Currently writing for Running Wilde on FOX which premiered last night, created by Mitch Hurwitz, starring Will Arnett. Wrote for Accidentally On Purpose last year, starring Jenna Elfman on CBS. Wrote for The Goode Family before that, an animated show on ABC by Mike Judge. Fire away!

The show films in NY but the writers are in LA (with one writer on set currently who may rotate). Dailies from the set (rough footage of what's shot that day) are uploaded to a website where the writers can view them. We also see the rough cuts of episodes before they air.

Don't see a lot of Arnett since he is in NY and we are in LA. He came to the writers room one day before filming started. Nicest guy in the world and hilarious in person.

Re: bg jokes - some are written into scripts, some are done on set. We don't spend very much time talking about them in the writers room. We're focused on story and dialogue.

I want to preface this by saying I'm not trying to be a dick, because both of these questions are slightly dickish.

1- Accidentally on Purpose struck me as at best mediocre and at worst lousy. Now this may be just a difference of opinion and you might have loved it, or were you aware that it wasn't that great when you were working on it?

2- Running Wilde was significantly reworked after Hurwitz and Arnett basically admitted that the original pilot wasn't that good. What was that experience like?

Did you come up with the "Well we're not gonna crack that now" line? It was ****ing hilarious.

Congrats on the gig man, that's awesome.

What's the general air in regards to AD intertextuality with writing on the show? "Made a huge mistake" was obviously a big nod but do spots come up where something gets shot down because it's too AD'ish? Just really curious of the atmosphere of that whole idea because obviously there's going to be constant comparison.

Thanks very much for doing this ... very interested

Could you tell us your career progression to a network TV writer?

1 - Not dickish at all. Honestly, AOP isn't the kind of show I would watch if I wasn't a part of it. Probably a product of having written for it, but I do think it was at least slightly funnier than it got credit for. I'd say it was 80% romantic comedy and 20% stoner/slacker comedy and the latter is what I found funniest about the show.

2 - Wasn't that involved in the pilot rewrites. We did a little when we first started working but it was mostly about recasting and reshooting in a new location (NY as opposed to Vancouver) than it was about rewriting.

No but I wish I did. One of my faves.

We don't spend much time thinking about intertextuality with AD. There have been a few references tossed in here and there just for fun, but in general we're avoiding areas and jokes that were done on AD.

Not sure what you want to know that I didn't cover in the OP. Can you be more specific?

Yeah this! I am super jealous of you dude, and outside of poker I definitely want to develop a career in comedy writing or comedy in general.
Where'd you go to college? did you start in standup at all? what were some of the things that like got you into the biz so to speak?
working with mitch hurowitz, are you kidding me?? the arrested development creator!!, sick siiiiiick job dude.

Whose better at writing comedy, you or Shane?

Congrats on the show.

Congrats on the gig, one of my dreamjobs.

Do you have fun working? What's your inspiration/source of creativity when it comes to being "funny"?

I'm not him, but I'm interested in how you became a comedy writer in the first place. Just listing the shows you worked on previously isn't much of a career progression story. :-) How did you get those jobs? What did you study in school? How old are you? What writing jobs, if any, did you have before comedy writing? How did you know you were talented enough to pursue this profession?

I'm also extremely interested and am quite jealous of you!

I got a job as a PA (production assistant) through a friend who was an assistant to the producer on a sitcom called A Minute With Stan Hooper that starred Norm Macdonald and was on FOX in 2003. Basically you get people lunch and photocopy scripts. I parlayed that into a job as a writers assistant, which I did for 3 years on 2 different shows. Basically you sit in the writers room at a computer and type the script on a big screen as the writers verbally pitch it out. You also take a lot of notes and format the scripts. I got sick of that and played mtts for a year . During that time I wrote a spec pilot with a friend and fellow writers asst. We gave it to a writer we had worked with who passed it on to an agent who signed us and started submitting it around town. We got our first gig a few months later and have been writing partners since then.

Went to Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Never did stand up but fantasize about it regularly. Too scared. As far as getting into the biz, being a writers assistant was an invaluable learning experience and a good way to meet people. Basically it's like grad school for comedy writing. And lastly, thanks!

Shane is better at gay jokes. I'm better at everything else.

Have a blast working. The hours are long but it's a very fun job. Hard to answer the second part. If you have strong characters with strong attitudes, the funny usually flows from that. I also try to ask myself not just "what's funny" but "what's fresh?" <-- edit: just reread that and it sounds super douchey. Sorry.

