Bridging Gaps: Spike Morales-Westlake's Contribution to Inclusive Comedy

Photo courtesy of Spike Morales-Westlake.

Spike Morales-Westlake is a dynamic writer with a comedic flair and a unique perspective that is shaped by his upbringing in the small border town of Del Rio, Texas. Spike's journey as a writer began with a realization that his and his community’s perspectives were absent in media. A desire to fill those gaps prompted him to pursue a career in television comedy. After receiving a degree in TV and Film from UT Austin, Spike joined the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program. It served as a pivotal step that provided him with the necessary skills and structure to succeed in the entertainment industry. Through the program, he secured a job as the script coordinator for Goosebumps on Disney+.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer? 

I’m originally from a small town in South Texas called Del Rio. I grew up right on the border so I could walk to Mexico from my house. I didn’t think that my life experience was anything special. Then I left that community and realized, “Oh, okay. I have unique perspective”. I grew up in a more rural area which gave me an understanding of small-town dynamics that I really infuse into my writing now. I tend to write a lot of comedy. I’ll go for the more absurd and the outlandish. I love fast paced stories with an underdog point of view. I also try to incorporate the Latinx and queer experiences.

I went to UT Austin for TV and Film, and then did my last semester of school here in L.A. while interning at NBC. After that, I was able to stay here and a few years later I joined the [Writers’ Access Support Staff Training] Program.

What led you to want to become a writer?

It was realizing that a lot of my identities, and the identities of people that I grew up around, were not represented in media. A lot of people say they have a thing or a person that catapulted them, but for me it was opposite. It was a lack thereof. I had always wanted to write, but that [realization] made it more specific that it was television comedy.

So you don’t have a movie or a TV show that made you want to work in TV?

There were shows that have not necessarily made me want to work in TV, but ones that expanded the possibilities of what TV could be. Shows that made me think, “Oh you can do that? That’s what I want to do”.

Older shows like Will and Grace showed that you can write gay characters on TV that a lot of people will like and appreciate. Then there are shows with fast-paced, ridiculous scenarios like 30 Rock, Arrested Development, and Broad City that expanded on the comedy space.

If you could be in the room and work on any TV show, past or present, what would it be? 

Broad City for sure. It was such a formative show for me in a lot of ways. It came out at a time where I was transitioning into my life in L.A. I had gone to school in Austin, but L.A. is a whole different beast. Being in that bigger city while figuring out my comedy voice, and then seeing these two people come out with this outlandish and crazy show sparked my interest in doing outlandish and crazy things. Also, I will say I’ve been on TikTok recently and I’ve seen a resurgence of Broad City. It’s reignited my affinity for that show. It still has resonance all these years later.

What was your most recent job in entertainment?

Most recently, I was a script coordinator for Goosebumps on Disney+. That was my first script coordinator position. It was a lot to jump into at first. My biggest focus was the scripts—making sure they were edited and formatted correctly, and that there were no glaring errors. Not just in the grammatical sense, but I also had to make sure all the logistics made sense story-wise. Then, I had to distribute materials and be very conscientious of what materials I’m distributing to whom. I also had to work with business affairs. I was handling a lot of paperwork, a lot of WGA and DGA related paperwork. It was a lot of liaising on behalf of the writers room and working with the showrunner closely.

How did the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program prepare you for that position? 

Because this job is so specific, it gave me a structure in terms of what to expect job obligation-wise. Learning and working with the specifics of Final Draft was very helpful because you do have to get very specific in how you work Final Draft for the room. For example, there are very specific ways you keep up with drafts, the changes between drafts, and how to format things correctly. They also taught an awareness of Scenechronize, which I use a lot. They went into the weeds in a way that I would not have gotten if I had done the research completely on my own. It is a job that even sometimes the person hiring doesn’t completely know what it entails. You have to piece things together, and the session really helps prepare you for that.  

How does your view of your career look different before and after the program?

