I was glad to read this article on your site as I am graduating from the American Film Institute with my Masters in Screenwriting right now and was hoping to land a job as a professional Screenwriters Assistant. First of all, if Chad leaves, or has left, I’m there, but seriously, I would love the inside track on where I can go to find these assistant jobs as I am a highly organized and dedicated individual. Look forward to your response.

Steve Douglas-Craig

So you wanna assist a screenwriter

If you work for a screenwriter you may or may not expect to have a lot of downtime during your working day. This all depends on the person you who happens to be your boss. Some are cool (as Mr. August appears to be), and some can be hellish freaks — I direct you to Bob Zemuda’s experiences as an assistant chronicled in his Andy Kauffman biographry for a particularly striking example.

Most of the time, it’s a great job for an aspiring screenwriter. It gives you a regular schedule to write (even if your workday is generally busy, assitant positions like this tend to have regular schedules so you can predictably set aside a time to write every day). More importantly, if gives you access to someone who be a professional mentor you’ll lean on for years.

So you wanna be a writers assistant on a series

A Writers Assistant position on a television series is production-related. Rare is the writers assistant does personal errands for the people they work for — not because they are above such things; they just don’t have the time. Writers Assistants on a show work directly with the writers and executive producers of that series. Transcribing notes when the writers “break” the show’s stories, revising the production scripts to reflect any changes the writers may have, distributing the scripts and any revisions throughout to the 100 or-so people who work on the series (and everybody has to have pages, whether they need them or not) are some of the typical duties you’ll have.

Sounds great, right? Keep in mind, the hours are frequently horrible. 16+ hour days are not uncommon. Six and seven day weeks can be the norm (especially if the show you work on happens to be new or in trouble). This doesn’t leave much time for an aspiring writer to work on their own material. The flipside here is that TV Writers Assistants are frequently being first in line for staff positions and freelanced episodes on the show.

Lastly, depending on what type of writing you’d like to do, at least in the short run, should dictate what type of writers assistant position you pursue.

Talented people and talented writing will always be found if you put yourself out there. It may take a long time but it happens. So I guess the big question is to ask if what you are writing is actually any good?

The harder part is getting that first job in the mailroom. If you don’t know someone that can help you get that job, starting with an internship somewhere will probably introduce you to the person that you need to know who knows the person that can get you said job in said mailroom.

However, I have never been to Mecca myself. I hear it’s lovely in the springtime.

That all? :-)

I’m not disagreeing with that statement, since I have not, nor have ever been, a writers assistant, but damn…that’s a helluva route to Mecca.

Thanks for the info and direction. I appreciate the answer…

imp

How does one get a job as a writer’s assistant? I’m guessing most full-time screenwriters employ them. I currently live in the Chicago area, but want to move to L.A. within the year. My hope is to find a job first, but if not, I’m still on my way. The job I hold now offers little to no time to work on my scripts (and believe me, I’ve tried….)

So, maybe the answer to this question is hidden on the site someplace. If so, I’m sorry. But, if not, can you tell us where to look for postings on assistant jobs? Or is it just a case of who you know?

And, by the way, I’m a great organizer, with a pleasant phone manner and excellent proofreading skills.