Behind the Scenes with Scout Comm: Making the Jump from Development to the Writers' Room

Photo courtesy of Scout Comm

Scout Comm is a non-binary Pittsburgh native and screenwriter who focuses on telling queer coming-of-age stories with a genre twist. After several years in television development, Comm participated in the Writers Access Support Staff Training Program and pivoted to the world of television writing.  After their time in the program, they worked as the script coordinator for The L Word: Generation Q.

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

I’m from Pittsburgh originally. I’ve been studying screenwriting since I went to Emerson College in Boston. I moved out here to L.A. in 2017 and got an internship in TV development. I stayed at that company for about five years. I started to move up the ranks a little bit, but was getting frustrated because what I really want to do is write, not development. I ended up leaving to go be a copywriter for a little bit, but during that in-between time I found [the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training] Program and was able to apply. It was great and set me on the right path. After that, I was able to get a writers’ room job. All of that has led to great things since then. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the program.

What do you write about?

Everything that I write has a queer bend to it. I usually incorporate some genre elements as well. I’m trying to focus on the queer coming of age space with a genre twist.

I play roller derby, so I wrote a spec about a roller derby team because someone needs to make a show about roller derby. I’ve got another one I’m working on that’s a teen drama with dark mystery vibes. It has almost a Yellowjackets tone to that. I’m really excited about it.

Is there any TV show or movie that, looking back, made you want to become a writer? 

I was a total TV junkie growing up. That’s definitely where my desire came from. It was from watching Nickelodeon or Disney Channel. For me, it was that I loved TV so much. I always wanted to be some sort of writer. I used to write little fiction stuff. Eventually, I decided that this is what I wanted to do. If I had to pick it was probably Avatar :The Last Airbender. It’s absolute perfection.

What job did you get after the program?

I got a job as a script coordinator on the last season of The L Word reboot, [The L Word: Generation Q]. That was amazing for me. I met with the showrunner. The production supervisor has heard of the program and one of the instructors for the program, Debbie [Ezer], was about to pitch me to them. It was really special and I got to really roll up my sleeves. From a writing perspective it was special as well because as script coordinator I was on for production. It was beneficial to me because there were no writers around anymore, but some stuff needed to be rewritten whether there was a room around or not. A lot of that ended up falling on me, and I ended up writing a lot of scenes before they ended up giving me a credit on an episode.

The [Writers Access Support Staff Training] Program set me up really well. From a cultural context background, they went into a lot of stuff about the etiquette of a the writers’ room. They also went in the technical side of things too. Script coordinating is a pretty technical job because you’re responsible for tracking all of the script revisions, publishing them to everyone, and making sure that every i is dotted. It’s an important job. You’re basically the go-between for any other department and the writers’ room.

How does your view of your career look different before and after the program?

It’s hugely different. Before, I didn’t know what my path was going to be to get into the writers’’ room. I was trying to work up through development. I had known people who had made that jump, but it is a jump. It’s a not a natural progression to go up the ranks of development. When you’re there they want you to be a producer. Since the program, it’s just been so much clearer how I can make this happen for myself. I know for a fact that having this program [on my resume] was the reason that I got that job at the L Word. From there on, all the relationships I got are panning out for me. I know that it’s going to set me up well.

Are you still in touch with the people that you did the program with?

Yeah, we are all in a slack together, so we keep in touch. The instructors, Debbie [Ezer] and Clay [Lapari], really set me up for a job. They tried to set us all up for a job. The credit goes to them for a lot of it. They follow through.

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

I would say that half my body is in the door. I’m trying to get the rest. Starting as a script coordinator, you’re still trying to get that next writing job. I’m excited about it. I’d be happy to have another support staff job, but it felt like I was set up really well with this writing credit that I want to try to be known as a writer as quickly as possible.

This interview has been edited and condensed by Kera McKeon.