Note From Tongal: “How to Go From Writer’s Assistant to Staff Writer” is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
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It’s Fall, which means in the last couple weeks all of your favorite TV shows have returned for their new season. All of those stories and episodes were generated in a writers room. The room is comprised of a showrunner/executive producer and a staff of writers from different backgrounds and varying levels of experience. They gather daily to break story, which means to pare down all the possible plots and storylines for the characters and premise, keeping the ones that make the most sense, make for the best episodes, lead to the most interesting character growth. Macro to micro, you first discuss the season, then possible episodes, break it down by acts and scenes within an episode. Mapping this all out on whiteboards or notecards. Generally speaking, once you’ve gotten to this point in the season it takes 1-2 weeks to break an episode. Tracking all of this falls to the Writer’s Assistant.
The Writer’s Assistant position can lead to great writer relationships, a freelance episode, a staff job, and/or representation. At its worst, the job can be a glorified court stenographer; at its best, you are the most junior baby staff writer. It can be completely up to you or it could be mandated by the needs of the show, size of the staff, or the showrunner’s complete discretion. And it can also change daily. Sometimes you will be called upon to only take notes, other times you might be asked to write a scene or take the first stab at an outline. The majority of the job is taking the best room notes and organizing the notes into a daily functional document after the room breaks for the day. The finished product is then distributed to all the writers. Its purpose is to recap what was discussed in the room in a way that can be understood by both the people in the room who lived it that day, and those who were out of the room; like a writer who was on set or in a production meeting, or the showrunner who could be dealing with any of the 500 issues that arise on a daily basis.
The writers who were in the room use it to either refresh themselves before they go to bed or the next morning before the room starts up again, on what was discussed and where you landed on certain topics. For the showrunner or anybody who missed the meeting, it’s to catch them up so they can hop back in the room seamlessly and know pretty much what is going on. It’s not a transcript (unless they want that), the goal is to not get every word. It’s to get every idea/pitch down. But some showrunners will want more of a transcript, especially when it comes to pitching out lines of dialogue when you are discussing scene work within an episode.
But mostly it is up to you to synthesize: combine ideas into a whole thought. If two points during the day make more sense together, then put them together, if two points contradict each other, then put them next to each other and highlight the contradiction in a helpful, meaningful way.
To get noticed by the showrunner so that you can eventually be tasked with more, make sure to do really good notes. Don’t be bad at the primary responsibility you were hired for in the first place! The more exemplary your notes are, it’s more than likely you are demonstrating that you really understand the show. The more the showrunner thinks you understand the show he/she is trying to create, write, get on the air every week, the more likely they are to engage with you on story matters and show stuff.
Other things you should do: make the showrunner’s and fellow writers’ lives easier. Be organized, know the show and the world of the show inside and out, and if you are really looking to move up to staff writer: have good pitches in the room! Be concise. Brevity is your friend. Try to build in existing directions, don’t explode the momentum by pointing out a negative or a plot hole. Build, don’t destroy. Don’t relay your pitch to something personal. No one cares that much about you. Don’t preamble. Avoid: “this probably isn’t good, but” or “I’ve been thinking about this all day and I just can’t help but wonder” and the hundreds of variations on that. Problem-solve outside of the room. You put the notes together, you know what lingering questions there are to think about the next day, and you have the incentive to think about work outside of work hours. Come in the next day with a well thought out pitch to an existing problem or question.
Knowing when and how to pitch can take a second to learn and vary on the room/show, so let’s just broad stroke this. If there’s a time crunch - don’t. Major deadlines and ticking clocks stress people out. If the room is extremely behind, it’s probably not the time they want to be hearing from you. If the episode is about to be taken off the board - don’t. This means that you’ve been breaking this episode for a little bit now, and it’s getting approved to go to outline, and then to script, that means the room and the showrunner are pretty happy with it. Pitches at this time from you are not going to be received the best because it could alter what everyone has already agreed on is pretty solid, baked and ready to go. When the showrunner is not in the room, better. When the showrunner is in the room, especially if they are not a consistent presence in the room, this is a crucial time to get stuff done. Normally they are giving marching orders that you need to take down and the room needs to follow for the rest of the day or the week. Or the opposite, they are coming into hear a pitch or be pitched an entire episode, act, or storyline and the writers in the room are trying to convey information that they want the showrunner to weigh on in a meaningful way. If the showrunner can land on something, then the room can make great gains and move forward. Pitching during this time wouldn’t be a great idea, because you could muddy these important proceedings or take time away from them. If you are breaking into smaller rooms, better. Often times in big rooms, they will break into smaller room sessions to divide and conquer; you will be asked to join one of them to continue taking notes. This more intimate, often more casual atmosphere is the perfect and fertile time to get some pitches in. Go for it. If they ask you – best. The absolute best time to pitch is when they ask you. They want your opinion. Sometimes it starts as simple as “What do you think?” and someone in the room is asking you what you think of their idea. And sometimes they want an original idea from you. Have one. Have an opinion. Never say “I don’t know.”
Later in the season or the following season, after doing all this, they may call upon you to write a freelance episode of the show. Ace this, and they may very well make you a staff writer. The best way to shine is to mimic. There’s a consistency in the writing of every show. Writing in the “voice” of the show, will help the showrunner rewrite you less. Make sure all the characters sound like the characters, make sure the description is in the same tone as all the description that was written before it on the show, make sure the length of the scenes match previous scripts. Don’t reinvent or showoff. Sure, you can write in Iambic Pentameter, but unless that’s how the show is written, don’t use it. Growing up you were known for your puns and double entendres. No one cares, don’t try it. Most likely it’s your very first episode of TV, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Have one or two of the writers you got close with over the season read a scene to make sure you got the “voice” or some might even offer to read your first draft before you hand it in. And then take notes and criticism very well.
After you turn in your first draft, you may get a second chance, and be asked to do your own rewrite. Don’t push back on anything. Take the notes to heart and implement them to the best of your ability. You took your shot with the first draft, maybe you strayed from the beat sheet in one scene, you presented it in a different fashion, and they didn’t like it. Don’t try again. If you are fortunate enough to get the Writer’s Assistant position, this is how you excel and get promoted.