I did the program, and then jumped right into a development position. I did that for about a year and a half. Right after that, because of the program, my resume made it to the Goosebumps production. After that, I’ll say I’ve got a very strong understanding of how to look at this profession. For me, not having been a staff writer or not being in that position that I want to be in yet, it can sometimes feel really abstract. Because it feels abstract, it can feel further away. Going through this program, and then going through the experiences after that, helped cement my view of what the job is. It made it feel more possible. I learned a lot of the ways to function in a room and also how the writers function in respect to the studios and the networks. I learned a lot through the program and after because of it.

Are you still in touch with people that you did the program with?

We have little group chats. During the job, you run into things you don’t expect or something random happens and you wonder if somebody else has done it. If I didn't have that sort of community, it would have been a lot harder. There were definitely times where I had very specific questions that I otherwise would’ve felt crazy asking anybody this because they wouldn't even know the reference point since this job is so specific. It’s so nice to have other people who had script coordinator jobs at the same time I did, because we had that relationship, and we could use each other as resources.

What advice would you give to writers seeking support staff positions?

Don't ever think that anybody is below you or not worth connecting with. Also, don’t take things too personally. Support yourself, don’t get beaten down, but don’t take things too personally. Move forward, focus on your capabilities, and don’t doubt yourself because it doesn’t help.

Last question: when working in entertainment there’s always talk of “getting your foot in the door” and breaking in. Do you think you’ve broken in yet? 

I think I have made a crack. It’s so hard. I don’t know if I will ever be able to definitively say that I’ve broken in. It’s a sentiment I hear a lot of people say, but I can’t ignore how much of a breakthrough I have had by going through the [Writers’ Access Support Staff Training] Program and then getting that script coordinator position. I feel like it propelled me in a lot of ways. I don’t know if I’ve broken in yet, but I definitely made a crack, that’s for sure.

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.

The Magic of Human Connection: Insights from Comedy Writer Kanisha Williams

Photo courtesy of Kanisha Williams.

Kanisha Williams, a comedy writer from Alabama and a Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program alum, shares her journey and insights into her creative process. She writes about women, the supernatural, and the magic of human connection. Her experience in the training program has been pivotal in her career as it has provided her with connections and a deeper understanding of the industry. Most recently, she worked as the script coordinator on A Black Lady Sketch Show.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer? 

I’m from Alabama and I love comedy. I went to the University of Chicago and majored in sociology because the thing I love most about storytelling is relating to real people’s lives. I felt like if I was going to study seriously that it was better to learn a little bit about the world and how to tell real stories before I started telling fictional ones. During the pandemic, I was doing a bit of soul searching and asking myself if I should be doing more and creating things in my day-to-day work. So, I left my job at a nonprofit to work at the Chicago Humanities Festival. Then I got into the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program.

What do you write about?  

I write about women and the supernatural. I love magical realism, rom-coms, and stories about friendship. I think what’s special to me are stories about people from different backgrounds connecting and learning more about the world through each other. These past few years, I’ve left small places to go on and live in so many different big places. Doing that, you’ll find yourself feeling like a fish out of water, and adapting to new water is what I’m really interested in.

How do you think your own personal life experiences have impacted your writing?

For a lot of people, writing is an outlet. For me, when I’m having trouble processing or communicating anything, it helps to make a story out of it. I can ask certain questions and come up with answers that would be impossible in the real world. It helps me figure out what I’m really interested in and what’s on my mind.

Also, I have a younger brother, and he’s so much funnier than I am. He’s always been able to joke himself out of any situation. Growing up, I was his straight man. It’s trained me to be funnier, both intentionally and unintentionally. It’s also made me perceptive. When I’m around people, it’s easy for me to throw a line in and realize after that it was a joke.

Is there any TV show or movie that, looking back, made you want to become a writer? 

Oh, this is an easy question. It was Coraline. I was eleven or so when I first saw it on HBO. It was the first film where I sat down and watched it all the way to the very end of the credits. I was so moved by what I saw. I was bewitched by it. [The film] was a feat of commitment—so many different positions and hundreds of names made this thing I loved. I figured there had to be at least one thing I could get good enough at so that I can be a part of [filmmaking]. As a kid, I was always writing poems and songs, but Coraline made me commit to television and screenwriting.

If you could be in the room and work on any TV show, past or present, what would it be? 

