Thread by @sierraornelas

Gather round the fire! Auntie Sierra's gonna tell you about Network TV in 2010! I had never been in a writers room, I was a dirtball state school grad with little to no connections. But by some miracle, I staffed as the Disney Fellow on a new show called Happy Endings.

Season 1, we had 17 writers. Including me there was 7 staff writers. SEVEN. A seasoned writer called the show “America’s Next Top Staff Writer”. But I didn’t care, I was in, baby! On the Paramount lot, eating free food and living my dream.

Yes, I made peanuts as a “free writer” aka below minimum, but I was in a room with folks who’d worked on big shows: Conan, Will and Grace, Veronica’s Closet. (This is not a joke, I fucking loved all TV and couldn’t believe my luck. He also worked on Bette. BETTE!)

I believe it was every Staff Writers' first major job. And I was green as hell. It was the most unfunny I've ever been. Just sweaty and weird. Everyone was trained to be funny. Seal Team Six funny. I was terrified, quiet, and could quickly tell it was kinda bumming everyone out.

I went to the only other writer of color (it was 2010) Prentice Penny, who gave me great advice: “The Showrunner is the painter and we’re the paint. Figure out your color and when they need it, be that color. Don’t try to be someone else’s color. Also, you gotta start talking.”

So I did what he said, I willed myself to talk and to find my strengths. I learned from everyone on that staff. Happy Endings was my grad school. I was able to visit set before and after the room started. When I got an ep, I went to every meeting. I learned through doing.

Did I make mistakes? Yes. Did I co-write an ep where Max becomes an actual Bear? Yes I did. But I also I stayed on for all three seasons. (Skipping the hell most “Diversity Writers” experience, repeating levels)

Over three seasons, Happy Endings had 23 writers. If you count assistants, 21 of us became showrunners. TWENTY-ONE. In that room, writers were given a runway to learn and grow and become our bosses.

So obviously this would never happen today. There are no rooms where half the writers are lower level. Well, I can think of one: My first show Rutherford Falls. I wanted to make a room like the one I’d been afforded.

So we pulled writers from everywhere - Instagram, stand up, podcasts etc. And as the seasoned writer, I got to share everything I knew about how to make TV, crazily in the same building where we made Happy Endings. On the Paramount lot, eating free food and living my dream.

I know people think min staff sizes are dumb. But they aren’t. The WGA is fighting for the ability to cultivate tomorrow’s showrunners.

There's power in passing your knowledge to future generations. There’s power in giving new writers a chance to learn, so eventually they will have a chance to teach.

This is a homemade business, as much as outside forces try to “disrupt” and ruin it. So let’s keep giving these companies hell. Because we know how to do this better than anybody. #WGAStrong