I know there’s a lot of unemployed writers’ assistants out there. So even though I am working on a murder-esque drama (a genre which I don’t really write, in case this blog is any indication), I should feel happy to be working at all. I should feel honored to type other people’s writing, damnit. Just like you, too, should enjoy working on the show you’re working on, even though you’re not really a fan of it, but they pay you, you get a credit, so you suck it up. And it’s better than succumbing to waitressing or bartending, we tell ourselves. We should all continue to settle on these jobs anyway… right?
Wrong… at least, according to some writers and agents I recently spoke to. (More on their advice in a moment.)
Now, I’m not talking about new writers’ assistants and script coordinators, per se. The WA/SC life is a great educational, networking-with-writers job – for a certain period of time. However, when the years and seasons as a WA and SC start adding up and you are still not a paid writer (and are certainly not getting any younger), that’s when to question whether or not to walk away from the keyboard. You don’t want to be a career writers’ assistant; you want to be a career writer. It doesn’t matter how cool the writers you work with are… if they are not helping you (after you’ve put in some time, of course – I don’t mean your first day or week or month), they either need to put their freelance/agency contacts where their mouths are -- or risk losing you.
Too many shows these days love your role in the WA/SC position, yet don’t want to promote you or pass you off to their agents, as then who will fill your exemplary typing shoes?
I know some WAs and SCs get pretty lucky on their first or second show – they get a freelance or show a spec to the right writer on their show, get signed, then staffed. I love hearing those stories. But, unfortunately, those shows are far and few between. So when do we call it quits?
If your WA job is becoming more of a career than your writing one, that’s when. If you are working on a show that does not promote assistants, that’s also when. Or if you’re working on a show that will give you a freelance, although each episode is written by everybody (thus, you cannot claim it as your own to agents), that, too, is when.
I recently surveyed some (working) writers and agents about the WA/SC life, asking them two questions: what they thought the right career track for an aspiring (paid) TV writer would be, and what they thought of the WA/SC track. Here are their responses:
“If you’re relying on a show to make your career, you’re relying on the wrong person. Only you can make your career – by writing. All the time.”
“Work somewhere – anywhere – that gives you enough time and energy to write. If that’s on a show, great. If it’s doing people’s taxes, great. It doesn’t matter who’s giving you a paycheck; it matters how much writing you’re churning out and what you’re doing with that writing.”
“I’ve seen too many writers’ assistants who wasted years on a show, only to not get promoted. Try to find the shows that have a track record for promoting assistants. If they don’t, there’s your answer. You can’t get those years of your life back, so choose shows wisely.”
"Work a non-industry, 9-6 job; industry jobs are great for networking, but awful for giving you the time you need to write. When I moved out here, my friends got 80-hour-a-week PA jobs; I didn’t want that. So I did telemarketing 30-40 hours a week. My parents didn’t get it, especially since I’d gone to film school; they thought I was wasting time. But I met more characters in that telemarketing office than I could ever dream of myself. They provided a great template for my first pilot, which I sold a year later. So believe in yourself, and in your writing. Fuck everyone else.”
“It’s better to live on credit cards and have writing time versus on a show that takes away all of your writing time.”
“Write all the time. I know people say that all the time, but it’s true. And L.A. is full of “writers” who don’t write. Try to just work part-time, so you have free time to work on your own shit. And do as many other projects to get you noticed as you can – YouTube clips, short films with friends, etc. The bonus of living in L.A. is that you have a wealth of people to work on these projects with you. The more creative things you are doing, the more likely someone will notice one of the things you are doing and want to see more.”
“All you need is one person to get your spec into the right hands. So work somewhere that doesn’t take up all your time, write away, and contact as many of those “one person”s you know when your spec is ready. I know more WAs who made it only after they quit being WAs; the shows didn’t care about their writing futures, they just wanted a good typist. So if you want to write, write.”
As you can see, Nexus-ers, these all sound the same, minus an adjective or two changed here or there. And it’s your life, so in the end, it’s up to you (I’m just here as your go-between). So maybe bartending or waitressing wouldn’t be so bad, after all…
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