Podcasts about Evening Shade

Today on Health and Longevity, Dr. John Westerdahl's special guest is actress Marilu Henner. Marilu Henner is one of only twelve documented cases of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory in the world. Marilu gives practical advice on how you can improve your memory and discusses her new book, Total Memory Makeover _ Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future. On this program Marilu Henner discusses how a healthy lifestyle and plant-based diet can contribute to improve brain function and memory. She is a healthy living coach and five-time Golden Globe nominee beloved for her roles on Taxi and Evening Shade.

She is known for her work on Broadway, in movies, and on TV, including the classic sitcoms, "Taxi" and "Evening Shade" . . . but when she got cast on Season 23 of DWTS, she did a happy dance! The great Marilu Henner tells Cheryl who she thought she was going to be partnered with, thoughts on Derek Hough's teaching style, who she rehearsed with when Derek wasn't available, some of the challenges she faced on the show, and who she would love to be partnered with if she ever does the show again! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello!! My good friend Lauren Hance and I go back to the 90s and look at the Halloween episode of the Burt Renyolds show Evening Shade. We talk about what does and does not age well in it and if it is a good Halloween episode. Please support this podcast with my Patreon with the link below. This podcast can be found on Cross The Streams Media platform. www.patreon.com/scottwhite www.scottyblanco.com www.instagram.com/scottspodcasts www.crossthestreamsmedia.com www.theholyoplay.com

This week, Eric, Josh, and special guest Emily discuss: public speaking, endless podcasts, our Humphrey Bogart statue, bike lock posts, thieves, Dartmouth Comic Arts Festival, Evening Shade, Poor Things, vintage movie posters, The Rocky Horror Show, X / Pearl / MaXXXine, and more! They also mention the movies screening the week of Friday August 9 - Thursday August 15: Mother Couch, Touch, Big Shark, Kinds Of Kindness, Roman Holiday, and If....!

You may know and love Patrika Darbo's face from one or all of her 121 IMDB credits. She's been in The Burbs, Line of Fire, Days of Our Lives, Seinfeld, Step By Step, The Bold and The Beautiful, and, if you're doing the math 115 others. Patrika played Dan's dream girl (Roseanne's look-alike) so convincingly on Roseanne that she was soon cast to play Roseanne in the TV pic, Roseanne and Tom: Behind The Scenes!Patrika joins us to share a taste of her frank, funny and fascinating style of inside Hollywood deep dish storytelling.Days of Our Lives fans know her best as conniving-social-climbing—villianous-strategist Nancy Wesley. She's over 500 episodes into that portrayal and Nancy will be back for more bombshell evil masterminding in October.Patrika talks about the grueling pace of soap acting, how she conquered her nerves while working with Sidney Poitier, Clint Eastwood and Mike Nichols and her random elevator encounter with Roseanne just after portraying her in the TV movie about her life.She's also catching us up on new acting frontiers in web series and radio drama podcasts, telling us how she knew her days were numbered on the set of Step By Step, sharing how she wrote her own dialogue in the new Homes.com commercial with Heidi Gardner and Dan Levy and filling us in on how she really feels about the recent strike resolution.And, we, of course, are bringing you a rousing round of IMDB Roulette! Plus, Fritz and Weezy are recommending Dirty Pop on Netflix and Foyle's War on Acorn and various streaming platforms.Path Points of Interest:Patrika Darbo on WikipediaPatrika Darbo on IMDBPatrika Darbo on InstagramPatrika Darbo on FacebookFoyle's War on AcornDirty Pop on NetflixMedia Path WebsiteGift of Democracy

The RNC Chronicles continue with our special guest, actor Dean Cain--who you'll remember as Clark Kent/Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  Dean joined Jack & Joe to talk about his latest film, God's Not Dead: In God We Trust.  It's a politically riveting fight for freedom starring Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy), David A. R. White (GOD'S NOT DEAD, Evening Shade), Dean Cain, Samaire Armstrong, (The O.C.), Ray Wise (ROBO COP), Scott Baio (Happy Days), Charlene Tilton (Dallas), with guest appearances by Governor Mike Huckabee, Raymond Arroyo (EWTN's The World Over with Raymond Arroyo), and Grammy Award -Winning band Newsboys. You can view the trailer here.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The RNC Chronicles continue with our special guest, actor Dean Cain--who you'll remember as Clark Kent/Superman in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  Dean joined Jack & Joe to talk about his latest film, God's Not Dead: In God We Trust.  It's a politically riveting fight for freedom starring Isaiah Washington (Grey's Anatomy), David A. R. White (GOD'S NOT DEAD, Evening Shade), Dean Cain, Samaire Armstrong, (The O.C.), Ray Wise (ROBO COP), Scott Baio (Happy Days), Charlene Tilton (Dallas), with guest appearances by Governor Mike Huckabee, Raymond Arroyo (EWTN's The World Over with Raymond Arroyo), and Grammy Award -Winning band Newsboys. You can view the trailer here.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Episode: https://omny.fm/shows/armstrong-getty-extra-large-interviews/its-a-bird-its-a-plane Podcast: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/64-Armstrong-Getty-Extra-Large-30400323

Today on Too Opinionated, we share a drink with actor/director Ted Lange! After appearing in the film Black Belt Jones in 1974, he portrayed Junior on the series That's My Mama before landing the role of the ship's bartender, Isaac, on The Love Boat in 1977, opposite Gavin MacLeod. In the early 1980s, following a letter of recommendation from Lynn Redgrave (whom he met on an episode of The Love Boat), Lange attended a summer school at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to perfect his Shakespeare acting skills. After he left the show in 1987, Lange appeared in various films and in guest roles on 227, In the Heat of the Night, Evening Shade, Boy Meets World, The King of Queens, Scrubs, Drake & Josh, Psych, The Cleveland Show, and Are We There Yet?. Ted's classical background as well as his years before the camera have enabled him to become known as an actor's director inspiring not only emotional but also comedic scenes. His four-camera directing expertise includes sixty episodes for Entertainment Studios', The First Family and Mr. Box Office, and twelve episodes of Are We There Yet?, for Executive Producer, Ali Leroi. His one-camera directing experience is showcased in the independent films, Othello and For Love of Amy as well as the one-camera television comedies, The New Gidget and The Brothers Garcia for Universal. The Fall Guy and Mike Hammer exemplify his directorial work in action shows.   Want to watch: Youtube Meisterkhan Pod (Please Subscribe)

We learn two major lessons: 1) Designing Women boyfriends don't often make it (RIP Reese, who IRL was settling in on LBT's other show Evening Shade) and 2) you will finish the burger Julia made you – come hell, high water, or several broken vases.  Her unique parenting style inspired this week's "Extra Sugar" was a perfect excuse to bust out the Amy Vanderbilt etiquette handbook that Nikki bought after she was first referenced in season 3. Yes, yes, we'll talk etiquette, but also about Mrs. Vanderbilt, AND what would go in our updated guide. 

Ever laugh so hard your Invisalign popped out? Well, that's just the beginning of our shenanigans as we, Alison and Lulu, take you on a rollercoaster ride through our dream luxury travels, complete with a fictional $10,000 budget to blow. As unpredictable as Florida's weather, our conversation flutters from the quirks of life with dental aligners to the butterflies of performing arts—whether it's rehearsals for a St. Pete play or watching young talent shine in auditions for 'Stranger Sings'. Grab a seat as we recount these tales with the warmth of old friends catching up over coffee.Picture this: an opulent motorhome drive through Evening Shade, Arkansas, as we chuckle over extravagant sleep aids and $299 blankets. Switching gears, sip on some imaginary "Evening Champagne" and join us under the Kenyan stars at Loy Sabah Conservancy, where we drape ourselves in luxury and find innovative ways to stay comfortable and stylish on safari. From the absurdity of a $1,000 non-slip yoga mat to the practical magic of a multifunctional lap desk, we're unpacking the hilarity of high-end travel and the gadgets that could make or break the experience.As we wrap up this journey, we get cozy in the happiness a simple recliner can bring and share heartwarming stories about the impact we leave on others, like a former student-turned-American Idol contestant who named his dog after yours truly. We muse over the peace-keeping powers of our furry friends, imagining a world where therapy dogs are the key to conflict resolution. So tighten that leash and tune in—you're about to be led on an adventure that celebrates friendship, laughter, and the unbreakable bond between humans and their loyal companions.Support the showBecome a supporter of the show! Cancel Anytime • No Commitment https://www.buzzsprout.com/145545/supporters/newDon't forget to get on the list that counts — our newsletter mailing list. Sign up at www.10kdollarday.com for show notes, resources, and things to make you smile. Instagram: @10KDollarDay Twitter: @10KDollarDay Support the show: www.patreon.com/10kdollarday

I am so excited to catch up with actress Marilu Henner, whom I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing in 2021.When I heard she was returning to the New York stage, in Sandra Tsing Loh's Madwomen of the West, I wasted no time in trying to get a new interview. I am so grateful she agreed to talk with me a second time.Marilu is known for starring in the classic TV sitcoms Taxi & Evening Shade as well as over 76 films (including 28 Hallmark movies), 7 Broadway shows, 5 Golden Globe nominations, and being the author of 10 New York Times Best Selling Books.This time around, Marilu is Baring It All with Call Me Adam about:How she got involved with Madwomen of the WestA time when her opinion was deemed outrageousThe craziest thing she's done for at auditionWhat she still wants to accomplishPutting her superhero memory to the testSo much moreMadwomen of the West takes place at Jules' stunning Brentwood mansion, where hangry (she's sugar-cleansing). Marilyn is throwing a surprise birthday brunch for Claudia, who hates birthdays. Champagne corks pop — and tempers flare — when their long-estranged celebrity friend Zoey crashes the party, fresh from her TED Talks. Expect hilarity, outrageous opinions, and unexpected wisdom about what it means to be a woman (no matter what pronouns you use) in the 21st century.Madwomen of the West plays at The Actor's Temple in NYC through January 1, 2024. **This audio version has been shortened from the original print format. Click here for the FULL interview**More on Marilu Henner:Marilu Henner has the energy of a teenager, the wisdom of a sage, and the memory of a superhero. She has done it all: 76 films (including 28 Hallmark), 7 Broadway shows, 2 classic sitcoms (Taxi and Evening Shade), 5 Golden Globe nominations, and the New York Times Best Selling author of ten books on health, parenting, memory, and lifestyle improvement.Marilu hosted and executive produced two talk shows (Marilu and Shape Up Your Life) and the nationally syndicated radio show, The Marilu Henner Show. She competed on Celebrity Apprentice (2008), Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars (2013), and Dancing with the Stars (2016).Marilu is one of twelve people documented with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory and was the subject of a five-part special on 60 Minutes and on 60 Minutes Australia and served as the consultant on the CBS series Unforgettable. Marilu has spoken before Congress eleven times (Alzheimer's, dietary supplements, women's cardiovascular disease, The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, deadbeat parents), and she contributed to the 2005 and 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.Marilu is a keynote speaker for professional organizations, universities, government agencies, interest groups, and corporations on topics including memory, diet and fitness, women's health issues, cardiovascular disease, cancer survival, child rearing, lifestyle, entertainment, and business organization strategies.Marilu can be seen in Disney's Haunted Mansion, indy film Rock & Doris Try to Write a Movie, the Aurora Teagarden prequel, and she can be heard as the...

Susan and Sharon continue their discussion with the creator of Designing Women, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (also Evening Shade, Hearts Afire, Filthy Rich, and more!).In Part Two of their conversation, Linda touches on the challenges of television production, her experiences with Dixie Carter, Delta Burke's struggles on the show -- and the differences between the north and south.THE CONVERSATIONLOVE IS IN THE AIR: We get the inside scoop on the real-life romances between the cast members of Designing Women and their male co-stars.When CBS refused to cast Delta Burke as Suzanne Sugarbaker – and only changed their minds three days before the pilot was shot!How Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker's mother was almost played by Elizabeth Taylor!DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH: How Linda and casting director Fran Bascom discovered Jean Smart and Annie Potts -- playing a pair of Arkansas diamond thieves… in Amsterdam?!?The president of CBS actually apologized for Designing Women at the network upfronts in New York – and was booed by the press who had seen the pilot and loved it!“KILLING ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE”: How a comment Linda overheard while caring for her mother who was dying of AIDS led her to write one of her most memorable scripts.SEND THE MESSENGER! Most of the first season scripts were written by Linda on the weekend before they were shot.The telegram Oprah Winfrey sent Linda that she still has to this day.“RESERVATIONS FOR EIGHT” – this “Battle of the Sexes” episode is a favorite of Sharon's – and Linda's!So join Susan and Sharon – and Linda – as they talk therapy, Dolly Parton, southern racism -- and Designing Women: The Play!BONUS EPISODE COMING: Find us THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1st --With special guest, television writer/producer Stan Zimmerman (“Gilmore Girls” “Golden Girls”), talking about “The Girls”, working with Rosanne, Betty White, and most recently – writing the new Lifetime Network movie, Ladies of the 80's: A Diva's Christmas!AUDIOGRAPHYRead Linda's 2018 Hollywood Reporter column: Not All Harassment is SexualRead Linda's 2017 Hollywood Reporter column: Lessons From Witnessing Four Decades of Harassment in HollywoodStream Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!The Facebook page: Facebook.com/DesigningWomenOfficialRead Designing Women producer/director Harry Thomason's autobiography:“Brother Dog: Southern Tales and Hollywood Adventures” on Amazon.Read Linda Bloodworth Thomason's romantic Southern novel, “Liberating Paris” - on Amazon.CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Follow 8TL on Facebook.Check out Instagram/80sTVLadies.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.BEST FEMALE HOSTED - BEST TV & FILM - BEST ART PODCAST80's TV Ladies WON three People's Choice Podcast Awards!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

It's the Holiday season, so I have brought back my good friend Steph DeWaegeneer and we talk about the Christmas episode of the first season of Evening Shade. A holiday episode was a part of almost every sitcom, so we see how it holds up today and just how good it was in the first place. Please support the episode here, or on my Patreon page with the link below. www.patreon.com/scottwhite www.scottyblanco.com www.instagram.com/scottwhite1968 www.crossthestreamsmedia.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-white5/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scott-white5/support

Susan and Sharon are honored to speak with the creator and writer of Designing Women, Linda Bloodworth Thomason. Novelist, playwright, documentary filmmaker and philanthropist, Linda is a five-time Emmy Award nominee who has created, written and produced such signature hits as "Evening Shade", "Hearts Afire", "Women of the House" and "Filthy Rich".Her TV writing career began with episodes of classic shows including "Rhoda", "Paper Moon" and "MASH". In a career spanning six decades, Linda Bloodworth Thomason is known for her singular style, mixing humor with serious topics; her lovable, outspoken characters; her unique blending of the romantic and the political, and her indelible portrait of the modern South.In Part One of a wide-ranging conversation, Linda touches on her early days working with TV legends James L. Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and Norman Lear; her astonishing success with Designing Women; living through – and writing about – historic times, and the challenged state of feminism in 2023.THE CONVERSATIONBUILDING THE PERFECT CAST: How legendary casting director Fran Bascom helped Linda nab everyone from Burt Reynolds to Delta Burke to John Ritter – and discover future Oscar winners Billy Bob Thornton and Hilary Swank!Bringing the Southern accent back to primetime TV – by way of Dixie Carter's eloquent, melodic voice. And wait, how did Susan lose her accent, anyway?All of the original four Designing Women were from the South and used their real, regional accent – except one. Can you guess who??A BOOK OF VERSE, A JUG OF WINE AND THOU -- Jimmy Carter's romantic nights at the White House with First Lady Rosalynn!The Designing Women Foundation (also known as The Claudia Foundation) – started with Linda's income from Designing Women under the umbrella of The Claudia Foundation to honor of her mother, Claudia Bloodworth. The Foundation provides scholarships and opportunities for young women in Southeast Missouri.BENEVOLENT MASCULINITY: How a certain kind of Southern man became a new archetype on Linda's shows: “Find yourself a jock who also reads poetry and loves his mother.”A GIRL, A CANOE AND THE WORLD: How a canoe from her father changed Linda's life – giving her the courage to discover herself and the world by exploring the Current River in Missouri.DARKNESS AND LIGHT: Finding out that Designing Women was picked up to series on the same day as finding out that her mom had AIDS from a blood transfusion."What's Happened to Women?" Podcast - How the next generation of women is facing our culture's onslaught of misogyny and greed with kindness and equality – and how we can help.So join Susan and Sharon – and Linda – as they talk The Idol, Shakespeare, the KKK – and Hilary Clinton's mom! AUDIOGRAPHYCheck out the fan website: Designing Women Online. Stream Designing Women on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Pluto!The Facebook page: Facebook.com/DesigningWomenOfficialFind more cool podcasts at Weirding Way Media.Visit our friends Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess at their podcast “Astonishing Legends".CONNECTFor transcripts, contact info and more, visit 80sTVLadies.com.Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list.Get ad-free episodes and exclusive videos on PATREON.BEST FEMALE HOSTED - BEST TV & FILM - BEST ART PODCAST80's TV Ladies WON three People's Choice Podcast Awards!NOMINATED80s TV Ladies is shortlisted for an International Women's Podcast Award!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5585115/advertisement

A dynamic duo with impressive acting credits, Marilu Henner and Caroline Aaron discuss their friendship, careers, and their play "Madwomen of the West." The two fondly share their strong and enduring friendship, how they met, and their mutual respect and support for each other despite their differences They also talk about their current play, "Madwomen of the West", the relationship they have with the other actresses, its success in Los Angeles, and bringing the show to New York. The two look back on how they got into theatre and what made them fall in love with performing. Marilu discusses her early struggles in auditions and how she learned to embrace her uniqueness, encouraging aspiring artists to celebrate what makes them special instead of conforming to expectations. She also talks about her highly superior autobiographical memory and the book she wrote about it. Caroline, on the other hand, opens up about being driven by early experiences with death, emphasizing the value of cherishing life and leaving a positive impact. Marilu Henner has been in seven Broadway shows, and two classic sitcoms, namely “Taxi” and “Evening Shade”. She has five Golden Globe nominations, is a New York Times bestselling author of 10 books, and is one of 12 people documented with highly superior autobiographical memory. Caroline Aaron gained prominence in the 1980s with roles in films directed by Woody Allen, Mike Nichols, and Nora Ephron. Her television career includes recurring roles in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “Transparent”, and “The Leftovers”. A seasoned theater actress, Caroline has performed on Broadway and in numerous off-Broadway and regional productions. Marilu and Caroline are both currently starring in the new off-Broadway comedy, “Madwomen of the West”. Connect with Marilu and Caroline: Instagram: @therealmarilu, @therealcarolineaaron Twitter: @TheRealMarilu, @therealcarolineaaron Connect with The Theatre Podcast: Support us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheTheatrePodcast YouTube: YouTube.com/TheTheatrePodcast Threads, Twitter & Instagram: @theatre_podcast TikTok: @thetheatrepodcast Facebook.com/OfficialTheatrePodcast TheTheatrePodcast.com Alan's personal Instagram: @alanseales Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 14-20, 1994 This week Ken welcomes comedian, podcaster and author of the upcoming new book about 90s US Sketch Comedy (which you can and SHOULD purchase at sketchcomedybook.com), Jason Klamm. Ken and Jason discuss podcasting, not making money with your art, The Vacant Lot, Exit 57, Amy Sedaris, getting turned down by a person's "people", Almost Live, The Bert Fershners, the nicest millionaire you know, Adam McKay, 9 Lives, UCB, Phil Hartman, Newsradio, history being written by the victors, sending flowers, FTD, Mrs. Doubtfire, weird places you got VHS tapes from, Star Trek The Next Generation, Laugh-In, Ruth Buzzi, Nixon, Nick at Nite, shows canceled after one episode, character vs  plot, Ken's mean prank phone calls to Joe Piscapoe as a kid, MTV and Nickelodeon interstitials, Jimmy the Cab Driver, Toby Huss' Sinatra covers of 90s alt rock, Baby Jessica, Bob Hope, MacGuyver's Lost Treasure of Atlantis, COPS and the LA riots, terrible people on good shows, SNL, Heather Locklear and Janet Jackson, musical guests, Hee Haw, realizing T2 is the greatest movie ever way too late in life, not being allowed to watch violence as a kid, My Breast, Made for TV Movies, Lexi Alexander, growing up in Germany as a military kid, German kids toys, the final episode ever of In Living Color, Evening Shade, Burt Reynolds, hypernesia, Marylou Henner, Lori Laughlin in a brutal made for TV movie "One of Her Own", Reginald Veljohnson, Bob Newhart, loving Phil Silvers, being a young old man, Rescue 9-11,  Clinton's favorite SNL sketches, Billy West, Searching for Grace, Sesame St's 25th Anniversary, Dr. Seus and Jim Henson, thinking you'd be an animator and a puppeteer, Don Blueth, Robert Townsend, Ann-Marie Johnson, Hollywood Shuffle, Rod Serling, the carousel in Bimington NY, TGIF, Sasha Mitchell, Hangin with Mr. Cooper, Todd Oldham, Ken's love of TV pagent shows growing up, the Adventures of Briscoe Country Jr., USA World Premier movies, Ken insulting Judd Nelson, Where on Earth is Carmen San Diego?, complaining about Charles Barkley and Nixon's death. 

