How the Writers' Access Support Staff Program is Fueling Gia King's Success

Photo courtesy of Gia King.

After earning a degree in Writing for Screen and Television from USC, writer Gia King joined the inaugural class of the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program, which she credits for her early career success. After her time in the program, King, who hails from Los Angeles, worked as a writers’ assistant on a Marvel show and A Black Lady Sketch Show and was later staffed on another Marvel project. As a transgender writer of color, she hopes to provide representation for the younger version of herself who couldn’t find many relatable stories to watch on TV.   

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey as a writer? 

I’m from Los Angeles, the North Hollywood area. I’m a Valley Girl. I studied screenwriting at USC, graduated in 2021, and then I applied to the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program where I was accepted into the inaugural class. Honestly, it was one of my favorite learning experiences. Not to disparage USC in any way, but what they teach, and what they should teach, is screenwriting. You study from the masters, learn how to rewrite, edit, and take notes, but you don’t really learn the path to a career in writing in the industry. When I got accepted [to the WASSTP], it felt like the perfect steppingstone from college and the space after where you’re thrust out into the world to an actual career in the industry.

During the program, I was working with so many people with different experience levels and age groups. People had such different stories. Some were young, and just trying to get into the industry. Others were a lot older and made a career in a completely different field. I learned a lot from my classmates as well as our instructors, Clay and Debbie.  They had us break into mock writers’ rooms, provided opportunities for us to hear from industry veterans who had been in support staff positions and worked their way up, and brought in showrunners to tell us what they looked for in writers’ assistants and script coordinators. It was the perfect incubator that allowed me to learn without the pressure of learning it all on the job.

As soon as [the program] ended, our names were circulated around. I got a few interviews and landed a job at Marvel in my first writers’ room as a writers’ assistant. I took all the experience that I gained from the [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training program and hit the ground running. I got assigned a script in that room, which I feel is completely owed to having had a safe space to learn and make mistakes before going into an actual job. I took really good notes because I had learned how to do it so well. I feel like that contributed heavily to my ability to get a script and work my way up from there.  

What was your most recent entertainment job?  

The first job I had straight out of the [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training program was on a Marvel room that, as of now, has not come out yet. I felt so spoiled for it being my first job. We had an amazing showrunner. Right after that room wrapped, I worked as a writers’ assistant on A Black Lady Sketch Show for season four. I worked with another [Writers’ Access] Support Staff Training Program graduate, Kanisha Williams. She’s currently back home in Georgia, but I would love for her to come back to LA. I hope that you put this in so she can see it and be convinced to move back to LA. She was my rock during that room.  

After I was done with A Black Lady Sketch Show, I got another call for a mini room back at Marvel with the same showrunner. I did a month-long mini room there, and that was my first job as a staff writer.  

How did being in the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program prepare you for being in the writers’ room, working as a writer’s assistant, and being staffed? 

I definitely would not have gotten my first job without this program, and I wouldn’t have known what to do if I had gotten a writers’ assistant job.  I learned how to take notes. They taught us the hierarchy of the roles in the room. I learned what upper-level execs and showrunners look for in writers’ assistants and support staff.

The program does a really good job at teaching the etiquette of a writers’ room. I was able to be confident going into my first job as a writers’ assistant because I knew when to speak up, when to stay quiet, and when to take notes. Every time I did say an idea or a little pitch, I was always trying to contribute something useful to both the room and the narrative we were working on. That was what allowed me to get my first script assignment. I really proved my capability as a writer, an ideas person, and as someone who can multitask and juggle multiple responsibilities at the same time. After a month my showrunner asked to see one of my samples and assigned me an episode.  

All of that is owed to the program because it hammered home how to keep up with the room. A lot of times in writers’ rooms, people will go on tangents and be like, “What were we talking about? What was the last idea?” Being the person who can come back with what they were talking about, having the note up, and being able to show the train of thought they were on is so important. It’s the base of the job and the fundamental bedrock of the room. If no one is taking notes, so many good ideas would be lost to time. I really value the time they spent hammering good note-taking technique and how to make sure you get what everyone is saying without losing anything that could be gold. 

If you had one piece of advice to give to someone who is trying to get their first support staff position what would it be?  

What helped me stand out in the interview process is to be able to sell yourself just as much as you’re able to sell your capabilities. Everyone who is interviewing is going to talk about their strengths as a note taker, and they’re going to talk about what they can bring to the table as a professional.

You should also make a point to connect with whoever you’re interviewing with on a personal level. Even if you don’t get that position, if they end up going with someone else, they’ll still remember you and your story. I have a five-minute version of how to tell my journey of writing from when I was a kid to where I am now. I can truncate it to thirty seconds, or I can elongate it to ten minutes. Having that, “Here’s who I am. Here’s how you can get to know me” [pitch] lets you find some commonality between your experiences as writers. At the end of the day, the people who are hiring you and the people who are hoping to get you in the writers’ room are writers themselves.  

Can you talk to me about what you like to write and how you ended up being drawn to those stories?  

Most everything I write is coming-of-age related. I was learning, mostly, how to write in college. Every year of college feels like a coming-of-age epiphany. I usually try to do some sort of genre twist on a central coming-of-age narrative. 

I’m a trans lesbian so a lot of what I write has queer content in it and is motivated by the queer stories that I want to tell. I like to say that I write for myself in high school. There was a period in high school where I would watch anything with a boy changing into a girl: Ranma ½, a season of Misfits where one of the guy’s powers was that he could change into a woman. I didn’t have a lot of mainstream trans content to look at. Obviously, it's gotten so much better with Pose, Transparent, and the many other trans stories that are coming out. Still though, a lot of the trans stories that are being told in the industry today are more mature trans stories. A lot of my content is trying to focus on that high school girl who maybe doesn’t realize she’s trans yet but has a feeling that she’s different. Hopefully, I can reach that person because I write for them.  

What show, past or present, would you want to be in the room for if given the opportunity?  

It just ended, but Atlanta. Atlanta was my dream show that I wish I could have written on, been in the room for, or done really anything for. One of my favorite shows of all time is Twin Peaks. When Donald Glover described Atlanta as Twin Peaks for rappers, I was like, “I have to watch the entirety of that show.” It’s perfect from start to finish. I would love to write something as amazingly Afro-Surrealist and wild as that show.  

Last question: when working in entertainment there’s always talks of “getting your foot in the door” and breaking in. Do you think you’ve broken in yet? 

I would say, thanks to the program, I’ve probably broken in. I don’t know if I’ve made a scene on the industry yet, but I’ve definitely got my foot in the door. I got my first staff writer credit, and I think I’ll say I’ve broken in. I’ll toot my own horn a little bit.  

Is there anything else you’d like to add before I let you go? 

I was literally talking to people like an hour before I came here about the program and my experience with it. I talk to anyone that I can possibly about it especially when people are like, “You’re so young. How are you here?” I always tell them that it’s all thanks to this little thing called the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program.  

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.