The Business of Screenwriting: Always be nice to the assistants

In the heady days after our spec script K-9 sells, we have several meetings with our agents at Bauer / Benedek (a boutique lit agency that later merged with others to become UTA). Those meetings are largely about… well, meetings, as that’s what happens in Hollywood: new talent shuttles around town, meeting producers and studio execs.Seeing as we are outsiders and I especially am clueless in the ways of Hollywood decorum, these meetings about meetings involve our agents giving us tips, guidelines, even words of warning to prepare us for our immersion into the world of networking.

At the end of one of these meetings, Marty stops us just as we are getting ready to leave. Shifting his gaze back and forth between us, Marty says, “This is important. Whatever you do, be nice to the assistants.”

He pauses, then asks, “Do you want to know why you should be nice to the assistants?”

We nod our heads in unison.

“Because some day… they could be your boss.”

Cut to some years later. Different writing partner. We have written a spec feature, great high concept action-comedy. Looking for new representation. My partner has recently met a young guy named Michael. B.A. in 1987 in theater arts from UCLA’s College of Fine Arts. Pursued acting for several years, but decided to switch career paths. Landed a gig as an assistant to the agent Jon Levin at CAA.

Michael reads our script. Loves it. We meet. Hit it off. “I’d like to have Jon read this,” he says. Jon does. He loves the script. And that’s how we end up being represented at CAA.

Meanwhile Michael demonstrates a keen eye for talent and becomes a junior lit agent at CAA. Then he moves over to CBS to work on the network’s movies and miniseries, eventually becoming a vice president. In 2002, Michael moved over to TNT, then in 2004 was named senior vice president. Today Michael is the executive vice president and head of programming for TNT, TBS, and TCM.

That’s Michael as in Michael Wright.

Here is a brief interview with Michael:

And here is a feature on Michael in the most recent UCLA magazine. A key quote that echoes the video interview:

We have a phrase at Turner: Network executives don’t create great television; talent does. Our job is to put them in position to succeed. How great is it to be able to pick up a phone and call up your storytelling heroes and ask them to come work on a TV show? And to watch them work? That’s the great piece of this job, the unique bond formed between people engaged in making something.

Michael has orchestrated the development and production of numerous successful TNT series including “The Closer,” “Saving Grace,” “Leverage,” and “Dark Blue,” as well as many original movies and miniseries, and is arguably one of the key figures in helping cable TV become the juggernaut it is today in scripted programming.

And at one time, Michael was somebody’s assistant.

So when you break into Hollywood as a writer and you take all those meetings, make sure you’re nice to the assistants. Because some day… they could be your boss.

UPDATE: I was so deep into Hollywood-think, I forgot another reason to be nice to assistants. You know, just to be… nice. Like assistants are human beings, too. Worthy of respect and all that.

UPDATE #2: Michael has moved on to become CEO of DreamWorks Studios.

The Business of Screenwriting is a weekly series of GITS posts based upon my experiences as a complete Hollywood outsider who sold a spec script for a lot of money, parlayed that into a screenwriting career during which time I’ve made some good choices, some okay decisions, and some really stupid ones. Hopefully you’ll be the wiser for what you learn here.