I have a bouquet of answers. The Girlfriends room would have been so fun, especially for where I am in my life now. I want to write about black women who are friends; they love each other, they’re sometimes horrible to each other, and they’re all different from each other. I feel like that room had to have been so much fun.

I feel like I wouldn’t fit in the Cheers room, but Cheers is so cool to me. It would have been cool to see. Abbott Elementary, obviously. You’re the Worst from FX—I loved that show.

Pen15 because I think it’s so weird and amazingly punchy. It has a high bar to climb to get into it, but once you do, you’re like, “OH, I get it”. When I turned 25 or 26, I started going through a weird second adolescence. Watching them do it again on that show was even more, if not reaffirming, then reassuring. It would have been insane to contribute to that.

What was your most recent job in entertainment?

I was the script coordinator on A Black Lady Sketch Show. My responsibilities were to track every draft of every sketch and to proof them. We would have waves of ten to fifteen sketches that would get approved at a time. I would then compile them into a huge packet.

Final Draft, constantly open. Scenechronize, constantly open. We also used Trello for a Kanban board. Each sketch was a card, and we’d move them around to different categories.

Also, my job during production was to make adjustments to this 250-page document to track character names, locations, costumes, hair, make-up, and wardrobe. I had to make sure the script reflected any of those changes before I distributed it out to the cast, crew, and producers.

How did the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program prepare you for that position? 

It gave me an understanding of the process that I, in no way, would have had otherwise. It prepared me for how the different writers in the room at different levels work together. [We learned] what to do, what to expect moving forward into production, what elements are important, and how to support the process not only from knowing how to do your job, but how to be emotionally intelligent in the room.

How does your view of your career look different before and after the program? 

I wouldn’t have even been noticed if I had not done this program. It would not be possible without the opportunity this program provided. I feel a lot more optimistic. This dream that I had of working in TV is now a reality. I have connections and great people that I share a community with. I had the [work] experience so now I think having access to that group of people, the training program alumni, has made it feel more real.

So, you’re still in touch with a lot of people you did the program with?

Yeah, they have been amazing. They have connected me with different people. The [Writers’ Access Support Staff Training] program is very helpful in helping people further their career as well as keeping the alumni engaged. The writers’ assistant that I worked with on A Black Lady Sketch Show [Gia King] and I were in the same cohort of the training program. Getting to work with her was so cool, but we have also stayed in touch and hung out. I’ve made friends too from [the program]. It was fifteen times more fun to work on that show because I got to do that with someone I knew who had gone through the same process as me. That was really nice.

Last question: when working in entertainment there’s always talk of “getting your foot in the door” and breaking in. Do you think you’ve broken in yet? 

No, I don’t think so. There are so many more people to meet, but I think the opportunity this program gave me and the fact that I have been able to do it feels like a big accomplishment. I have connected with so many writers who have actually been [staffed] in rooms and people who have reps. Those are all connections that, a year ago, I didn’t have. So I guess the overall answer is yes, but it’s because I feel really motivated. I feel like there’s so much more to do before I can feel like, “Ah, yes, I’ve broken in for sure”. But I have to say, my situation is completely different after doing the program.

Is there anything else you’d like to add before I let you go? 

I feel so much gratitude. Any time I get to do anything connected to the Writers Guild Foundation is really nice.

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.

Ida Yazdi: From Blueprints to Screenplays

Photo courtesy of Ida Yazdi

Meet Ida Yazdi, an Iranian writer who got her start in the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program. With a background in architecture, Ida pivoted to TV writing, focusing on crafting stories that straddle the line between comedy and drama. She explores themes of reinvention, growth, and humor, often emphasizing Middle Eastern and Muslim perspectives. After her time in the program, Ida worked as the script coordinator for City of Fire and was most recently staffed as a writer on the NBC sitcom Extended Family.  

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer? 

I’m currently based in Los Angeles, but I’m from Iran. We moved from Iran to Birmingham, Alabama. I spent my formative years there and then eventually moved up to the East Coast. I stayed a little in New Jersey, then New York, and then finally found myself in Los Angeles.  

