"At the end of the day, there is no straight path."
Imagine being an aspiring screenwriter in Los Angeles when, out of the blue, you're offered a job working with a nine-time Emmy® Award-winning television director.
Welcome to Rachel Taff's world.
Taff, 27, started working for said award-winning director’s Shoe Money Productions last October as both an executive assistant and development coordinator. The company is owned by Thomas Schlamme, known for directing episodes of The West Wing and Sports Night, along with serving as an executive producer on the hit FX show Snowfall.
It’s a gig Taff may not have gotten without persistence, confidence and a passion for television. She’s dreamed of being a showrunner ever since she was a child, growing up in Atlanta, GA.
"I grew up in theatre, so that's where everything started for me,” Taff says. “I wrote my first play when I was 15 and we produced it at my high school.”
During the summer before her senior year of high school, Taff attended a pre-college program for screenwriting at NYU. After graduation, she attended Elon University, where she majored in media arts and entertainment, with a theatre minor and concentration in cinema. She graduated from Elon in 2014.
“I was going to be an au pair in Australia and travel a bit after college, but then I got a call that I got an interview to work on the first season of Fresh Off the Boat,” recalls Taff. “I flew to L.A. for 24 hours for the interview and I got the job!"
Six weeks later, she moved to Los Angeles and hit the ground running as an office production assistant on the show’s first season. That’s when Taff realized her ultimate goal was to be a showrunner.
“When I was on Fresh Off the Boat, I was drawn to what the writers were doing over what the producers were doing, but I saw that the showrunner does both and I realized that's what I want to do,” Taff says. “I want to use the parts of my brain that create while also being involved with the leadership/managerial side of things.”
Taff has continued moving up the ladder ever since. From Fresh Off the Boat, she got a gig working for production executives at 20th Century Fox. They created a position for her that involved helping on the lot, and some even helped her land her next gig: Taff’s first writers’ assistant position for two men who had an overall deal with the company.
“That's when I started working for creators specifically—and I’ve only worked for creators since,” Taff says. “When that job ended, I took a weird turn and ended up working for the head writer and showrunner on American Dad!”
“I went animation, which I never expected to do, but I absolutely loved it,” says Taff. “I was there for two years. It was a different environment, but it was a super well-oiled machine. They’re on their 14th season!”
Although thankful for the experience of working in a comedic room, Taff wanted to find a gig that was more aligned with her love for the drama world. She turned to a Facebook page that she recommends to all up-and-coming writers: Awesome Assistants. Through that, Taff found representation and was hired for her next two jobs.
The first was working on Frankie Shaw’s Showtime show SMILF. “I learned a lot,” Taff says. “Frankie was the lead actress and writer, and she directed, so I was seeing a lot of different parts of the show."
Taff started working for Thomas Schlamme—who also serves as the President of the Directors Guild of America—soon after her work on SMILF ended. Taff manages Shoe Money Productions' development slate, reads scripts, and sorts submissions. She also works on their FX show Snowfall, which can involve scheduling meetings, finding directors, organizing table reads, and communicating with production and FX.
“I also support Tommy as a working director, whether that’s script work or research he needs for a project,” Taff says. “I communicate with the DGA on a daily basis and also oversee our internship program.”
When she’s not tirelessly working her full-time job, Taff is writing and pursuing her own projects, with the hope of eventually being staffed in a writers’ room or selling her own content.
“My kind of bread and butter is that line between nature versus nurture and exploring that; why people are the way they are, especially because of their families,” Taff says. “My ultimate goal is to create my own show and be a showrunner like all these bosses I’ve been aspiring to be.”
Taff has succeeded thus far because of her perseverance. As for advice for others trying to work their way up in Hollywood?
“Remind yourself that you’re not out here to just be an assistant and work a nine-to-five,” Taff says. "You’re out here to write and produce, so make something happen. Don’t stay too comfortable. Keep writing. And I think it’s valuable to send your scripts to people outside the industry to see how regular people will view your work.”
She adds, “Everyone's path is different. I can say as much as I want, that ‘this is how I got this job and that job,’ but at the end of the day, there is no straight path.”