We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Scott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Jobs on TV productions allow for interactions with so many different personalities amongst co-workers. Whether you’re in an production office; working in development; pre-production; on a bustling production set; or in the post production house, there’s a particular flavor of energy that is brought to each one. I have found that the direct quality of that energy stems from the top of the hierarchical food chain (execs and top line creatives) down to throughout the chain of command. Whoever is running the ship determines how the level of stress, creative flow, work load, general interactions amongst peers will go.

When you’re on a production, you’re on a team. Not unlike a sports team, a production needs to work on its communications constantly, or it fails. I started at the very bottom in the industry as an assistant on many projects until I was brought up the ladder. Through this invaluable ride of trial and toil I studied and learned what kind of boss I DID and DID NOT want to be by observing how my bosses behaved in their roles.
I had some bosses treat the ‘below the lines’ like garbage and created a toxic work environment where people felt stressed and couldn’t wait for the project to end. I’ve had incredible bosses who allowed everyone from the crew to feel included and valuable on the show. People smiled and loved coming to work. I also had some bosses who might only spoke to their ‘number two’ and no one on the project felt like they were delivering their best work, because they were only getting their marching orders through a game of telephone.

Once I decided that I wanted to learn how to run shows as an executive producer, I really locked in and studied my higher ups. I looked at the way they interacted with not just their staff as individuals and as a team, but also how they carried themselves in the role. There was a period of five years where I stayed in the role of Supervising Producer, as a number two to the showrunner or EP. This role is not an easy one. I was most often wearing multiple hats and having to juggle tremendous work loads. I was overseeing teams of staff and balancing many spinning plates. Learning to multitask was a must.

I had some bosses treat me with respect and ask for my creative opinion on big decisions. Some that taught me how to lead by creating an environment where everyone felt heard and a sense of belonging. I had some show me the opposite and demanded that I demean people underneath me and encouraged catty behavior. I had others that simply barely ever showed up and then would get upset if they didn’t approve of something I did when I was in charge.

From there on, once I was asked to come on a show as the co-executive producer I was ready to hold the title. I knew that from soup to nuts everyone would be treated with equal kindness and respect on my shows. I loved creating a team where we all wanted to be there and put in effort because we loved working together. From the start I would set overall intentions and creative goals for what I saw as the greater vision of the project would  and how I expected our team workflow to go. I made sure everyone knew that my door was always open to discuss any issue that may arise. I empowered my number two to make their own decisions but also not be afraid to come to me for guidance when they weren’t sure.  I loved starting the week with a staff meeting where everyone gets to share and reconnect after the weekend. I encouraged people to air grievances around what stresses we might be facing on the projects. There is so much BS stress in TV that it’s very important to let it out of the body so that it doesn’t fester and cause resentment.  Most of all, I wanted a healthy and productive energy flow that allowed me to relax into my role as the boss because I trusted that there was open communication with my people.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into the TV business after graduating from Emerson college in Boston in 2002. I had moved out to LA with the school’s “LA Program” and finished my credits senior year while holding an internship on the “Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn”.  The show filmed at the famous Television City studio on Beverly Blvd. Being on a Live TV set lit me all the way up and I knew that getting to work in this industry, in any capacity, would be a dream come true. I held that dream alive through some long, exploratory years of big struggles, big gains, big losses and big wins. I started as an intern in 2002 and by 2015 I was running big reality shows like “Real Housewives” and “Basketball Wives” as a creative Executive Producer.

Come 2018 I had many awakenings to what kind of content I wanted to put my name on. I had hit a wall with putting out storylines of female gossip, in fighting, tearing down, and focusing on frivolity just felt cheap and not what I was about. Becoming a mom expanded my outlook on this in unexpected ways.

I thought, “it’s gonna be easy for me to just swap niche’s and get into something like documentaries or comedies”.  Yeah, right?!  I went into my agents to tell them I was ready to make the jump over to more engaging and purposeful material and was pretty much told by them that “that wouldn’t be possible”. I was shocked that these agents would rather just decline my request than try to even help or work with me.  I mean, doesn’t it behoove them to have clients not just working but ones who are happy and excited to expand their careers?  It seemed backwards to me.  How could one’s full spectrum of creative talent and over a decade of experience be chalked up to working in one genre of television for the entirety of their career?  This really lit a fire under me while also really making me angry.  I needed to step away from producing entirely to figure out exactly how I wanted to re enter the work game.

