Can the Guild recommend a particular production company to writers?
All signatory companies may participate in the WTP if they so desire. It is the writer’s responsibility to convince the Executive Producer that she/he will be an asset to their writing staff. Once the company agrees to hire the writer as a trainee, the company will then contact the Guild’s Employment Access department and request that the writer be placed under the program [as designated in Article 38.F. of the Guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA)]. The writer trainee is then protected by the MBA. How long does it take to become a trainee? Because the Writers Training Program is mostly a participant-driven program, the success a prospective participant has is much more dependent on the work he/she does to secure the position. Sometimes an applicant is hired quickly and sometimes it takes months. Many successful participants that have converted a training position into one of a staff writer spent months securing their position as a trainee. It really depends upon how much effort each p
