Action is the Antidote to Despair

How communications work can be a way for writers to pitch in—or just set you up with a side hustle.

There came a point where the “This is fine” meme went from something we posted wryly on social media to a too-apt description of our reality. If you’re looking around, sweating from the heat of that fire, deeply uncomfortable with the direction the world is heading, and wondering if and how you can help—or if you’re just looking for a side hustle—I have some tips.

A couple of years ago, I took stock of the current state of the film/TV industry and my career and decided I need to face reality. I’d come close to breaking through a few times, but time was ticking on life and my meager savings account, and I wondered if I hadn’t fallen prey to the sunk cost fallacy. I’d invested over 15 years into building a writing career and didn’t have a lot to show for it.

The direction things were trending in society also weighed heavily on me. Roe had just fallen, and conspiracy theories had gone mainstream. The queer community was under attack, books were being banned and oh, right—there was an attempted coup at the capitol. All of these things worried me, and if I was going to give up on one dream, I wanted to replace it with something that felt worthwhile.

What I did next—apply for a graduate program in public policy—had a lot to do with my own specific life circumstances. Grad school isn’t right for everyone, the criticisms that many grad programs are “cash cows” for the university are often very valid (looking at you, many MFAs), and it isn’t always required for a career pivot. But it did feel right for me and given my complete lack of any policy-relevant work experience, my application to the program, and then any subsequent internship/job, would be incredibly thin.

This is where the spin came in.

Screenwriting seems like a skill that can’t transfer. There is no other form of writing where the finished document isn’t ever seen by the intended audience. Narrative and fiction writing in general seem almost useless in any real-world job because having conversations in your head between people that don’t exist isn’t something many hiring managers see as a usable workplace skill. But as I started looking for opportunities to get my foot in the door with policy organizations and nonprofits, using my existing skill set seemed like the best bet.

Comms roles are a natural fit for any kind of writer, you just need to help people see that writing is writing, and that you know how to do it. And if you’re someone equally worried about the flames creeping up the “This is fine” walls, comms work in the nonprofit or social impact space can be a way to pitch in and help so it feels like you’re doing something, while getting the kind of experience that is actually useful on a resume (unlike a spec script that never gets made).

Since I made the decision to transition out of the industry, I’ve had an internship at a think tank, served as a volunteer first and then was promoted to a paid writer at a nonprofit, and I’ll soon be starting the second year of my grad program.

Here are some lessons I’ve learned.

You will have to work for free, at least for a while. I know, I know. You’ve already been working for free, writing features on spec, working on pitches that end up going nowhere. Now you have to do more free work?? But you need clips and samples the same way you need them in the film/TV industry. It’s easier to get them, however, as a volunteer. It’s low risk for the organization and good practice for you, because even though writing is writing, newsletters, social media, press releases, ghostwriting op-eds, etc., are still their own skill. If you want to pivot to corporate/for-profit comms work later, you can use these as samples.

Be realistic about the organizations you approach. Nonprofits like Doctors Without Borders or the World Wildlife Fund have fully-staffed comms teams with years of experience. Likewise, social media is now just … media, and pros run those accounts for the big names in the space. They’re not looking for a well-meaning but unskilled volunteer. If you have zero experience, hone in on the issue areas you deeply care about. Then, research smaller and newer organizations working on those issues that are likely running largely on volunteer efforts. This is one situation where you’re probably better off outside of L.A.—local nonprofits really need the help and don’t have the same pool of talent. If you are in L.A., consider reaching out to orgs in your hometown that resonate with you and ask to work remotely.

Approach with a specific pitch. At first, I emailed my resume and a note about my experience and passions to orgs I was interested in and didn’t get much of a response. Probably because that made more work for the volunteer coordinator, who had to find something for me to do. I started getting enthusiastic responses when I took the time to look through the org’s public-facing content and pitched them on what I thought they needed and what I could do for them.

Emphasize the overlap. If you have filmmaking experience, your camera and editing skills are perfect for social media content. Writing memorable characters means you can get an audience to care about people that don’t exist—that’s ideal in any persuasive writing or emotional plea (very useful in fundraising). Writing different characters means you can write in different voices, so you’ll be great at ghostwriting.

Kill your darlings. This advice holds in real-world writing, too. There just aren’t many places for the artistic flourishes you may be tempted to add to the copy or content you’re writing. No one is interested, and no one has the time. People skim emails, they skip the second half of 15-second videos, and they have their phone in their hand while they’re looking at two other screens. You’re lucky if they take in half the information you’re trying to get across—efficiency is key. Hook them, yes. But don’t lose them before you get to the substance.

Take the opportunities to bring your old world into your new one. When the org I worked with wanted to rebrand, they decided they wanted a few evergreen explainer videos for their site. This was a perfect fit for my skills, and I was able to convince them to move away from the more typical interview-with-B-roll videos you commonly see and toward more visual storytelling. Nonprofits and similar orgs can benefit from a little Hollywood magic to capture audience attention—just be mindful of the fact you’ll be working on incredibly tight or nonexistent budgets.

Remember that you know how to do this. Writers can make themselves experts on their characters’ careers, the geographical backdrops of their stories, or the minutia of the science they’re relying on for a plot. We know how to figure stuff out. We know how to teach ourselves and most importantly, how to think. Don’t let the LinkedIn jargon you’ll encounter outside of the creative world scare you. You got this.

In the middle of grad school as a fully grown adult, a beginner again in many aspects of this new career, I can’t say I don’t worry sometimes that I’ve made a horrible mistake. But then I look at the bill I was part of passing that expanded access to free school lunch, or the op-ed that went a little viral and got a conservative state talking about periods.

It feels good. It honestly feels better than any of the successes I managed to eke out in Hollywood.

*Feature photo: Magdalena on set for explainer video.