Matt and Drew discuss " Evening Shade " by Dolly Parton. To listen to the full show, visit ForgottenCountryRadioShow.com.

            Director-producer-author, Sheldon Epps has directed major productions on and off Broadway, in London and at many theatres across America. He's also had an active television career helming numerous classic shows of recent years.                        Sheldon was first drawn to the stage while at Teaneck High School, and later graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Drama.             He began his career as an actor studying at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Indiana Repertory Company, the Alley Theatre, the Pittsburgh CLO and The Production Company, which he co-founded and for which he directed various plays.             In 1980, Sheldon made his theater directing debut with the Off-Broadway musical Blues in the Night. It was revived in 1982, this time on Broadway. Since then he's directed numerous other stage productions on Broadway and in regional theaters including: Scenes and Revelations, Play On!, Blue, and Purlie.            As well, since 1994, Sheldon has directed many memorable, popular TV shows including: Evening Shade, Smart Guy, Sister, Sister, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Girlfriends, and George Lopez.            In 1997, Sheldon became artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse, serving in that capacity for two decades. In 2020 Sheldon was appointed Senior Artistic Advisor at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC.            Sheldon's best-selling memoir, My Own Directions, was published in September 2022. I've read My Own Directions and can tell you it's a fantastically entertaining and informative look at Sheldon's exceptional career and all of the many hurdles he's overcome and successes he's achieved throughout an outstanding life in the arts. 