My background was in architecture. I was an architect for a few years before I pivoted toward film and TV. I moved to L.A. a few years ago to focus on TV writing. I really love writing dramadies or grounded, emotional comedies. I focus on people who, like me, have had to reinvent themselves, what that looks like, and finding the humor in that. There’s a lot of stories that focus on what coming of age looks like as a teenager. I like to write about what coming of age looks like in your late twenties, or your thirties, or your forties. I explore what falling on your face looks like when you’re trying to start over—what that looks like as well as the humor and pain of it all. I especially like to focus on Middle Eastern perspectives and Muslim voices.  

You’ve lived in a lot of places that are vastly culturally different. Were those shifts hard?  

Over the years, transitioning between worlds has gotten easier, but it can be exhausting. 

What sparked the shift from architecture to TV writing?  

I have always loved film and TV. I come from a family of storytellers. No one does it professionally, but storytelling is very important to our culture. I never saw it as a viable career option, though. It’s just not the kind of family I grew up in. I have always loved architecture, so to please both my parents and the creative side of me, I decided to pursue that.  

I had this itch to pursue writing in film and TV that kept growing. I wasn’t creatively fulfilled in architecture. It’s not a harsh transition between the two. There are so many parallels between architecture and writing. There’s a lot of structure and form with both.  The way I approach writing is similar to the way you approach designing a building.  

Anyway, I realized it was now or never. I tried the thing that would please my parents, and that didn’t work out. So, I said to myself, “You know what? I’m going to give this a shot. I’ll apply to graduate school. If I get in, then that’s a sign I should pivot and try this thing out”. I got into Columbia, and so I did it.  

What was your first job in entertainment?  

My first job was actually through the Writers Guild Foundation. I got it through the [Writers’ Acccess Support Staff] Training Program.  

When I pivoted, it was the year before COVID, and then I graduated during the pandemic. I didn’t know anything or anyone in this industry. I knew I wanted to write for a television show, and you always hear support staff is a great way to get your feet wet. It is a really great learning experience. You get to learn from the best. But then, I quickly found out how difficult it is to get those support staff roles. Then, I found the [Writers’ Acccess Support Staff Training] program through the Writers Guild Foundation. It was in its first year, and I feel very fortunate to have gotten in. Through this program I got my first real job in this industry as the script coordinator for City on Fire for Apple TV.  

How did the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program prepare you for that position? 

Script coordination is a really tough job. You would think that training would be mandatory since there’s a lot on the line. You're kind of like a one-person department. You're the liaison between the writers, production, the studio, and the network. I’m very thankful for this training because it really prepared me to take on the job.  

Working on City on Fire was a little different because it wasn't a traditional writers’ room. The two showrunners, Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz, wrote every episode. [For] every draft they would write, I would proofread the revisions and check for continuity. I worked very closely with them to get the revisions ready to send out. I also did the credits and got the credits paperwork ready. I would distribute everything to the studio, the network, and to our production crew out in New York. It’s not a 9 to 5 job, especially when you’re in production. It’s around the clock. You’re always on call.  

The program really prepared me to do the job, but the first couple of weeks were intimidating. The great thing about the program was that it gave me a network of people to reach out to. I never felt stuck or unprepared because not only was the training so detailed and helpful, it also gave me that network.  

My second writers’ room, Girls on the Bus, which hasn’t premiered on Max yet, was more of a traditional writers’ room with nine writers. I was a script coordinator for that as well. After that, I got staffed on a show for NBC called Extended Family.  

Is there any TV show or movie that, looking back, made you want to become a writer? 

It’s so funny because the answer I’m going to give is Mad Men, but my work is not reflective of that. Mad Men was the show that I pulled all-nighters to in studio and architecture school. I had two screens up. One was AutoCAD and the second screen was Mad Men. Sometimes it’d be two in the morning, and I’d completely stopped working because I was sucked into Mad Men. I’d stay up watching it until six in the morning. It's the show I keep going back to. I’ve learned so much from how the characters were written and how their relationships were developed.  

If you could be in the room and work on any TV show, past or present, what would it be? 

Oh my God, Beef. That show came out earlier this year and I’ve already watched it four times. I love that show so much. It’s exactly what I want to write. The tone of that show is so delicious. I like to write that blend between comedy and drama. I love how the rage the characters feel sometimes stems from being first-generation. It was an incredible show. It would be a privilege to walk past that writer’s room.  

