Television Development

by Bob Levy

  Before I explain why working as a lit agent’s assistant is the best entry-level job for aspiring development professionals, let’s look generally at what almost all development assistants (including lit agents’ assistants) do. Assistants in TV development in Hollywood all: 1) answer and screen their boss’s calls, 2) keep their boss’s calendars (agents’ assistants also keep calendars of their boss’s clients, but I’ll talk more about that in a moment), 3) manage the inflow and outflow of material – scripts, outlines, pitches, treatments, series bibles, and IP like books, magazine articles, comic books, etc., and 4) in most cases, read all the material that goes through their boss’s office.

  The fun and fascinating part of the first assistant responsibility just mentioned is that it’s Hollywood SOP (standard operating procedure) for assistants to monitor their boss’s calls, to listen in on everything. Just about everybody does this, and it’s awesome. The practice is largely practical. Assistants are expected to be 100% up-to-speed on their boss’s business, and monitoring the boss’s day-to-day, minute-by-minute transactions is the best way to do that. Additionally, assistants typically take notes for their bosses during calls. Assistants note names, dates, numbers, script or show titles so the boss is free to focus on the conversation and not fumble with a notepad or keyboard. The learning opportunity offered to aspiring development execs by monitoring calls is limitless. Lit agents often make dozens and dozens of calls per day, which offers the chance for assistants to closely observe their bosses’ business conversations with countless development professionals at various levels – development execs, producers, writer clients and other agents – and is an invaluable education. Not only does the assistant hear up-close and first-hand how the business of TV development is transacted, the assistant also learns the business styles, personalities and habits of hundreds, potentially thousands of working development professionals.

  The agency assistant (and most other development assistants) answers and screens incoming calls, and the assistant also “rolls” calls for his boss. The boss rattles off a list of six, eight, ten names to call as the assistant writes them down, then the assistant calls the offices of those names one at a time, in order, announces the boss to the assistant answering the phone and connects the call if the callee takes the call or “leaves word” if the callee has to return the call. After each call the assistant moves down the list to the next name, continuing the process. An agent might roll calls (from her office, her car, an airport lounge in London, anywhere) for hours on end, while the assistant listens in, taking notes for her boss (and herself) and learning, learning, learning (while also fielding incoming calls – juggling non-stop!).

  Agency assistants and other assistants throughout the development business keep phone sheets, logs of calls owed, callers left word for, and people to call.1 Agents and development execs frequently have dozens and dozens of names and numbers on their phone sheets at any given moment, and it’s the assistant’s job to make sure they’re up to date and 100% accurate. (“Dropping a call,” forgetting to return a call, because of an assistant screw-up infuriates agents and executives.)

  An agency assistant’s second responsibility is keeping his boss’s calendar and coordinating with other assistants to schedule events. An agent’s schedule includes internal company meetings, external meetings at networks, studios and elsewhere, meal and drinks meetings, conference calls, table readings, tapings and screenings, not to mention occasional travel. A half-dozen assistants might coordinate via email to schedule a conference call that works for all their bosses’ schedules. Schedules are constantly in flux and change all the time, resulting in assistants all over LA scrambling at the last minute to reschedule.

  Not only do agency assistants keep their boss’s calendar, lit agent assistants coordinate and keep schedules for all their boss’s clients. Only writers who have studio development deals, working showrunners and senior-level writers on writing staffs have their own assistants to keep their calendars. For all the other TV writers someone has to set meetings and keep them coordinated. That someone is typically the writer’s agent’s assistant. This is one facet of the agency assistant job that’s different from most development exec assistant jobs – a development exec’s assistant keeps his boss’s schedule but that’s it; there isn’t a roster of clients to keep schedules for as well.

  The agency assistant coordinates a massive inflow and outflow of material, submitting client writing samples to execs, producers and showrunners, and receiving submissions (books, articles, etc.) for the agent’s and her many clients’ consideration, keeping everything logged and heading in the right direction.

  Working as an assistant at a talent agency is a difficult job that requires very long hours. Agency assistants often get into the office as early as 8:00 am (or earlier) so they’re on hand to roll calls as their boss drives to her breakfast meeting, and then they stay as late as 8:00 pm (or later) to ensure the boss has arrived comfortably at her dinner meeting (rolling calls until the moment she arrives), then they finish up on the long checklist of tasks now that the boss has tucked into her dinner and the assistant finally has a few moments of peace and quiet at his desk.

  Assistants keep up with as much of their boss’s reading as possible so they can follow the specifics of work conversations (which often are about material) that they’re privileged to overhear. Material is the lifeblood of the business, and, while the clerical responsibilities of the job are the assistant’s first responsibility, keeping up with the creative content of the office offers him the best possible education and experience.

  Why is being an agency assistant the best entry-level job for aspiring development executives? The assistant desk at a thriving talent agency offers the widest possible window onto the entire business. Talent agencies deal on a daily basis with every TV network and studio and many production companies. Assistants at talent agencies have an opportunity to observe and interact with the widest possible range of development professionals, representing the widest possible range of kinds of companies. Assistants at TV networks don’t typically interact professionally with other networks. Assistants at agencies talk to everyone.