On this week's episode of the podcast, we tackle your screenwriting questions from the February Webinar, "Becoming a Professional Writer: 4 Things You Must Know."Show NotesFree Monthly Webinar - https://michaeljamin.com/webinarMichael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/courseFree Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/freeJoin My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlistAutomated TranscriptsMichael Jamin:That's the thing some people think because there's so much bad stuff on the air. Well, I can be bad. I can be just as bad as them. There's so many reasons why a show might be terrible. Some, not all of them come down to the writing. Sometimes you'll have a star and the star. This is what the, this is what they wanna do. And writing be their writers be damned. Sometimes it's coming from the network or the studio. This is what they want. And so they're paying for it. Sometimes there's so many chefs in the pot, executive producers giving notes. You don't even know what you're doing anymore. I mean, to me, it's almost like the business is designed to make mediocre shows. And only occasionally something breaks through. And god bless when that happens. You're listening to Screenwriters. Need to Hear This with Michael Jamin. Hey everyone, it's Michael Jamin and welcome back to another episode of Screenwriters. Need to hear this. I'm here with Phil Hudson. He's back. Phil is back. I, Phil.Phil Hudson:Hi. Good to be back. And I got a new microphone for all of you concerned about my audio.Michael Jamin:That's a good looking microphone. I gotta say, Phil, if you looked better than mine, that's the one real podcasters use.Phil Hudson:It was very expensive.Michael Jamin:I feel like mine is like a tin can. Yeah. . Yeah. All right. It's fine though. So here we had a special episode. Yeah, I always say that, but I always mean it. Cuz we've been doing a lot of free webinars. Phil and I have been doing once a month. And, and so we get a lot of questions and so we couldn't answer all the questions. It's about an hour long. And we choose a topic we really dive in. The past ones have included, what are they included, how to write a good storyPhil Hudson:For things you need to know to become a professional screenwriter. There was a, yeah, one we got leaving me.Michael Jamin:We got Mon Mo. We got one once coming up as well. Kind of like how to get past in industry gatekeepers, how to get your material seen by Hollywood Insiders. All this kind of stuff. Each, each topic. One week, it's each month it's gonna be a different topic. And if you'd like, if you'd like to be invited you can go to my website, MichaelJamin.com and, and just sign up for there. We, you know, we do it once a month and it's free. Why not? And, but one thing I've noticed, Phil and I've noticed is that we do these things. We get a ton of signups and maybe only a quarter or so of the people actually show up, which is so interesting cuz it's free. It's not the money. It's, and, and I, and I know I'm preaching to the choir cuz anyone who's listening to this podcast is not someone, is the same kind of person who show up to a webinar. So I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I say this because there's so many people who definitely want to make screenwriting a reality. They wanna sell their screenplay, but they don't put the work in. Like, if they don't, like, if you're not gonna show up to a free webinar from a hosted by a guy who's telling you what you should do, then how are you going to make it? It's just not gonna happen. Phil. Like, what are you doing?Phil Hudson:I 100% agree. And it's also, it's interesting, right? But I think it highlights what I've been saying is there are a lot of people who are seamers. I think that's a term we talked about early on in the podcast. Mm-Hmm. people want to seem like they are a screenwriter. So they go to the coffee shop, they have their screenplay open, they talk about their screenplay. It's the same screenplay. They never finish it. They never move on. I can't go do that. I'm working on my screenplay and they don't show up. This is an opportunity to sit with a working showrunner telling you exactly what you need to do to break in the industry and how to write good stories, all of these things. And they're just nohow.Michael Jamin:But it's also, it's like, all right, so you wrote one screenplay, but that's not enough. Like, and, but for the people listening, if you are doing what I'm telling you to do or are suggesting, at least you're writing more, you're writing more, you're taking classes, you're writing, you're getting feedback, you're going to event like you're non, this is nonstop until you break in. And then once you break in, it's non-stop again. Because it just doesn't end. You don't, the doors, you know, I don't know. So anyway, I commend everyone who's listening to this. If you want to come to the webinar, you're more than welcome. Go to michael jamen.com and you'll see thePhil Hudson:Free webinar, MichaelJamin.com/webinarMichael Jamin:Webinar. And yeah, you'll get an invite and then it's free. And then we send you a replay within like 24 hours. It's also free then if you miss it after that, I think, we'll, it'll be available for a small purchase fees because there's, there's work involved in putting these things up. But yeah, go get it. It's free. It's free. Okay. Are we, are you ready, Phil? So we got a lot of questions. I couldn't answer all them cuz there's a time limit. So here are the ones that that I couldn't answer.Phil Hudson:Yeah. And, and this is for the February webinar because we've had, you've had a lot of great interviews coming up and we didn't wanna hold those back. And you got some good ones in the pipeline too. It was pretty exciting. Oh yeah. So February q and a, again, if you do get on that, we will answer your questions. Now, there are some questions that we've answered in previous q and a, so I'm gonna skip some of those. Some of them continue to come up, Michael. Yeah. And for your new audience members, I think we'll address those because they're important questions. And I think you're gonna prevent a lot of people from struggling and spending a lot of money in places they don't need to to be writers.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:One other note that I thought was pretty cool feedback for everybody. We did have someone sign up for your course and it was because they've attended three of these webinars and I thought it was pretty cool. He said he'd spent $4,000 on direct mentorship and your free webinars were better than that. And that's why he signed up for your course.Michael Jamin:That's, that's the problem. Where's he getting the, where's the mentorship? Like who's thePhil Hudson:What? We don't know. Four grandMichael Jamin:4K guys. So yeah. Come to these webinars, you'll get, you'll save $4,000,Phil Hudson:$4,000 value guaranteed. All right. I can't guarantee anything for Michael Jamon, I promise. Anyway, Norwood, let's go to question oh one, Norwood Creach, ask copyright. What is the status of writing a screenplay if it has a copyright?Michael Jamin:I don't know, , but here's the thing. I don't give legal advice on my at all. I guess it protects you in some way, but I don't, I don't, I've only registered one script I ever wrote with the writer Guild of America. That was the first one I wrote. But after that, every script that I make is copywritten by the studio that I sell it to. So there, it's their, it's their legal headache if someone wants to steal it. So if you want to copyright, you can. And, but I, I've done talks about, I don't know, your biggest problem is someone should wanna steal you. Your biggest problem is if your, your work is so good. Someone wants to steal it. That's usually another problem you have. Right? Here's the problems. Your work is so terrible, no one wants to steal it, so. Right,Phil Hudson:Right. Cool. And then are you concerned, there are a couple follow up questions. Are you concerned with AI screenwriting?Michael Jamin:You know, not right now. I, I, I'm concerned. I have bigger pro, I have bigger concerns with ai and that is destroying the world. That's why they want to do this pause on it. Of all the writing that AI is gonna take away, I think, I think creative writing will be last on the list. They will take away technical writing. Mm-Hmm. instructions and stuff like that. And maybe some forms of copywriting.Phil Hudson:Marketing writing is going away. I mean, I, that's a search engine optimizer for most of my digital marketing career. That's a real concern for us. And Google is leaning towards allowing that type of copy.Michael Jamin:Oh, okay. ButPhil Hudson:In terms of, so it would be authoritative and you have to know how to communicate with the machine. But anyway, Uhhuh .Michael Jamin:But in terms of ai, you know, I'm not, I'm not worried yet. Maybe I'm being Pollyanna, is that what word? But I'm not worried yet. Cause it's not, it's certainly not there yet. Maybe in five or 10 years, but right now it's not there at all. And it's not even close to being there. So, yeah.Phil Hudson:Okay. Awesome. And then do you have any suggestions for writing narratives for young writers?Michael Jamin:Yeah, I mean, it's the same suggestions for everyone else. I, I, I have that free lesson at michaeljamin.com/free. It's a, it's the same lesson I would give an older writer. There's no difference. The, the, the advantage that older writers have is that I think when you're writing, you have any two things, and I've said this before, but you need to have something to say and you need to know how to say it. And I teach people how to say it. That story structure, how to unpack it and having something to say that comes with, unfortunately that comes with age and wisdom and that, you know, it's not, it's, it's unusual when someone young really has a, knows what they want to say. My daughter, who's only 20, she's got something to say and it shocks me. Cuz when I was her age, I didn't have anything to say. So, but but don't, you don't have to worry about that yet. Just continue writing.Phil Hudson:Awesome. Annie k ask, what's the best way to know if your script is ready to be passed on or get you a job? Is it competitions, is it a mentor? Any other suggestions?Michael Jamin:Well, we've talked about competitions. I'd say there's, and you may know more about this than I do. I'd say about three of them that are probably worthwhile. Right. Yeah. And Austin Nichols and, and Sundance Sun.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Sundance has different labs. They shifted things a little bit prior to the pandemic where they're doing not just strict screenwriting labs anymore, but they have lots of different things. In fact, I'm, I'm attached to a screenplay coming out of Ecuador now because they have a fund Okay. Working with several fellows and things. And that's you know, I'm not writing the screenplay or anything, they're just attaching me as a script consultant because I have background there and been in the laps. But those are the only real ones that do anything. I mean, there, there are some other ones, like Big Break I think is a really good one that's on my final draftMichael Jamin:And you get to meet. Oh, okay. I hadn't even heard of that. I hadn't evenPhil Hudson:Heard of that one. Yeah. So there are some, and we've talked about that in other podcast episodes as well with what the list is. But I can tell you, and we did talk about this a little bit on our webinar this month, the lot of that is a, is a way of funding the rest of the film festival. Mm-Hmm. , it's getting the judges to attend. I was working with a guy who ran some film festivals and he actually had me reading the scripts and giving my opinion and deciding who would get the best and Right. You know, I was a studentMichael Jamin:And that's the problem. I mean, and if you're gonna, people say, whoa, I placed in the, like, you gotta, you gotta win or come in second or something. I don't think placing and then they still think it's gonna change their life. It rarely does. You still have to continue the hustle, you know? I was gonna do anotherPhil Hudson:Hmm. Go ahead, go ahead.Michael Jamin:Well, I was gonna do another talk about this. Some woman made a post, she's like, yeah, I've one, I placed at all these contests and I still can't get an agent. I'm like, even if you did get an agent, it wouldn't change. Move the needle. You gotta do all this yourself. So mm-hmm. and I, and I'm gonna do a whole webinar on that. I did, and I actually did that. I did one where we talked about it to some degree, but I'm gonna lean into it a little bit more. It's like, nah, you got, you're not doing enough, you're not doing enough.Phil Hudson:This is anecdotal, but someone in the chat in your last webinar said that they had a friend who placed on the blacklist mm-hmm. , and they were promised all this industry connection. Nothing happened.Michael Jamin:They didn't even get a meeting or, or what?Phil Hudson:No, nothing came about. Nothing came of it.Michael Jamin:Yeah. So, so it's, it's not enough. Like Winnie, you know, these contents are relatively new. They weren't around when I broke in. But then again, the industry's changed so much and things are, you, can, there are things available now that would help you that weren't available then? Namely the internet, namely making your own stuff on your phone name. I mean, namely, like learning so much from people who are around industry. When I broke in 90, well, I moved outta, I got outta college in 92. There was no internet, there was no, how do I get a job? I had to drive out to Hollywood just to meet people to ask the questions. Now you can find out the answers on the internet, you know, so there's way more access now. So it's not, I wouldn't necessarily say it's harder now, it's just different. Yeah. And in some ways it's easier.Phil Hudson:Yeah. And you've, you give out tons of free resources and most of your audience knows this by now, but you've got the free lesson. You've got your social media, which is great @MichaelJamin, and yeah, there's lots of good stuff out there that you put out that just didn't exist before.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:Alright. Daniel will ask, what's the ideal job to pay rent and have the time to pursue screenwriting?Michael Jamin:The ideal job would be assistant to an executive producer. Perfect job. Because you're basically sitting at their desk answering the phones that don't ring. That's what I did for a couple years. And so during that time, I wrote, and I would ask them questions, and that's the ideal job. The next best job would be a writer's assistant. So you're in the writer's and you're, I mean, in some degree, in some sense, that may even be a better job. You're in the writer's room and you're listening to these writers. You're learning how they break stories, but then you don't have the time to write or you write, you have to write it on the weekends or at night. So the, the both are great jobs,Phil Hudson:But you're learning so much through osmosis just being in that room, listening. Yeah, yeah. And seeing it happen.Michael Jamin:Yeah. So that would be a fantastic job.Phil Hudson:All right. Follow up. How can I stay home and write while not making my girlfriend think I'm a bum ass?Michael Jamin:Your girlfriend isn't into you anyway, so you don't have to worry about it. How can you stay home and write? You know, you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to make priorities. That's the, that's the thing. That's the, I I feel because you know, my my writing partner, I don't wanna talk about him. Well, it's not really, I don't wanna tell his story, but he, he was going through similar things. You know, he had a girlfriend and he had he had to write on the side. And it was, it was the struggle. How do you, how do you balance? Oh, you're just gonna have to make that happen. I didn't have a girlfriend at the time. I don't have to worry about it. Yep. Phil Hudson:For me, when I was dating, I had what I call the red carpet test. I, I was so fixed on knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life, which is be a professional writer. Yeah. That when things started getting serious with a a girl, I would ask them, how comfortable would you feel on a red carpet? Correct, mm-hmm. and no girl passed that test. They were all, they, I'd feel really uncomfortable. And then I asked my wife and she said that, and she said, oh, I, I wouldn't have a problem with that. And she's so supportive of me, like, so absolutely supportive of everything I do, that she understands that that's what I want to do. And she, I, I also prioritize what she wants though. It's, it's a give and take and a balance. Yeah. And, but that's, you just gotta find the right relationship. I think that handles that.Michael Jamin:Yeah, you're right. And if you're in the wrong one and they don't like you, then resentment's gonna your're bo 10 years from now, you're gonna resent her if she's gonna resent you. So, yeah.Phil Hudson:That, that's hard, hard advice to hear. But it's important advice is oftentimes your relationships, family and romantic will be the thing that holds you back from achieving your goals.Michael Jamin:Yeah. You know, my wife, she ran a, a, well, you know this for the girls. She ran a, a, a girl's clothing company and I, for, for it's 15 years. And I handled all the marketing and I wrote all the commercials. And then, then when she stopped doing that, she threw herself into helping me doing what I'm doing now. And she was like, I was like, well, you know, thank you for your help. She said, well, you, you supported me just as much, so now I'm just doing it for you. So it, it's that kind of thing. You, if you're not in a supportive relationship, you've got a problem. Yeah.Phil Hudson:Breakup. That's the answer. Yeah. Michael's not telling goesMichael Jamin:Back to, I told you she wasn't into you. .Phil Hudson:Alright. Delara, Casey, what would you consider a giant following on social media isn't requiring somebody to have a car? Oh. And then there's a follow-up question. So let's go with what would you consider a giant followingMichael Jamin:? No, I have no freaking idea. I have no idea. And I asked this of my agent on my book agent. I said, Hey, how big of a following do you need to have? I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I, I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. And I asked my you're gonna have to ask a kid. I told, I had a, I had lunch with my nephew a couple weeks ago, and his friends, you know, they're young kids. They're, they're twenties, they're in college. And we were talking about TikTok and I told him, he said, yeah, we had a, a visitor, a lecturer come guy had a lot of followings. He had like 800,000 following followers. I'm like, oh, okay. That's a, i I got I got 412 and they thought, , they thought I'm meant 412 , right? Like 412 followers. And I said, no, no, 412,000. And they're like, oh, that's a lot. . So I don't know what I,Phil Hudson:I have an answer for this.Michael Jamin:What is thePhil Hudson:Answer? So, so because of my, what I'm currently doing, and you know, I'm, I'm now posting things professionally on my social media about being a, a writer or a, an associate producer or an assistant to these guys. And they're currently having me help them run their social media and do the promotional stuff for them for their new film. Quasi comes out on April 20th on Hulu, and that means I'm traveling with them and I'm sitting with a, a publicist from Searchlight Pictures and their publicist, who is the publicist for about half of the top comedians standup comedians, 50,000 followers.Michael Jamin:50,000 is considered an influencer in that spacePhil Hudson:That allows you to, they want to engage with you to selfishly promote their product or their people. ButMichael Jamin:What platform, cuz 50,000 on TikTok is said, it doesn't an Instagram,Phil Hudson:She said it doesn't matter. So anybody who has over 50,000, she wants me to write 'em down so that they can engage them about helping promote the film.Michael Jamin:It doesn't matter. She says.Phil Hudson:Yeah. So I'll confirm. I mean, I'm going back on the road with them, you know, in a couple days and I'll ask that question as a follow up, but 50,000,Michael Jamin:But I wonder number because reach has really changed. I wonder if they're aware of, of there's no reach anymore. Yeah. ,Phil Hudson:It's, it's a numbers thing for sure. Yeah.Michael Jamin:Okay. Interesting. There's your answer. 50,000.Phil Hudson:All right. Follow up question from Delara isn't requiring somebody to have a car, a form of discrimination to be a production assistant?Michael Jamin:You know, is it required? Is is is having two arms form of discrimination to be a baseball player? Well, that's the, you gotta swing a bat. So, you know, I don't know what to say. I mean, I don't know what to say about that.Phil Hudson:There, there have been people, by the way, there have been famous pitchers with one arm who have done the job Yeah. And done it. Well, the, the, I think this is just my opinion, a hundred percent Phil Hudson's opinion here. Mm-Hmm. , I think that we're too focused on discrimination and less focused on what is the requirement to be able to do the function of the job. Mm-Hmm. , if you have to get from white Woodland Hills, California to Pasadena to hand a script to an actor, and that's an hour and a half in your car in traffic, you can't rely on a bus to get you there to do that job. No. No. And that is a function that is a requirement of the job. And so having the vehicle is, and, and they don't say quality of the vehicle, by the way. And they, they cover your miles for the car, which is the wear and tear and the gas in the vehicle. Right. So that you get compensated for those things, but you just have to be able to do the function of that job.Michael Jamin:I mean, it would great if the studio had a car, a beater that, okay, you gotta drive the car. You here's the car, here's the, here's the studio car, and now you gotta run errands with the car. That'd be fantastic. But you know, there's, they, I don't know. You still have to get to work, you still have to find a way to get to work. You still have to know how to drive. Yeah. There'd still be obstacles in your way. SoPhil Hudson:No, no. If you're set PA and you're on set all day, that's a different story. Cuz you can get two set on time. Someone can drop you off, you're there for 12 to 14 hours and then somebody has to pick you up and take you home. Yeah. It's a different story. You can carpool with other people at work, if you're in the camera department colliding, whatever those are, you can do those jobs. But to be like an office pa or writer's pa you're getting people's lunches. You're, you're like going out and running errands. You gotta have a vehicle to do that job. So I don't think it's discrimination.Michael Jamin:I mean, the at the bottom line is like, people who have some money are always gonna have it easier than people who have absolutely no money. Mm-Hmm. . And so that's just the way it is. Is it fair? No. It's just the way it is. So I, I don't know.Phil Hudson:Yep. Until the machines start picking us up and we just get in the car without knowing why.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Maybe that'll happen. That's right. They'll have self-driving cars and PAs will be outta work. SoPhil Hudson:I don't know. Yep. There you go. They just throw stuff in the back.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:All right. Ariel Allen asks, do you recommend starting with short scripts and just working those before moving to full length?Michael Jamin:Well, short, I mean, that's what I do as a TV writer. I, I write short scripts. They're 22 minutes long. I don't write features. So, and I think writing a, you know, a short script, a 22 minute script is takes much less time than writing a feature. So I recommend Sure. You know, that's why I write fe To me it's more interesting. I like the, the pace, the change than spending all this time on a feature, which could take a couple years in the same amount of time. I could bang out several epi several or, you know, on half dozen or so episodes of television. So,Phil Hudson:Yeah. And I think, and this is old data, so it might have changed, but I doubt it. The timeframe when being offered a script assignment for a feature is six months to turn in your first draft.Michael Jamin:Uhhuh probably defense. They want it yesterday, to bePhil Hudson:Honest. Right. But, but I think you have six months to get in your draft is, they'll push you for it. But that's what the Writer's Guild has is the timeframe Okay. To get in draft one. And then there's a time for the, for draft two. So that being said, how many pilots can you write in six months of tv?Michael Jamin:Me personally?Phil Hudson:You personally, as a professionalMichael Jamin:Screener. Oh. Oh, I don't know. I, I mean, I don't try to write that many pilots. I, you know, we write, we might do one a season, you know, one a year, youPhil Hudson:Know, because you, you're working writer two, so we gotta consider that.Michael Jamin:Yeah. But you could write, it's, it takes less time to write an episode of television on, you know, spec script than a, than a pilot.Phil Hudson:Sure. Okay. Another follow up question. I live in Texas and I'm nowhere near. Oh.Michael Jamin:But you know, hold on, Phil. One, one second though. I don't, I say yeah, if, if I find it very hard to tell a compelling story, that's if it's too short. If you don't have enough time, if you're only doing like five minutes, if you wanna write a short that's a five minute short, I would have, I would've a hard time telling a compelling story that amount of time. I think for me it's like 20 minutes is kind of the sweet spot. Maybe 15. But any shorter than that, it's like I, I, I don't know. I need time to get the plane up in the air. You know,Phil Hudson:When I was in film school, the assignments were your scr, your short could be no longer than like five minutes or three minutes depending on the professor. And yeah. Some of the professors were my age cuz I was a, a, you know, an older student and I talked to them after and they're like, yeah, it's just because I don't wanna sit through that much boring content.Michael Jamin:Yes.Phil Hudson:Right. Cause they couldn't tell a story. And, and that was, I've talked about it before, amazing cinematographers, great camera work, but nothing happening and it's just boring to watch, even if it's pretty. Yeah. So they would have those caps and then I had to hit that restraint for my final project. And because of your mentorship and the work that I'd been putting into writing, I knew that my script needed to be 12 minutes long and it was a 12 minute script and I cut it down to a five minute. And after my professor in my directing class was like, yeah, you, that story needs to be longer because there was not enough time to breathe and to fill those moments. And so, yeah. Yeah. I, it's definitely, and the formatting was very different too. Writing a short, we, we talked about that all the time as students is there's just not a lot of ramp up time to get across the information you need. And when you talk about those three fundamental things you need to know in a story in your, you talk about that in your free lesson. Mm-Hmm. hard, hard to get that across super fast and finish that plot in three minutes.Michael Jamin:Well it's also cuz you wanna make that end, if you want that end to be impactful, to really hit somebody, it's like, it's not even so much about getting all the exposition out. It's about like, what do I need to do to make that ending feel like a payoff to really feel emotional. And like, if you don't have enough time to do all the other stuff, the ending is just gonna feel unearned. It's gonna, you know, it's gonna feel un unearned, which is the, you know, bad writing.Phil Hudson:Right. Alright, follow up question from Ariel. I live in Texas and I'm nowhere near quote the industry. Yeah. How do you actually gain connections in the film or TV industry?Michael Jamin:Well, I think, I think the problem is you need to be in Hollywood. You, you, you're Ariel's saying, I wanna work in Hollywood, but I don't want to work in Hollywood. Yeah. Like, well, there's a problem. Yeah. And so, andPhil Hudson:There is an industry in Texas. There are a lot of filmmakers in Austin and a lot of people are moving to Austin. But what do you want to do in the industry? And this is the question I have from a lot of people. Would you stay in la Why are you in la? It's cuz this is where the writing happens. Yeah. If I could live in another state and do it, I probably would. Yeah. Taxes are better, A lot of reasons why. Less traffic, less pollution, all those things. But yeah, this is where the writing happens. And so this is where I am until I achieve that. Or I'm at a level where I can move somewhere else and then, you know, do the job from elsewhere. And, and I know that's like feature writers at a really high level, like in years in, in Academy Awards mm-hmm. , it's not something that's,Michael Jamin:And even they have to come back in for meetings. Although maybe with Zoom it's less and less, but they have to, you know. Yeah. But that's the, I mean that's the thing. It's like, I know she doesn't wanna leave Texas for whatever reason cuz she likes it there. She has friends, family, she, you know, whatever reason she doesn't wanna leave. But there are people who will leave and those people are gonna have a leg up. Mm-Hmm. . Those people want it more. No one wants to move away from their friends and family. No one wants to. And so the people who come out here like yourself are hungry because they're uncomfortable. They wanna make it happen because they've already sacrificed. So those people have an, have an advantage. And to be honest, I think they should because they've already given up more. They want more.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Sacrifice.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Yep.Phil Hudson:Justin, via, you mentioned early in your career you started working under a working writer who helped show you the robes. How did you approach that relationship? I think this referring to the the book writing for Doe what's his name?Michael Jamin:Oh, well I had Bill Addison mean, I had, I had a writing teacher and he was a retired guy and he lived in the Pacific Palisades and he had a class once a week in his, you know, dining room. And we all drove there. That, so yeah, I studied under him. He gotta study. You gotta, I always felt like you gotta study. There were, there were classes offered. I could have taken a class at UCLA Extension or something like that, but I wanted to be sure of who I learned from. And I found him a guy I wanted to learn from, the guy who had the job that I wanted. And so he was retired sitcom writer. Perfect. I didn't wanna learn from professional teacher, which many of them are, some of them are not, but many of them are. SoPhil Hudson:This is a question leader. How did you find him? What did you do to find that?Michael Jamin:You know what I, I heard, I don't remember who told me, but I moved to la moved to Hollywood. Now I'm in the circles, now I'm hanging out. I'm, this is where everyone comes here because they wanna become a screenwriter or actor or whatever. And so you're meeting people at parties who wanna do, who want the same thing that I want. And then you're talking, and then someone mentioned this guy, someone, he, he wasn't in the phone book, he wasn't on the internet. There was no internet back then. Someone mentioned his. And then I, I met, I learned it from someone who I was talking to. This is why people come to Hollywood. And I was like, great. Gimme his number. And then I went. So I, I don't remember who told me, but that's how I found out.Phil Hudson:Did you develop any kind of relationship with him? I think that's ju Justin's second part of that question. How did you approach that relationship? Or was it really just a teacher-student relationship where you show up, you kind of listen, he dictates down that kind of thing, orMichael Jamin:Yeah, it was teacher student. He told me, I, after reading some stuff that I would never make it as a professional writer. He thought he was doing me a favor cuz he thought, well, don't waste your time trying to do this. Do something else with your life. He, he wasn't trying to be mean. He was trying to do me a favor, but he didn't know me well enough. He didn't know me, that he didn't know how hard I work and how I tenacityPhil Hudson:There, there's a tenacity there that most people don't have. And so he saw where you were and said, this is as far as you will go, not knowing Yeah. You'd hit the wall until it broke down. Yeah.Michael Jamin:Right. SoPhil Hudson:Huge lesson in that for everybody listening by the way. Like, that's what you have to do. Yeah. Hit the wall until it falls down.Michael Jamin:Yeah. In, in college I wanted to be a creative writing. I just wanted to study, wanted to be in the creative writing program. I was good enough to take classes, but I wasn't good enough to get into the program where I, that was my major. And so they told me I wouldn't be a writer either. Yeah. Who cares? No one's, no one's gonna tell me what I get to do with my life.Phil Hudson:Look who's laughing now?Michael Jamin:No one's laughing. not even the audience.Phil Hudson:Michael doesn't make anybody laugh.Michael Jamin:Phil Hudson:When you say, okay, and then follow up, when you say it doesn't matter whose hands your script gets into, would you go as upload your script to online?Michael Jamin:I I, I, not necessarily. I I would be really, you know, I wanna know who I was giving it to. Not, but, you know, I wouldn't upload it to the, to the interwebs. And I, I meant it in terms of a great script. Ha has legs the same way a great show has legs. This like, here's the thing. I saw this great show, and I was gonna talk about this in one of my upcoming webinars and made a note of it. There's this guy named Derek Delgado, and he put on a show, he had a one-man show, it was on Hulus called in and of itself. Someone told me about it and I watched it and I was blown away. It was so original and so creative. I was blown away. I stopped when I was done. Let's go back to the beginning start. I've never do this.I never go back to the beginning when I just finished it. Let's watch it again, forget it. But I did that. And then afterwards I started telling everyone, you gotta watch this show. This is amazing. And and, and, and I was doing it. Like no one asked me to share it. I was sharing it because I was giving a gift. Like, go watch this. This is amazing. You're gonna love this. And I would look good in that person's eyes because I was the one who discovered this precious gem that no one else was talking about. I'm the only one who's, this is my little thing and now I'm giving it to you. And I felt like a gift. And that's what a great script could do. Like, you show it to someone and they're blown away if they're like, oh, it's okay. You're, nothing's gonna happen. But if they're blown away, they will tell people, not because they're trying to help you, but because they're trying to help themselves and make themselves look good to the, to their friends and family. And, you know, look what I just gave you this great recommendation.Phil Hudson:You might have literally just equated it to this, but could your audience equate it to finding that, show that water cooler talk, the one everyone wants to talk about and share with their friends?Michael Jamin:Yeah. Right. It's, and it's not, it's not like, you know, at the end of the whatever water cooler, white lotus or whatever, whatever's big right now, it's probably not white lotus anymore. But no one there wouldn't say, Hey, did you, no one says, Hey, if you enjoyed your show, this show, please share it with your friends. There was none of that at the end of HBO's episode of White Lotus. It was, people loved it and they just went to work the next day. You gotta watch this show. Yeah.Phil Hudson:So what, what was that moment for you, for the audience? What is that moment for you when you were watching a show and that's the level you want to be at to be a pro.Michael Jamin:Oh, well, but when you, when you, what, what are you saying? When you get,Phil Hudson:What I'm saying is for the audience member, think about a time when you watched a show and you well felt this is something I need to go tell Joe about or Mike about.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:That moment, that quality, that's what you're striving for, to work at a professional level at the upper echelons of Hollywood. Yeah. And when someone has that experience with your script, that is what's gonna happen in script format.Michael Jamin:Yeah, exactly. Exactly. They'll, that's, that's when I say give it to, it doesn't matter who you give it to you, if you give it to someone and it's amazing, they will give it to someone else and they're not gonna give it to some idiot on the internet. They don't know they're gonna give it to a friend who can help someone who's further up the ladder. They're just gonna pass it along. You know, they give it to someone who knows someone who knows someone in the industry. And if it's great, it'll find, it'll, it'll, it'll start walking. Cuz little good scripts have legs. Yeah. And if it's not, if it's mediocre, it won't.Phil Hudson:Yeah. I, I put a script online, but it was also very well documented here on this podcast with you giving me notes that I wrote that script. So there is a paper trail of authority and ownership that goes back to me and logged IP addresses when you download it so that if someone stole it, I feel legally protected enough to do that. And it's of service. And I got great notes from a professional writer, Michael. So it was absolutely worth me doing that. I don't think either of us are suggesting you do that.Michael Jamin:Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.Phil Hudson:The question you've answered many times before but continually pops up because everyone focuses on this. At first, do you need an agent?Michael Jamin:Well, you do need an agent to get submitted to a TV show, to get the meeting, to get a pitch meeting. You do, you do need an agent, but an agent, an agent is really not gonna get you work. Mostly agent's, field offers agent will do the 5% of the work that you can't do. You still have to do 95% of the work. And so yes, you need an agent, but the agent is not the answer to your problems. And there's a lot you can do without an agent. So. Yep.Phil Hudson:And you've said before, any script you get when you're staffing a show, those people have come from someone with an agent. Yes. And you're still hoping for a good writer out of that batch.Michael Jamin:Yeah. If I get, if I'm staffing a show, and let's say I got three dozen scripts to read, which is not an exaggeration. All of them come from agents, all of them come from managers. You know, you can't submit to me, you can't, I won't touch it. So it all comes through a rep, a rep, and of those 36 scripts, maybe only one or two are any good. SoPhil Hudson:Yeah. Okay. this was a comment specific to the time, but I think it addresses something that happens on your website. Jeff says, so I'd love to take Michael's course, but it's currently closed. Sad face.Michael Jamin:Oh,Phil Hudson:Sad face. So the course is closed now. Yeah. you are now doing an enrollment period on the course. Do you wanna talk about that?Michael Jamin:Yeah. So once a month we open it up and it's brief. It's like three days or something fell, right? It's, it's like three or 40 or something like that. It's not a lot.Phil Hudson:A lot of people join which is great and a lot of people are getting a lot of value out of it, but we close it down so that we can provide a better experience to those people. Because when it's open all the time, it's a little crazy for both of us.Michael Jamin:Yeah. It was cra Yeah, it's, so we got on a row par, we onboard everybody, shut the door, take a breath, do it again nextPhil Hudson:Month, answer questions in the private group, the people in there help you out. All that stuff. So if you're wondering why the course is closed here's a hint. Maybe attend the live webinar.Michael Jamin:Yeah. You'll get a better, actually, if you attend the webinar, we, we give you a better deal. . Yeah. So come the webinar, you got a special deal. If not just get on my email list and you'll know when it's open. And when it's open, get in. And then if you miss it, get in the next time. You know, it's every month.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Got it. PJ works, and we've addressed this as well, but I think he phrases it really interestingly. Just curious, how do we have bad movies and TV shows if you have to be really good to be in the industry?Michael Jamin:That's the thing. Some people think because there's so much bad stuff on the air. Well, I can be bad. I can be just as bad as them. There's so many reasons why a show might be terrible and some not all of them come down to the writing. Sometimes you'll have a star in the star. This is what the, this is what they wanna do. And writing be damn writers be damned. Sometimes it's coming from the network or the studio. This is what they want. And so they're paying for it. Sometimes there's so many chefs in the pot, executive producers giving notes. You don't even know what you're doing anymore. I mean, to me it's almost like it, the business is designed to make mediocre shows. And only occasionally something breaks through. And god bless when that happens. But you know, why, why?Just because that's how it, this is the, the business. This is the, it's a business. So everyone wants through chasing the same thing. I read a book, but I think it was Charlie Hawk, he described it as everyone wants to make a hit show. Everyone's in a, in a life raft. And so you have the director, the actor, the writer, the studio executive, the production company, everyone. And everyone's got an org and they're paddling as fast as they can, but the raft is circular. And so everyone's paddling, but the raft is going around in circles because, you know, that's what the problem is. When you have all these, they all want the same thing though, which is to get to the other side. But they're paddling. And so that's what happens. You start spinning around.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Yeah.Michael Jamin:Unless you have a, you get lucky it's lightning in a bottle or you have a really strong showrunner who has enough f you minor to say no, but, and that's, and by the way, that's not me. So it's some people who have the clout,Phil Hudson:You know, there's a really good book on this called Difficult Men. And it's about the showrunners, A difficult man behind scenes of a Creative Revolution from The Sopranos by Brett Martin. And it talks about this, these showrunners who were those guys and they wrote Mad Men and mm-hmm. , all these shows that you know and love. And it, they just had the chops to do the job and the attitude to say no. But the chops were so good. They HBO and these companies just let them do their job.Michael Jamin:Once you start making a successful show, they usually back off. Once they learn to trust the showrunner, they back, they usually back off. But in the beginning, everyone's scared. And the bigger budget, the budget is every, the more scared everyone is.Phil Hudson:JJ Abrams just had a show canceled on h HBO this year.Michael Jamin:What was it?Phil Hudson:I, I can't remember the name of it, but it was like a massive budget. It was like one of the first things Discovery chopped. Like they just cut theMichael Jamin:Budget. Oh yeah. Well, becausePhil Hudson:They were cutting budgets everywhere. So, yeah. Two questions similar, gonna combine them. So she, Shea Mercedes and Leonte Bennett. How do we learn, or how can I practice screenwriting every day when I don't have an idea for a screenplay? And let me combine it with another, yeah. Bark bark 4 35. How can a beginner start to be a screenwriter? What are the first steps? So what, how do I write if I don't have any ideas? How can I learn to write and, you know, what are my first steps if I want to be a screenwriter? These feel very new to me.Michael Jamin:Well, if you don't have an idea, you're screwed. I mean, you know, but you don't have to have a good idea. You have to have, you don't have to have a great idea to have a good idea. And there's, it's the execution, which is which matters. I talk, one of the modules we have in the chorus and I, and trying to through one of the most popular ones is minding your life for stories. How, how to mine your life. Cuz you all have stories. People wanna, I think new writers think that let's create a world and let's create all the characters in this world. I'm like why bother? Why not just write what you know? And that way you, if you come, you take the story from your life. You don't have to create a story cuz it ha already happened to you. You don't have to create a character.You're the character. All you gotta do is figure out how to unpack the details of the story and that story structure. And that can be learned, that can be taught. That's what we teach. And so that's what I would do. I, you know, that's what I would do. Start writing what, you know, and what, you know, there's a misconception. You know, this guy on Paul Guillo, he, you know, he's a another writer on, on, you know, on the internet, on the social media. And he, you know, he talked about this the other day and I was like, he said it perfectly, which is people say, write what you know, but they don't really understand what that means. They think, well that means if you're a plumber, write about plumbing. Right. About a, your character is a plumbing plumber. No, no, no. Right. What you know means the internal struggles that you face.So if you are insecure about your education, your character write about a character who's insecure about that. If you're insecure with, about your looks or if you were abandoned as a baby, write about that. I mean, so it doesn't have to be the outside, it's the entire, it's the internal struggle. What you feel on the inside. That's what you know. And, you know great the Great Gatsby, you know, a great American novel, F Scott Fitzgerald wrote it. And so that's, that was about a guy who felt poor. He felt poor. And and he wanted the girl. And he, he always felt he would never have any self worth until he was rich. And then he'd be worthy enough to get the girl. As much as he loved the girl, being rich was more important to him cuz he always had the emptiness.And if you know anything about f Scott Fitzgerald's background, that was him. That's how he felt. And even when he had the, even when he earned money as a, as a novelist in the screenwriter, he couldn't keep it in his pocket. He had to spend it because that's how he felt. That was, that's how he felt whole on the, on the, you know, on the inside. And that's why he had a drinking problem. That's why he died at the age of 40 something because of an of alcoholism, because he had that hole. But the character of Great Gatsby's pretty close to him.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Yeah. Episode 39 of this podcast, A great writing exercise. There are some ideas in there and some other things that you can do to learn more about how to practice your skills and, and develop those things. But the other thing we talk about on this podcast often is being okay with yourself and being okay with your emotions and being okay. Being vulnerable. But you also talk about the dichotomy of when's, what's too far, what's oversharing. Yeah. So dive into the podcast a bit more if you're new and there's maybe we'llMichael Jamin:Do, actually that's a good point. Maybe we'll do a whole webinar on oversharing and stuff like that.Phil Hudson:Yeah. All right. So, so again, lots of questions about do I need to live in LA to be a writer? How to make connections with people outside if I'm not there. We've already addressed these LA's where the writing is, but you can make connections in your area and online. Your, your screenwriting course is a great place to do that. Mm-Hmm. , outside of that, there are Facebook groups. Lots of reallyMichael Jamin:Popular. Yeah. We have a private face. We have a private Facebook group just for the students and those guys. I gotta say Phil cuz I don't do this. Those guys are, they're, they're hitting it hard. They are having table reads. Mm-Hmm. , they're having script swaps, pitch sessions, pitch set, and like what? And like, I'm not in charge of that. They are. And it's because they're freaking focused and they just wannaPhil Hudson:Make happen. Like they're beginning guests too. Like one of, one of the writing members, Laurie, her, her husband is a pretty well known writer. Mm-Hmm. . And he came in and did a guest pitch session where people, writers pitched to him and he gave feedback.Michael Jamin:Good for him. Yeah. He,Phil Hudson:He's, he has famously one of the, I think it's the most valued script sold. And he came in and he did it to help you because that's a student. That's not a connection you or I have.Michael Jamin:Nope. Nope. There's a connection with another student. So like, I'm impressed and that's why we, and you know, we keep a close. It's like, you can't join. I get, we get people every day they want to join. Like, no, no, no, no, no. It's only for students because I don't want this turning into a cesspool of of trolls and, and idiots. Yeah. Like every other screenwriting group on, on Facebook where the people are just mean and stupid and and awful to each other. It's not what's going on in there. So Yeah.Phil Hudson:Absolutely. Cool. Gary Hampton, what would you say it's beneficial to volunteer to be a writer's assistant or producer's assistant to gain some practical experience?Michael Jamin:Well, you can't volunteer. I mean, it's a paying position. It's not an internshipPhil Hudson:And you can't intern anymore because some interns sued. And so no one wants to do that anymore.Michael Jamin:Right. So it's a paid position. It's not a, it's not a well paid position, but, you know, so you can't volunteerPhil Hudson:For it. That, that being said, personal experience with this. You, I remember I got a text, I was sitting in my office and you were like, Phil, there's a PA job on Tacoma fd. Do you want it? It pays horrible and the work sucks. And I said, I would do that job for free. And you said right answer and you told me that's exactly what you did. Like you volunteered. Isn't that how you got your job? You or your first one of your first Yeah, myMichael Jamin:First job, this was on a show called Evening Shade. This was a long time ago with Bet Reynolds. And and who else was in it anyway? Mary Henry. But I sent out resumes. I'll do, I'll please, I'll work for free. Finally, some someone said, fine, you wanna work for free, you can start tomorrow. We'll give you $300 a week. And I was like, 300, you know, now $300 a week is nice. Nothing , but I jumped at it. It's better than free. I jumped at it.Phil Hudson:Yeah. butMichael Jamin:It's only because he only offered me the job because I said, I'll work for free.Phil Hudson:You were willing to do it. Yep. So you had the desire follow up question. What's the best way to get into a writer's room? And I know that's a crap shoot.Michael Jamin:Get as a Well, the best way to get in as a writer's assistant, you know, but you, that's hard. You have to get in first. You get start as a pa.Phil Hudson:And the, and the answer to this, having done basically all of this over the last several years is bust your butt. Mm-Hmm. , serve, serve, serve. I remember. And I think I've, I think Seavers aware now. I remember there was one point where Seavert was like, yeah, Philip Burnout. And you were like, no, he won't. Cuz you've known me long enough. ButMichael Jamin:Did he say that? I conversationsPhil Hudson:There's a level, there's the level at which I was like putting out in the writer's room and I, I remember I overheard that conversation. You're like, not fell. I appreciate you having my back. But it gets, it gets exhausting at a certain level and you just have to keep putting up it.Michael Jamin:It gets emotionally exhausting too. That's probably the, that's probably even harder than the physical. It's like, cuz you're so close, you're five inches away from the seat that you want to sit in.Phil Hudson:You're sitting outside the room.Michael Jamin:Yeah.Phil Hudson:Yep. I, I would literally have to remind myself when I would get overwhelmed with like those thoughts. I'd say, this is the job I would've killed for two years ago, isMichael Jamin:The job. That's exactlyPhil Hudson:Right. I killed for three years ago.Michael Jamin:That's exactly right.Phil Hudson:That's how I kept going. It's not fun. And a lot of people are like, oh, isn't that beneath you? Like, nothing is beneath me as long as it helps me progress. Nothing.Michael Jamin:Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. So.Phil Hudson:Alright. How do you so love Leah Ann Clark. How do you stick to your story when people tell you that is not sellable because they have not lived through the events?Michael Jamin:Well if it's not sellable, like, I mean, I don't know who's telling you It's not sellable. No story sellable, just to be clear. You know, even if you pitch a two of i, I pitched stories. That's like, that's, I can't sell that. You know why? It's only the minute it sells, it's sellable. But if you tell a story authentically and truthfully, that's the only thing you can hope for, is to write a great story. That's what I say. I if you're gonna look for the, the market, oh, this is what the market's looking for. What's the market looking for? Forget it. That's a moving target. The minute you fire that hour, the target is gone. It's twoPhil Hudson:Years old too, soMichael Jamin:It's always changing. It's just like, you know, so, but all you get, all you can do as a writer is write a great story. That's the only thing that you have control over and not worry about selling it. Can you write a great story? And if you can, then it becomes a calling card. People will hire you to write something else. Just focus on writing a great story.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Another really good piece of advice in the industry is if there's a story that you feel in your soul you need to tell, don't put that one off. Write that one.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Write that one immediately,Phil Hudson:Right? Yeah. Yep. Jeff Rice Studios ask, could you talk about some of the staff management process of Showrunning or being the quote captain of the ship quote?Michael Jamin:Well, as the showrunner, you know no one becomes a comedy writer or even any kind of writer to even drama writer because they want to be a manager. They don't become, they don't, that's not why we go into it. They, if you did, you go into middle management, you get a job in the corp in a corporation. So you're, we all do it because you want to be creative. Then you rise to the level where you have your own show, or you're running someone's show for them. And and now you have to keep everyone motivated. And so the way you keep motivated, you know, is not by shutting people down. You have to lead, but you also have to make 'em feel like they have a voice. And this is tough. It's like, it doesn't make me comfortable at all. It's not why I went into it anyway, so I was to, was to do this. So, but you have to just be a decent human being and hopefully you know, but, but your job, by the way, is when you're on staff, your job is not to be creative, per se. Your job is to give the showrunner what they want. Mm-Hmm. is to help them make their show.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Awesome. Raven Wisdom when in a groove riding a scene and as happens, life interrupts the flow and you lose the moment. What has helped you to return to that moment or scene and continue that thought?Michael Jamin:You know, I, I, I guess, I dunno how long life is putting you on hold, but you should be, be, hopefully you're making time every day, even if it's only 15 minutes to, I mean, we all have 15 minutes. Right. You know? Yeah. I hopePhil Hudson:Famously, I think it was Hemingway would stop purposefully mid-sentence mm-hmm. so that when he sat down at his computer or his typewriter, he could pick up his thought. Yeah. And so I think that's something you just have to train out. And it's actually a good thing cuz facing a blank page, not knowing where you're gonna go next is far worse than reading the last sentence and then continuing typing.Michael Jamin:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.Phil Hudson:All right. We've got a lot of questions here still, Michael. So we're gonna get through a couple of the last ones, and I think couple more. A lot of this is repetitive, so I'm just gonna pick probably four or five more, and then we'll wrap it up. Does that sound good to you? Yeah,Michael Jamin:That sounds good.Phil Hudson:Okay. If you're a writer hoping to staff on a traditional network, procedural style show, do you specifically need a procedure, procedural style sample, or just a great sample that shows your unique quote voice?Michael Jamin:I've never written on a procedural. Don't even don't like 'em. I don't watch 'em. I, I would assume it's probably both. They're gonna want more than one sample. They're gonna want a sample of a procedural, and they're gonna want a sample of something else.Phil Hudson:That's always the case though. It's always two, right? Yeah. You need a, you did it and it's not a fluke. You can do it again. Yeah.Michael Jamin:So I have won Beach. Yeah. Yeah.Phil Hudson:Yeah. Okay. All right. And Kay Films, do you remember shadowing a writer that is currently in the film industry?Michael Jamin:I don't know about shadowing. I've worked for many writers. I never shadowed anyone. I, I i that like, there's no such thing as shadowing a writer. A writer is just in front of a computer, and if you were to shadow them, you'd, you'd be standing over their shoulder watching them type, like, it'd be horribly uncomfortable for everyone. It's not like a, it's not a visual job to How do you open, how do you open final drafts? Like that's what you'd see. Yeah. but I, I, I've worked for our writers and I've talked to him about story. I've had conversations, I've worked for a guy named William Masters Simone, this is when I first breaking in. And he wrote a great movie called The Beast. He wrote called another one called Extremities with, I think it was Farrah Faucet. He was a playwright. He was a playwright out of New Jersey who worked as a grave digger. He was a grave digger, and he write plays, literally. And brilliant writer. That'sPhil Hudson:Fascinating. Like, I want to Yeah, that's a fascinating backstory right there.Michael Jamin:And he was such a sweet guy. So down to earth. And then he got brought on, I was working on a, I was the writer assistant on a movie called What's Love Got Love What's Love got to do with it? The Tina Turner story. And so he would come and he got, he flew in for I think three or four weeks to rewrite the script. Then I don't think he, yeah, I don't think he got any credit for it, but he got a boatload of money, I'm sure. And he came down to LA and he type up the pages on his old typewriter. Then I'd retyped them and put 'em into the computer and format it correctly for for the movie. And such a sweet man. He's like, let me buy you lunch. Here's pizza. What can I do? He was just so nice. I, I really loved his attitude. He was kind very down to earth. That's it. ButPhil Hudson:You've adopted that attitude too. I mean, I've, I've done things to, to help you because I want to help you and you've Yeah. Repaid in kindness beyond what I feel I've done for you. Well, thank you. I've seen you do that for other people as well, so,Michael Jamin:Yeah. You know, because no one, I don't, no one goes into screenwriting cuz they think it's gonna, they're gonna be in charge of the, the world. Yeah. You, you take another profession if you have a giant ego. But yeah, he was, he was a super nice guy.Phil Hudson:On those lines, Aaron ha has asked, what is the best way to approach someone who you want to mentor you or learn from them? Is there any specific things you did in that relationship or others?Michael Jamin:I don't know. I, I would imagine that's a question probably for you. I think what you do is you give first. Yeah. That's what you do.Phil Hudson:Yeah, a hundred percent. And, and that does two things. One, just naturally I feel of, I feel good and feel of value when I serve other people. Yeah. Like there's a, there's a feeling. For me it's very physical. It's like a kinetic, kinesthetic, like tingly feeling of good, right? When I do something for other people, it's a selflessness that I just, I think it comes from being very poor and not having, and knowing how valuable that little bit of help really moves the needle for people.Michael Jamin:And that's, so that's, that's the point then. So it's like when you approach someone as a men, when you want someone to be your mentor, you're basically saying, I, I want you to gimme something. I what you have. I want, can you give me what you, what you have? And so that's not the attitude. The attitude is what can I give you mentor to make your life better. What can I give you?Phil Hudson:I'm in the broken lizard social media right now, helping them with t

