The Free WGA TV Support Staff Training Program Is Open for Entries
Are you ready to be trained to work in television?
The Writers Guild Initiative, which is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Writers Guild of America East, has opened a new Support Staff Training Program for aspiring TV writers that is set to launch in May.
The idea here is to support people from marginalized communities. The Support Staff Program, which is funded by a grant from NBCUniversal, provides individuals with two career tracks on the support-staff level: writer's assistant and script coordinator.
If accepted, you will be trained on industry-standard programs such as Final Draft and work in virtual writers' room simulations.
This is an incredible opportunity for people to achieve their dreams.
WGA East vice president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, who also co-chairs the WGA East Committee for Inclusion and Equity and is co-founder of Pathways to the WGA East for Pre-WGA writers, connected with NBCUniversal to fund the pilot program.
Cullen said, “I am deeply proud of my employer NBCUniversal for providing the funding to kick off this important initiative for BIPOC emerging writers, who have long been told support staff jobs are the way into writers’ rooms and therefore into the Guild. In fact, they can get stuck in those roles for years, partly because ‘there’s no one else’ to take their place. This program will help unclog the pipeline by providing trained support staff to fill those gaps.”
So who are they looking for? The program’s first wave will accept up to 10 applicants. Eligible applicants need to have previously worked as production assistants but have not served as writers' assistants or script coordinators on a television series. Writers of color, LGBTQ+ writers, disabled writers, or writers over 40 are encouraged to apply, and you should be based in the eastern area of the United States.
If you're interested in applying, click here and follow the instructions.
