30 Rock was loosely based on Tina Fey's experience as head writer for what NBC series?

30 Rock was loosely based on Tina Fey's experience as head writer for Saturday Night Live.

Fey was SNL's head writer from 1999 to 2006, and that experience shaped the show's workplace setting, its frantic writing-room culture, and its focus on a live sketch-comedy program. In 30 Rock, Fey plays Liz Lemon, the head writer of the fictional TGS with Tracy Jordan, an obvious fictional counterpart to the kind of production environment Fey knew firsthand.

The series was not a direct retelling of SNL. Fey initially pitched NBC a sitcom about cable news, but NBC executive Kevin Reilly encouraged her to write about an environment she understood. The concept was reworked around a sketch show, with Tracy Morgan joining the fictional program as its unpredictable star.

The title refers to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the New York address associated with NBC Studios and the real production of SNL. The show therefore combines personal workplace inspiration with fictional characters, exaggerated corporate satire, and stories that are not meant to document Fey's actual SNL career.