The Assistant Route: Networking, Mentorship, and Building a Film Career & Community

In this episode, GG Hawkins talks with writer, director, producer, assistant, and Not Your Daddy’s Films co-founder Vika Stubblebine about building a sustainable film career through assistant work, mentorship, community, and creative self-advocacy. Vika traces her path from acting and theater at UCLA to working in TV production at Sony, becoming a writers’ assistant, writing episodes of S.W.A.T., and helping build Not Your Daddy’s Films into a Los Angeles community for women and non-binary filmmakers.

In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guest Vika Stubblebine discuss...

• How Vika moved from theater, acting, and playwriting into film and television

• Why assistant jobs can be one of the most valuable ways to learn the entertainment industry

• What Vika learned working in TV production at Sony

• How mentorship from bosses and showrunners helped her move toward writing

• The importance of telling people what you want to do in your career

• How Vika landed opportunities in writers’ rooms and on S.W.A.T.

• Why Not Your Daddy’s Films began as a grassroots screening event

• Building community for women and non-binary filmmakers in Los Angeles

• The role of accessible events, panels, workshops, and screenings in supporting emerging filmmakers

• Why being on set in any capacity can help actors, writers, directors, and producers understand the filmmaking ecosystem

Memorable Quotes:

• “Tell everyone what you want, and you don’t need to be me, me, me, me, me. Talk about me all the time, but be comfortable being like, yeah, I want to be in a writer's room.”

• “You need to start believing that you're good enough because every single person in this world, it's not everybody, but people are going to tell you no, and you can't also tell yourself no.”

• “That was the spark that led us to creating Not Your Daddy's Films because we were looking for more community.”

• “I think that community, community, community is what indie film to me is all about. It's making at the very basic level, it's making cool shit with your friends.”

Guests:

• Vika Stubblebine

Resources:

• Not Your Daddy’s Films

• Not Your Daddy’s Films on Instagram

• The Daddy Dailies Podcast on Instagram

• Vika Stubblebine

• How Not Your Daddy’s Films is Redefining the Industry By Championing Women and Non-binary Filmmakers

Find No Film School everywhere:

• On the Web: No Film School

• Facebook: No Film School on Facebook

• Twitter: No Film School on Twitter

• YouTube: No Film School on YouTube

• Instagram: No Film School on Instagram

• 📩 Send us an email with questions or feedback: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices