Today’s Inside Scoop subject, Nina Bargiel, is truly on the cutting edge of entertainment, embodying fictional characters across platforms, creating the social media trappings of a real life for them. It’s a writing assignment she relishes and we here at YII believe that if you want to know what the future of storytelling holds, following Nina and watching what she does is the way to find out.

Current position (or recently completed projects): Past: Writer on “Lizzie McGuire” and “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.” Transmedia Producer on “Valemont.” Current: Transmedia Producer on “Savage County.”

College & degree: BS, Film & TV Production, Boston University

Internship: I was an intern at H-Gun Labs, which was a music video production company in Chicago in the early 90s.

First job in the entertainment industry: Working in the mailroom as part of the Agent Trainee Program at UTA.

Big break: I met the woman (who became my friend and mentor and ultimately gave me my first writing job) through her mother, who ran the volunteer program at the animal shelter I volunteered at.

Eureka moment (when you realized you did or did not want to do something or that you should do something differently, etc.): I thought that I wanted to be an agent. Working at an agency and being called a “stupid c*nt” within my first hour on the job disavowed me of that. I wasn’t stupid.

Career path: I started out thinking I would be an agent when I moved to Los Angeles after college, because, well, an agent was a JOB. It was run like a business! You got a paycheck! Once I got into an Agents’ Training program, I realized within days that this wasn’t what I wanted to do. My friend and mentor got me an informational interview with a woman who used to be her agent but had moved into TV Development, and I impressed her enough on my interview that she asked me to be her assistant.

What I learned reading pilots is that I was pretty sure I could do that. The only issue was that, I NEEDED TO DO THAT. During the same time my brother was becoming disillusioned with his career in finance in New York. We decided to sell ourselves as a writing team and create specs. Of course, it was slow-going, and there were some personal issues with my boss that made it impossible for me to continue working for her. I quit and ended up at an internet service provider (ISP) in 1997, when the Internet was just getting its sea legs for a lot of people. I became interested in blogging (which I don’t think was even a word) and telling stories on the Internet.

A year or so later, my friend and mentor offered me a job as her assistant, and promised that once she got a show on the air, I’d be writing on it. I left the ISP and went back to entertainment, but I continued telling stories on the internet. Finally, in 2000, my friend/boss was offered the opportunity to run a new show on the Disney Channel called “Lizzie McGuire” and she gave me a staff writer position. I worked as a TV writer until 2005-2006 when things slowed way down, and then the strike hit.

In 2008, an Executive Producer I had worked with asked me if I still told stories on the Internet. He had co-founded a company that was making web series. I ended up taking my years of telling stories online and turned it into a job, a job that is now known as a “Transmedia Producer.” I created the online world for an MTV series called “Valemont” which spanned an ARG (alternate reality game) at ValemontU.com, three blogs, nine Twitter accounts, Facebook and Verizon SMS messaging and  ended up winning a Streamy for best online experience. Right now the projects I’m working on only have me creating and running the online experience, which means my job is part writing, part producing, part tech support and part performance art. It can be a 24-hour a day job, as the internet never sleeps.

Describe a typical work day in your current position: Generally I wake up and check my email. (What time this is depends on whether or not anything is launching that day, and what time zone the online experience is in. When I was on “Valemont,” the back story was that it was an East Coast school, so I worked a lot on EST even though I live in PST.) I put out any fires, write new content, check to see audience reaction/interaction and adjust accordingly. (While the online worlds – metaverses, 360-experiences, transmedia – and their storylines are always outlined by me, I always leave enough room for the audience participants to chime in.) Then I check Twitter (which I have open during the day) to play characters (I was nine different people for “Valemont,” and two different people for “Woke Up Dead.” My next project will have me being six or seven characters on Twitter at the same time.) In between all of this, I’m pitching new projects and writing spec scripts. When I’m on a show, I am never more than five feet from my computer.

Nina & Hilary Duff

Best job (or day) in the entertainment industry: Any day I’m being paid to create is a good day. Even on a bad day. Seriously. I get paid to make stuff up, and when I’ve been up for a thousand hours or I’ve gotten another round of notes, I remind myself of that.

Worst job (or day) in the entertainment industry: I’ve had my share of terrible jobs, but that first hour at UTA took the cake. I have tremendous respect for agents, managers and the like.

Best thing about your current job: Can I have more than one? While I’d happily return to TV, transmedia is new and exciting and we have the opportunity to create and connect with an audience in an enormous way.  I’m lucky in that I don’t have to go to the office. I can work in my pajamas some days.  HOWEVER…

Worst thing about your current job: Being a solo practitioner means that I’m the sole person responsible for the online world. The internet never sleeps, the world never stops existing, which means that some days I don’t sleep, either. During “Valemont,” my father-in-law passed away suddenly, and I was updating character Twitter accounts from my cell phone at the gravesite.