Last question: when working in entertainment there’s always talk of “getting your foot in the door” and breaking in. Do you think you’ve broken in yet? 

I do think I’ve broken in, but I don’t think it stops there, honestly. I used to think, “Oh, once I break in, I can finally take a deep breath”. That’s not really the case. I feel so, so lucky and fortunate. I can’t believe where I am today. I definitely do think that I have [broken in], and, honestly, a huge part of it is because of the [Writers’ Access Support Staff Training] program. I’m not just saying that. I really mean it. So, yes, and I’m very grateful.  

Is there anything else you’d like to add before I let you go? 

I love to sing the praises of this program. I really mean it. Every door that has been opened has been because of this program. I feel very fortunate to be a staff writer now, and that I have representation, and all these things. They’re all because of the [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training Program. Debbie and Clay are like my guardian angels. I love them. They’re amazing, and I learned so much from them. I went from knowing no one in this city, no one in this industry, to suddenly being in this cohort and having this network. It made it less lonely and more hopeful that I could make writing a career. I love this program. I’m very grateful. I’ve learned so much.  

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.

Shanice Williamson: A Writer's Story of Reinvention and Pursuing Dreams

Photo courtesy of Shanice Williamson

A true “cultural shapeshifter” from both Queens and Dallas, Shanice Williamson, a Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program alum, followed a unique path to become a writer. Her unconventional journey took her through fifteen years as a paralegal, life as a single mom, and a stint as a manager for male strippers before she committed to pursuing a career in entertainment. Most recently, she worked as a script coordinator on an upcoming Bosch spin-off. Her path has not only shaped her as a writer, but also fueled her passion for crafting characters who, like herself, have learned to pursue their dreams. With a life story as diverse and compelling as the scripts she creates, Williamson is a testament to the power of reinvention and an unwavering dedication to chasing one's dreams. 

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer?  

I’m originally from Queens, New York, but I was raised between Queens and Dallas, Texas. With each of my parents being single parents, I was raised between those two places. I like to consider myself a cultural shapeshifter because of that. You could drop me anywhere and I’ll be able to function.

Most of my years have been spent in Atlanta. I was a paralegal for more than fifteen years. I worked at law firms. I worked for the federal court system. I worked for state court systems. Mostly, I worked in clerk’s offices. I loved that and had plans to go to law school. While working for the law firm, though, I wrote and directed a short film and a comedy web series. I loved it. Then I was a background actor for Captain America: Civil War. While everyone else was trying to get on camera, I was following around the crew to try and figure out what everybody did. I completely fell in love with it. I went back home and started researching how I could transition into a film and television industry job. Atlanta offered a program called the Georgia Film Academy where I went to school at night after work to get a film production certificate. From there, I got an internship on a show and worked my up from there. I was an office PA, I worked in accounting, and then I landed in the art department. I mostly worked in props and set dec until I got into the Writers Guild Foundation’s Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program.  

Can you tell me a bit about what you write?  

I write mostly about black women finding themselves and their places in the world. They’re always trying to make themselves better. I consider what I’m doing the second act of my life, having raised sons and been a paralegal before this. So my characters tend to come from a place of feeling stuck. They’re all trying to get themselves unstuck and figure out what they want to do, what their purpose is. I put them on a journey of not only going after a physical goal, but they’re also on a journey of internalizing permission. They all have to give themselves permission to be.  I took way too long to give myself permission to make a film and to pursue a dream that was different than what my parents told me to do. My characters carry that. They carry the weight of general expectations of where they should be while striving to find where they want to be.  

I mostly write comedies, but I will say one of my more celebrated scripts is a drama. I just recently coined the term—it’s all me, not even in the dictionary—that I’m a dual-genre writer. I do write both, but most of my samples are comedies. I think that’s good training because even in a drama room, I can bring some levity. I’m always going to try to make somebody laugh. I’m going to be the silliest person there. My humor is all very self-deprecating. You’re going to giggle even if you read a drama of mine. I can get dark. We’ve all got that trauma we can pull from, but the cure to trauma is laughter. 

Being a former paralegal, have you ever written a show that takes place in the world of the legal system? 

