Desk of Amy Suto

Writing, running, and eating danger for breakfast.

A Day in the Life of a Hollywood Agency Assistant

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a day in the life of a hollywood agency assistant

This is part two in my series about how to survive that #assistantlife. Read part one here.

As an assistant at an agency, you’re fighting two battles: not only are you constantly putting out fires and helping clients and managing their schedules and your bosses’ schedule and working 11+ hour days to solve problems for writers and directors, but then you have to some how find a way to carve out time to do the job you WANT.

For me, and a lot of us, that job is writing. Yes, it’s an art form, but you have to treat it like a job before it can become your art. Step number one for assistants trying to be writers is to show up and actually write.

And then you have to network, balance the job, and be a real human and do laundry and run errands and also have fun and hang out with people and live life.

Oh hi real life, I didn’t see you there behind the MOUNTAINS OF WORK I HAVE TO DO.

Anyways, I’ve spent the better part of the past five months trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing and I think I came up with some semblance of a routine that makes this job a little less of a constant roller coaster and singular high-pitched scream, and more of a slow-motion car-chase (cool and only a disaster sometimes.)

Here’s what my typical day looks like: [Read more…]

Writer’s Life: Finding Creativity & Maslow’s Hierarchy

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amysutocreativitywritinginspiration

I work Hollywood hours. Up at 5am or 6am to write (depending on the project I’m working on), out the door by 8am, at my agency by 8:30am, and back home by 8pm if I’m lucky (if I have networking drinks, make that 10pm.)

When I drag myself out of bed, sloshing coffee into a mug as I fall into my desk chair and stare, bleary-eyed at my computer — well, inspiration doesn’t always visit that early. Sometimes I spend time writing blog posts, short stories, essays — just trying to jog my creativity. One particular horrible morning after I had slept for less than five hours, I just wrote “fuck” over and over and over on my screen until, five minutes before I had to be out the door, a scene hit me and I started writing something real.

So how can us writers who work in the industry find ways to stay inspired on a schedule? 
[Read more…]

How to Survive Working as a Hollywood Agency Assistant (Part I: Why the Agency Route?)

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To be honest, when I started as an agency assistant, life was hard. In my second week, I remember staying until 10pm eating ramen alone at my desk wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. I broke up with my boyfriend at the time because he didn’t understand why I would *want* to spend 11+ hours at a desk answering a phone and sending a million of emails.

realityofbeinganagencyassistant

yes, that is a stockpile of food under my desk for inevitable late nights during my first three weeks

Now, just three months in, everything’s changed: I’ve mastered many aspects of my job that were once overwhelming, I’m meeting incredible people who work in the industry from our talented writer clients to network executives, I’ve learned so much from my boss, a successful TV lit agent who is so inspiring to me — and most importantly, I’ve carved out time to write, network, and advance my own career goals on top of working eleven hours a day.

After honing my taste, my systems, and seeking out what parts of the job are most valuable, I’m happy — and here to share how to survive (and thrive) as an agency assistant.

Why Go the Agency Route?

First off, it’s not for everyone. It’s a fast-paced job with long hours — and most places you get paid minimum wage (or a dollar or two above) plus overtime and benefits. Some agents (luckily not mine) are demanding and challenging, and you have to grow thick skin to deal with some of the abuse.

However, the payoffs are huge: agents are at the center of it all, so their ability to help you find that perfect next job is key to getting your career to the next step. You’re constantly communicating with writers, execs (or their assistants), showrunner’s assistants, and other assistants who will one day run this town. The networking opportunities are unlike any other job, and you’ll learn every aspect of the business. It’s a grad school you get paid to attend as long as you can keep up with the pace and intensity. [Read more…]

Working in Hollywood and the Cost of Ambition

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37th College Television Emmys at the Skirball Cultural Center on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)
37th College Television Emmys at the Skirball Cultural Center on Wednesday, May 25, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)

In a whirlwind two months, I graduated from USC with a degree in screenwriting, won some shiny things from USC and from the Television Academy for the series I wrote and created, started full-time as an assistant to an awesome TV lit agent at Verve, and made some incredible new friends.

college television emmys television foundationYet not everything survived the transition into the real world, and I ended yet another relationship that crumbled in the face of my long hours and steadfast dedication to my career. It’s no secret that the path to becoming a TV writer is a long road that requires both the fortitude and portfolio to succeed in a sea of overqualified candidates, and while I’m in it for the long haul, sometimes the people I date see my love for my work as a limitation instead of a key part of who I am. [Read more…]

Inside the USC Writing for Screen and Television BFA Program

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USC undergraduate symposium CON nomination
Nominated for CON in the Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and creative work. Left: Jen Enfield-Kane, Audrey Emerson, Amy Suto

Because I’m graduating soon, it’s about time that the nostalgia hit full force. Tonight is my last USC class, ever, and it’s all beginning to sink in.

I’ve been doing a few panels for admitted screenwriters and have been answering a lot of questions about the program, so I thought I’d write about what it’s been like going to school here for the Writing for Screen and Television program. The program itself is harder to get into than Harvard Law, and I’m part of a class of something like 25 other screenwriters. Not everyone can handle the pressure of the program, and not everyone will leave still wanting to be a writer.

Coming out of USC, I’ve written four original pilots, two TV spec episodes (one comedy, one drama), three features, 50 pages of a novel, and over two hours of original series that were also produced.

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in a writer’s room with Jack Hackett and Maggie Admire for a short film

That’s roughly 860 script pages and 50 novel pages, and that’s not counting the dozens of short films, short stories, and writing exercises required for my classes.

I’ve won a few awards, am nominated for a College Television Emmy, and am slowly beginning to enter the professional marketplace with two of my low-budget features I hope to get made, so the program has been a success —  but abandon sleep all ye who enter here! The program is intense, your professors will push you to your limits, your classmates will tell you that you can do better, and you get out of the USC WST program what you put into it.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the classes I took and what my experience has been like:  [Read more…]

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