There’s one important staff member we haven’t yet discussed, someone who’s not an official writer, but is indispensable nonetheless: the writers’ assistant. Writers’ assistants support the writing staff in everything they do: taking notes, researching stories, archiving scripts and paperwork. Thus, good writers’ assistants form strong bonds with staffs, which means—in an industry where showrunners hire people they know and trust—starting as a writers’ assistant is often the best way to get your first staff job.
“Being in the room gives you an opportunity to experience how the process works for that particular show,” says Boston Legal co-producer Karen Wyscarver. “It allows you to see how the showrunner works the room in regard to ideas and stories. You’re also able to form relationships with other writers and let others know what your goals are: to figure out who will and won’t help you.”
Unlike executive assistants, who spend days answering phones and organizing calendars, writers’ assistants sit in the writers’ room and type notes on everything the writers talk about: every joke pitched, every story suggested, every idea mentioned. They’re like the staff’s personal court stenographer. At the end of each day, they organize this info into a readable document, print it, and leave copies for the writers to use the next morning.
“Being a television writer is a specific skill that can’t be learned in any training program or college major,” says Scrubs co-executive producer Janae Bakken, who worked as a writers’ assistant on Oh Grow Up and Malcolm in the Middle before staffing on Scrubs in 2001. “I learned the proper way to pitch a joke by observing others. My joke-writing skills also got better. Most important, I learned outline and story skills that made me a much better writer. My spec scripts improved exponentially once I got in the room as an assistant.”
Although it has many perks, being a writers’ assistant is hard work. Writers’ assistants arrive earlier and stay later than the rest of the staff, which means—since many staffs work long hours—they often have little downtime. Still, an industrious writers’ assistant with a good attitude is frequently the best candidate when a show has an open staff writer position.
"[Getting staffed] these days is more about relationships than anything else,” says Barry Kotler, a literary agent at The Gersh Agency. “It’s about working for the right people, having the right relationships, so they essentially do you the favor of inviting you to be on their staff. Sure, you’re probably a good writer. You’re probably a wonderful person to hang out with. But the bulk of the work is done by senior-level people. You’re there to learn the process, write a couple scripts, and chime in when appropriate.”
Writers’ assistants are also sometimes assigned freelance episodes, episodes not written by a show’s official staff. The WGA requires any show with at least a thirteen-episode order to give at least two episodes to writers not on staff. “The idea is to help struggling writers and bring in new voices,” says writers’ assistant David Wright (Notes from the Underbelly, Malcolm in the
Middle, Suddenly Susan). So if the staff likes their writers’ assistant, they usually assign him the freelance. (Wright has written two freelances for Malcolm and received a “Story By” credit on Susan.)
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Reprinted from Mediabistro.com Presents Small Screen, Big Picture by Chad Gervich. Copyright © 2008 Chad Gervich. Published by Three Rivers Press/ Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc.
