Megan Amram Breaks Down 5 Steps to Securing an Emmy Nod

She’s been working as a TV writer since 2011, logging credits on such shows as HBO’s Silicon Valley and NBC’s Parks and Recreation and The Good Place, but one career milestone has continued to elude Megan Amram — an Emmy. So this year, she devised a show so clear in its mission that it had to get nominated: An Emmy for Megan, a web series about making a web series that she has been promoting relentlessly since its spring release. The hard sell has worked so far: Amram, 30, scored a shortform series nomination and an actress nod. Leading up to the Sept.?8 Creative Arts Emmys, she’ll keep up the pressure and stay busy buying billboards, handing out lawn signs and renting theaters. “I don’t care if people even watch the series,” she says. “I mostly just want people to vote for me.” 

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NAIL THE REQUIREMENTS

Most of Amram’s early prep for the series revolved around making sure An Emmy for Megan would qualify in the shortform categories, including having the minimum six episodes under 15 minutes. Her careful planning almost got derailed when on launch day — April 27, also the final day to submit to the TV Academy — the show’s website briefly went down. “Sometimes you have to go through tough times like that to pull through,” she reflects with mock gravity. “It humbled me.”

RENT A BILLBOARD

No Emmy campaign is complete without an FYC billboard. An Emmy for Megan’s first went up June 5 along Hollywood Boulevard. Since then, two more have popped up around town. Amram admits to spending between $4,000 and $6,000 on each ad. “Look, I don’t buy cars. I don’t own a home. I’m just really spending all my money on ?the billboards,” she says. Amram hit her limit when she started researching building wraps, which would have set her back $25,000.

ENLIST YOUR FRIENDS

Several of Amram’s A-list pals show up in episodes of An Emmy for Megan. “Having won a lot of Emmys myself, I think you’ve really got what it takes,” The Good Place star Ted Danson says in a message clearly shot on a cellphone. Seth Rogen, Jimmy Kimmel and RuPaul also shell out praise. Julianne Moore even taped a Twitter promo. “I’ve managed to build a lot of goodwill online,” says Amram, who has more than 1 million Twitter followers.

BASK IN THE NOM

Amram has also perfected her OMG nomination-day story. “I was in my office at The Good Place, and I was planted at my desk obsessively refreshing the page and it froze on me,” she recalls. “My manager called and he said, ‘You’re nominated for two Emmys.’ I’ll never forget it. It’s one thing to talk about the Emmys over and over again, but once you get nominated, it’s a real Emmy you are nominated for. It’s very exciting.”

HOST A SCREENING

Amram’s final effort to woo Emmy voters will be ?an Aug. 23 screening at the ArcLight Hollywood. She expects a star-studded turnout, including some of the Good Place cast and possibly even an “insane” celebrity moderator for the postscreening Q&A. “I wish I could have gotten the ?Dome,” she laments. She’s also planning her speech and outfit for the night of the awards. “Maybe I should wear a dress that has my face on it or says An Emmy for Megan,” she says. “I’m taking this very seriously.”

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.