Ask an Assistant: Lauren Plattman (Brillstein)

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Lauren Plattman

Executive Assistant, Brillstein Creative Partners

Interviewed by Brielle Cohen, Commercial Floater Assistant at Buchwald

You’ve been working as an Executive Assistant at Brillstein since April, can you take us through your responsibilities in that position?

I work for the president of Brillstein Creative Partners, the standalone TV production company off of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, which is a management company. She’s a producer on all our projects, and we currently have several on our slate that she oversees. It’s a very small team—just me, her, and our Director of Development. So, I schedule all of her meetings: meetings with writers, generals directors and talent, and any meetings we have on our projects. I also coordinate lunches with different executives, take care of typical assistant duties, and roll calls.

And then aside from that, I do a lot of research. A lot of our projects are based on IP, so I do a lot of research looking for books either for specific writers or a mandate we’re interested in. I've read a lot of books for said research. We work with a literary agency and get a memo every week with various books, podcasts, and scripts that are available to be optioned. After reading or listening to them, I give my feedback to the team, and we discuss which ones to consider. I also read every piece of material for all of our projects. So scripts, pitch pages, treatments, you name it, I read and then I help take and compile our notes to send back to writers.

Previously you’ve worked in unscripted production (Unrealistic Ideas), in entertainment data analytics (Katch),  as an assistant editor (100 out of 99 productions), and interned in fashion video programming (Videofashion). How did all of these experiences shape you and help you realize what specialty you wanted to pursue?

I was very fortunate that throughout my time in college, I had a lot of different, part time gigs, internship roles, and they were, in fact, all in vastly different sides of the industry. Things that I never thought I would ever do, like when I interned for Videofashion, which is a fashion programing company. I got to go to Men's Fashion Week over the summer and film all around New York City, and that was really, really interesting. And I think each of them kind of showed me things that I was interested in within the industry, but also things that I wasn't interested in. So, I loved working at Videofashion, for instance, but it also made me realize I didn't want to live in New York City post-grad. Which helped make my decision to move to LA that much easier.

As an assistant editor, I loved that job, I did it for almost two years. I did it throughout the pandemic, actually. I got to help edit a documentary that went to South by Southwest, which was such a cool experience. But I also learned, and especially through the pandemic, that I do not want a job where I just sit at home on my computer all day for 40 hours and I have absolutely no human interaction. I really do love editing, I do miss it, but I cannot do that full time.

I worked in entertainment data analytics at Katch for a really long time too. What started as an internship made its way into a part time job. It was really cool to be at a company and a startup that started basically when I started, and seeing its growth and how it changed throughout the course of three years. And I kind of knew going into that job that that was, again, a pandemic job. It was not something I wanted to do full time. But the analysis I learned during that job now allows me to see film and TV completely differently. And I feel like I have this sixth sense in the back of my head where I’m thinking about projects from a data lense most people aren’t privy to.

And then my last job before my current job at Unrealistic Ideas was essentially very close to what I do today, but in the unscripted space. When I took that job, I kind of went in knowing that I did not want to be in unscripted forever, but it gave me so much experience. I truly do not believe I would have the job I have today if I hadn't worked there first, just because they gave me so much freedom to work on projects and work on development that I think most entry level employees typically don't get to work on. It was very hands-on, I got to work on pitch decks and sizzle reels.

I think that the best experience you can get early on in your career is doing a job and realizing the things you don’t love about it so you can more intentionally pursue your next role and find the thing you do love. And so I think each of those pushed me in the right direction of what to do in the future.

I understand you are a bookworm and are pursuing a career in development. Is there a specific book that inspired you?

I don't think that there is one specific book. But I’m inspired by seeing good adaptations, like THE HUNGER GAMES, which I think is one of the greatest book-to-screen adaptations. It honors the books and delivers what fans want.

But then I see something like the original PERCY JACKSON movies, which aren’t accurate and they clearly did not follow through on the full series. And I think part of that is on fan service, and I think that’s what’s missing in the book-to-screen space. I think that that kind of inspired me to want to make adaptations that more accurately follow books. Now that I am seeing it first-hand, I totally get why writers and producers make changes. Like there's a book I'm reading right now for work that as I'm reading it, I'm like, oh, this is going to have to change, this is going to have to change. The difference is this book doesn't have THE HUNGER GAMES level fandom behind it. So I think it frustrates me when there are massive changes unnecessarily in such popular works. So I feel like that's what kind of inspired me is that I want to understand why those changes are being made and, if possible, stop said changes.

Are there any specific genres of books that you are particularly interested in?

I truly read absolutely everything. I feel like my current company, and just the state of the industry, we’re focused a lot more on mysteries and thrillers, which has been really interesting. I've been reading a lot of books that I wouldn't typically have read before, which I think is helpful. And I think for anyone looking to go into development, it's important to read every genre and watch everything. I try really hard to not pigeonhole myself into one genre. 