I finally did. I’d go into generals and they’d ask if I had a legal script. I’d be like, “Oh, oh no I don’t. I’ve got my strip club one. I’ve got this. I’ve got that. How about the one with the swingers?” While I was working as a paralegal and raising my kids, I took a bit of detour and managed male strippers. The script that has gotten me the most generals is a workplace comedy about two very different black women trying to run a male strip club in Atlanta. 

Anyhow, there were these lawyers I worked for in Georgia. I loved the guys, but they were all very cis-het, white, male, conservative Southern lawyers. With my cultural shapeshifting, you can throw me in there and I’ll get along, but you can also throw me in a strip club, and I’ll get along. While working for them though, I realized I was up against their mindset. Not the people, but the mindset. From that, I wrote a half-hour workplace comedy called Insubordinates about a paralegal working in a law firm who is trying to affect change from within. I’m working on a legal drama as well. It’s in the vein of Reasonable Doubt with the tiniest smidgen of Ally McBeal.  

You touched on this a bit with being a background actor in Civil War, but was there a TV show or movie that made you want to specifically be a writer? 

Oh, yes. The TV show that inspired me to start writing was the first iteration of Roseanne. In the last season, it was revealed that Roseanne had made up all of the show by going downstairs every night, after taking care of her kids and her family, and writing. She’d go down in the basement and write. In the last episode, it’s revealed that nothing had changed with her kids yelling and running around upstairs. The only difference though was she had finished her manuscript. When I saw that, I said to myself, “Shanice you have no excuse” because I have kids as well. So, I started writing. Roseanne is the show that inspired me to get up off my behind and do something instead of telling myself that I lost that time to go chase that dream.  

What show, past or present, do you wish you could’ve been in the room for?

The show that I wish I had created, if I had I to pick a favorite show of all time, it would be Six Feet Under. For a show that is currently going, I’d say Reasonable Doubt. I do also enjoy adult animation. I thoroughly enjoyed Praise Petey, and Harley Quinn is so good it's going to force me to write an animation pilot. Of course, Abbott Elementary is great. I do love writing workplace. How I Met Your Father... I would’ve loved to have been in the room for that.  

What was your most recent entertainment job?  

I was a script coordinator for an upcoming Bosch spinoff about J. Edgar. Fortunately for me, the showrunner, Larry Andries, is magnificent. He allowed me to be in the room from day one and allowed me to pitch. I was a script coordinator, but I also got to take on researching. I got to create a style guide, a bible almost, because we didn’t have one for Bosch. That was really fun.  

I’m also an assistant to a writer/producer in animation. Before that, I worked in the art department for The Morning Show. I was a director’s assistant on Candy, a Hulu limited series. I was the assistant to the producing director, Michael Uppendahl. I love him and that was, perhaps, my favorite job I’ve ever had. Then I was a producer’s assistant for Bullet Train. I was the art department coordinator for Grand Crew. I was the set coordinator for Roar. Before that I was in Atlanta and worked on a lot of BET shows like The Bobby Brown Story and American Soul.

How did the Writers Access Support Staff Training Program prepare you to be a script coordinator?  

Clay, Debbie and Kira are the most magnificent people that I’ve had the pleasure to meet in this industry. The program was fantastic. It was efficient. If you know Debbie those words are synonymous—Debbie and efficient. I was able to take that job as a script coordinator with no stress because I felt so thoroughly prepared. We went over Final Draft and Scenechronize. Our homework was great. We had to turn around a script multiple times. For writers’ assistant training we had to take notes over Zoom with everyone watching you. Clay and Debbie sprinkled in stories about their experiences. 

It’s hard to pick which was the most helpful. My first thought is always the training, but really the stories were the most helpful. They made me feel not alone—like whatever I was going to encounter in that room, I would be able to text Debbie, Clay, or our Slack about. I have emailed Debbie after 10 P.M. and she gets right back to you because [she] understands what it means to be a script coordinator, to be a writers’ assistant, to be support staff. We also have a network of all the other [program participants] that came before us. We can go in[to the Slack] and ask a question. The best benefit of the training is that you get out and don’t feel alone. It doesn’t feel like the end of training. It’s a community and you cannot survive in LA without community. You cannot survive these jobs without community. For [Debbie, Clay] and Kira to give so much of their time is invaluable.