October 22-28, 1994 This week Ken welcomes esteemed writer on all things TV, Emma Fraser to the show. Ken and Emma discuss Fraser vs. "Fraiser", the glory of UK insults, being English, people not believing where you are from, how London is now the UK, Norwich being Alan Partridge central, 1994 being the youth sweet spot, ER, The X-Files, My So-Called Life, ghosts at Christmas time, Supernatural episodes of otherwise non-supernatural TV series, how Ken often accidentally dresses like Nicky Driscoll, the filthy cover of this issue, the UK having more magazines for fewer channels, The Christmas Radio Times, Ken's love of Time Out London, loving Halloween, The Far Side animated series, Ken's dislike of Friends, TV Guide's bad review of Friends, Ant & Dec, Noah Wiley, Ghostwatch, Sightings, how quickly trends blew up in the 90s,  Fox Encounters The Hidden Truth, Without Warning, The Americans, Ken's 90s substitute Teacher becoming an actor and being murdered on The Americans, middle of the road talk shows, Dick Cavett, Mark Lamarr, The Word, drunken people on TV,  Ken's love of Shooting Stars, Ken being constantly called Mark Lamarr when he lived in the UK, Oliver Reed, the UK's strange subversive children's style shows that weren't for children, Car 54, Where Are You?, MTV's Rock n Jock, Red Shoe Diaries, things not being even good bad, SNL, how Witches werewolves and vampires being real, how Marilyn Monroe was killed due to her knowledge of UFOs, when Jackie Gleason saw dead aliens for real, gentle murder, Murder She Wrote, animal shelters Halloween Specials, The Hidden, The George Carlin Show, Fresh Prince, Murphy Brown, Evening Shade, Carol Burnett, Cynthia Gibb, Fact based TV movies, how marrying somebody is the worst thing you can do to them, John Stamos, the business genius of Jason Priestly, The Sandwich Police, visiting the My So-Called Life shooting locations, Ken not thinking Seinfeld holds up, crying and being shocked over and over again due to watching ER, a spoilers free world, Family Matters, the repetition of Dwayne Barry, Step by Step, women at war, Saturday Night Dead, and extending M.A.N.T.I.S noted drama. 

The Chicks are back and opening season 5 with Evening Shade wines. Winemaker, Steven Decosta knew what he wanted to do at the tender age of 12. Today he leads a team of talented young winemakers who focus on creating wines with character that come from premier appellations and fruit. Wines Sampled: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rosé

This week's pod is a clip show, and a famous one at that, so we didn't want to subject a guest to it. Instead, we go deep into the making of this Forrest Gump meets Dean Martin Roast parody, including the behind-the-scenes contract deals that made it possible. Plus we explain references to Austin Powers, Evening Shade, the People's Choice Awards, and so much more! We'll never stop the Simpsons, have no fears, we've got podcasts for years! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the new official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

For television he has directed episodes of “The Upshaws,” “Family Reunion,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “The George Lopez Show,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Hannah Montana,” “Instant Mom,” “Evening Shade,” “Sister, Sister,” and many others, as well as several pilots. For five seasons he was also producer/director for the hit series “Girlfriends.” In recognition of his work in television, he was invited to be the Pankey Chair/Filmmaker in Residence at Chapman University.              

