Hi, readers. Sorry I went on a bit of a hiatus there, but between working 70-80 hours a week at my writers’ assistant job by day (and a lot of night), trying to finish my latest spec during free moments in-between, and apartment-hunting in the very few spare seconds remaining, I have been more than a little crunched for time.

But I know, I know – no excuses to not write, blog or otherwise.

Speaking of specs, though, when is it time to pass on your spec to the writers you work with? You know, the writers who have the power to staff you, give you a freelance, and/or get you signed with their agent or agency?

Instead of being the overly-confident, whiny, “When will you read my spec”-type of assistant who tries to pass on their pilot every time they open their mouth (the kind of wannabe writers working writers don’t want to read), be the just-confident-enough, yet modest, one. Personally, I find that passive-aggressive methods work best, especially if you have not yet built up a natural rapport with the writers (if you have, you can skip over this section). Meaning, they will ask you to read your spec; all you have to do if follow one (or some) of the guidelines below.

1) When said writer(s) are in the room, talk to a fellow assistant (or the writer you feel most comfortable with) about your current spec. It helps if they’re talking about a script of theirs – or even their weekend – and then you can naturally jump in about your spec or weekend. For instance, when asked what you did the last few days, you can nonchalantly mention how you wrote the last few nights, they’ll wonder what you wrote, and so forth. Always choose the most natural way to bring it up.

2) Have other assistants in the office read your specs. The writers will ask an assistant what they’re reading, they’ll say your spec, the writers will ask if it’s any good, the assistant will say it’s one of the best specs they’ve ever read (pay them extra for this)… and there you go. And, later in the week, you can take said assistant out for a “thank you” dinner. However, if the assistant doesn’t like it, don’t look at me.

3) Be working on your spec during lunch and all your moments of down time (before work, after work… you get the picture). The writers will naturally want to know what you’re working on so much; now’s your chance to tell them.

4) Seek out advice from them (even if you don’t need it). Say you’re writing a procedural and you know one of the writers used to work on one. They don’t have to know that you’ve done more than enough research on this and don’t need to ask them a thing (keep that between us). Ask for their input, bounce a plot twist idea off of them, etc. The more you engage them, the more they’ll become engaged in your project and offer to read it when it’s done.

Please forgive how rudimentary this all sounds, but it works, I swear. Do the above, and you’ll have the writers reading your work in no time.

 However, DO NOT give out a spec before it is ready. First, write as many drafts – and get as many notes – as possible. And when you start getting the fewest amount of notes back, with just a few line notes vs. big story/character hole notes, it’s ready to pass on (although I would have a trusted working writer or two read it first; more on where to find those next time).

Thoughts? Questions? Ideas? Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .