Meet Helen Shih

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Helen Shih. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Helen below.

Hi Helen, so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?

I’m not a person who makes decisions easily, I ruminate a lot before taking action. But after a while, the biggest risk becomes taking too little risk and sinking into stagnancy and complacency. Many people will ask, what if it doesn’t work out? And you get to ask yourself, so what? And then you also get to ask, what if it does work out? And then the same question – so what?

No risk, no reward – that’s what I learned in finance class in business school. It’s possible to temper risk – to take on extra work and save up as much money as you can before making a big move or life pivot, to research and chat with people who’ve done the same before you, or to test out your dreams in low-stakes scenarios before you make the big leap.

Before I moved from New York to Los Angeles, I visited Los Angeles for a week, staying with a family friend. Before I worked in television full-time, I worked on a number of independent short films on the weekends. You can research and test, but eventually, you’ve got to make a decision. When it’s time, go full-out. Don’t half-step your dreams. Don’t save anything for the swim back. Give it your best, and no matter what happens, you’ll learn something and gain new experiences. No regrets.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Hello! My name is Helen. I live in Los Angeles and work as a writers assistant in a television writers room on one of my favorite television shows. Before working in television, I studied design and worked as a creative producer in advertising. I also went to business school and worked in marketing for software companies in New York and San Francisco. It took me a few tries to figure out what I wanted to do. It was daunting to make the leap from writing and performing sketch comedy on nights and weekends in New York to pursuing film and television full-time in Los Angeles. I had many fears around whether or not I would find work. Since I’ve moved to Los Angeles, I’ve worked on one if not two or three different television shows a year and I’ve enjoyed every moment. I’ve worked in the industry through a global pandemic, a historic double-strike of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, and now the palpable industry slow-down. Knowing all this, I wouldn’t change anything.

I had corporate jobs for most of my life because I thought it was the stable, responsible thing to do. But corporate jobs these days are anything but stable. Companies fold, restructure, and get acquired while employees lose their jobs and scramble to find employment. I experienced it multiple times and kept internalizing the failures, especially when I had a long spell in-between jobs and my self-esteem hit rock bottom. Looking back, none of those jobs were right for me. As painful as it was, I think all of the job losses were the universe’s way of kicking me out of rooms that were never meant for me. Rejection is redirection.

I’ve always loved reading, writing, and drawing. Once I discovered screenwriting was a profession, I learned as much as I could and kept going. I borrowed books from the library, took and still take screenwriting classes, and listened to screenwriting podcasts and interviews. I wrote and performed sketch comedy shows with an indie team and we produced our own monthly shows. I applied to a number of network television writing fellowships and entertainment mentorship programs every year. I volunteered at film festivals, started writers groups, and read scripts. Through friends of friends of friends, I got in touch with working television writers. I planted and watered as many seeds as I could, not expecting anything of them. Eventually to my great surprise, a few of them started to sprout and grow.

It sounds woo-woo, but when you make your intentions clear, the universe conspires to make your dreams come true. At the same time, sometimes you have to be a little bit careful with whom you share your dream with, because people want to protect you from expected disappointment. The biggest disappointment to me is not failure, but living a life that’s not your own. Stepping onto the path less taken looks scary from a distance, but once you’re on it, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. If you’re wondering if it’s too late, it’s not. In the words of one of my favorite writers/directors/producers, “It’s never too late until you’re dead.”

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1) The willingness to be a beginner and have a beginner’s mindset – to start from what seems like the bottom all over again, but it’s not really, because we carry our life experiences and skills with us from place to place. Have fun, make tons of mistakes because that’s how you learn, and track your progress. One day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come.

2) Be open to new paths that open up along the way. I wanted to work in television, but I didn’t know how or what role. I took whatever opportunity was available, starting from a production assistant and then working on the covid compliance team. It’s not a glamorous title, but I learned so much from hours of working on set and being a part of production. I got to know every single crew member and became familiar with the functions of all departments. I’ve seen a television show go from pre-production, to filming, to wrap. I worked on a studio lot and accompanied the show on location. I watched production scripts go through revisions and writers manage real-life constraints on set. I stayed in touch with my original goal, which is to write, and kept writing and submitting to programs along the way. Once I landed a writers assistant role, I drew from all of my production experience.

3) Lastly, and perhaps most important – get to know people with similar goals at a similar level. Share resources, read each other’s work, and learn to give each other constructive notes. Offer emotional support and encouragement and rise up together. Find people who are happy for you when you share good news with them. Having people who understand your goals, who can reflect your progress back to you, is priceless. You need folks to celebrate with just as much as you need people to commiserate with. There’s that saying, a burden shared is halved, while joy shared is doubled.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

There are so many! I’ve tried to narrow it down –

“Designing Your Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. Gather a group of friends to follow the book and go through the exercises together. It changed my life by reframing my perspective and shaping my decision-making process. It addresses a lot of the fears and anxieties around making big life pivots.

“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Screenwriting” by Skip Press. I borrowed this from the public library and read it cover to cover when I first took interest in screenwriting. I learned about the history of screenwriting, what is a four-quadrant film, and heeded some valuable advice I still follow today. Namely, when you’re starting out, you think you don’t know anyone in the industry. But ask around, and you’d be surprised who knows who. Turns out, my middle school friend’s husband’s brother in law’s high school best friend is a television writer and we got connected!

“The Art of Dramatic Writing” by Lajos Egri, recommended to me by multiple screenwriters. A must-read for how to create works with thoughtfulness and meaning.

It’s not a book, but the videos on “Beginnings” and “Endings” by Michael Arndt on his website, Pandemonium Inc. These two videos encapsulate so much in so little time of what makes a great, memorable, and satisfying story.

“Big Magic” by Liz Gilbert. This book is a balm for creative souls, validating and inspiring on so many levels.

Image Credits

Profile photo of pink background and purple shirt: Ricardo Nelson
Photo on-stage of me holding a microphone: Arin Sang-Urai
All other photos, author’s own.