Sheldon Epps conceived and directed the Duke Ellington musical Play On! which received three Tony Award nominations, and was produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it received four Jefferson Awards including Best Musical. The Pasadena Playhouse production was filmed by PBS for broadcast as part of the “Great Performances” series. He also conceived and directed the highly acclaimed musical revue, Blues in the Night. The Broadway production was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical of the Year, and the London production, which he also directed, was nominated for two Laurence Olivier Awards, and ran for over a year on the West End before being broadcast in Europe by Thames Television. His 2018 production of the show in Los Angeles received unanimously positive critical acclaim and set box office records at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts. Mr. Epps was honored to be the Artistic Director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for two decades (1997-2017) and is widely credited with the rejuvenation and rebirth of that respected theatre company. His directing credits at The Playhouse include the record breaking production of Fences (starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett), Kiss Me Kate, Twelve Angry Men, Intimate Apparel, Blues for an Alabama Sky, The Night Is a Child, As Bees In Honey Drown, Blue, Play On!, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Old Settler, The Real Thing, On Borrowed Time, Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting, Blues in the Night, Purlie (a co-production with the Goodman Theatre), and the world premiere productions of the musicals Sleepless In Seattle, Breaking Through, and Ray Charles Live! He inaugurated Hothouse at The Playhouse, the theatre's hugely successful new play development program. He also co-directed the Broadway production of Baby It's You!, which was originally produced at The Playhouse. He now continues his association with the theatre as Artistic Director Emeritus. Under his leadership, The Pasadena Playhouse once again established a reputation for outstanding productions distinguishing themselves in their artistic excellence and theatrical diversity. During his tenure several productions successfully transferred to Broadway, off Broadway and numerous theatres all over the country. Among many other honors he received the NAACP Community Service Award and the prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for his many accomplishments during his tenure at The Playhouse. For television he has directed episodes of “The Upshaws,” “Family Reunion,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “The George Lopez Show,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Hannah Montana,” “Instant Mom,” “Evening Shade,” “Sister, Sister,” and many others, as well as several pilots. For five seasons he was also producer/director for the hit series “Girlfriends.” In recognition of his work in television, he was invited to be the Pankey Chair/Filmmaker in Residence at Chapman University. He has also taught acting, directing and theatre management at Yale School of Drama, USC, UCLA, University of San Diego, Occidental College, and Cal State LA among others. He was honored to receive the coveted Alumni Achievement Award from his alma mater Carnegie-Mellon University. He is a long-time member of the Executive Board of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and served as Chair of the SDC Foundation Board of Trustees. He is also on the board of the Ten Chimneys Foundation. Mr. Epps is a two-time recipient of the Theatre Communications Group/Pew Charitable Trust National Theatre Artists Residency Grant, which supported his four-year tenure at The Old Globe as Associate Artistic Director. Currently, he is honored to serve as Senior Artistic Advisor at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. # # #

