I’m happy/sad to announce that Matt Byrne, my assistant since post-production on The Nines, has been hired as a staff writer on the new ABC drama Scandal.
Not only is Matt a great writer, he’s a former CNN White House producer, so he’s pretty much the ideal fit for a show about political dealings in the nation’s capital. It’s a great next step for him.
In addition to producing [The Remnants](http://vimeo.com/2755105) (with Dan Etheridge), Matt was the first assistant to write posts for the site, covering topics like [Kickstarter](http://johnaugust.com/2011/raising-movie-funds-on-kickstarter) and [Star Trek](http://johnaugust.com/2009/trek-writer). He’s promised to write in with a report about his first stint writing for TV, but for now he’s already busy breaking stories.
Stuart Friedel will be taking over as my assistant.
He’s a 2010 graduate of the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC, and spent the past year working at Disney Channel and Disney XD. He previously interned with Wes Anderson, Ad Hominem, Tim and Eric and Smallville, and made a documentary about the mailman on Mister Rogers.
So, a slacker.
I already have a stack of new projects for Stuart to tackle, and anticipate giving him a larger editorial presence (and byline) on the site.
In the meantime, join me in saying bon voyage to Matt, and hello to Stuart.