  Agencies are also closest to talent, the life force of the entertainment business. The writer is at the center of all development, and writers, directors and actors are central to all production. Watching skilled, experienced agents work with talent is a great educational opportunity. Agency assistants also begin to build their own direct relationships with clients, and learn the specific qualities that agencies look for in prospective clients.

  In addition to the invaluable education assistants get from their view of the industry, there’s something even more valuable: relationships. Hollywood in general and TV development in particular is personal. Business is about relationships. It’s about confidence, trust and comfort. “I know you, like you, and trust you – I want to do business with you.” Unlike many other businesses, Hollywood doesn’t care as much about resumes and college pedigrees as it cares about first-hand, trustful relationships and personal recommendations. If Executive A hears from long-respected Agent B that Job Applicant C is a trusted, valued employee with great potential, that’s what matters. Agent B places his personal and professional stamp onto Job Applicant C and if Agent B is a trusted, respected member of the professional community, that personal stamp of approval is invaluable.

  Agents sell people and their talents. That’s what they do for a living. Agents also typically run a pro-bono sideline practice in helping people get jobs. Agents kibitz on the phone all day, talking to development professionals. In addition to information pertinent to their clients, they always have their ears open for news of job openings. Agents are the ultimate professional yentas – that’s their job! When they hear an executive job is opening, they run through their mental checklist (or actual list) of potential candidates they like and want to help, and “put up” candidates for the job. When an agent hears of a job opening, she calls a candida
te friend who comes to mind, asks him if he’s interested, and, if he is, calls the hiring exec and pitches or “puts up” the candidate for the job. If the hiring exec is open to that idea, the agent helps put the parties together to meet. The agent receives no pay for this, but almost every agent at every level does this for two reasons. One, they do it out of genuine friendship. They enjoy helping people they like and respect. Second, they earn something that’s sometimes even more important than money, indebtedness. The professional friend whom they helped get a great new job owes them a favor and might look extra kindly on the agents’ clients in the future. If the hiring exec is happy with her new employee, she’s also grateful to the agent for making the introduction and will look for ways to help the agent in return. “Placing” an executive friend in a new job is also a way of extending the agent’s personal network into that office, that department or that company, deepening his network of extra-professional relationships throughout the industry.

  Most entry-level development assistants hope to move up from being assistants after a year or two of assistant work. Being an assistant at a talent agency creates potentially very strong ties to exactly the people in the development business with the greatest chance of helping place a young person into their first executive job. Many agency assistants stay in the agency business and work their way up to become agents themselves. But many agency assistants aspire to become development execs and, when they prove themselves to their agent bosses, when they’ve “paid their dues,” the agent boss is the ideal person to help that aspiring development exec find her first exec job. Talent agency assistant desks are a pipeline for junior executive talent throughout the business. That’s why so many agency assistants put up with low pay, punishing hours and the occasional difficult boss. It’s a great stepping-stone out of the entry-level ranks and into the executive ranks.

  An agency assistant desk is also a fantastic networking opportunity in and of itself. Because agency assistants are interacting with so many other assistants at so many companies in so many corners of TV development, the agency assistant builds strong professional and extra-professional relationships. As assistants get their first promotions and become executives they typically stay connected to their “class” of assistants with whom they’ve bonded over the years, and they tend to look out for each other. A former assistant who’s now a junior exec might hear of a great job opening up and text an assistant friend to jump on the opportunity. In this way, generations of assistants have helped pull each other up, leap-frogging each other up the rungs of the industry ladder. Importantly, this I’ll-keep-an-eye-out-for-you-if-you-do-the-same-for-me behavior tends to continue throughout entire careers. Agency senior partners help network presidents and vice versa, a dynamic of both friendship and professional support that in many cases began decades earlier when the two were overworked entry-level assistants. The strength of these kinds of extra-professional relationships is one of the many facets of Hollywood and TV development that make it such a strong, vibrant and exciting business.

  If the life of the agency assistant doesn’t sound difficult enough, the assistant job often isn’t even the first rung on the ladder. At many major talent agencies young people are promoted to assistant after time spent working in the mailroom. Yes, some Hollywood talent agencies still have mailrooms that employ college-educated, business-attired people in their early to mid-20s who work to impress their bosses in the hope of getting promoted to become assistants. Mailroom trainees literally sort mail and walk the halls of talent agencies pushing mail carts, delivering mail (or, more likely these days, Amazon packages) to agents and assistants. Successful mailroom trainees are promoted first to become “floaters,” rookie assistants who move from desk to desk, filling in for fulltime assistants while they’re away on vacations, personal days, sick days and doctor’s appointments. Floaters have the challenging task of proving themselves to agents they report to temporarily, hoping to impress them and get a fulltime assignment when another assistant gets promoted to agent, gets a job as a junior exec at another company or gives up and quits the business.

