INDUSTRY 101 EVENT SERIES
Writers Rooms 101:
Writers Assistants + Script Coordinators
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 | 5-6:30 PM PT | Online
There's more to a writers’ room than ideas, coffee, and index cards. There are also people.
This includes the writers, and the people who write down all the ideas that get thrown out. And the people who track all the changes that get made to a script after rewrite after rewrite after rewrite. And the people who proofread. And the people who get coffee. These Writers PAs, Writers’ Assistants, and Script Coordinators are unsung heroes equipped with grit, gumption, and La Croix.
This panel focuses on the nitty-gritty of a writers room and the staff that make them, and will demystify what goes on in them, covering everything from the multicolored script pages to the lunch menu.
PANELISTS
Joining us for this event are Writers Guild Foundation Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program instructors Debbie Ezer and Clay Lapari & WASSTP co-creators Liz Alper and Mike Royce.
Liz Hsiao Lan Alper
Liz is a writer, activist, and twitter addict. Her credits include The Rookie, Day of the Dead, and Two Sentence Horror Stories. Alongside fellow writers Tanya Saracho and Michael Royce, Alper co-founded the Hollywood Support Staff Training Program, an intensive Writer’s Assistant/Script Coordinator bootcamp that equips candidates from traditionally underserved background with the skills they’d need to step into a support staff position in a Hollywood writers’ room. She has been a guest speaker on NPR’s The Frame, Planet Money, and KCRW’s The Business.
She most recently served as a writer/producer on the upcoming Amazon series, Ballard, a spin-off of the Michael Connolly series Bosch.
Mike Royce
Mike Royce began his show business career as a standup comic, quickly becoming a fixture at the Comedy Cellar and other New York City clubs, and appearing on a bevy of television shows, including Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
Mike then joined the writing staff of Everybody Loves Raymond, eventually becoming one of its executive producers. During his six seasons writing for the show, he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing, for his episode "Counseling.” He and the other Raymond writers and producers won two Emmys for Best Comedy.
Later, Mike co-created the acclaimed dramedy Men of a Certain Age for TNT (it currently streams on MAX) and served as its showrunner. Along with glowing critical notices, Men of a Certain Age won the Peabody Award in 2011, as well as the Television Academy Honors Award for “programming that inspires, informs, motivates and even has the power to change lives.”
After that, Mike executive produced and co-showran the critically beloved Fox comedy Enlisted, about three brothers in the military.
Most recently he teamed up with Gloria Calderón Kellett to create and run 4 seasons of One Day at a Time, a reimagining of TV legend Norman Lear’s classic sitcom, set around the life of a Cuban-American family, for Netflix and PopTV. The Washington Post called it a “perfect revival” and “a joy to watch,” and the series earned overwhelming critical praise, enjoying a lifetime average 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes. One Day at a Time was twice-nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy.
MODERATORS
Debbie Ezer
Debbie is a writer who has also worked as a Script Coordinator and Writers' Assistant in Television on network and cable dramas as well as single-camera and multi-camera comedies. She is a recovering attorney (having practiced as a litigator), former SAT math instructor and retired improv comedy performer who always endeavors to present the material in an organized, efficient and hopefully entertaining fashion.
Clay Lapari
Clay Lapari is a television writer whose recent credits include Marvel’s WonderMan and the iCarly reboot. Prior to being staffed, Clay spent years working as a Script Coordinator for a variety of single and multi-camera comedies including Community, WandaVision, Wrecked and School of Rock. He is a co-instructor for the WGF's Writers Access Support Staff Training Program.
