As the panel was going on the MC mentioned how BETTER CALL SAUL-nominated writer Ariel Levine had recently joined the show. "Actually, I've been here since season one," she said.
The MC paused, I think probably reading the signals that he was missing something important, but also not sure what, because Levine is a staff writer. So he couldn't quite let the topic go. She had been an assistant, Levine explained to the MC's follow up.
"Okay, that's what I mean," the MC went on. "You joined the staff relatively recently."
But that was exactly her point: no, she hadn't joined the staff recently, she'd been there since the beginning. Levine's co-writer on their WGA-nominated episode, showrunner Peter Gould, went on to note that Levine had shown an encyclopedic knowledge of SAUL and BREAKING BAD as an assistant, which was hugely helpful to the writing staff long before she was actually writing episodes.
I'm not trying to take on the MC here. Life in our endless improv Zoom room is messy and sometimes awful. Things get missed.
But I think the exchange speaks to an important question for our community: How do we define who is "on" a show or when they "join" it? Is it just the writers, or once you've been promoted to staff? Because the assistants are contributing tons of time and energy to make that room and show run. They and sometimes consultants are also often providing research and other creative material the writers want need. If none of them are considered "part" of the writing staff, what are we saying about all of that work?
I also wonder what that characterization ends up saying about our lives as writers. Some might find it fabulous to be imagined as Venus in the clamshell, emerging from the waves fully grown and ready to write WGA and Emmy-worthy material.
But that underlying myth is telling: Venus' creation and emergence actually comes out of an act of castration. (Roman myths, y'all...) There are so many prior years of hard work, meaningful contributions and relationships that get us to that writing job. We might not have enjoyed all of it, for sure. But as Levine rightly points out, it's to be claimed, not erased.
Script Pipeline did a great profile of Levine in April. Well worth a read.
