From Writing Code to Writing Scripts: Yeon Jin Lee's Journey to Hollywood from Silicon Valley
Yeon Jin Lee (she/her), alumni of the Writers Guild Foundation’s Writers Access Support Staff Program (WASSTP), class of 2023.
Writer Yeon Jin Lee discusses her experience pivoting from being one of the few female engineers at UC Berkeley and NASA to pursuing filmmaking full-time and participating in the Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program. Currently a showrunner’s assistant on the upcoming CBS series Watson as well as film STAR TREK: SECTION 31, Lee emphasizes the role the program played in her current career while also sharing her future plans.
So first, could you tell us about yourself and your journey as a writer?
Yes, I am a Korean American, first generation. I was born in Korea and then my family moved to Indonesia when I was 10. And then we moved to the United States when I was 12. So English is my second language, but I've always been a lover of books and of writing and journaling.
I first found my way into engineering because I wanted to be that person who bridges humanities and tech. So, after attending an MIT summer camp for women in Tech, I majored in computer science and studied at [UC] Berkeley [and I] worked in Silicon Valley. But the humanities side never left, so I kept writing [and] making films and eventually found myself—after an internship at Pixar—deciding to go to film school.
So, I came down here about seven years ago, attended USC film school, learned the art of screenwriting, producing, and directing, and haven't stopped ever since.
What do you write about?
I write features and pilots about what it feels like to be a young woman in tech, and specifically what it feels like to be an Asian American young woman in tech, because that's what I am.
I'm making a short film on that topic based on a feature film that I wrote called Silicon Valley Girl, and it's about coming from sort of a minority working class, immigrant background and finding yourself in a tech space where there's another token girl who looks and feels similar to you, but she comes from a vastly different background. [It examines] the traps we fall into when we compare [ourselves to each other] and how lonely it is...being one of the only minorities in a space full of men, that kind of thing.
I also write about anything and everything. Thrillers are usually my jam. I'm a big thriller buff and a fan.
How did the Writers Access Support Staff Training Program impact your career? And, if applicable how did it help you land your first job?
It was a pivotal program for me and I'm not just saying that. So, I told you the whole story of how I became a writer and finished film school. The actual reality is that I hard-quit my tech job and then went to USC film school, which was an incredible experience. [I] accrued a lot of student debt and then graduated into the pandemic and couldn't get a single job within or outside of the industry...I think the only job I had during that time was working as a COVID PA on a Netflix series for like two months and then working a better experience in terms of length and, like, the mentorship was working for a USC producing program as a program assistant, but I was still not in the industry in the position that I wanted.
And I learned about this program through WGA announcing it and I applied for the first round, but didn't get in. But I think when I applied...the second time, I was [clearer] about my goals of wanting to work in television and as a writer.
So, I really committed to that and then I reapplied and got in. It's just been life-changing; to have [an] income makes you a full human again. I moved out of my parents’ garage room, I have a happy relationship with my partner, [and] we're engaged. I can start living my life again as a woman in her 30s. To me, that has everything to do with, like, financial independence and this job that I got through the Writers Support Staff Training Program through a direct referral basically changed my life and I'm learning about the art of television.
What advice would you offer to emerging writers and people that were in your position, who graduated into the pandemic and the post-strike world?
Yeah, that's an incredibly hard question because I feel I know those people; they're my cohort and I feel like I got incredibly lucky. The advice that I would give is to be your own advocate and don't wait for things to happen to you. Read every trade magazine. Keep track of the shows that are coming out. Reach out to the people you know. Start a newsletter. Just get yourself known somehow that you're doing this and that you're in the game so that so that people know how to help you and get more specific about exactly what you want because, if you're generally wishing for a job, I feel like that's [a] much harder position for other people to help you with. But if you know specifically what kind of show you want to write for and why you're meaningful—what value you bring onto that show or to any job—I think you'll have a much better chance.
