one gave them guidance. He was nervous too, but he was masking this from his wife, and even more so after living in L.A. for a year without landing a job yet. His wife always talked about moving back to Chicago, but he was persistent about landing their dream jobs. “I knew that it would have been easy to just give up and go back to Chicago and she would have been happy then, but it wouldn’t last in the long run.” Finally he landed a job writing for General Hospital: he had reached his goal. His first year he called around, made contacts, and wrote scripts that ultimately were rejected until finally he proved himself to someone. And all the while he was comforting his wife in what was still the scariest time of her life.    

Once landing a writing position and maintaining it for twenty years, he was ready to say goodbye to writing for shows like, General Hospital, One Life to Live, As the World Turns and The Days of Our Lives. “In all the days I spent writing for soaps, I don’t think I could count 10 fun days,” he admitted. I found this surprising—we think of television as a fun place to work, but he certainly says otherwise. “I’ve never been in a writer’s room that hasn’t been extremely tense and negative. Every day was spent writing and putting your soul into this work and then having it be rejected and criticized, it was just humiliating and terrible every day.” He is such an upbeat, positive, friendly teacher to stop and chat with today, so it is surprising to learn the verbal beating he went through each day. It seems more fitting that he’d be a brutally honest, harsh, criticizing teacher—not the one who people love to chat with in his office, or the one offering advice on finding a job. “Since I’ve been through that struggle, I want to help those who face it too.” He knows how hard that life is and feels that he can ease them into it. He was just like his students, dreaming of working in television, but once he got there, his dream wasn’t as pleasant as he hoped. “I always thought that I was going to be fired. Every day I felt like it was my last.”   

However, he still keeps in touch with old Hollywood friends and those he helped in the business. “Those people really touched my life and I want to stay in touch and know how they are doing because they are so important to me.” Soap opera writing was no longer just about landing the career, but about the people he got to work with and the experiences he shared. “Even though I look back at it negatively, I had some wonderful experiences, all my kids were born during that time and I made some great friendships, but it was very hectic and stressful and I needed freedom to be with my family.” After coming this far, he was now able to reassess his life and saw teaching as his next goal.  

“I’ve always loved helping others and thought it is easy to work on someone’s strengths then rid them of their weaknesses,” says Allen, and feels that most do not share his outlook. Teaching allows him to do this. His goal is to help people improve themselves and find what they want in life. In teaching he “can observe their writing and find out more about them,” helping them grow as a writer. While doing this, the sound of laughter can be heard creeping underneath the door of his classroom. One of his Dramatic Style and Structure students said, “Professor Allen is so funny and keeps every class entertaining. He teaches, but also likes to make sure we enjoy the class too.” Allen also shared that growing up he always enjoyed acting and thought that it might be a possible career; now TCU helps him fulfill that dream as well. “In teaching I also get to perform in the classroom, but it’s less critical and more fun, so I enjoy it.” It is strange to think a man who wrote for T.V. now teaches at TCU, even stranger to learn what a harsh, mean world he used to live in after meeting this friendly and loving person, who would never raise his voice to a student. He will always go out of his way to meet someone in his office, help them get in contact with an employer or act in a student film.  

After twenty years working in Hollywood, Allen says, “I really would not want to do it again, I like teaching more. My worst day of teaching is better than the best day of soap opera writing.” Given the choice between the two careers, I imagine most would not choose teaching, but for Allen it is a perfect fit. Every day at TCU he has a friendly smile. “I always hope that I run into him,” another film student said, “I miss not having him this semester.” Those in the Film, Television, and Digital Media major, enjoy having him as a teacher. “TCU would be at a loss without Allen,” thought another student. “Finally I can be with my family and I don’t have to worry about writing and feeling like I’m going to be criticized for everything I’m doing,” Allen is happy to say. Now that he is in his fifties and has worked so hard all his life, he wants to relax more, “I feel entitled to not be as productive as I used to have to be.”