This is a very competitive industry, and I’ve been lucky to have run across people who are so great. There’s absolutely no way I would have come into my script coordinator position as comfortable as I did without Clay, Debbie, Kira, and the WGF. I would not have been anywhere near ready had I not gotten into the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program. It was an honor to be selected, and that is something that I take very seriously. It’s something that I will continue to give back to as long as I can. It’s just that important. It has reshaped my entire view of being out here working.  

How does your view of your career look different before and after the program? 

Before the program, I did not think that I would ever get into a support staff position. My showrunner found me via the WGF website. There’s so many people that want these jobs. Even with my experience as an art department coordinator, I don’t think I would have gotten the job without the program. My outlook looks more positive now towards the path of being a writer than it would have if I didn’t get into the program.  

Last question: when working in entertainment there’s always talk of “getting your foot in the door” and breaking in. Do you think you’ve broken in yet? 

No, but I feel blessed. I feel lucky. I feel closer. Breaking in would be a showrunner giving me a script. This is my first script coordinator job, so I don’t even expect it, but I feel closer. I am lucky to be here. I know there is still work to be done, but right now I am absorbing, appreciating, and trying to prove myself as support staff.

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.

How the Writers' Access Support Staff Program is Fueling Gia King's Success

Photo courtesy of Gia King.

After earning a degree in Writing for Screen and Television from USC, writer Gia King joined the inaugural class of the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program, which she credits for her early career success. After her time in the program, King, who hails from Los Angeles, worked as a writers’ assistant on a Marvel show and A Black Lady Sketch Show and was later staffed on another Marvel project. As a transgender writer of color, she hopes to provide representation for the younger version of herself who couldn’t find many relatable stories to watch on TV.   

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer? 

I’m from Los Angeles, the North Hollywood area. I’m a Valley Girl. I studied screenwriting at USC, graduated in 2021, and then I applied to the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program where I was accepted into the inaugural class. Honestly, it was one of my favorite learning experiences. Not to disparage USC in any way, but what they teach, and what they should teach, is screenwriting. You study from the masters, learn how to rewrite, edit, and take notes, but you don’t really learn the path to a career in writing in the industry. When I got accepted [to the WASSTP], it felt like the perfect steppingstone from college and the space after where you’re thrust out into the world to an actual career in the industry.

During the program, I was working with so many people with different experience levels and age groups. People had such different stories. Some were young, and just trying to get into the industry. Others were a lot older and made a career in a completely different field. I learned a lot from my classmates as well as our instructors, Clay and Debbie.  They had us break into mock writers’ rooms, provided opportunities for us to hear from industry veterans who had been in support staff positions and worked their way up, and brought in showrunners to tell us what they looked for in writers’ assistants and script coordinators. It was the perfect incubator that allowed me to learn without the pressure of learning it all on the job.

As soon as [the program] ended, our names were circulated around. I got a few interviews and landed a job at Marvel in my first writers’ room as a writers’ assistant. I took all the experience that I gained from the [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training program and hit the ground running. I got assigned a script in that room, which I feel is completely owed to having had a safe space to learn and make mistakes before going into an actual job. I took really good notes because I had learned how to do it so well. I feel like that contributed heavily to my ability to get a script and work my way up from there.  

What was your most recent entertainment job?  

The first job I had straight out of the [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training program was on a Marvel room that, as of now, has not come out yet. I felt so spoiled for it being my first job. We had an amazing showrunner. Right after that room wrapped, I worked as a writers’ assistant on A Black Lady Sketch Show for season four. I worked with another [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training Program graduate, Kanisha Williams. She’s currently back home in Georgia, but I would love for her to come back to LA. I hope that you put this in so she can see it and be convinced to move back to LA. She was my rock during that room.  

After I was done with A Black Lady Sketch Show, I got another call for a mini room back at Marvel with the same showrunner. I did a month-long mini room there, and that was my first job as a staff writer.  

How did being in the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program prepare you for being in the writers’ room, working as a writer’s assistant, and being staffed? 

