Ingenuity alone doesn't explain Flint's success.
"She's smart," said Woodward, Flint's friend of two decades. "Most of all, she's utterly fearless. In our business, lots of people are hesitant to express their opinion until they know what the Big Kahuna's opinion may be. Carol is not afraid to express her opinion at the get-go. She has a great sense of adventure. That - combined with fearlessness - means that it rarely occurs to Carol that something can't be done."
The silver-haired Flint is more modest about her abilities. "Writing for TV is creative work with a lot of exciting people," she feels. "People are not wrong to think it's very stimulating. But it's not so glamorous. It's hard work, with long hours of writing and rewriting, staring at notes trying to solve problems, or being locked up in a room with eight to 10 other writers." The workload escalates for a writer who also produces a show.
New College, Flint says, contributed to her success in the television business. In independent-study project classes, she worked autonomously and frequently exchanged ideas with professors.
"I'm sure my New College experience helped me professionally, because as a writer and producer, everyone counts on you to be an independent thinker, get things done and work in small groups of other writers and producers."