Think I answered the first question above. I majored in English with a concentration in creative writing in school but it was all poetry and fiction, no screen writing. I'm 32. Only other professional writing I ever did outside of TV was some freelance journalism after college but nothing you would have ever heard of. I don't think I ever knew that I was talented enough to pursue this profession, I think I just thought it would be fun to try and gave it a shot.

Hi, first off congratulations on everything.

You said you had never done standup but would like to... I was wondering what your view of improv was like, specifically in how similar (or dissimilar) it is to (from) writing. That is to say, good improv (like some UCB shows in LA) not the crappy troupes that sing and dance on stage or whatever.

In college I was a film/screenwriting and math double major and did improv and was considered very very funny and talented and my goal was to eventually write comedy, but I have all but given up on it because I feel like it just takes too much luck to break into the business and get to where I'd be working on something I like (aka have your job). Do you have any words of inspiration for aspiring funnymen out there?

ugh @ if it's fresh versus if it's funny line - i thought fsoyars was going to recite the 'if it bends, it's funny, if it breaks, it's not funny' saw from crimes and misdemeanors. i kid, i kid.

fsoyars,

really interested in this, love comedy of all sorts, always wanted to get into comedy writing but it seemed like the only avenues to that were performing, which was out of the question for me - i guess my first question is, how much oversight do you tend to get from the networks regarding content?

Any stories about working on Stan Hooper (specifically about Norm)? Was Norm active in the writing process? I thought it was a pretty disappointing series when I watched it, but last year I read the pilot and in hindsight it was actually quite funny.

Fsoyars - cool thread - I also directed people to this thread who have questions about breaking into your field (I tried my best to answer in another thread, knowing a good amount of tv writers, but you are the man to ask).

Questions:

1) What are your favorite sitcoms airing right now?
2) What would you say is the % of people who were writer's assistants that get hired as a staff writer at some point (not just writing an episode here or there)?

Thanks, and good luck with Running Wilde - didn't love the first episode but no way I'm not gonna keep this on season pass.

-Al

How were you treated when you were an assistant by superiors?

Never done improv. Sometimes I think I'd like to take a class just to help with writing since a lot of what I do in the room day to day is try to be funny on the spot. I'd say it's very similar to the pitching jokes part of writing but nothing like the breaking stories part. Trying to think of advice that doesn't sound like token bull****... if you don't have a writing group you should try to form one with your friends. I've been in one since long before I broke in. It's fun for one thing and it's a great way to get feedback and also help each other out if someone makes some headway.

Let's just all agree to pretend I never said the fresh vs. funny line, ok? I second your "ugh." We get a ton of network input. New shows usually do. Every show is different but usually network notes are given on every step of the process from outlining a new story to editing the final show. Usually, the more successful a show becomes, the less input you get from the network.

Didn't have a lot of interaction with Norm as I was just a lowly PA. As I recall he was fairly involved in the writing, sitting in with the writers most nights. For a while he ate a whole, roasted chicken with ketchup for lunch everyday.

Thanks Aloysius!
1. Eastbound and Down, Curb, 30 Rock, Louie, The Office, Children's Hospital
2. Wow, no idea. Off the top of my head... 5-10%?

Very well. I was lucky enough to never work for an ******* and in fact most of the writers I worked with were very supportive and let me pitch in the room and would read my spec scripts and what not.

btw I'm at home and supposed to be writing a script right now so if episode 108 it's funny it's bc I was too distracted by this thread .

It varies extremely widely. If someone is a nice person, you'll be treated nicely. If an AD/whoever you're assisting is a dick, you'll get treated like ****.

I liked the Running Wilde pilot and have high hopes, don't blow it!

congrats on the job. i will be watching the show and reading this thread. good luck

Cool thread.

Congrats on landing a show with two of the most talented guys in TV comedy. Good luck!

Do you have aspirations beyond writing TV comedy? I ask cause I know, like, Colbert and Charlie Kaufman started out that way, as like Matt Weiner wrote for Becker before the Sopranos and Mad Men. Seems like a foot in the door for some people.

How many writers are there on the show?

When you're writing do you write plot and jokes simultaneously? Do you plot out the ep first, and then go insert comedy second? Do you have like a bunch of jokes you're just waiting for a spot to put into the show?

Compared to a sitcom, do you think it would be harder or easier to write for a talk show like Letterman or the Daily Show?

If you don't mind sharing, whats the salary range?

Are you locked in for a certain number of eps on Running Wilde?