Taffy Brodesser-Akner and Tracy Grant at an mb party

Tracy Grant is one of my favorite students. He was an active mediabistro.com member in New York, where the spec scripts he wrote in our 12-Week TV Writer class landed him a spot in last year's Disney Fellowship. Now here in L.A., a couple of months after completing our TV Symposium, he's landed a staff-writing job on ABC Family's The Heights.

Over breakfast last week, I asked Tracy what his big three misconceptions were going into a big-time fellowship like Disney's, and what he's learned in the interim. Here, in his own words:

1. Misconception: Fellowships put you on the fast track to a staff writing position.

Truth: Fast track is probably a bit much. While it's certainly better to have one, a writing fellowship only affords you an opportunity to demonstrate your value. Fellowships provide credibility and perhaps some temporary attention around town, but that alone only puts you slightly ahead of the game. It's what you do once you get there that determines your success. Simply put, just getting accepted isn't enough.

2. Misconception: Fellowships guarantee you access to network execs and/or showrunners and/or agents.

Truth: Every fellowship program will tell you that staffing isn't guaranteed, but meetings and mentors aren't guaranteed either. Network execs, executive producers, and agents have very limited time, and they aren't always accessible even when they support fellowship programs. So you have to maximize each meeting as if it's your last, because you never know.

3. Misconception: The Fellowship will be your biggest advocate.

Truth: Fellowships will be your advocate, but not your biggest--you will have to be. Fellowship programs can't favor one individual over another, and though they may not want to, they're sometimes forced to send several people out for one opportunity. If you leave them to their own devices, you may get lucky and have someone respond to your script, but you have to do everything possible to affect that outcome in other ways. That means writing and networking as much as possible, putting as much material in front of your mentor/exec as possible, and building that relationship.

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— Taffy Brodesser-Akner, director of community development