Brush with greatness: I think after working out here for awhile, famous people cease to be interesting. Brent Friedman (Co-Founder at EFE, and my boss for “Valemont”) is a brilliant forward thinker. The Co-Creator of “Valemont,” Christian Taylor, is an amazing writer who creates characters that are fun to play with. People who are out there creating transmedia – Mike Monello, Steve Peters, Brian Clark, Jan Libby, Andrea Phillips – who I just had a chance to hang out with at ARGFest, are creating the future of entertainment. The world is changing, and I think they’re in front of it.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: Two things: 1. A.B.C. Not “Always Be Closing,” but “Always Be Creating.” 2. Talk to people. Meet people. Get out and find where people who are doing what you want to do are and meet them there. I used to be incredibly shy, but the internet helped me out of my shell. I can connect to people without using an intermediary by following them on Twitter, friending them on Facebook, or sending them a polite, non-creepy email through their website.

Next move: I want to marry my two jobs (TV writing + Transmedia Producer.) I have a few pitches I’m putting together that are not only a show, but the entire built-out world around the show. There’s a lot of stuff living in my head right now that’s finding its way to paper and then hopefully to a TV AND Computer Screen near you!

Know anyone who could use an entertainment industry insider? If so, please encourage them to subscribe to YourIndustryInsider.com and sign up to receive YII’s Mogul Mindset eBlasts today! Also, please visit Your Industry Insider Store to check out recommended books and DVDs. Content will be added regularly as suggestions come in from industry insiders!

Media-Match.com is a site which helps entertainment professionals and those looking to hire them find each other. Job-seekers (both freelance and permanent) can create profiles and can also search the jobs posted to the site, which come directly from the companies doing the search or from other job sites across the internet. Companies can post jobs directly, as indicated above, or search for profiles of people who do what they are looking for someone to do.

This site is not location-specific. As I am writing this, I see jobs posted for Los Angeles, Chicago, DC, San Francisco, Houston, Franklin, TN and many, many others. Positions range from Casting Recruiter (Nebraska) to Production Manager (San Francisco) to Graphics Coordinator (Los Angeles) to Camera Assistant (Paramus, NJ). There is even a posting for a News Anchor (Buffalo, NY).

The bottom line is that if you are a budding (or not-so-budding) crew member, subscribing to Media-Match.com is well worth the ten bucks a month it will cost you. And if you are looking for entertainment professionals, it is also a great place to get the word out and find people who can do the job. (That set doesn’t light itself, does it?)

 There are many books on the market about the TV writing business. Unfortunately, most tend to fall into one of two somewhat-unsuccsesful camps. Those that are written by academics tend to cover the basics well, but have too much of an outsider POV to give true insight into the actual workings of the biz and the path to success. Those written by actual insiders tend to assume too much “base” knowledge on the part of the reader so the valuable “seasoned veterans” tips and “what to avoid”s go over the head of a rookie.

Writing the TV Drama Series: How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV by Pamela Douglas is successful in both conveying the basics and giving the inside scoop, probably because the author is both an academic (an associate professor in the USC School of Cinema-Televison) and a true insider, having had a long career as a TV writer/producer. This book contains solid, current information, such as:

- An overview of the basic TV calendar (pilot season, pick-ups, staffing season, etc.).

- A dissection of the classic one-hour drama script.

- An explanation of how a TV writing staff works and seven mistakes to avoid.

- A breakdown of the different positions on a writing staff.

- A concise explanation of how to break in to the world of TV writing.

- Interviews with other top industry insiders.

This book provides everything an aspiring TV writer needs to know and is current for today’s market with three exceptions: Those doing the hiring these days (the showrunners, with help from studio and network executives) like to read an original pilot by writers they are considering for their staff in addition to a spec sample of a similar show. This is a new development in the last couple of years.

Another change is that with the rise of TV dramas appearing on both premium and basic cable channels and the increase in mid-season replacements being lined up by network brass with itchy trigger fingers, the calendar doesn’t always hold true. Projects can get picked up off-season. The third very recent development is the increasing frequency with which projects brought to pilot by one network, but not picked up to series, are being bought by other networks and cable channels. Lately, what would’ve once been a “dead” project is finding a pulse after being put in the coffin.

So if you are looking for a one-book answer to all of your questions about breaking in as a TV drama writer, pick up a copy of Writing the TV Drama Series by Pamela Douglas. You’ll be glad you did.