I definitely would not have gotten my first job without this program, and I wouldn’t have known what to do if I had gotten a writers’ assistant job.  I learned how to take notes. They taught us the hierarchy of the roles in the room. I learned what upper-level execs and showrunners look for in writers’ assistants and support staff.

The program does a really good job at teaching the etiquette of a writers’ room. I was able to be confident going into my first job as a writers’ assistant because I knew when to speak up, when to stay quiet, and when to take notes. Every time I did say an idea or a little pitch, I was always trying to contribute something useful to both the room and the narrative we were working on. That was what allowed me to get my first script assignment. I really proved my capability as a writer, an ideas person, and as someone who can multitask and juggle multiple responsibilities at the same time. After a month my showrunner asked to see one of my samples and assigned me an episode.  

All of that is owed to the program because it hammered home how to keep up with the room. A lot of times in writers’ rooms, people will go on tangents and be like, “What were we talking about? What was the last idea?” Being the person who can come back with what they were talking about, having the note up, and being able to show the train of thought they were on is so important. It’s the base of the job and the fundamental bedrock of the room. If no one is taking notes, so many good ideas would be lost to time. I really value the time they spent hammering good note-taking technique and how to make sure you get what everyone is saying without losing anything that could be gold. 

If you had one piece of advice to give to someone who is trying to get their first support staff position what would it be?  

What helped me stand out in the interview process is to be able to sell yourself just as much as you’re able to sell your capabilities. Everyone who is interviewing is going to talk about their strengths as a note taker, and they’re going to talk about what they can bring to the table as a professional.

You should also make a point to connect with whoever you’re interviewing with on a personal level. Even if you don’t get that position, if they end up going with someone else, they’ll still remember you and your story. I have a five-minute version of how to tell my journey of writing from when I was a kid to where I am now. I can truncate it to thirty seconds, or I can elongate it to ten minutes. Having that, “Here’s who I am. Here’s how you can get to know me” [pitch] lets you find some commonality between your experiences as writers. At the end of the day, the people who are hiring you and the people who are hoping to get you in the writers’ room are writers themselves.  

Can you talk to me about what you like to write and how you ended up being drawn to those stories?  

Most everything I write is coming-of-age related. I was learning, mostly, how to write in college. Every year of college feels like a coming-of-age epiphany. I usually try to do some sort of genre twist on a central coming-of-age narrative. 

I’m a trans lesbian so a lot of what I write has queer content in it and is motivated by the queer stories that I want to tell. I like to say that I write for myself in high school. There was a period in high school where I would watch anything with a boy changing into a girl: Ranma ½, a season of Misfits where one of the guy’s powers was that he could change into a woman. I didn’t have a lot of mainstream trans content to look at. Obviously, it's gotten so much better with Pose, Transparent, and the many other trans stories that are coming out. Still though, a lot of the trans stories that are being told in the industry today are more mature trans stories. A lot of my content is trying to focus on that high school girl who maybe doesn’t realize she’s trans yet but has a feeling that she’s different. Hopefully, I can reach that person because I write for them.  

What show, past or present, would you want to be in the room for if given the opportunity?  

It just ended, but Atlanta. Atlanta was my dream show that I wish I could have written on, been in the room for, or done really anything for. One of my favorite shows of all time is Twin Peaks. When Donald Glover described Atlanta as Twin Peaks for rappers, I was like, “I have to watch the entirety of that show.” It’s perfect from start to finish. I would love to write something as amazingly Afro-Surrealist and wild as that show.  

Last question: when working in entertainment there’s always talks of “getting your foot in the door” and breaking in. Do you think you’ve broken in yet? 

I would say, thanks to the program, I’ve probably broken in. I don’t know if I’ve made a scene on the industry yet, but I’ve definitely got my foot in the door. I got my first staff writer credit, and I think I’ll say I’ve broken in. I’ll toot my own horn a little bit.  

Is there anything else you’d like to add before I let you go? 

I was literally talking to people like an hour before I came here about the program and my experience with it. I talk to anyone that I can possibly about it especially when people are like, “You’re so young. How are you here?” I always tell them that it’s all thanks to this little thing called the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program.  

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.