Personally I'm a huge fan of coming of age, new adult type stories. Those are my sweet spots. Romance or fantasy even, I like all of that. Sadly none of those genres are really selling at the moment. So, I’m more interested in finding a great book than sticking to a specific genre.

What are your thoughts on the current state of book adaptations? Are there any trends you are hoping to see change in the future?

I like when the author is involved. Jenny Han’s THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY is a great example; her involvement led to changes that fit the show’s format while respecting her original story. If it's a less popular book or a less popular author, maybe author involvement isn’t as important.

I think a lot about IT ENDS WITH US and the controversy surrounding it. The author, Colleen Hoover, was included in that whole process. But there also was a whole group of fans that I feel were kind of forgotten. I think fans are often thought of as - well, they're definitely going to watch it, so we don't need to cater to them. And I actually think it's the opposite. You maybe don't lose viewership, but you lose the excitement around it. So I feel like that's the thing that I would change, again, not for every book. There are some books that no one's going to know that you changed a large portion of, but if it's something popular, I do really think you need to first please the people who are definitely coming to see and support it.

You received your BFA in Film from Syracuse, what skills from that program have you found been most helpful in working on the administrative side of entertainment and development?

Syracuse is very interesting with their film program and I'll briefly explain. So I was in the program through our Visual Performing Arts College which is focused on production. There's a whole separate program in Newhouse, which is the college with more name recognition, that I’d say is more focused on business practices within the industry. I have friends from both programs but they are very, very separate. I, as a VPA major, was able to take a handful of Newhouse classes, which I tried my best to take advantage of because they felt equally as important as the classes I was required to take yet were not actually required for my degree. At Newhouse, there's a lot more sitting in a classroom discussing the hypotheticals of a budget or the business at large. But in VPA, everything was much more hands on. I graduated with a thesis that I had to write, direct, edit; you had to do the whole shebang. 

So, funny enough, I would say my degree from VPA very much did not teach me how to be an assistant. And arguably the three classes that I took in Newhouse did not either. But I do think that it helped me understand that the industry is so big and there are so many ways to get into it and there are more paths than just production or just business. I think some college degrees don't even teach that difference. 

Were there any extracurriculars or experiences you had in college that particularly shaped your career trajectory?

I was in the professional film fraternity, Delta Kappa Alpha. I joined my second semester, sophomore year. And then the pandemic hit right then so I had a very untraditional experience. But at the end of my junior year, Lucy Stover (of THA) texted me and said, I think I’m going to run for president. You should run to be something on my executive board. And I was like, alright, I haven't been in this organization for most of my junior year because I took some time off so no one knows me. And she said, it doesn't matter, you should do it. And so I did, and so for my entire senior year, I was the secretary. 

I actually think that was the thing that prepared me most for being an assistant. Because being the secretary of a professional fraternity is a lot of making sure everyone is where they're supposed to be, making sure the calendar for the whole organization is organized. Kind of maintaining that everything is running smoothly. And so I feel like that was the thing that actually prepared me the most.

Looking to the future, where are you hoping to see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now?

I mean, I have fallen for development, so I'm definitely happy with the area of the industry that I'm in. Ideally, I'm still at my company to see a few of our projects from the current stage of development through production and post. I feel like a typical assistant path is, you become a coordinator then a creative exec or junior exec, into director of development. I do think I want to stay at a production company, rather than going to a studio or a network. But who's to say? I don't really know. I think it would be cool to maybe switch it up one day. For now, though, I’m happy in development and especially in TV.

What advice do you have for others who are looking to get into the world of development?

Read everything. Read, read, read. It doesn’t matter what it is. And I actually think sometimes it's better to read something bad because it’s easier to recognize what needs improvement or what you’re actually liking about it. It's so important to recognize what you like, what you don't like and have a sense of your personal taste. Right when I started at my current job, I told my boss I was excited to get to know her taste so I could bring her books, projects, ideas she would like. And she told me that while that was great, she wasn’t hiring me so I could learn what she likes, she wanted me to bring her projects I liked and that I believed in. I’ve really tried to stick to that and fight for the IP I’m passionate about.

I’d also say watch everything you can. Before starting at my current job, I tried my hardest to watch everything in full but there are just way too many shows out there to watch. I’ve recently started to put together a list of pilots that are either frequently compared to projects I’m working on or that are just from shows I’ve never seen. Of course, it’s great to watch an entire show but the reality is we don’t have that sort of time sometimes. A pilot is a great way to get a feel for the tone of a show. And if the pilot makes you want to watch the whole series, it’s a pretty great pilot.