Finding Time to Write as an Assistant

A reader asks:

I am different for most students here in that I committed to it only 6 months ago. I have taken screenwriting classes since sophomore year, but as a pre-med student I was never able to focus on it. I never had time for internships and therefore feel limited in my contacts. I also have no completed scripts or features (just two shorts) though I plan on having a pilot and feature finished by May. I understand that having contacts and a body of work are both important,but having neither, what should I focus on as soon as I graduate? I have heard that jobs good for contacts rarely give enough free time for writing, and vice versa. Is that completely true? 

Another reader asks:

You've been both a Production Assistant as well as a writer's assistant for the executive producers of In Plain Sight- in what ways did you balance out your day job in the industry with your writing projects?

[Note: I was the EPs' assistant, not the writer's assistant.  A shout out to former IPS writer's assistants Brynn Malone (now on staff), Paul Mendoza, and Joelle Garfinkel!]

Writing your own material while working as an assistant takes discipline. Some stay at the office after hours and work on their own material for two hours before going home.  Some find that to focus on their writing, they need a 9-5 day job.  I know several professional writers who are only able to work on their own material while they're on hiatus.

The most important thing as you start out is to find a balance between making connections and generating material.  Both are essential to the process;  if you want to be a writer, you need to have good material, and if you want to get ahead, you need to have connections to read your scripts.

When the EPs of IPS wanted to hire me as a staff writer, I had to submit my specs to the USA network execs.  If I hadn't had the material, I woudn't have landed the job, regardless of my connections.  That said, having a pile of specs and no connections doesn't help either.  If you have two or three well written specs, spend some time meeting people who can help you.  Get a job in industry.

Perhaps you decide to work in a restaurant for a year, finish your screeplay, and then find work in the industry.  Or perhaps you decide you want to gain more industry experience before you start your next script.  One is not more important than the other.

I also know assistants who work for very low-maintenance showrunners who are able to work on their scripts throughout the day.  And assistants who get off every night at 6:30 and have plenty of time and sanity to go home and be creative.  

If you're able to write and make connections simultaneously, that's wonderful.  If you can't, don't fret; just focus on balancing the two.