So there is a bit of self-awareness in that and also being your own champion, which is...harder for the group that the [program] supports because most (if not all) of us come from a minority background and we…I don't know if maybe it's cultural or, like, something where we're sometimes not our [own] best advocates. We're too humble, and you have to trust that other people want to help you and that's something you have to cultivate.
What would you say is the most valuable lesson you learned in the program and how did you apply that lesson or other skills from the program into both professional and everyday life?
Everything you learn in the program is valuable...but honestly, it's really knowing that you have someone to go to when things get hard, that has been valuable to me. That I can call up Debbie and Clay…The hard part of the job is the interpersonal and dealing with the institutionalized part of it. Like negotiating with CBS was hard. The support staff wages are not great, and they have their sort of entrenched practices that that you kind of have to know how to navigate through and Debbie and Clay helped me with that.
Every time I have an interpersonal sort of a cultural question, they've been there to answer those. The program itself is so valuable: it'll get you started, but then it's the mentorship after that's been, like, incredibly helpful.
Oh, and my mentor to Gretchen [Enders]. So, the Writers Access Support Staff Training Program also connects you to an incredible, like, showrunner or writer mentor. I got so lucky cause I got paired with Gretchen Enders and Gretchen prepped me for the interview. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason I got that job, because she did a mock interview with me. I’ve asked her so many questions about the culture of network TV that you can't teach, you have to learn it firsthand. But you want to learn it from somebody who's worked in television as a writer, and she was that.
What do you do now? You know, you mentioned you were working on your future, but what do you do now after the program, and you've been looking forward to in the future?
So, right now I work as a showrunner’s assistant for Craig Sweeney on a show called Watson. It's a medical procedural on CBS that’ll premiere in [January 2025]. It's a first season show, and I learned a lot about writing for television and what it means to be a showrunner—an incredibly hard job. I thankfully have a good boss and a good team. That sort of shepherded me through, like, my sort of first year breaking [into] network TV land, where the culture was so specific that I just didn't know about it. Film school didn't prepare me for it. And then there was no way the Writer’s Access Support Staff Training Program could prepare me for it either because, it’s its own thing.
What I'm looking forward to is continuing to write for television and writing and directing feature films. I'm making steps towards that so that’s why I'm making this short. It's a proof-of-concept short and I'm planning to direct that and the feature version. And continue producing as well, because that's what I love to do too, so…
That's wonderful. Is there any timeline or ETA for the short film?
Oh my gosh, our Kickstarter is live and we're [busy] fundraising. The short is called Silicon Valley Girl, and we're going into production in [February 2025], shooting over four days. And yeah, we have a great team together. I'm excited.
You mentioned having a multinational experience and English not being your first language, which means that you’re interacting with so much media written all over. What is a piece of media, whether it be television show, a movie or even a book or something that really stuck with you and, looking back, made you want to become a writer that kept you from pursuing engineering?
A film that really inspired me is Cinema Paradiso. It's on an old Italian film. Have you seen it? It's incredible! And it's an origin story of a filmmaker, kind of, and the film’s about love! But it’s not a romantic comedy, it’s...love in the biggest sense of that word: love of film and it's a love story. There's a mentor and mentee...and I feel like we don't make films about love anymore.
Or maybe we do. We do, but like...I don't know. I just really love that film. And your eyes have also lit up, so you must love that film too.
Anyway, I don't want to keep going but Pachinko has been revolutionary.
Any last thoughts?
No, [I’m] just so grateful for the work that everyone at the Writers Guild Foundation is doing, including, like, you and Kira. Gosh, yeah, [the Foundation] team is amazing. How lucky are we to have this program and, like, people who founded it too, Mike Royce and Tanya [Saracho] and [Liz Alper]. So just a big thank you.
Interview conducted and edited by Community Programs Intern Evan Ibarra (he/she). Intro & outro music “Hello User: Bright Cheery Intro Music” by jjmarsan (Jeremy Marsan) -- https://freesound.org/s/476070/ -- License: Attribution 4.0