McLaughlin worked as a script writer on The Parent 'Hood, Clueless, The Crew, Married With Children, Grown Ups, The Bold and the Beautiful, Drawn Together, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, Desperate Housewives, Hot Properties, and The Young and the Restless.

He met his writing partner, Valerie Ahern, at the University of Texas, and started writing sitcom spec scripts together a year later. Together, they created and Executive Produced MTV's Emmy Nominated steamy soap opera Spyder Games (originally called Spyder Web) after being approached by Drew Tappon at MTV Series Development; they are currently working with Maverick Television to create the first all-LGBT serial, San Rafael, for MTV's new homosexual channel, Logo. According to Logo, San Rafael is about "the unexpected schemes and twists in the intertwined lives of a group of LGBT friends and foes living in the same apartment complex." (The Advocate)

David Holman, then a production executive at Columbia Pictures Television, helped McLaughlin land an internship job at The Young and the Restless in 1989. His supervisor was Michael Minnis, then a script coordinator and writers' assistant. His internship included script synopsis of Y&R episodes and extras casting.