Let me start this off by saying, there are so many different ways to break into TV writing. People enter through competitions, through the theatrical world, the feature world, people get notoriety through stand-up or social media, they write a book that gets popular and parlay that experience into TV.
These are not the routes I took personally, but that doesn't mean they're not perfectly viable. In fact, I would say there are many other routes that are in fact much easier than the route I took. On top of that, in the years since I broke through, this route has become even more difficult. The nature of the industry has changed, and the assistant jobs that I will outline below (which made up my journey to the writers' room) have become harder and harder to get.
So, why am I even bothering to talk about my way in?
BECAUSE it illuminates some of the intricacies of the industry and gives you information about some of the jobs you can get as you make your way inside the writers’ room. There is a hierarchy of writing jobs, but here is also a hierarchy of assistant jobs.
Having a foundational knowledge of what these jobs are will tell you whether this is a route you want to pursue, and it may even give you some insight as to whether or not this is an industry you want to pursue. Many people are in love with the idea of a writers' room. It conjures a romantic idea of free-flowing creativity. Learning the jobs within the writers' room, or the steps to get there won't necessarily disavow you of those ideals (it will), but it will certainly show you what the day to day actually looks like inside a writers' room.
My Journey to TV Writer...dom
I moved out to LA in 2012 and the only thing I knew about breaking into TV writing was to “get a PA job.” So, that’s what I did. I got on Craigslist, and looked for anybody that was hiring PAs. Pretty quickly, since I was willing to take anything for literally any money, I found a job. It was a PA/Runner job for a production company that produced some of the pre-taped segments for the ESPY Awards.
This job quickly showed me a side of the industry I did not want to be in. The company was basically contracted out, and hired freelance commercial producers to run their shoots. These are some of the worst people I've worked with, because not only did they have big egos, but they also had inferiority complexes because they hadn't reached the heights of narrative TV that they likely wanted to. I know, I sound a little resentful. But bad behavior is bad behavior.
And that's not to say there weren't good people at the company. In fact, somebody I met at this job led to a connection with a production coordinator at Warner Bros. I got an interview, got the job, and I became the Night PA on a multicamera comedy on CBS.
Night PA
The Night PA is the PA that comes into the writers’ office in the evening on shows when the room tends to keep their writers late. My job was to get dinner for the writers and then, at the end of the night, print out all the scripts that would be needed for all the departments, writers and actors the next day.
This was an interesting job because, at night, when the hustle and bustle of the rest of the office has died down, sometimes it is just you, the writers, the writers' assistant and the script coordinator. You can learn a lot in this role about being a WA or SC, or even sitting in on the writers' room. I wasn't able to do that at this job, but many showrunners are open to you doing it.
After one season as a Night PA, I moved up to…
Writers' PA
This was basically the same job, except my day would now start at 10am. I would get coffee and lunch for the writers, take them to set, at times help out on set. That sort of thing. It's equally as un-glamorous as the Night PA job, except with a Writers' PA job you may actually be able to have a life in the evenings.
One of the writers on this scripted comedy I was working on got their own show, and I was brought over and moved up to…
Writers' Assistant
This was my first move into the writers’ room. This was a way more difficult job than the PA job I had before. The job involves being in the writers' room taking notes on whatever the writers are saying all day long.
Unfortunately, this show I was working on was not long for this world. The cancellation fairy (or bear, for anybody who remembers that) visited quickly and, for the next few years, I bounced around to a few pilots and TV shows as a writers’ assistant until on one show I was given a FREELANCE SCRIPT.
This is a script given to someone outside of the regular writing staff. This provides cache and a nice payday. Both nice things. The following year, my show was cancelled and I was unable to move up to a writer role, but I was able to find work on a pilot and then eventually a TV show as a…
Script Coordinator
This is basically the highest you can get on an assistant level in a TV writers’ office. You’re like the king assistant. The script coordinator job is difficult, dare I say even more difficult than the writers’ assistant job.
You are basically in charge of the script, not the content, but how it looks, proofing it, making sure all departments are aware of any changes being made. Here, I was given my second freelance script, and with that, I was granted entry to the WGA, the writers’ union.
TV Writer
As seemed to be a common theme for my career, this show was also cancelled. And I was out of a job. I had now met tons of writers and producers, and a lot of people knew me… as an assistant. Well, I was done being an assistant.
So, now I had to forgo the jobs I had before, look for new folks, talk about myself in a different way, and try to make my way in differently.
And I was able to. The WGA, during their agency fight, created a directory of management companies. My writing partner and I incessantly emailed and, eventually found some managers who were scrappy and wanted to give us a shot.
It was there that we connected with another one of their clients who had a TV show about to go into production and we were brought on as writer/producers.
The Takeaway
When it came to assistant jobs, I found there was a ladder to climb.
But the jump from assistant to writer was just not going to happen. Shows don’t last long enough for you to establish yourself and make that jump.
So, it was assistant jobs that got me into the right position to make the leap, but only if I stopped taking those jobs and reframed the way people saw me… as a writer, not an assistant.
