GUILDERLAND — Steven Zorn is learning about the Spanish-American War and he’s learning fast, because he’s going to have to teach the war to millions of TV viewers.

Zorn is a writer for non-fiction TV shows. He’s done work for The History Channel, TLC, and Discovery Channel.
"You learn a lot," Zorn said of his writing. "The challenge is to learn it and teach it at the same time. It’s almost like having perpetual finals."

Zorn, of Virginia Beach, Va., grew up in Guilderland and graduated from Guilderland High in 1980. He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Buffalo.

Zorn worked in Philadelphia, editing children’s books for seven years and was looking for a change when a friend recommended he take a job as a research assistant with a Virginia Beach production company that was creating a show on archeology for TLC. The job was supposed to last six months.
"A six-month job as a researcher sort of morphed into associate producer, producer, and then writer," Zorn said. "So, it just kind of happened, I guess."

Since landing his first job, Zorn has written for several TV shows. Most recently, he wrote Da Vinci and the Code He Lived By which premiered in December on the History Channel, and The Plague, on the same channel in November.

Writing non-fiction TV isn’t that different from writing children’s books, Zorn said.
"It’s all storytelling," he said.

Pen for hire

Zorn works freelance. Usually, he gets an assignment from a production company or cable channel and then hits the library and the Internet, learning as much as he can about a topic.
Sometimes, he uses a research assistant, but, Zorn said, "To know these topics, you really have to research them yourself."

Zorn has found that experts are eager to share their knowledge.
"People are always willing to talk," Zorn said.

When he’s finished with his research, Zorn writes a script.
"With these reenactment-heavy shows, you write what the scenes are," Zorn said, "...and then the producer takes that and we discuss it."

Unlike Zorn, who is the writer, the producer has a budget to worry about and has to fit the show into a certain amount of time. Some of his more ambitious reenactment scenes don’t always make it to TV, Zorn said.
"A lot of it boils down to money," he said. "The producer goes out and cuts the corners back. It’s sort of a tug of war."

For this reason, Zorn doesn’t always watch the shows he writes when they’re broadcast.
"It’s uncomfortable for me watching it, because I know what it was, what it could’ve been," Zorn said.

Eventually, Zorn said, he gets around to watching a recording.

Zorn’s script for Da Vinci and the Code He Live By, about the prototypical Renaissance man, Leonardo Da Vinci, was an hour longer than the version that reached broadcast.
"It was really in-depth," Zorn said. "I had to learn basically everything about Leonardo...That was one of the hardest, but also the most gratifying."

Zorn joked that he doesn’t remember anything from his Guilderland High history classes.

The Leonardo show was one of Zorn’s most successful. Drawing on the popularity of the best selling novel, The Da Vinci Code, the show brought in good ratings for The History Channel.

Currently, Zorn is writing a series about barbarians. It’s a follow-up to a popular series he did a few years ago for The History Channel. Zorn is heading up the writing team and writing two segments himself: on the Franks and the Vandals.

Zorn is also working on the Spanish-American War show. When he took on the project, he thought it was going to be a boring assignment. But, he said, as he learns more about the war, he’s becoming more interested.
"It really parallels our current political and war situation," Zorn said. "So, it’s really timely."

Non-fiction television has survived the wave of reality TV and continues to be a popular niche in the cable market, Zorn said.
"People like factual TV that isn’t reality-based," he said. "I think they want to feel smart. I think people are curious."

This is good for Zorn because he has no plans to change careers.
"It’s been a good ride," he said. "It’s fun to get a phone call and suddenly be learning about hyenas, or ticks, or Leonardo."