Danny Zuker is a TV Writer and Producer known for Modern Family, Just Shoot Me, Off Centre, and Grace Under Fire.Show NotesDanny Zuker on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0958521/Danny Zuker on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_ZukerDanny Zuker on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/dannyzukerDanny Zuker on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dannyzuker/Michael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/courseFree Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/freeJoin My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlistAutomated TranscriptsDanny Zuker (00:00):So like, the people interested on the podcast who are aspiring and whatnot. Yeah. I mean, it is, and you can attest to this, and everybody I know can attest to it. Is he getting punched in the face contest? I mean, and there's no shame in stopping. It's just how many times he can get punched in the face. Because you will continually, I mean, I recently been punched, you know, I did a pilot and it was like all the way and boom, punched in the face and it's like, it never stops hurting. And at some point you just decide not to get up. I'm just not there yet.Michael Jamin (00:26):You're listening to Screenwriters. Need to hear this with Michael Jamin.(00:34):Hey everybody, welcome back to Screenwriters. Need to hear this. I'm Michael Jamin. I got a special, very special guest today, Mr. Danny Zucker. You don't know who he is. You don't know who. I barely, we worked together on many for many years on a show called Just Shoot Me. But I want to, man, I want to, this guy is, you don't understand this guy in the industry. He's known as a joke machine. He is known as the guy who comes in and hits that home run joke that makes everyone just laugh out loud in every episode. And so, let me just talk about his credits and I'm gonna bring him in. He's got a ton of credits. So I guess we'll talk about this, but we, I guess he started out on the Arsenio Hall Show as a joke writer, evening Shade, which I didn't, I forgot about that cuz I was a PA on that show. But not when he was there. Roseanne, listen to his credits. Roseanne Grace Under Fire fired up. He probably, do you want, is it okay if I mention No, I guess I shouldn't mentionDanny Zuker (01:26):That one. No, you can totally mention all the terribleMichael Jamin (01:28):Ones. jhu Me. We were, we, we worked together. Jesse Off Center, which he created Coupling the Men's Room, another show he created Surviving Suburbia, the Unusuals modern Family, which you've just got off of. So he was there for many seasons. But then also God the Devil and Bob Norm watching Ellie Oliver Bean come to Papa Stacked. I mean, dudeDanny Zuker (01:54):Act I'm glad you finished on Stacked ByMichael Jamin (01:56):Though. Yeah, that was a, yeah, . But what a man, dude, you have some, you have some you in in this podcast right now, I would say you have the second best credits.Danny Zuker (02:07):Who have you had who've hadMichael Jamin (02:09):? No, I'm talking about me. Oh, no, your, your, your credits are fantastic, dude. I mean, aDanny Zuker (02:14):Lot.Michael Jamin (02:15):Oh,Danny Zuker (02:16):But great memoir in me when I want to get out of the business.Michael Jamin (02:19):Oh, but also you do, well, you, well, you can start writing it now, I suppose. . How dare you. How dare. But also can I even talk about this? Do you have a famous book about where you, you and Trump? You got into a this is before he was president, right?Danny Zuker (02:34):Yeah, it was, it was I think 2014 back when everybody hated Trump. Not just people who could readMichael Jamin (02:41):, but, and so you just started trolling him on TwitterDanny Zuker (02:44):Just randomly and just a little, like, just a small little tweet. It was like, and then he exploded and then we went onto a month long with hundreds of tweets back and forth. And if you go back and look at it, cause it went rebal when he got the nomination. But if you look at it, he didn't like I was just a beta test. There's nothing he said about anybody else, whether it's like whoever he wants to talk about that he didn't first try out on me to no effectMichael Jamin (03:08):Really.Danny Zuker (03:09):And always bugged me when the Democrats would say like well it's so hard to fight against. It's like, no, just read what I did. It's not that hard. I feel like anybody could dunk on him.Michael Jamin (03:18):I remembered thinking though you, that he picked the wrong fight. You don't pick a, a Battle of Witch with professional comedy writer. That's not what you want to do,Danny Zuker (03:25):. It's all I do. It's, yeah, it's like, it's like me getting into a Dunking contest with LeBron. It's not gonna work out. I have one skill period. I can't do anything other than this. It's all I was trained to do.Michael Jamin (03:36):And this was at Modern Family where you were a writer, and did you, did you wanna, did you bounce off any jokes off of anybody?Danny Zuker (03:42):No, in fact, I mean, I would, he started to go after Modern Family, like when he would, you know, and that became like something he would pick out at that point that when he started doing that, I went and I talked to the cast and the other writers and the cre co-creator Steve and Chris, and I said, Hey, like, you know, my show, I would just go forward, but it's your show, right? And they were like, no, get him. It's like, fine. And it was like, I have to say, like back then, you just have to remember like, he was a, he was such a safe target. Like I would have to scroll for scroll and scroll and scroll to find one tweet that supported him. Like one reply that supported him. And I'm sure it came from somebody in his office. What was weird and why I knew like, oh, shit's different is it went viral again in like 20 16, 20 17.(04:31):At which point I got a lot of like, you are an asshole. Y O U R. I got like, it was like, there was a lot of hate. Like people were on his side all of a sudden. It was like, what? Because it was Republicans, he was a joke. Right. You know? Right. and, and so it was like, whoa. It was really weird. And it was yeah, I mean it was, you know, I, I continued, I continued to be a voice, but, you know, I I, I had threats. I was hacked. I had a lot of stuff go down that was like sort of yeah, it was like, it, you know, it, it got a little bit scary. I mean, it's scarier for women who went up againstMichael Jamin (05:05):Him. But at, at some point though, did he just block you?Danny Zuker (05:08):Oh, within the middle of that. And then by the end, after months, he blocked me and I stayed blocked all through his presidency. .Michael Jamin (05:15):And then how did that become a book?Danny Zuker (05:17):Well, I was doing it like at the 20, what was it? The the midterms, the 2018 midterms. I was part of like a democratic affiliation. Like there was some fundraiser. And they had asked me if I wanted to do like a live reading of my Twitter war. And like, you know, Tim Simons from a VE was there and he said he had an un enviable job of being Trump. And we did it. And then another friend of mine who does a lot of this stuff says we should put that out as a book. And, and then we just, I just wound up doing it.Michael Jamin (05:47):That's fantastic.Danny Zuker (05:48):Yeah. I mean, it's just a little, it's a hundred pages. It's like, it could not be sort of, and and, and I comment on the little tweets as they go along and Yeah. So . But and then I gave it to ch Yeah. And then I gave it to charities like, you know, Uhhuh legal aid for people at the border and Planned Parent, like all the things he, ohMichael Jamin (06:04):Good. Oh, now tell me. So I don't, I remember, it's so funny cause we worked together 20 something yearsDanny Zuker (06:10):Ago. I know a lot,Michael Jamin (06:12):But I, you remember, just so my audience knows, you were the guy who all of us wanted to impress in the room to make laugh. You were the guy cuz it was your approval. Yeah, it was. Because if we could make Danny laugh then Paul Yeah. Because you were the home run hitter.Danny Zuker (06:29):But that, but that room had, I felt like that room had a lot of heavy hitters. It's very flattering to know that. I mean, I always thought, you know, I thought you and your partner Siever were like, it was just, everybody was good.Michael Jamin (06:40):We were, we were all baby writers. But it, I mean there were definitely, it was a really talented, I think that might have been one of the most talented rooms I've been in, to be honest.Danny Zuker (06:47):It was certainly one of the, it was one of those rooms where like, cuz Just Shoot Me was a show that really survived on jokes. Like, it was like, the way it was built, it was like, it wasn't, you know, it wasn't about like a lot of touchy-feely moments, you know, or we'd get to them occasionally. But it, what it was most successful at was like, you know, what are the s in that world? Yeah. And, and, and so, and we had a lot, you know, it was a lot of really good people. So,Michael Jamin (07:11):Man, and then, but you started, I forgot about this as a, as a joke writer on the Arsenio Hall Show.Danny Zuker (07:17):Yeah, it was weird. I mean, I got , I mean, I was quite young. I was like, I think like 24 or 25, and I managed to get like a like a pa job on that show. Cause I'd worked on as a pa on another show with a producer there. And anyway, I got there and, you know, we're doing run through things and it, you know, writers there had 13 week contracts. And in the first 13 weeks that show became an amazing hit. Like he was on the Coming Time magazine and he wound up purging a lot of the staff on a Friday. And I just went home. This, you know, I went home that night and now long ago, and on a typewriter looking at newspapers typed up a bunch of jokes and on Monday handed up, you know, my submission to some of the other writers there to put it in with the packet.(08:03):You know, they, because I knew they were looking and they knew I wanted to write. And on Monday, like he did one of my jokes. And then like on Tuesday he did two of my jokes. And on Thursday I had a good amount of jokes in. And on that Friday, the following Friday, he hired me. Wow. So it was like, but I, you know, I'd been doing jokes, you know, I don't, I wasn't, it's funny, I was like, we were doing a move in our house, like we were remodeling, something had to move out and we get, so go through all of these boxes and in one box I found, oh, my Arsenio jokes, like a big book of my Arsenio jokes. And I thought, this is a gold mine. I can sort of recycle some of these and put them in things. And I started reading through them and they were also shit. It was like, it was nothing salvageable , but I guess it worked for there.Michael Jamin (08:43):That's so, you know, cause I was a joke writer on the mic and Maddie's show for a little bit, and I had thisDanny Zuker (08:48):That's right.Michael Jamin (08:49):But I would go through my material. I, I have the same like a binder like gold. Right. And I looked at it recently, I was, was like, there's nothing in here. It's terrible. It'sDanny Zuker (08:57):Terrible. I would never hire this fucking guy.Michael Jamin (08:59):. But, but was it your goal, like in high school to be like a on to work, like late night or what? Or scripted?Danny Zuker (09:07):Yeah, it was. I mean, I really, you know, I wanted, I, I mean I, in high school I was doing some standup poorly, you know, cause I had nothing to say and, but I really did. I wanted to be on Letterman or snl. And and, you know, I got outta college and I did, like, I put together this reel that people seemed to like, and I got into Letterman it as like, you know, I talked to like Gerard Mulligan and a couple people there, and I mission and then, and I got my first rejection letter from them and the second one from snl. And and and I still have those. And they're, they, they, they're, because, you know, you go through that. I wound up getting a job with but glad up getting a job with Howard Stern, who was doing some box pilots.(09:44):He was gonna be the show that followed Joan Rivers Show. Right. And they never went, but it was, it was a couple months producing a week of shows, you know, practice shows. And well, a couple good things came outta that one. I've been friends with him for 30 something years as a result. Bob who was in my wedding, and right. But then, but then I also met a producer on that show who liked me, and he brought me out to, you know, he brought me out. He said, I have a a pa job out here if you want it. And, you know, so it all led from that. So,Michael Jamin (10:12):But you never decided to like resubmit to SNL orDanny Zuker (10:16):Letterman? I did. I mean, I was, you know, I was absolutely planning, but then I wound up getting an opportunity to be, you know, I, I got, I, I I wanted to. And then I came out here. It's funny because before I got the Arsenio Hall ugh, this is a really dark, like, horrible story. Before I got the Arsenio Hall show , I got I was like up for like, to be a baby writer. If you remember Pat Sack had a late night talk show mm-hmm. . Yeah. That was Pat s Show. And was a lot of my friends, a lot of good people were there. Like, you know, Fred Wolf who went on to write a lot of stuff for all those movies for David Spade and Chris Farley. But like, so I was submitting packages and the head writer there, this guy Monty, I don't mind trashing him on this.(10:52):He, he he put me through the ringer. Like I kept submitting like over the course of you know, weeks of submitting to him and with notes. And I was like, fine. I was like young and prolific. Anyway, I wind up going in and I get there and there's another guy, there's writer Rob Young, who went on to write Forleo for many, many years. And he and Mon said, here's the thing, you're both baby writers, so if you don't mind, I'll make you a baby writer team. You know, you'll means splitting a salary and all that and you have to be okay with it. And we're like, I was broke and had gotten no credit card. We were like, yeah, let's do it. My family was in town, my mom and my two sisters and and my stepdad and we're like all getting ready to go out and celebrate.(11:34):And as I'm getting out the door, the phone rings and it's Monty. And he said, you know what? We've re he gave me a key to the office, by the way. We've reconsidered. We're just gonna go with Rob. Oh my God. Like, after offering me the job. And I literally like my knees buckle and it was like the darkest meal ever. So I was really depressed for exactly 12 hours. And the next day Marla, this woman who went up to Bruce, the Arsenio Hall show called me and said, I can't offer you a writing job yet, but if you want, you can come in here and be like, like a, like a segment pa. And I was like, yes. And so that's all I wanted was the opportunity. So it was like literally I had disappointment for 12 hours andMichael Jamin (12:14):But still that is crippling that disappointment.Danny Zuker (12:16):It was crippling. I've never forgottenMichael Jamin (12:18):The Yeah. I feel it just the way you saidDanny Zuker (12:21):It, it was really cruel. I mean, it was like I described, I mean, to like the people interested on the podcast who are aspiring and whatnot. I mean, it is, and you can attest to this, and everybody I know can attest to, is he getting punched in the face contest? I mean, and there's no shame in stopping. It's just how many times he can get punched in the face. Because you will continually, I mean, I've recently been punched, you know, I did a pilot and it's like all the way going and boom, punched in the face and it's like, it never stops hurting. And at some point we just decide not to get up. I'm just not there yet, but, you know. Right. But butMichael Jamin (12:53):People don't, yeah. I think that's important to know. Like even us at our level, is none of it's a cake walk. Everything's, you know, a lot of rejection.Danny Zuker (13:03):It, it's true. And I'll never forget this cuz so there's a writer under studio Hall show. He's about like eight or nine years older than I was. And, and like we would pretty young staff and, but, and we were going like, all the way to Vegas, why did you ever come to Vegas with us? And he's like, you know, and he pulled me aside, he took me for a lunch. He goes, he said, you, you're good. You don't wanna stay here in late night the whole, your whole career. You should, like, I'm taking the time. A friend of mine is doing a pilot. I'm helping him with it, and I'm pu you know, and I think you should be thinking about like starting to speck out half hour. And I thought, okay, you know, he's very avan Well, that pilot he was working on was, and his friend was Larry David, who was working on the Seinfeld pilot. He was Larry Charles. Right. and, and, and, and, you know, so he, you know, it was a real inspirational thing that moved me forward. And years later when I'm first getting like my first like, you know, I'm a story editor on like evening shade or one of those things. And I remember running, talking to him and I said, it must be nice to not worry about the next thing. And he is like, oh, I worry every single day. AndMichael Jamin (14:01):This is who, who? Larry Charles said thisDanny Zuker (14:02):Larry. Charles, yeah. Mm-Hmm. . And I thought, like, I thought, is he just saying that to make me feel good? But then, you know, as I saw it, I saw like the people from friends leaving the hottest show on friends, like not, you know, scr you, it, it doesn't carry over. It's like you, you, you get in the door more. Right. But you're still subject to the same humiliations most of the time.Michael Jamin (14:24):Why did they tell you, why did he tell you you don't want to be in late night for the rest of your career?Danny Zuker (14:29):He thought that I want, he said, if you, he, he more said it this way. He said, do you want to be in late night? Do you have aspirations to do more? Because it can be a golden, you can, it can be like a golden handcuffs because what can happen is it becomes comfortable and you won't do anything else if you wanna do something else. And he thought, and he, and he said he thought I was good enough to, he thought I had the ability to go do something else. I, and and that was all it was. It wasn't like he was belittling it mm-hmm. , he just knew I had aspirations beyond it. And he said, while you are working on something good is a great time to be working on the next thing. Right. And I, I, I, I took, I I, I took him seriously. IMichael Jamin (15:06):Mean, but you had to learn a whole different thing. You had to learn how to write stories. That's aDanny Zuker (15:09):Whole different thing. You don't, and but didn't you find this for you? So you started as a joke writer. You don't know if you can do it consistently until you do it. And then you find out, oh, I can. Right. It's the same thing with half hour. It's like, I don't know if I can do this consistently until you find out you can.Michael Jamin (15:22):But I remember the first couple specs I wrote the first were terrible. Then I wrote a couple that were decent. And then after wrote that first decent one that got me an agent. I remember the, I got soundbite agent and then I remember thinking, I, I don't know if I can do this again. I think that's it. I think I got lucky.Danny Zuker (15:37):Oh dude, I'm utter, even to this day, I have to tell you, like I've, I, I'm utterly convinced that every job I have is the last job I'll ever have for my whole career. And that this is the script where I'll be found out.Michael Jamin (15:53):. Yeah. Yeah.Danny Zuker (15:55):Where the, where the big, where the, you know, it's it's imposter syndrome I think. But it, I don't know. I, I've never met somebody who turned into script and was so freaking proud of it to me or something like that. It's like, oh, this one's gonna kill where that was any good . You know? Right. Like, that kind of confidence doesn't means you haven't like, questionedMichael Jamin (16:11):It. And what were those early days like for you on those early shows like Roseanne and like, what was that like?Danny Zuker (16:17):I loved it. I mean, cuz I, I did discover I was good at it and they were like, it was competitive, which I liked mm-hmm. . And it was like, you know, I held my own. I was like, you know, I did a really good, I felt like I did a really good job on Evening Shane. And they recommended me to Right. Roseanne. And I was a good hire there. And I'm, you know, the Roseanne was one of these situations where like 30 something writers, cuz she would hire all these people. But there was one like, main room and, and, and, or like, like two, you know, of the main writers. And it was very egalitarian, you know, it wasn't just like, okay, you're co-executive producer, you're gonna be in that main room. Or the, it was egalitarian. And, you know, I had worked, you know, as a second job. I worked myself into the main room. Now keep in mind that also meant working on weekends, but it was still,Michael Jamin (17:00):What do you mean as a second job? What do you mean?Danny Zuker (17:03):Well, no, it wasn't a second job. It was like I said that you would, I, it meant that if I got into the main room, Uhhuh , I would, you know, I would work longer for the same about someone here. Oh, oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah.Michael Jamin (17:16):Yeah. Right. And and they were, yeah. Cause the hours were really tough on Roseanne. I rememberDanny Zuker (17:20):They were hard. No.Michael Jamin (17:21):Yeah. I remember getting, it's funny, I remember getting interviewed to be in the night pa on Roseanne. I was like, the night pa Yeah. You start around midnight. I'm like, oh, start at midnight. . That doesn't sound like a good job.Danny Zuker (17:35):Yeah. I remember, I think at one 30 in the morning, Rob hen at one point saying, guys, if we just let's focus, we can get out here earlyMichael Jamin (17:42):. But he wasn't. So what time, what were your hours? Like what time did you usually work until ?Danny Zuker (17:50):It depended, but like, you know, cause she would blow up the script several times and you had to deliver it. Yeah. And you know, sometimes we'd have to start from scratch. And so, you know, we saw more than, you know, I saw several sunrises. We called it working from Howard to Howard. Like, you'd come in listening to Howard's Stern and you go home listening to Howard's.Michael Jamin (18:04):Oh my God. And that's, and that's rough. I mean, I've been at a coupleDanny Zuker (18:08):Young though. It, it helped to be young.Michael Jamin (18:10):Right. I know. Imagine doing that now. You'd be, I don't know guys, it's getting, it's, it's right five-ish. It's getting dark . I go, nowDanny Zuker (18:18):I wanna eat my dinner at four 30 now. So it's like differentMichael Jamin (18:21):. So then all your other jobs afterwards. Just interesting to follow. How were they just mostly connections or your agents submitting you? How haveDanny Zuker (18:29):Almost all were con like, so what happened was, so yeah, so Evening Shade led to a connection because Victor Fresco was friends with Rob Yuen. Mm-Hmm. and then Tim Doyle who was coming in also. And, and, and so I got there from there. When I went to Grace Under Fire, it was Kevin Abbott. It was like a, a a splinter group. Us went on to that. From there Kevin wound up getting like a brillstein deal off of that. And then they were like, he, they were asking who else is good over there? And he recommended me. So then I got a Brillstein deal and did my first pilot. And when that didn't go, I was like on, I was somewhere like on vacation, you know, my wife. And, and I got a call from my agent that about like, Hey, they're looking to bring somebody on the show, just shoot me. And you know, you know, I read the script, which I liked. I, you know, I hadn't seen the first pilot and I was wrapping up and so I, I don't how many You were there from the beginningMichael Jamin (19:23):Right? From the pilot. Yeah.Danny Zuker (19:24):Yeah. So what was how many did you do that first season? Because I came in in, in at the le Yeah. So I came in on episode six of thatMichael Jamin (19:32):First season. You were there, you were there for the first episode. Final episode of Season of Season One. I don't rememberDanny Zuker (19:37):That. Yes, I was, yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Cause we were, yeah. Cause I, yeah. And so yeah. So it was yeah. So that, and that's how that led. And then from there, you know, that led to a lot of different things. And, and you know, you know, it is, you start to develop a name, so then you at least Right, you can at least get in the door, you know, a little bit. So,Michael Jamin (19:56):And then, but even now, okay, so how does it work for you now? What is it? I mean, even like, I know you just, you just had a pilot what it felt like. What was that process like?Danny Zuker (20:05):Well, it's, it's, you know, it's, hopefully it's gonna be alive again. But we, we gotten into some, some, a little good news, but, you know, I was talking about a couple pilots, but like, I, you know, I got, I having the same manager as I'm at Brillstein again as a management company. And over Covid, they were like, Hey, you know, you wanna sit down with Kevin Neon as this idea?Michael Jamin (20:25):Oh, right.Danny Zuker (20:26):Kevin and I wound up writing something that I really love. And hereMichael Jamin (20:29):We go. Let's give him, give him a shout out.Danny Zuker (20:32):Oh, you gotMichael Jamin (20:33):It. Yeah, because Kevin was a Kevin, Kevin's so sweet. He was the voice on, he was actually the voice on this animated show. He did. He's over there andDanny Zuker (20:41):Oh really? Which one?Michael Jamin (20:43):Glen Martin dds. So I work with Kevin. Oh,Danny Zuker (20:45):That's right. IMichael Jamin (20:46):Remember that. And he's, so, he's the sweetest guy. And so he'sDanny Zuker (20:51):Been, he's been a pleasure to be in my life. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it was a real blessing.Michael Jamin (20:56):Well, I was just gonna say, so when he put his book out, I was like, yeah, I gotta give, I gotta help promote his book. Cuz he's just the sweetest guy, youDanny Zuker (21:02):Know? Yeah, he is, he's the greatest. And, but, you know, there's a perfect example. So it's Kevin Neen who has always acclaim. I don't have no acclaim. And, and like we write a pilot That's great. And we still get fucked around with, you know, it's like, sort of what I was saying, you know, it's like there's no, it never endsMichael Jamin (21:18):. Yeah, no, it doesn't end. And so, yeah. So that, so just so people understand those work, so the, you've sold it to, well, your, your studio paid, youDanny Zuker (21:27):Don't just We the studio. Yeah. And it was like, developed for tbs. Okay. And and then the whole TBS structure went out the window mm-hmm. like in, in the midst of doing it. And, and we just got screwed. Now it came back to us and knock wood, we have something. But, you know, and then, you know, I'm just developing other things right now.Michael Jamin (21:46):Yeah. So you'll try to shop that. Right. And so,Danny Zuker (21:48):Yeah. Yeah. I mean this is the, this is the first year though when I, because I've been working on this animated show, housebroken mm-hmm. , it's their second season. It's on Fox. My first animated show I've everMichael Jamin (21:57):Oh, I know that. Oh, wait, wait, I know that one.Danny Zuker (22:00):It's with, yeah, it's with Gabby Al Gabby and Jen Friton did, and Ku it's like bunch of pets and group therapy. Right. Which is really a funny idea. Right. And it was super fun to do when it ended, like, in, in, I don't know, September, I mean, we're still doing post-production, but when it ended in September, I had a couple offers to staff or thinking like this. And I just, I said I, unless it was something I really wanted to do, this was the first time I decided not to do that. Not to run really in my whole career because I, I felt like I don't want to do that right now. I'm tired of racing and I wanted to, and I got to travel and I wanted to do certain things and work on what I wanted to work on. Right. It just sort of have faith in the process. Cause cause you know how it is, you miss a lot of life if you don't do that. SoMichael Jamin (22:45):Yeah, well it's, there's that, yeah. It's like that trade off. Do you go on staff or, or try to develop on your own and you're justDanny Zuker (22:51):Yeah. And I'll go, but I also, it's just a trade off of like, if I don't go on staff now and I wanna go on staff later, I'll find something. You know, it's like, I'm not gonna just not do it in there, you know? Right. So,Michael Jamin (23:03):Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.(23:27):Right. So now you're just coming up with ideas or teaming up with other people.Danny Zuker (23:31):Yeah, I'm, I'm actually supervising a couple pilots that I like and I'm writing one, you know, developing one on my own. And then, and, and, you know, it's been super fun and, you know, I'll start submitting again when, you know, shows get picked up. But it was fun. I got to go around the worldMichael Jamin (23:45):Interest Oh, go around the world for for what? Oh, oh, because you're on yourself. You, youDanny Zuker (23:49):Just Yeah, my, yeah, yeah, yeah.Michael Jamin (23:51):Right. Interesting. And then, and so what was go, so your last, I guess your last big credit was Modern Family. So what was that a called, what was that like?Danny Zuker (24:00):Wow, I mean, what a credit. Oh, here's the thing. So I'm 44 when that show gets, you know, picked up and, you know mm-hmm. , especially like in comedy. Right. You know, you think like, I went prior, so it's kind of funny. So prior to modern Family, you know, a year before that happened, a full year, you know, we had a writer's strike. And right before that, Steve Leviton, who we know from Just Shoot me and, and Chris Le Lloyd were doing a show with Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton called back to Back to You. Back to You. Yeah. Yeah. And and, and I didn't get hired for it, and I was like, really? I've done everything for, and it would've meant like I could've logged my deal and, and then the writer strike happened. It was the first time I went a year, like basically almost a year without working on anything.(24:49):Right. And so I started to spec out a couple, I specked out a pilot that was a little bit more dramatic and wound up getting hired on a drama that Noah Hawley was doing in New York called The Unusuals. And it was like, and it was really fun to do a drama and easier by a mile. Right. And so BEC but and it was like, I was the funny guy in this, like, people, other writers would come to me if they need because it had, shouldn't have had a rye aspect to it and this cop drama. And so I could punch up and I was able to write a drama a script. And it was great. And that show didn't get picked up. But then I had a couple offers on other dramas when Steve called me and said, Hey, Chris and I have done this pilot.(25:27):I think you should come in and take a look at it. You might be interested in it. Now in my head I'm thinking, I can't wait to watch this pilot and say, no, I don't wanna do it. Right. , it's like hired other stuff. But I got five minutes into the Modern Family Pilot. And honestly, to me, it's the best comedy pilot I'd ever seen. Yeah. Like, for just like, it, it felt so fully formed already. Yeah. Like, but that cast, and it just like, everything clicked in a way that was magical. And I was like, I gotta get hired on this show. And so people asking, you know, it was gonna be a hit or did you know this? We had, there was a lot of pressure that first season to do something as good as the pilot and to be in that world. And, but we could feel it. We, you could, you know, you could feel something building like you could feel, yeah, this is something special. And and yeah, it was an amazing ride and I'm sort of glad to have that happen to me in my forties. It was particularly after a year of sort of, oh, slightly slimmer picking. So I really appreciated it and I knew it won't, I, I knew this doesn't go on forever. Like I know that that's a very unusual Yeah. And rarefied thing to happen.Michael Jamin (26:35):It's kind of like the last big, big hit, youDanny Zuker (26:38):Know? It feels like it, I mean, it, it, it's especially a broadcast hit. It's like Yeah. It just like, like it, it went from the beginnings of like, screaming is a possibility to like, no one watches network television at the time it's on anymore.Michael Jamin (26:53):Right. What's interesting about, I, I always love like writing in that show is like you've literally watched those children grow up to be adults, you know, on theDanny Zuker (27:03):Air same age. So Luke, the kid who played Luke and the kid who played Manny and Alex for that matter, Uhhuh were all the same age as my twin girls. And my son was younger. So I, I, I used to joke that I, I got to watch the kids who make me money grow up with the kids who cost my moneyMichael Jamin (27:19):, but, and how odd is it to write new stories? Like, it just seems like it's, you know, it's almost odd that because they're older now and you get, you're writing stories for them being older, you know?Danny Zuker (27:29):Yeah. But it's like you, that is actually, oh, for me, I did not mind that because I felt like in those first couple seasons it was very, you know, we in all purged our lives for like stories. Right. And so I was just waiting for my kids to grow up and do something more interesting.Michael Jamin (27:48):Right,Danny Zuker (27:48):Right. You know, you know, and I think, and, and I think a lot of us were, and so I didn't mind that you were moving into those, those stories. I mean, it gets hard though. I mean, you know, we joked like, you know, everybody's like, oh, you know, it wasn't as good in season eight or whatever. It's like, well, let me put it this way. It's like the most interesting family, you know, most like the Obama's, let's say when they're at a dinner party, they have at most 15 to 20 stories they tell me. Yeah, yeah. That's it. Tho those are their go and they're the most interesting family, you know, like, we did 250 episodes, or each family had like, it's hard, you know, you, you, it's, it's, it's different. And we're not like animated, so they have to be somewhat ground. It's all you can do like meta episodes, like you can do like on The Simpsons or things like that. Although I wish we could have , butMichael Jamin (28:34):But I, and I always, cause I always talk about like how writer's mind their own life for stories. But you have a famous, you famously took a story from your life, I think, right? And you said in one of the, at least one of the episodes was the, it was the fire. It was the fire. I'm thinking of the firemen.Danny Zuker (28:47):Yeah. I didn't write it, but I, I told it in the room. I had had a okay. So yeah, it was like the, the, I live in Manhattan Beach and the the e EMT workers there are like famously good looking dudes. Like I Right. Some, I, it makes me question where I am on the sexuality spectrum.Michael Jamin (29:06):.Danny Zuker (29:07):Anyway, I wound up having an attack, which I thought was a kidney stone. It turned out to be gallbladder. It was like, but at two in the morning and I wake up and I feel like I'm being stabbed to death. Right. And my, my wife Annette. Annette, you gotta call nine one one. You gotta call 9 1 1. It's like, she was like, okay, it's gonna be fine. She calls 9 1 1 and then I'm on the floor and I don't see her, when I hear the, the firemen like knocking on the door like, Annette, Annette, where are you? And then she comes out of her closet and she's dolled up like she, cause it was the middle of the night she put on, she's looking you up for the fire bitch. And we just did that word for there.Michael Jamin (29:40):Right. So you go in to, and you tell the story the next day in the writer's room, and then it goes right in the script.Danny Zuker (29:45):It's amazing. And it's amazing cause you start to lose any shame. So like, one of the things like I'd worked, I had known Brad Walsh who was part partnered with Corgan and Walsh. Right. I'd known him for many, many years before this. Worked on a show with him, a couple shows with him and never, and, but we get into that first season of Modern Family and we're like looking for stories. And he is like, and I see him struggling and he is like, okay, fine. My sister and I were part of an ice dancing team. . Like, it's something he wouldn't tell us ever except we needed it.Michael Jamin (30:16):He, you needed stories, right? Oh, you give, yeah.Danny Zuker (30:19):Yeah.Michael Jamin (30:19):You'll give your mother. I mean, people don't realize, like you're, it's late at night, you're trying to come up a story and like you do, you'll swab someone's arm for a story. You know, like a good story is so hard to get.Danny Zuker (30:31):Now I've only like, like there's a time on like, it was actually just shoot me, I think it was. But like, we're looking for a story on some kind. And it was the only time I'm tell it here, but it was like that my wife at the time, she, she actually said I would rather you didn't do this cuz they, they want, they'll watch her. But it was, it was, it was this very simple story. It was like, like I used to fly my in-laws out here before they moved out here to come see the grandkids. I was like, you know, of course you're gonna come over there and say I'd fly and I do this back and forth. Happy to do it. I'm a generous guy. It likes been good. But then I found out like they'd get the ticket and then at the airport would pay for the upgrade to first class . And it like, sort of like, wait a minute, . And it shouldn't have bothered me, but it didMichael Jamin (31:13):Wait. But, but they were paying it out, the upgrade outta of pocket. They were paying for the upgrade.Danny Zuker (31:18):They were paying for the upgrade. But it was like, I guess you pay for the upgrade. You like what? Like,Michael Jamin (31:23):Oh, if they can pay for that, when they could pay for the ticket, you're saying? Yes, I got,Danny Zuker (31:25):Well not even, but but of course that's me. That was not like, and even as when I was pitching the story, I said, this is gonna be my problem not thereMichael Jamin (31:33):.Danny Zuker (31:34):But I said, so I, so I, I put the ki on, I, I stopped, but that's about the only time I have I all embarrassed people in our lives, you know?Michael Jamin (31:43):And, but, and so yeah, I mean, so, but, but basically there, so there are other stories in Modern Family you took from your, from your life as well, basically?Danny Zuker (31:49):Oh, tons. All of us did. Yeah. We, we, we, we, we had one like five twin daughters and at one point, like, so we had to go to a we had to go to a parent teacher conference when they were like in, I don't know, second grade. And my daughter, it's Lily and Charlie, my daughter Charlie, I mean Charlie, my daughter Charlie, you know, we're sitting there and it's and and then I say, Hey, so your dad and I, you know, tonight your dad and I are gonna need to split up. And and it's like, so do you, is there, do you have a preference? And it's like, and she just thought about it for a second. She goes, well I love dad, but I think you'll take better care of me. And she thought like we were, and she was so calm about us splitting up. Like she just like, yeah, I get like obviously that's . So she was like, it was just such a weird, and so we had Luke basically do that with Claire and and Phil.Michael Jamin (32:47):So yeah. Wow. That's so, yeah. You just got, it's like you're just gonna be conscious for your life. But go, but go ahead. WhatDanny Zuker (32:52):You were gonna say? No, we had a lot. I mean, Steve's kids walked in on him having sex in the pilot when Luke, they do the thing, we're gonna shoot you Luke. Right. That is the deal. If you shoot your sister, he has actual footage of him doing that to his son. .Michael Jamin (33:07):Yeah. That I remember thinking that this, I remember watching the pilot thinking this had to be from his life. And it doesn't sound right. . He shouldn't have done that.Danny Zuker (33:15):Yes, exactly. Yeah.Michael Jamin (33:17):Now, when you go about creating a pilot, other than the Kevin Neon thing, which is, you know, a little different cuz he has this like how do you go about, how do you start thinking about ideas?Danny Zuker (33:26):It's, it's a variety of ways. Like there's some that are just like, oh, this is an idea that's been sort of itching that, that I've been itching to do. I mean, and in the day, you know, I would think like, you know, but there's just an idea that I'll get in your head. The other way is somebody comes to you with an idea or a piece of casting. I have one right now that was kind of a, I'm not gonna talk about it here, but it was like, right. But it's, it's cause I'm, I'm, I'm down the road. But it, it was so wild idea that came to me with like, some good casting associated, but it was just one line and it's broad and silly. And I was like, how am I gonna make that work? Right. And they actually went away and on a trip and, and somebody just clicked how I would do it. And so I'm, you know, I've written up treatment and so hopefully that thing goes, but it's, sometimes it's an actor. Sometimes you read an article.Michael Jamin (34:13):Do you, are you, do you develop sometimes with actors? Cuz we never, we develop for comedians but never actors really.Danny Zuker (34:19):It depends. I have developed for an actor why They're usually a comic actor though. Yeah. You know? But yeah, that's, that's about it. Yeah. I have, I mean, I know where do you guys get your, what do you do with your ideas? I mean, and don't they mostly come from your heads? Are you talking about it or it's such a hard target to chase?Michael Jamin (34:37):Is this a hard part of it that we struggle with? Cuz you always hear this as like, why are you the only ones who can tell this story? And you're like, well I'm, we're not. You know, I mean, and, and the other thing is like, well I'm a writer, I can kind of make up stuff. Like, so they, but they always want to hear like, why is so you have to always, it always has to be personal, which is a little hard. It's like you run out of the personal things. And so yeah.Danny Zuker (35:02):It sound like an obvious, this is gonna sound like a question, and maybe this just speaks to me not being a good guy, but I, I know this, but don't you lieMichael Jamin (35:10):. But you, you, you exaggerate, you, you basically say, you know, you try to extrapolate, well this is, I this didn't happen to you, but something similar happened to me, you know,Danny Zuker (35:20):But I'll be like, okay, so this is based on a guy I went to school with.Michael Jamin (35:23):Right. But is that good enough? Because then they'll, but then they'll say, okay, but then go get the guy who you went to school with. Hey, get him in here. It's his story.Danny Zuker (35:32):. No, no. I mean, I, I no, what I will say, this is my real, real, you know, I'll, I don't know. I can, first of all, I do think when you're writing a show, no matter what you're putting yourself right in all of those characters, I think it's a silly request. I do try, even if it was like something science fiction or it was something like broad and big, I will always try to craft an origin story that is usually mostly true. But just like, you know, I had this experience, like how do I explain like I'm doing something with somebody right now, an animated show that I'm supervising that has a lot to do with mental health stuff. Right. And this girl cracked it. And it was like, so when I'm coming in I say like, I've tried to do mental health issues for a long time. Never found the key. I think she did. This is like, and, and so that's my, that's my part of the sales pitch in this. AndMichael Jamin (36:20):It's so interesting cuz we don't even supervise. It's not, it's not that I'm opposed to it, but there's not a lot of money to supervise something. And you wind up doing a lot of the work. So,Danny Zuker (36:33):Well, I'm very careful with what I pick in the supervision. Mm-Hmm. . And I'm also very careful what my, you know, rate will be. So I, for me it was like, oh, okay. I, but, but, but it's like, no, but it's like I'll take, I, I, you know, somewhere along the way it's gonna be a gamble, but I wanna be with somebody who I know is gonna, and I'm very explicit about that. I always say like, if I'm going to wind up co-writing this, we are going to be back here to renegotiate because my deal is very specifically not for scripts. And OhMichael Jamin (37:00):Really? Okay.Danny Zuker (37:01):Yeah. And I'm, and I'm pretty clear with that, with my management and stuff like that. Because if I'm gonna do that, then I'm gonna take a piece of it. I normally, I don't, I I don't want to, I wanna help them do it and then I'll run it if it goes right. But I, but I'm just, when I was younger, I had a couple people, I had one person in in particular who's sort of supervising me, who took over something and I feel like Crash landed it before I was ready. And, and I'm so careful not to do that. I'm just there. So I, I really do wanna make it that person show.Michael Jamin (37:33):But the problem is cuz and I, I haven't, we haven't done this, I haven't experienced, but my fear is you'll turn it in the studio will not be happy with it, with their work, with their draft. And then you will have to do all that work. You will have to do all that regretting.Danny Zuker (37:51):Well, I'll have to do some work. Uhhuh . But I'm, I'm picking people I think who's have a pretty good sense of, right. I, I'm betting on certain people. I'm not betting on like somebody who is just like a comic. I'm betting on somebody who is at least writing or has some workMichael Jamin (38:09):To. And so those people, they don't come to you out of the, I should be clear, they probably don't come to you out of the, off the street. They come to you through channels, through agents, managers, stuff like that. Yeah.Danny Zuker (38:17):Or through, or through like pods. They, somebody we're developing this or we, we love this pitch. And that's sort of what happened with this, this animated oneMichael Jamin (38:24):Doing so. Right, right. Interesting. Now have you done a lot of animation? That's something I I didn't know you got the all thatDanny Zuker (38:30):Just this housebroken show. That's the first night I've ever done.Michael Jamin (38:34):It's been very all on Zoom.Danny Zuker (38:36):All on Zoom practically. Yeah. Yeah. All on Zoom. But it was a real blast. Now I kind, I didn't mind it.Michael Jamin (38:43):Right. Well you had to be in your house, get to relax too.Danny Zuker (38:46):It was kind of fu It was. Yeah. I mean, and also just having something like, you know, it was, again, we went into the pandemic, nothing was going on during that. I was just sort of sitting home riding pilots and, and doing stuff. And I was like, oh God, am I done again? Am I done? Then I got a call from mm-hmm. , you know, Gabby and Jen and that production company that if I was interested, I could come there. And it's like, I loved every, you know, I love those guys and it's all these a bunch of really great people over there. It's like basically the whole cast of Veep is isn't that thingMichael Jamin (39:14):? Oh yeah, I know. AndDanny Zuker (39:15):It's a, and and, and it was just like, it's just been a blast, so. Right.Michael Jamin (39:20):Wow. And so, and I also know, I, I noticed you've been, you've been performing a lot too.Danny Zuker (39:25):Yeah, I have. I started doing I started doing standup a little bit. I'm, I took a little break, but I've been going, yeah, I took like a 30 something years break from standup. But it's been fun. Cause like I have stuff to talk about and I don't care what happens. Cause I already have a career. Like there's no stakes in it at all.Michael Jamin (39:41):And you go, I mean, and so you go up, how often do you up?Danny Zuker (39:44):Well, when I was doing it more, I was going up a couple times a week and little clubs, little club shows. I was actually I shortly before the Pandemic was going through a divorce and but I was dating somebody who was a comic and so, and she did a lot of club shows and would put me on. And then we just recently broke up, so now I need another Ed doing club shows. What I wound going though, I wound up going to Edinburgh. A friend of mine who's a comic was doing a show at Edinburgh at French Fest. And I opened for him, like, for four shows. And it was really a blast.Michael Jamin (40:12):It's so interesting. We're talking about doing that. What, what was your experience there? I I would definitely talkDanny Zuker (40:17):About that. Loved it. Yeah. We have to talk. I'm actually thinking about putting something up there myself.Michael Jamin (40:22):Oh. And they gotta talk now. We definitelyDanny Zuker (40:23):Have to talk. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk afterwards.Michael Jamin (40:26):Wow. Now I wanna, I wanna stop this conversation talk, but, and so, but do you wanna do more? It's so interesting. Like, do you wanna do more performing? BecauseDanny Zuker (40:36):I always like, I love to perform. I don't need to do it as a career. What I find is I just like the process of it. Right. I like the way it makes, like, I had this epiphany when I started getting up on stage, like right before the pandemic, a friend of mine was doing the DC improv and at this point I had like, and was gonna needed a, like a, a feature. And so I was like, she's like, do you have 15, 20 minutes? And at the time, I had five. And she's like, and I had a week to go. It's like, well, I'll figure it out. So I, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, you know, just on all the way over, I get it. And I got there and I'd written some stuff and like, there was a joke I had in the act that I thought was, it's gold.(41:16):Like I, I just know the stroke is gonna work as an open. Yeah. And the first night it didn't really work that well. And I, I came back, my first night was a little rocky, but my fir there were two shows a night, two, I mean, so the first show first night was a little rocky, not terrible. It was not like I bombed it, not terrible. So, and but from second show, I started to figure stuff out and it got, got good, except that joke didn't work again. And I was like, well, I don't know, keep going. It'll work tomorrow. Third try still doesn't work. And with that and so forth, Joe, I abandoned it. But what it, what was interesting about it for me was this, I'll write a joke for a script and a table read and it won't go well. And I will be convinced. I don't, I didn't go out to table read, but it's a good joke, right. And it'll work and I'll fight for it. And sometimes it'll get on. And now I'm thinking it should be a very obvious realization to anybody who's not a complete narcissist. But to me it's like maybe, I don't know,Michael Jamin (42:11):. But the thing is, Danny, if I was, if I had to, but if I had to bet, if I had to say who could, what comedy writer do I know could go and put together a standup act in an evening li or you know, in a couple of hours who could write a fricking five or 10 minutes in a couple of hours and kill it would be you. Because it's just, it's just easy. If, you know, if one thing bomb, whatever you can, you'll pitch on it. You get the one that works.Danny Zuker (42:36):I, I, I feel like that's the case for me. And I also think like, you know, you know this, there's like the two kinds of comedy writers. There's the extroverted ones, and then there's the ones who are just like quiet, but like, you know, good on the page and like, you know, really, and, and you know, will pitch. They're assassins when they pitch, but they're not, like, they don't have that perfor, they're not frustrated performers. Right. And and I just, I just really enjoy it. I mean like, and again, I enjoy it wherever it is. Like I enjoy it in a club with 10 people or in a theater with like 200. It's like, for me it's like been, it's been really kind of, it's just about the process. Like I am no goal to, like, I, I'm not looking to get a Netflix hour. Like I don't, none, none of that appeal. None of that happens. I just like doing it. I find that the process of it works a different part of my brain and like my, you know, I, you know, like I said, like in like in the course of a couple years, my marriage ended, my job of 11 years ended and then the world ended and it was like, yeah. So I was like, grasp, you know, so it was like, it was a lifeline.Michael Jamin (43:37):Were you, did that, I mean, did that panic you at all? Did all that, that's a lot to hit at one timeDanny Zuker (43:43):By the ti? Well, no, because by the time the world ended, my, my marriage like was, that was going through nine months and I'd survived the worst of it in Annette and Ireland we're super close. We're like, we're best friends. It's like the best. And then the show ended did, which was a little bit trauma, you know, traumatic and it was going on. But having survived the uncertainty of a show ending and a marriage ending, by the time, like everything shut down, I felt like, I was like, oh, I've been living in chaos for a while. Come on in, I'll show you. You know, it's like, lemme show you around,Michael Jamin (44:11):Let me show you. And that was, and that's kind of what your act is now? I mean, or no,Danny Zuker (44:15):No, no. My, my most of my act. I mean, it depends. I mean, I do a lot of my act about like oh my God, how far have I fallen? Or I talk about, I talk, I talk a lot about, like, I talk about like when a joke doesn't work or something like that. It's like, oh, they, you know, thing doesn't work. The, the Academy of Television Motion pictures and scientists really liked it though. And like, I'll talk about like my, I, I'll, I'll, I'll be falsely humble about that. Right. And also it's, it's been interesting to, to discover, you know, when I go out to a lot of these club shows, I am considerably older than a lot of the comics who are there. But like in my head, it doesn't feel that way to me. But I can tell that that's how I perceive. And that's also been interesting to talk about just being older.Michael Jamin (44:58):Do you think, cuz so many of these comments wanna get into actually sitcom writing, and do you think they look at you and like you're the guy? Oh, there's,Danny Zuker (45:06):There are some who look to me who there you can, but you know, this can't you tell when someone's talking to you and wants an opportunity? Or is just like being cool? I I, I, I can usually tell.Michael Jamin (45:18):Well, but no, but I wonder if, I wonder if, not that they're like sucking up to you, but if they're just in awe of you because of everything you've written. You know,Danny Zuker (45:25):I think they're, I think there are some people, yeah. I mean, I'm sure that they would be impressed with that aspect of it. Uhhuh . I, I, I'm pretty good at putting people at ease though. Cause that makes me uncomfortable. If people start doing that. I mean, I know it's all coming from a good place. I just, right. I, I don't, I don't like it's too much pressure to be vaunted. It's like I will like, cause all I can think of when someone's looking up to me, it's like, I'm gonna so let you down. It's like you have no idea how disappointed you be, reallyMichael Jamin (45:53):See it. It's interesting cuz that whole reinventing, okay, so even in the comedy room, even, I remember, like you were, there were times you'd be on stage in the con there were 10 of us in the writer's room and you're on stage. And so it seems like you are a perfor. You really are a performer, but this is you, this is like a big deal. Reinventing yourself, especially at this age. It's kind of, it's very intimidating, I think, or no for not for you.Danny Zuker (46:16):No, no. I love it. It's, it's, I I am so much more afraid of stagnation and things like that. Uhhuh . And it's, you know, and it, it's, it's interesting because, you know, especially as you get older and in comedy writing, you know, my full career, they were like, you hear like a certain subset of writers as they got into forties talking about ageism, which I'm not saying doesn't exist. Of course it exists. Mm-Hmm. . But what's interesting is some of the voices that were complaining and the loudest about ageism I would see on the show. And then we'd be pitching some, they'd be pitching something and then somebody like younger might say, yeah, that feels like a little famil, you know, familiar. It'd say, Hey, it worked on this, you know, and then they would disregard. It's like, this is what worked on, you know, growing pains.(46:57):It's gonna work here. Right. And I, I really clocked that. And so for me, part of doing standup and hearing, like I say very, like, I'm interested in comedy as an exploration date. And I think writers don't understand that. It's like a lot of people, comedy people don't understand it. It's like, yes, this was really funny and you could be upset that you can't say this word or this word anymore, but you rolled your eyes at the generation that came before you too. Right. Like, remember that. And you have to like, it is constantly changing. You must, the big experiences I've had is like, I can't wait to show my kids when they would get older when starting to get older. This is classic comedy. And to watch when you watch it again for the, there's certain things that hold up, but a lot of it doesn't hold up that well.Michael Jamin (47:41):Yeah. Right. If someone said like, okay, they wanna put you on tour and you tore the whatever, like a, like a, like a road comic, would you do it?Danny Zuker (47:50):I mean, if I, I might, I mean now in the, it's different. I, if you asked me this before, the age of Zoom, Uhhuh , I'd probably say no. Now if I, if I got to that point where, you know, I would wanna be good enough, like I have many opportunities to cut the line given to like, you know, my status. I know people who, like, if I wanted to, I could suck up to somebody in a much bigger club and say, Hey, gimme a couple spots here in a way that younger comics wouldn't. Right. But I, I, I desperately don't want to do that because I wanna be good enough to get that spot, you know, I'll work it out there and when I get there, you know, so, yeah. I don't know. I have a weird ethos about the whole thing. It's probably just the way of me procrastinating doing more, butMichael Jamin (48:34):, that's interest. It's so interesting. I, anyway, I I know you, we actually, you do have a, you have a little of a time limit, but I wanna, and I wanna talk more off camera, but I want to, is there, yeah. Is there, is there anything I can pro plug or send people send if they wanna know more about what you're doing?Danny Zuker (48:51):Yes. I'm on all social media @DannyZucker, Z U K E R and, and yeah. What else? I got nothing to promote right now. I, I don't know, I don't have any dates till after the new year, so I don't know what those are gonna be. We're able to performing, but but yeah, that's it.Michael Jamin (49:07):But follow there to know when your next pilot gets picked up or whatever. , when your next show. Yeah.Danny Zuker (49:12):Thank you for saying when,Michael Jamin (49:13):When, when. All right everyone, thank you so much, Danny. I can't thank you so much. I'm so happy that you did this. This is oh,Danny Zuker (49:20):I'm so fun. Respond to you, man. You've always, you've, and also you've always been one of my favorites, so dude, like I a handful full of people in there that IMichael Jamin (49:27):Dude, you're kind. So that's it everyone. Thank you so much. Yeah, continue. What am I gonna say at the end of the podcast? Well, if you wanna get on a free newsletter, go sign it for that. I send it out once a week at michaeljamin.com/watchlist. And and that's it. Continue following you know, on Instagram and TikTok @MichaelJaminWriter. Okay. Thank you so much, Danny. Thank you again. AllDanny Zuker (49:48):Right, you're welcome.Phil Hudson (49:51):This has been an episode of Screenwriters. Need to Hear This with Michael Jamin. If you'd like to support this podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving your review and sharing this podcast with someone who needs to hear today's subject. For free daily screenwriting tips, follow Michael on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @MichaelJaminWriter. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @PhilAHudson. This episode was produced by Phil Hudson and edited by Dallas Crane. Until next time, keep riding.