Note: If you click on the book cover at the top of the post (like most of the books and DVDs pictured on this site), you will be taken to Amazon, where you can buy this book and/or anything else you want and the gremlins that put this blog together while I sleep will get four cents or something. Consider it well-earned.

Roger Nygard has become a successful feature documentary filmmaker, and director and editor on episodic television series including ”The Bernie Mac Show,” ”The Office,” and ”Curb Your Enthusiasm,” but his entertainment career path was not a smooth one. In his profile, he talks candidly about his early struggles, and about how he turned a loan from his mother into much-needed career-stability.

Current project:  My latest documentary, THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE, will be released theatrically beginning June 18 (New York), and July 2 (Los Angeles), followed by a rollout to the rest of the country.  

College & degree:  BA, Speech Communications, University of Minnesota.

Internships: None. But I have facilitated many internships.

First job in the entertainment industry: Production Assistant for a production-management company, Rollins, Joffe, Morra & Brezner. They had a production deal at Paramount and represented clients like Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Robin Williams, David Letterman, and Woody Allen. My goal was to be the best damn PA they ever had. They promoted me to assistant. Then to talent scout.  

Big break:  Selling my first documentary TREKKIES to Paramount for seven figures qualifies as the biggest break so far…

Eureka moment: When I realized I could do what I wanted to do–not what other people expected me to do–and still make a living. I have turned down many projects, such as reality shows or mundane scripts, that would have paid a lot of money and probably advanced my career faster. But I can’t just punch a clock. I have to be challenged. That’s why I do so many varied and unusual projects.  This business is too hard to take lightly. It’s not for the indifferent and you’ll burn out if you are not inspired.

Career path: I started making short films when I was seven and continued through high school and college. When I got to Los Angeles, I realized I needed a kick-ass demo that would get me hired, because nobody will hire you to direct until you’ve already directed (unless you own the script or the production checkbook). So I took my grad school money (I had been accepted to USC) and made another short, “Warped” (which was later released in two home video compilations). I sent that short to everybody who would look at it and that led to my first offer to direct an episode of “Monsters.”

Meanwhile I had read a hilarious script by a comedian I met at the Comedy Store named Steve Oedekerk. My composer on “Warped” knew an investor so we convinced him to finance my first feature, HIGH STRUNG. Each project introduced me to more people, and invariably one of those connections was integral to the next opportunity in my career path. That path has continued through movies, television, and documentaries. If you want a job, start working, even if you have to work for free. You’ll meet people, and if you’re good, they will take you along to the next job.

Worst job (or day) in entertainment industry:  In the gap between my first film, HIGH STRUNG, and my second film, BACK TO BACK (AMERICAN YAKUZA 2), I went $30,000 into debt trying to launch my next projects. (They make those credit card cash advances sooooooo easy!). The worst day was the day I faced the fact that none of my projects were happening and I had no job and big debts. But that’s when a mini-eureka moment happened. I decided to change course and take an Avid editing class. I borrowed $500 from my mother, and with the Avid editing skill newly in my repertoire, I got a job writing, producing, and editing promos for TNT. (One of my connections I met when we were both peons at Paramount was in charge of TNT Latin America and he needed some fresh blood.) I spent the next two years making promos while learning all my editing tricks that became part of my style as a filmmaker, and I brought this style forward to all my projects.

Best day in entertainment industry: Every screening of a new movie or television episode is the new best day. It just gets better each time. It’s a powerful feeling to create something and then witness how people react. When I make an audience laugh, think, gasp, cry, get angry—that’s the best day!

Best thing about your current job: To be able to create! That’s why we exist.

Worst thing about your current job: The long hours. Nobody will work as hard as you do for your projects. Some day I’ll get to sleep.

Brush with greatness: Greatness is the opportunity to work with Larry David. Even greater is being able to dissect from the inside how Larry’s comedy process works. And greatest: becoming a creative part of that process. No matter how ridiculous or crazy a storyline gets, our focus in the editing room is on what do we have to do to more clearly and more succinctly tell that story.

Secret of your success/advice to the newbie: Read a LOT. Study literature, not just filmmaking. Learn the art of telling a story. Tell stories that fascinate YOU. Chances are good that if you are entertained, others will be also. Nobody can guess with any accuracy what the “audience” wants. And why would you want to?  How boring is that errand? Be a leader. Create what you like and others will follow.

Next move: I’ve begun the next documentary project, I’m writing the next narrative feature, I’m pitching ideas for the next television series… I can’t be sure which door will open next, but whichever it is, I’ll go through it. Create opportunities, and then say yes.

You can find more information on Roger’s documentary, THE NATURE OF EXISTENCE, which is being released in Los Angeles on June 18th and New York on July 2nd and other cities following that, at: www.TheNatureOfExistence.com.