6 Questions with Amy Aniobi

Insecure, Silicon Valley + Sunday's Q&A guest!

Oral Specs

Look, I feel gross about that headline too! But it is apt! In Retrospecs we really do perform live reads of spec scripts by pro writers.

And the April 21, 2-4pm, show is a doozy. We’ve got a West Wing by Marc Guggenheim (co-creator, Arrow) and a Big Bang Theory by Helen Shang (Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power).

Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), Katie Cassidy (Arrow), Jason George (Station 19), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), John Ross Bowie (Big Bang Theory), Hrishikesh Hirway (West Wing Weekly; Song Exploder), Ricardo Hurtado (School of Rock), Kiran Deol (Destroy All Neighbors), Lucas Hazlett (American Princess), and more!

GET TICKETS NOW to attend or stream.

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Our next live Zoom Q&A is this Sunday, 4/14, 11am PT, with the brilliant Amy Aniobi. After going to grad school for screenwriting, Amy worked in the writers’ room on Issa Rae’s web-series Awkward Black Girl. She then went on to work as an assistant for some showrunners and on a number of comedy shows, including Happy Endings, while applying to fellowships and writing programs and while churning out her own material. It was only a matter of time before her talent was recognized.

By the time she got an agent, Amy told me, she “had five specs, seven pilots, and then these two web series,” the second one being The Slutty Years, which she created herself. “To this day we get a lot of links from, like, Russia… just old men in Russia are like, oh, The Slutty Years…” she joked.

When I invite these terrific writers to come do our Q&As, I usually go through transcipts of their appearances on The Writers Panel to pull out tidbits of brilliance of the sort that you can expect in our Zoom gathering.

The problem is, Amy has given me so many incredibly strong pieces of advice. So, just go listen to the last episode she did, which is here. In this one, Amy was joined by Charles Murray (Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Luke Cage) and Ben Wexler (The Grinder; Community), all of them longtime friends. The conversation is fast and funny and informative.

We’re lucky to have Amy as a guest this Sunday, 11am PT. Info is at the bottom of this page. The only way to attend and ask your questions is to become a paid subscriber! So…

6 Questions with Amy Aniobi

1. What you working on right now?

Post-strike, I’ve been really invigorated to get back into writing personal material that lights me up again. So I’ve been working on an original comedy feature that I’m excited to share with the world, hopefully soon!

2. What challenges are you facing specific to your current writing project?

None, honestly.

My current writing project is “for me, by me,” so the incoming notes from my writers’ group and friends and even reps are all geared towards that — making the project more me, rather than catering to the marketplace or “what studios are buying.” Maybe it’s a big mistake!

But I do think projects that are authentic tend to win in the end. So it’s been a really chill but personal writing process, tbh. I’ve been restoring some confidence, healing my inner child, etc., etc.

3. What advice about the business of TV/film writing can you give to someone starting out now?

Writing is a job. I talk more extensively about this in the course I created, “The Writer’s Mindset” (mind if I just plug that right there? thanks!).¹

If you want to write as your career, it’s important to treat writing as a job and not just something you can exclusively do under perfect conditions when you are inspired. Even if you aren’t writing full time or you need to work other jobs to keep afloat — still treat this like a job rather than a hobby. I have time dedicated to writing in my week and those days are as important as the days during which I have general meetings and production obligations. You need to be able to write to deadlines, and even times when you don’t feel like it in order to move your art into becoming a sustainable career.

4. What advice about the craft of writing can you give to someone starting out?

I always like to say, “everything is story.” There are so many times, early on in your career when you are doing jobs tangential to writing orwhen you’re working survival jobs that frustrate you or feel like they take away from your writing time, but all of that shapes your POV and gives you material. Your coworkers are story, your brokenness is story, getting a flat tire is story, a break-up is story. Like, sure, not in the moment — be a person who feels things, please — but once you wrap around, hit up your therapist and process that shit… it can all become story! That’s kind of exciting, no? 

5. What do you respond to most in a piece of writing?

Voice. There are only so many archetypes of stories that exist; however, there are an infinite number of ways to tell those stories. Voice shapes a story. There is nothing worse than coming across a well structured piece of material that feels generic, or like the writer doesn’t have a POV. I want to be able to see the world through the writer's eyes in a new way, and that can only happen when the writer has a specific and clear voice.

6. What are you watching/reading/listening to lately that’s getting you excited or inspired?

Definitely watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith! I loved the fresh take on the original material and love all things Maya Erskine.

I am always listening to The Read podcast. It's just a fun pop culture podcast that’s a great way to distract myself from all the craziness of the world.

I’m reading I Finally Bought Some Jordans by Michael Arceneaux. It’s a collection of essays and an overall really special book. I’m inspired by writers in the essay and nonfiction space a lot. As the industry changes, I’m constantly thinking about what are ways that mediums and writers can adapt? I think screenwriters can look to their literary counterparts for some guidance and answers since the publishing industry has undergone many big changes in recent years.

And finally, of course, I’m listening to Cowboy Carter on repeat. I’m from Texas and a country girl at heart, so this album is both personal to me and to my friend in my head, Beyonce.

We will get into it! Join us this Sunday, April 14, 11am PT for the Q&A with Amy! Info below. If you’re not already a paid subscriber…