Sheldon Epps is a multi-talented director with credits on both on and off Broadway, in London and at many theatres across America. He also has an active television career having stood behind the camera of shows including The Upshaws, Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Evening Shade and Sister, Sister. For five seasons he also was producer/director of the hit series "Girlfriends." He's sharing his story in a memoir: My Own Directions - A Black Man's Journey in the American Theatre. Then a conversation with the leaders of Atlanta's True Colors Theatre company on the celebration of 20 years of storytelling in the city.

Brian  is the co-creator and executive producer of the top-rated Hallmark Channel original series When Calls the Heart and is the writer and producer of over two dozen films and TV movies such as The Heart of Man, Bopha!, Call Me Claus, Not Easily Broken, Captive, and The Case for Christ. Over his 40+ year career, Brian has written and/or produced nearly 350 episodes of television, including Evening Shade, Step by Step, and Touched by an Angel. Brian talks about how he got his start in the industry, how he thinks it's essential to be fearless to be successful and shares many inspirational stories and insights. He also discusses how the best legacy of When Calls the Heart is not the show, it's the HeartiesSee more at NavigatingHollywood.org.Links:• Watch on YouTube• When Calls the Heart Official Site• When Calls the Heart on Twitter• Navigating Hollywood• Brian Bird on IMDb, Twitter• Allen Wolf on IMDb, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter• Allen Wolf's website• Allen Wolf's movie websiteThank you to everyone who has seen The Sound of Violet in theaters. To find out when it's playing at a theater near you or when it will be released on video, visit TheSoundOfViolet.com.

For Video Edition, Please Click and Subscribe Here: https://youtu.be/k_P-Ox_Z7-w With the energy of a teenager, the wisdom of a sage, and the memory of a super hero, Marilu Henner has done it all. Along with starring in sixty-eight films and two hit classic sitcoms, Taxi and Evening Shade, this five-time Golden Globe Nominee is the New York Times Best Selling author of ten books on health, parenting, memory, and lifestyle improvement. Her books Total Health Makeover, The 30-Day Total Health Makeover, I Refuse to Raise a Brat, Healthy Life Kitchen, Healthy Kids, Healthy Holidays, Wear Your Life Well, By All Means Keep On Moving, Total Memory Makeover, and Changing Normal: How I Helped My Husband Beat Cancer have changed the lives of millions in her quest to make the world a healthier place. Her theatrical credits include Broadway: Gettin' the Band Back Together, Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Chicago, Social Security, Pal Joey, Grease, and Over Here. Marilu was in the original production of Grease in Chicago and created the role of Marty. She also sits on the board of Bucks County Playhouse where she recreated her Broadway role in Tale of the Allergist's Wife. MICHAEL ORLAND is thrilled to have been a part of the mega-hit TV show AMERICAN IDOL for 16 seasons as the Pianist, Arranger, Vocal Coach, and Associate Musical Director both on FOX and ABC. In between those seasons were stints as Music Director/vocal coach on LITTLE BIG SHOTS and FOREVER YOUNG, both hosted by Steve Harvey. Through these amazing opportunities, Michael has appeared on OPRAH, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, ACCESS HOLLYWOOD, and a record number of appearances on THE ELLEN SHOW. At the end of every IDOL season, Michael also accompanied the top 3 contestants to New York for appearances on LIVE WITH KELLY & REGIS (and MICHAEL and RYAN) and more.

