No Set Path: Entertainment Break-In Stories

Monica Lucas is a 2026 Disney Entertainment Television Writing Program participant and currently a staff writer on ABC’s “THE ROOKIE: NORTH.”

Netflix funded her writer-director debut short film, DOUBLE BIRTHDAY CHRISTMAS WEDDING, starring Lilli Kay (STICK). Her second short, YOU’VE GOT MATCHES, starring Emily Pendergast (JURY DUTY: COMPANY RETREAT), was funded after winning the 2025 Moving Picture Institute’s Short Film Lab. 

Previously, Monica was named a 2024 Artist Disruptor by the Center for Cultural Power, a Writer-in-Residence at Hedgebrook, and an Official Selection of the 2025 Women’s List. She is also the only writer to date who has been awarded both the Accelerate Screenwriting Fellowship and the Visionary Filmmaking Fellowship by the Inevitable Foundation, which supports the careers of disabled writers. 

Before coming to Hollywood Monica worked in Washington DC for various nonprofits and think tanks before coming to Los Angeles to attend the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she got her MFA in Writing for Screen and Television, graduating in 2019. 

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IG: @moni4trees 

Website: https://www.monicacecilialucas.com/

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Emma is a writer and producer who recently staffed on two half-hour specials of ROBOT CHICKEN for Adult Swim and HBO Max. She currently serves as the Director of Development at The Green Room Productions, where she collaborates with Seth Green on film and television projects, including Warner Brothers’ upcoming animated feature MEERKAT MANOR. Emma began her career writing and producing segments for NFL Films, has associate produced multiple true crime series for networks including CNN and Oxygen, and has supported executives and producers across the industry. 

Today we get into rising the ranks from executive assistant to Director of Development despite challenges like layoffs and strikes; how to navigate getting your work in front of higher-ups who could help you land a spot in a writers’ room; and going from moving from an NFL internship on the east coast (to LA with no job, no contacts and no plan) to landing work on a network show.

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TikTok: @emmamtaylor

Website: www.emmamtaylorwrites.com

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IG: @mkritter

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IG: https://www.instagram.com/alligooch/

http://offscript.cc/

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Guest host Michael Ritter joins for a discussion 10 years after graduating USC SCA:

- What percentage of graduates have left the film industry, or directed a feature film?

- How did expectations upon graduation meet reality a decade later?

- How can one figure out what opportunities are worth pursuing?

- Are there noticeable differences between the trajectories of USC film grads vs. non-traditional film schools?

- What advice would be useful for the Class of 2026?

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So you've been rejected from USC SCA (or USC altogether) - what have people done in the past to overcome this and either eventually land a spot as a Trojan, or carve a path toward a film career without it?

BREAKDOWN:

0:00 - Intro/Context

3:00 - Episode Outline

3:56 - A note about the appeal process!! (FAQ)

6:24 - For parents!!!

8:13 - My journey getting rejected from USC SCA: admission to USC but denied from SCA, adding a major in Annenberg, transferring into Cinema-Media Studies and eventually transferring into Film & Television Production

44:52 - Stories of successful people who were initially rejected from USC

Evan Iwata is a TV drama writer who recently sold his original high-concept crime procedural ON THE CLOCK to ABC with Lionsgate Television and Alexi Hawley’s Perfectman Pictures. He was previously a staff writer on the HBO Max sci-fi thriller SUBJECT TO CHANGE from J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot, and has also developed a YA action-adventure series for DreamWorks Animation. He began his career in the writers room, working in support staff roles on series including Starz's OUTLANDER, CBS's CSI:CYBER and PURE GENIUS, and ABC's THE FIX and EMERGENCE. An alum of the Warner Bros. TV Writers’ Workshop and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. 

Today we are getting into how Evan went from being rejected from USC film school to a WGA writer selling his own show, what it was like working directly with JJ Abrams ona series for HBO and the three typical expectations most writers have that are completely incorrect.

BREAKDOWN:

13:46 – Evan’s work on a potential Dreamworks show
18:26 – Pitch vs. pilot vs. series bible
23:18 – How to get paid before you start writing the pilot
28:41 – From Oshkosh to USC / underGRAD
31:41 – Megan Niquette
33:21 – Namrata
34:11 – Evan McGahey, Monisha Dadlani, Ethan Welling
41:41 – Signing with reps
42:24 – Writers’ Assistant Program, Conrad Sun
46:41 – Knowing when to add an agent to the team
46:41 – Kat Reilly
50:41 – Warner Bros. TV Writer Workshop + Covid
51:26 – Jennifer Yale
52:01 – Getting in the writers room on JJ Abrams show
59:21 – Starting as support staff (CSI: Cyber, Outlander)
1:06:11 – Wrong expectations as writers
1:17:41 – Getting a WGA card
1:18:11 – Adapting a true story from an article
1:24:36 – TIME CAPSULE

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WATCH ANDREA'S GAMBIT: https://thempi.org/film/andreas-gambit/

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We're talking talent rep tantrums, slapping "elevated" before genres, and the infamous "mayonnaise commercial."

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IG: @mkritter

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