  Leaving an agency assistant desk to land a job as junior network, studio or production company development exec is ideal, but the next best thing for many in that position is moving laterally at the assistant level to a desk at a company closer to their career goal, working in the development suite of a network, studio or production company. Agency assistants who choose not to become agents might realize that moving to a network, studio or production company is preferable to staying at an agency, even if it means continuing to work as an assistant for another year or two (or more).

  Some assistants at networks, studios and production companies find those jobs after working as an intern, sometimes within the development department, sometimes at the company but in another department. NBC continues to offer its NBC Page program. Pages are navy-blazer-wearing young people who guide tours and welcome guests to the company’s offices in LA and New York. NBC pages are occasionally promoted to become assistants within the company. Meeting a senior exec or producer, one still occasionally hears the biographical factoid, “I began my career as an NBC page.”

  Another strategy for aspiring development assistants (and hopeful development execs) is to get into a network or studio wherever possible and then strategize movement within the company into the development suite. Networks and studios are huge companies, and often jobs in the departments that don’t deal directly with programming are much easier to break into than the more “glamorous” and competitive programming suites.

  One of the great things about the culture of Hollywood is that ambition is encouraged and rewarded. Hollywood admires chutzpah. Everyone working in TV development has an eye out for their next job up the ladder, and everyone else knows it and respects it. Everyone knows that just about every assistant wants to get promoted to junior exec, and everyone knows that every head of development wants to get promoted to run the company. And every rung of the ladder in between. Everyone has to work their butts off at their current jobs, take those jobs seriously and deliver results, but in Hollywood it’s ok and even respected to have ambition, to want to move up and not have to hide it.

  The best career strategy in the entertainment industry, especially at the lower levels, is to be awesome. Young people should tackle their first jobs with everything they have, plan to prioritize their lives to devote almost every waking hour to their jobs, arriving at work early, staying late, being friendly, positive, courteous, happy, eager, dedicated, and grateful all day every day to earn the respect of their boss and other senior colleagues. Young people working in their first jobs in entertainment should be “the awesome guy,” the young man or woman who always has a cheerful attitude, who’s always ready to volunteer for assignments (even the most menial, least glamorous ones), and, most importantly, who gets the job done right and on time with no drama and with a positive disposition.

  Here’s a funny thing: College educations are often about developing smart, sophisticated opinions. Liberal arts majors write papers arguing their opinions about literature, philosophy and history. We come out of college as highly developed opinion makers. Then young people get entry-level entertainment jobs and suffer the painful discovery that all their great opinionating skills aren’t appreciated. Interns and assistants have task-oriented expectations not opinion-oriented expectations. The culture of Hollywood admires chutzpah, but the culture is also, as discussed earlier, hierarchical. In the hierarchical culture of TV development, people earn the standing to have opinions over time. When an assistant proves he is thoroughly competent and can efficiently deliver results to his boss, the boss might ask his opinion about a script or an idea. Junior development execs are expected to have opinions, but they’re also expected to read the room, honor the pecking order of the people they’re working with and defer to senior execs. Interestingly (and frustratingly) it’s not uncommon for younger interns to be asked their opinion before fulltime assistants. In
terns are short-term guests who are there to learn. Assistants are members of the family who are there to do hard, laborious, unglamorous work and demonstrate competence, professionalism and a positive attitude to earn the privilege to move up into a role that asks their opinion. Once assistants work their way up, their ideas and opinions become valued, and their futures largely depend on the power, imagination and taste of those ideas and opinions. But everyone in entertainment has to earn that opportunity. It’s a good strategy for young people to understand the hierarchy, put their nose to the grindstone and read the room for appropriate moments to chime in while working their way up the ladder.

  As I mentioned earlier, getting that first entertainment job, that first toe in the water, is often difficult but not impossible. The first truism of getting first jobs is that you have to be here. It’s almost impossible to get a first job in Hollywood from a long distance. It’s too competitive. There are too many people vying for those opportunities, and most employers will give preference to people who are already here and ready to go immediately. In part, it’s construed as a testament to a prospective employee’s seriousness. Moving your life to Los Angeles is a big commitment, but it conveys to future employers that you mean it and that you’re committing your future to the industry. In most cases, employers will think to themselves, “There are thousands of people who are here; I’ll go with one of them first.”

  The best strategy for landing a first job is: 1) move to LA and 2) hustle. Be proactive. Meet people. Put yourself out there. Ask everyone you know in Los Angeles if they know people who work in the area of entertainment you want to work in. If they do, ask if they’d be comfortable making an introduction. If new contacts are young and employed at a lower level, offer to buy them a cup of coffee or a beer for the chance to introduce yourself and pick their brain. If the contacts are older and at a more senior level, ask if they’d be open to an “information interview.” An information interview is where a young person visits an entertainment professional’s office for 15 to 20 minutes to ask questions about the senior person’s field, company and career, but not in the context of a job interview (as there’s no job to interview for). It’s an opportunity to learn information about the person and his work.