Fox Television – “The Unit”

Jason Gutierrez, 2009

I think that the most important thing that I learned while I was working at “The Unit” was just how unnecessary it is to go to a graduate program if you wanted to write for television as a career. Of the dozen or so writers working on the show, only two had post-graduate degrees, and neither had a post graduate degree in filmmaking or screenwriting. What I noticed was a field in which there is a ladder type system in place and you work your way up to being a writer. For instance, each of the show’s four writing assistants were given the opportunity to write an episode, and in some cases more than a single episode. This experience can lead to being hired on the staff of whatever show you happen to be working on (“The Unit,” for example), but you can also use that script to get a writing jobs on other shows. I was also told anecdotally that most show runners and producers are more willing to listen to series pitches or story ideas from assistants and other people who had been working for the producer than someone with no experience with the producer.

In my case I had been planning on attending film school or pursuing a post graduate degree in some area related to film, however I am now questioning how wise a decision that this is, especially given that I would most likely find myself in the same position that I’m in right now, only two years removed and short thousands of dollars. It is definitely something that I will have to consider on a going forward basis.

I think that, all things considered, I had a good Winter Term internship experience. I was careful not to set expectations for the job too high, which I think is important for any future students who go on the same internship. You won’t be writing anything, and the tasks that I listed at the beginning were tasks that I was assigned to do, but actually being given a task was something that happened rarely. I think that Shawn Ryan was really interested in having students who were interested in writing come out and see what the working experience is like. To be honest this is less like an internship (where you’re saddled with asinine, menial tasks) and more like an experience shadowing a writer, which was much more useful and I feel like I learned more the way Shawn has the internship set up than I would have at a more traditional internship where I was asked to do chores that no one else felt like doing. As I mentioned to a few of my co-workers before I left, coming into this internship I felt that my strengths as a writer lie primarily in my ability to write dialog and develop character, but the ability to plot compelling stories has always seemed to elude me. I think that, like all things, this skill will come with time and practice, but being able to sit and watch (and occasionally contribute) the room has given me a greater understanding of how best to develop those skills. The experience has also led me to revisit past work to re-evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and although there is no question that I still have work to do, it has also given me confidence in my ability to fix those weaknesses. So, all in all I’m very happy that I got to have this experience, and I highly recommend it for other Middlebury students in the future.

Please contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship.