Zelman began writing for television with the eleventh season of
Law & Order in 2000. He wrote the episodes "Return", "Teenage Wasteland", "White Lie", "Whiplash" and "Judge Dread". He became a story editor for the twelfth season in 2001 and wrote the episodes "Myth of Fingerprints", "3 Dawg Night" and "DR1-102". He was promoted to executive story editor for the thirteenth season in 2002 and wrote the episodes "American Jihad" and "Suicide Box". He became a producer for the fourteenth season in 2003 and wrote the episodes "Blaze", "Ill-Conceived" and "Can I Get a Witness?" He left the series at the end of the fifteenth season. He worked on the short-lived legal drama
Eyes in 2005. The series aired as a mid-season replacement in 2005 and was taken off air after only five of the thirteen produced episodes were aired. The remaining eight episodes were aired in 2007. Zelman wrote the episodes "Burglary" and "Innocence" which did not air until 2007. He became a supervising producer and writer for the first season of
CBS procedural
Criminal Minds in 2005. He wrote the first-season episodes "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Poison" and "Machismo". He was promoted to co-executive producer for the second season in 2006. He wrote the episodes "Psychodrama", "Fear and Loathing" and "Honor Among Thieves". He left the series at the end of the second season. He became a consulting producer and writer for the first season of FX crime drama
Damages in 2007. The series was co-created by his brother
Daniel Zelman. Zelman wrote the first-season episode "We Are Not Animals".{{cite episode ==References==