TODAY'S ROSARY for SUNDAY - Glorious Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE SUNDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Glorious Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED SUNDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/1Fnoyv8EmO0 MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

TODAY'S ROSARY for SATURDAY - Joyful Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE SATURDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Joyful Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED SATURDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/ryTdYnt1eUI MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

TODAY'S ROSARY for FRIDAY - Sorrowful Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE FRIDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Sorrowful Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED FRIDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/tcryvk5IlmY MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

TODAY'S ROSARY for THURSDAY - Luminous Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE THURSDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Luminous Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED THURSDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/73Z7rRx6dnM MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

TODAY'S ROSARY for WEDNESDAY - Glorious Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE WEDNESDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Glorious Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED WEDNESDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/1Fnoyv8EmO0 MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

TODAY'S ROSARY for TUESDAY - Sorrowful Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE TUESDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Sorrowful Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED TUESDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/tcryvk5IlmY MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

TODAY'S ROSARY for MONDAY - Joyful Mysteries - Theme: EVENING SHADE MONDAY HOLY ROSARY by THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS - Joyful Mysteries - SPOKEN with MUSIC AMBIENT BACKGROUND Enjoy the relaxing music as we pray for positive changes in ourselves and in our world alongside this daily rosary. May this Rosary become a faithful companion to your prayer life. Additional prayer tools at www.rosarywristband.com MOST VIEWED MONDAY ROSARY: Calm Music    https://youtu.be/ryTdYnt1eUI MOST VIEWED ONE HOUR ROSARY DEVOTION: Complete Rosary    https://youtu.be/rrNMRJ5oH-Q MOST VIEWED SLEEP ROSARY: 4 Hour Sleep Rosary    https://youtu.be/4a-uaEEJOF4 Have you joined our Membership?  For only $1.99 a month, you can directly help this channel grow:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXCEpdy0etQAdEHB1z-oTg/join Or consider a donation through PayPal to help us continue creating quality content:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?business=CHerrera720037%40gmail.com&cmd=_donations¤cy_code=USD&item_name=Donation+to+The+Communion+of+Saints&return=https%3A%2F%2Frosarywristband.com%2Fhome Blessings, Chris - The Communion of Saints Email: chris@rosarywristband.com Simply, easy and quick rosary prayers for everyday recitation and reflection.   This collection of Catholic rosary videos in english serve as a daily devotion and feature calm background music and nature soundscapes.   Choose from audio only or follow along video with all mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous.  Listen before sleep or any time for renewed focus and peace. “Together we pray” Visit rosarywristband.com for comfortable one decade rosaries.

01:00 Anne Murray Feedback 02:30 Danny and Kate talk about working together on The Men's Room (a failed TV show) 04:58 How Jenny met Kate 12:49 Is Kate working now? 16:20 Umbrella Academy - is she coming back? 20:09 13 Reasons Why 25:11 Grey's Anatomy 33:33 BetOnline.AG 35:39 Funny “Fargo” story (NSFW) 41:30 Danny gets hate mail for writing an episode of Evening Shade 43:31 Are there any lines that are “too far” to say? 47:48 Watch are you watching? Follow us all on twitter @katewalsh @jennyjohnsonhi5 @dannyzuker @doinitpodcast @theguydf

Episode 586 of On Screen & Beyond brings the multi-talented Marilu Henner as our guest! Marilu shares stories about her career on "Taxi", "Evening Shade", "Johnny Dangerously" and so much more! We even have some fun along the way! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/on-screen-and-beyond/message

Brian Bird is the co-creator and has served as show runner and executive producer for nine seasons of the top-rated scripted cable show, WHEN CALLS THE HEART. His 30-plus years as a writer and producer feature more than two dozen feature films and documentaries, including the Paramount feature film Captive and more than 350 network television episodes from shows such as TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, STEP BY STEP, and EVENING SHADE.

Marilu Henner (Taxi, Evening Shade, Grease, Chicago) and I talk a mile a minute about EVERYTHING, from her incredible memory (it's called HSAM, or highly superior autobiographical memory) to party games to family to dating John Travolta and a few Taxi co-stars. Such fun! We crossed paths in New York City for just a few hours, so we went for it! On a Saturday night in late 2019, we got together and knew that our willingness to do this on the fly, between flights to and from Los Angeles, was a sign we'd have a really cool conversation. And we did. Enjoy! BONUS: Watch Marilu answer DIFFERENT questions on this week's video at YouTube.com/reallyfamous. GET IN TOUCH: Insider news - ReallyFamousPodcast.com/contact Instagram - @karamayerrobinson Facebook - @karamayerrobinson Twitter - @kara1to1   EXTRA TREATS: Marilu Henner's video Q&A - YouTube.com/reallyfamous Behind-the-scenes photos - ReallyFamousPodcast.com Marilu's health + wellness books and memoirs: https://www.amazon.com/Marilu-Henner/e/B000AP7UR6%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share # Donate $1 or $3 or $10 to Really Famous and get a shout-out from me on the show: Patreon.com/reallyfamous or ReallyFamousPodcast.com/donate # Celebrity interview by Kara Mayer Robinson. Music - Take a Chance by Kevin MacLeod - incompetech - Creative Commons  

We're back, this week we talk 2002's "Bubba Ho-Tep" and not even our love for Bruce Campbell could save this movie for us. Throw in Ossie Davis? Helps a bit but not as much as it should. So let's just unwrap this thing, shall we?   The low down... Elvis is still in the building and resides in a shady ass nursing home in Texas, along with a man who believes himself to be JFK. The two friends discover a low grade mummy is sucking the souls out of the residents and they aren't gonna take it anymore.    On this episode there's assholes, hard-ons and WAPs, oh my! There's a sad ass nursing home, puss, Black JFK, a thieving old bitch, tiny trench coats, beetles mistaken for cockroaches, a mummy with flair and Elvis lives. The ladies of RFT discuss their quietest live watch to date, the bangability of The Mummy cast, Evening Shade and get Pointer Sister excited about the music they just received for the upcoming Halloween episodes. All this and so much more on this week's Reel Fun Times.

Jim, Dylan, and Mike are joined by Brotha Shaun on this episode. Jim discusses his recent trip to Texas and some big news. Dylan asks us who we want to fight. Dylan shows off some artwork. We discuss buffalo wings. Jim gets triggered by life hacks.

Before acting, Gilliam was a member of the Coast Guard's boxing team where he won 201 out of 217 fights. He remained in the boxing world for decades, working as a referee in California.While working as a fireman for the city of Dallas,[2] Gilliam appeared in the role of "Floyd", the desk clerk in the film Paper Moon. He then went on to appear in such popular movies as Blazing Saddles and Back to the Future Part III. Performing in Blazing Saddles was difficult for him since he played a despicable racist who repeatedly racially insults the African-American characters as "niggers," especially the hero, played by Cleavon Little. Gilliam was so uncomfortable that he apologized to Little who had to remind him that the slur was simply in the script and was treated unambiguously negatively since he was playing a villain.Gilliam has had roles in movies such as Honeymoon in Vegas, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Farewell, My Lovely, Fletch, Gator, Telefon, and The Terror Within II. His television appearances include Alice, Charlie's Angels, The A-Team, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Fall Guy, and he appeared as a regular on Evening Shade.

**Trigger Warning/Content Warning - Discussion of Suicide and AIDS**0:00-Intro and Movie Summary2:00-Movie Discussion41:00-Cast and Crew43:00-Awards44:40-Trailer46:20-Pop Culture49:40-TV58:00-Music1:00:00-Rankings and Ratings To see a full list of movies we will be watching and shows notes, please follow our website: https://www.1991movierewind.com/Follow us!https://linktr.ee/1991movierewind Theme: "sunrise-cardio," Jeremy Dinegan (via Storyblocks)Don't forget to rate/review/subscribe/tell your friends to listen to us!

Act One Podcast - Episode 16 - Special Episode featuring the Act One TV Showrunner Roundtable Discussion with Saladin K. Patterson (ABC's THE WONDER YEARS), Monica Macer (CBS' MACGVYER), Sheryl J. Anderson (Netflix's SWEET MAGNOLIAS), and Brian Bird (Hallmark's WHEN CALLS THE HEART).Recorded on Thursday, February 11th, 2021, this roundtable offers a fascinating look "behind the curtain” of making television. Some of the topics discussed includes how to get a job writing for tv, creative leadership, and faith in Hollywood.About our panelists:MONICA MACER is a screenwriter, executive producer, and showrunner of Korean and African American descent. She has written for some of the most acclaimed television series over the last 15 years, including LOST (ABC), PRISON BREAK (FOX), NASHVILLE (ABC), QUEEN SUGAR (OWN) and GENTEFIED (Netflix). Most recently, Monica proudly served as showrunner and executive producer for MACGYVER (CBS). As showrunner of Queen Sugar's second season, Macer was tapped as one of Variety's 10 Writers to Watch.Macer is married to actor/filmmaker, Sterling Macer Jr., and she's the proud mother of a thirteen-year-old daughter.BRIAN BIRD is co-creator and executive producer of the top-rated Hallmark Channel series WHEN CALLS THE HEART, in partnership with Michael Landon, Jr., which premieres its eighth season in February 2021. He has written and/or produced two dozen films, including THE HEART OF MAN, THE CASE FOR CHRIST, CAPTIVE, NOT EASILY BROKEN, THE ULTIMATE LIFE and BOPHA! and nearly 350 episodes of network television, including TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, STEP BY STEP and EVENING SHADE. He is currently developing four new films, NORTHERN LIGHTS, LIFE AFTER HEAVEN, The STORY OF EVERYTHING, and THE MONARCH. His most important production to date is his 40-year marriage to wife Patty and their five children.SHERYL J. ANDERSON is the showrunner and an executive producer of SWEET MAGNOLIAS (Netflix). She began her writing journey as a playwriting major at The College of William & Mary in Virginia. Sheryl has worked as a television studio executive, screenwriter, and half-hour writer (PARKER LEWIS CAN'T LOSE, DAVE'S WORLD). She then moved to the hour world, writing for a wide range of series (CHARMED, FLASH GORDON, WHEN CALLS THE HEART), and selling pilots to Disney, SyFy, NBC, and Lifetime. She created UPtv's first dramatic series, TIES THAT BIND, and has written movies for Lifetime, Hallmark, and UPtv. Sheryl also teaches and mentors through a variety of organizations and universities. She and her children are members of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Santa Monica.SALADIN K. PATTERSON is currently the showrunner of the new show, THE WONDER YEARS on ABC. Also he is an Executive Producer of the FX comedy series DAVE. Prior to that, he was the showrunner of the TBS series THE LAST O.G., and the showrunner of the TBS animated series, THE COPS. Some of his other credits include THE BIG BANG THEORY, TWO AND A HALF MEN, PSYCH, THE BERNIE MAC SHOW, and FRASIER. Patterson is a native of Montgomery Alabama and he is an M.I.T. alumnus with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He now resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Chelsea, his daughter Micah and son, Joshua.The Act One Podcast provides insight and inspiration on the business and craft of Hollywood from a Christian perspective.Support the show (https://actoneprogram.com/donate/)

In this thought to be lost episode, Jim and Harry have a "to do at their pad" to explore how Jack Dodson, Francis Bavier, and Jack Burns took 3 seasons of Andy Griffith out of syndication. Plus, they address the horrible rumors that Bury wore a toupee, and Burt gets screwed out of millions of dollars, and creatively covers his manhood. Also, Aunt Bea on the road, in the sky, and on the moon! Fire up the hi-fi and listen along!

You know that I always have great, insightful guests on this show, today is no different! I am joined by Stephen & Ann… both so talented and so much fun to chat with. Meet: ANN HEARN TOBOLOWSKY (Director): Current project: Reykjavík by Steve Yockey, a filmed live play production for The Road Theatre, starts streaming May 14 - May 30, 2021. Recent directing credits include the classic Bus Stop at Theatre 40 and three world premieres, The Favorite by Joe Correll at Avery Schreiber Playhouse, Forever Bound by Steve Apostolina at Atwater Theatre and at The Road Theatre, Jami Brandli's Through the Eye of a Needle. Also at the Road Theatre, an Off Road production of Anatomy of a Hug, multiple readings for The Road's Word series and the Summer Playwrights Festival productions of The Caregiver's Guide, A Shonda, Unbound, The Specials, The Gift and The Night We Bombed Lincoln Towing. Previously at Theatre 40: Holy Days, Driving Miss Daisy, Another Part of the Forest. Ann was directing Scintilla for the Road Theatre and Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help for Theatre 40, both scheduled to open Spring of 2020 when the pandemic descended. Rehearsals continued via Zoom and are temporarily suspended, with hopes to continue for openings as soon as possible. As an actor, her credits in Los Angeles theater: South Coast Repertory, LATC, Theatre 40, Missing Piece Theater, Taper Too, CAST Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre. Regional Theatre: New Harmony Theatre, Alaska Repertory. Film: Strange Nature, Lorenzo's Oil, The Accused, and My Father the Hero. Television: The Dollmaker, ER, Designing Women, Evening Shade, and Rizzoli & Isles. Ann is a member of the Artistic Board at The Road Theatre, as well as a member of Beverly Hills Theatre 40 (for 41 years!) She is married to actor/writer/director Stephen Tobolowsky. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ann.tobolowsky Twitter: @ahtobolowsky Instagram: @annhearntobo Actors Access:https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/annhearn IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372475/ Meet: Character actor Stephen Tobolowsky. Over the past three decades, Tobolowsky has racked up a lengthy list of roles in movies and television across many different genres. The list too long to mention here, please check out his IMDb and subscribe to his podcast The Tobolowsky Files Stephen is not only made his mark as a talented actor, he is also a director, podcaster, author and so much more. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0864997/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/tobolowsky Watch the play Ann directed: "Reykjavík" (now thru June 13th) tickers: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/51541 Subscribe Follow SHARE Find me everywhere at HeadshotsByPeggy www.LinqApp.com/Peggy

TED LANGE certainly exemplifies the Renaissance Man Theatre Award that he received from the NAACP in Los Angeles and the Heroes and Legends HAL Lifetime Achievement Award. A prolific author, educator, and director and actor of stage and screen comprise the talents that have created a revered career and worldwide recognition. On May 10, 2018, Lange received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in recognition of his Contribution to the History of Television for his work on The Loveboat. A graduate of London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lange has written twenty-five plays and has been labeled The Black Neil Simon, The Brown Bard, and The Footnote Historian. These nomenclatures reflect the nature of the plays that he has written and produced around the country in black theatres to rave reviews and numerous awards. Lange is passionate about comedy, Shakespeare, history, and character driven theatre. His quest is to weave the African American experience into stories that entertain and educate by using current events as the touchstone for timely stories and characters, by discovering little known historical facts and bringing alive lost moments of black history, and by using the timelessness of Shakespearean tales to reflect what is still relevant in today's culture. His Shakespearean based play written in verse, The Cause, My Soul, the Prequel to Othello, the NAACP Theatre Best Play of 2017, was presented at the Odyssey Theatre on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and at the North Carolina Black Theatre Festival. The Tears of Shylock another Shakespearean based play was read at the Matrix Theatre in April 2019. Lange's most current play, Blues in My Coffee, is a relationship comedy/drama that entertains and enlightens audiences in the relevant political issues surrounding Black Lives Matters. Four Queens – No Trump played garnered critical acclaim in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Omaha, and Chicago and won the NAACP Best Play – 1997. The Valley Theatre Awards nominated his play, Lemon Meringue Façade, in five categories and played off Broadway in New York at the New Perspectives Theatre. Another respected play, Soul Survivor, was staged at the National Black Theatre Festival at the 1996; The Olympics in Atlanta, and at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Hollywood, which co-starred Yolanda King. As a star of the television classic The Love Boat, Lange's ten seasons as Isaac Washington earned him global recognition. His television acting career also includes That's My Mama, Mr. T and Tina, and guest appearances on Evening Shade, Half and Half, Family Matters, In the Heat of the Night, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He hit the reality TV genre running on Celebrity Fit Club. Combining all his talents, Lange wrote, acted, directed, and produced his play, Let Freedom Ring in Los Angeles. A historical dramedy about how the Liberty Bell was cracked. The play is based on a true story…almost When asked about the diversity of his career, Lange states, “The duty of the Artist is to find his muse, then let her rip.” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/momentsofgrace/support

Today on The Caregiver Dave Celebrity Segment, Caregiver Dave and Neil will interview Harry Thomason. Harry Thomason is the award-winning producer & director best known for the popular TV hits Designing Women, Evening Shade, and Hearts Afire, More recently, Harry Thomason produced and directed two motion pictures, The Last Ride about the final days of Hank Williams and Bridegroom which won at Tribeca. In our interview, he will talk about his inspiring memoir and riveting podcast series. In every episode of The Story You Never Heard, Harry Thomason vividly narrates and brings to life some of the most fascinating moments, intriguing events, true and thrilling, but lesser known stories, about people in history.

On Episode 021 of the RETROZEST podcast, Curtis continues with the third in a series of a celebration of Retro TV Shows! These particular shows have Pilot Episodes with a landmark anniversary in September 2020. This week, the Comedy genre is continued from last week, but this time each of the shows are younger than 50 years old. The shows discussed on this top 4 list are... The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Premiered 9/10/1990 in the USA (30th Anniversary) Starring Will Smith, James Avery, Alfonso Riberio, Karyn Parsons, Tatyana M. Ali, Joseph Marcell, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Janet Hubert-Whitten and Daphne Maxwell Reid Find out where to watch full episodes of the show via TV Guide by clicking HERE. Growing Pains Premiered 9/24/1985 in the USA (35th Anniversary) Starring Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns, Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller Find out where to watch full episodes of the show via TV Guide by clicking HERE. Welcome Back, Kotter Premiered 9/9/1975 in the USA (50th Anniversary) Starring Gabe Kaplan, John Travolta, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Robert Hegyes, Ron Palillo and Marcia Strassman Find out where to watch full episodes of the show via TV Guide by clicking HERE. Fawlty Towers Premiered 9/19/1975 in the USA (50th Anniversary) Starring John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Connie Booth and Andrew Sachs Watch Episodes 1 - 4 for FREE on YouTube by clicking HERE. Watch more episodes for FREE on YouTube by clicking HERE. Find out where to watch full episodes of the show via TV Guide by clicking HERE. Honorable mentions (shows which have landmark anniversaries, but also ones which Curtis did not watch) are given to: Evening Shade, which starred Burt Reynolds (premiered 9/21/1990; 30th Anniversary) The Golden Girls, which starred Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty (premiered 9/14/1985; 35th Anniversary) Additionally, Curtis was a guest co-host on three recent episodes of the Ridiculous Rock Record Reviews podcast (aka the R4 Podcast) wherein he engaged in track by track analyses of the following albums: Sammy Hagar's VOA (1984) David Lee Roth's Eat'Em and Smile (1986) Van Halen's 5150 (1986) You may listen to these episodes (and a few others) via: The recent RetroZest Roth vs. Hagar blog post The RetroZest Guest Appearances page Finally, Curtis gives a shoutout to Garry Vander Voort and the Retroist Podcast. Contact Curtis at.. podcast@retrozest.com RETROZEST Facebook Page RETROZEST Twitter Page

The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview Marilu Henner of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.  With the energy of a teenager, the wisdom of a sage, and the memory of a superhero, Marilu Henner has deservedly earned the nickname "Perpetual Motion." Along with starring in over thirty films, six Broadway shows, and two hit classic sitcoms, Taxi and Evening Shade, this five-time Golden Globe nominee is also a New York Times best-selling author of 10 books on health, parenting, memory, and lifestyle improvement. Her books include the recent bestseller "Changing Normal: How I Helped My Husband Beat Cancer," "Total Memory Makeover," "Total Health Makeover," "Healthy Life Kitchen," "I Refuse to Raise a Brat" and "By All Means Keep On Moving," and have changed the lives of millions in her quest to make the world a healthier place. Marilu can currently be seen in the Hallmark series Aurora Teagarden, as well as the Hallmark Channel film Love on a Limb and can be seen in the upcoming the theatrical features In-Lawfully Yours and Imperfections, which will premiere at the Chicago Film Festival in October 2016. Marilu has hosted and executive produced two talk shows, Marilu and Shape Up Your Life, and as a two-time competitor on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars, Marilu played for her favorite charities, including The Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and the Alzheimer's Association. In fact, at PCRM's 25th Anniversary Gala, she was awarded their Voice of Compassion Award.