I had always loved performing and spent many years on stage doing improv comedy. I knew that I could use my voice in fun and different ways so I decided to make a little VO booth in my closet and start sending out auditions. I learned my “sound” in the booth and what kind of vibe I wanted to deliver. Editing my stuff was a breeze since I had so much editorial experience. I think after I sent out about 100 auditions, I finally booked one! It was a banking commercial for a local branch. From there, I booked pretty consistently. After starting VO work in 2019 I landed a huge job as the voice of a industry leading tech companies AI Chatbot. It’s been quite an experience hearing myself all over the place now and quite frankly a bit terrifying given the fact that the introduction of AI into our world is shrouded in mystery and fear.

I’m sure I have TV colleagues and people in the voice community looking at me as “going to the dark side”, maybe a SCAB even, but if anyone wants to chat about how this all went down, how I was hired for this and what I knew and didn’t know accepting this role, please DM me so we can chat about it.  This wasn’t an opportunity someone could just easily say “no” to.  Also, just to note, just because I’m the voice of an AI, doesn’t mean I’m not also hesitant and worried about how AI will affect (and is already impacting) our roles as creatives in the industry and the world.  These times feel wobbly and weird but history would prove there’s just a renaissance afoot, and who doesn’t want to say we got to be a part of that?

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

There are several big and toxic lies that are embedded in the TV industry that keep people in a state of fight, flight and tremendous fear. These old adages include: “you’re only as good as your last job” and “if you’re not working, you’re just a wash up, has been”.  I believed this trash for a long time and used them as a tool to keep me in a state of “hustling, networking and trying to sell myself and my talents”. Once I stepped away and saw the industry from an outsider’s perspective, I immediately realized how silly it all was.

People get so wrapped up in the minutia sometimes on a set, that they forget they are making reality TV. They are making literal moments in a zeitgeist that will quickly be forgotten the second they land on screen. This “hustle culture”, “work all hours” mentality” is bad for everyone involved. It keeps you stuck and closes down the creative channels. Making TV should be fun. Unless you’re working on some really depressing content, that can be tough. But you can still keep things light hearted amongst the team. We’re not in politics trying to solve the world’s greatest problems. Nor are we practicing brain surgery. It’s TV and sometimes the stress level that gets juiced is really not worth the squeeze.

I spent many a day and night carrying such unnecessary stress in my body on shows. Scared that I said the wrong thing to a co-worker or boss. Scared that I disappointed the boss and they would fire me. Actually being fired (twice. Badges of honor!) and worrying that my reputation would be ruined forever. I started to look at things more spiritually in this regard and discovered that the universe is truly conspiring in your favor when you’re remaining true to yourself and your inner goals (#vibes #1111 #imoneofthose).  Pushing through something that feels bad in your body is really not the move. The universe will find a way to course correct it for you.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

As a creative I try to keep so much possibility open around what CAN happen. A real optimistic,world is your oyster, and opportunity can be found in each moment’s viewpoint. I have found that people that are working in a non creative, more rigid environment may have a tough time surrendering to these ideals for whatever reason. However, I’ve met plenty of people working in the creative world that are super rigid and have a very hard time seeing other possible ways to do things and different possible outcomes.

To me it’s a matter of what holds greater importance to you personally. If you’re at work and constantly hitting brick walls yet pushing and pushing to get a different result, that can cause a lot of stress. Some people enjoy being in a state of nervous system overload because they haven’t had the opportunity to discover what it feels like to be relaxed in their body at work or possibly even ever.   In turn, creating a false sense of what work should feel like and be like. This is pervasive and it trickles down through generations in culture.

This all goes back to the societal and familial pressures bestowed on us since birth. The common idea in the American work culture is that if you’re not hustling and in a state of stress all the time, then you’re not working as hard as you need to be and therefore your end game, reward, pay off won’t be as big and shiny as you or your family dreamed it be. You will be a failure and you can’t care for your family or loved ones. I hate to sound like a tinfoil hat person but it’s very clear to see how the systems in our society are designed this way.

I would love to witness and be a part of a turn in our overall culture, where we can agree that even by standard “non creative” jobs can still be creative and are valuable. Just because something isn’t deemed “cool” or “fun” doesn’t really have anything to do with it. I wish we could focus on what each of us as individuals brings to our work. To look at every opportunity as a blank slate from which to express our unique genius. If we look at opportunity as a gift that we are grateful for and not a means to an end, things tend to open up for us.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @hiamandascott

Image Credits
Peter Rieveschl