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In Dead Pilots Society, scripts that were developed by studios and networks but were never produced are given the table reads they deserve. Starring actors you know and love from television and film, a live audience, and a good time in which no one gets notes, no one is fired, and everyone laughs. Presented by Andrew Reich (Friends; Worst Week) Ben Blacker (The Writers Panel podcast; co-creator, Thrilling Adventure Hour), and Noah Findling (The New York Times, Comedy Central).
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This month's pilot is Massholes. It was set up at ABC and written by Bill Callahan (Scrubs, Spin City). Bill is a veteran comedy writer who's worked on so many shows you know and love. This is a Friends-style ensemble pilot inspired by Bill's group of friends from Massachusetts. To keep things authentic, we assembled an all-star cast of actors from the Boston area.Massholes stars Rob Corddry (Ballers, Hot Tub Time Machine), Nicholas D'Agosto (Trial & Error, Criminal Minds), Misha Collins (Supernatural), Josh Gondelman (Last Week Tonight, Desus & Mero), Alyssa Limperis (What We Do in the Shadows), Maggie Lawson (Psych), Brittany Curran (The Magicians), Jamie Loftus (Star Trek: Lower Decks), Killian McAssey, and Andrew Reich with stage directions.If you missed our last live show, you can still watch the live feed here.WE HAVE MERCH! Merch store: hereFor more information about Dead Pilots Society and to listen to past episodes featuring John Hodgman, Emerald Fennell, and many others, visit: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/dead-pilots-society.
Welcome to the after-show for Mr. Macho! Andrew and Al recount their unusual first meeting during a casting session for a show that came together under extraordinary circumstances. They discuss how close Al has come to getting his story on air as a half-hour comedy, as well as the ongoing challenges of Latino representation in TV comedy. Chris also shares his wisdom on guiding and helping sell this pilot as its supervisor. This is a great interview packed with so much insight, and we know you're going to love it! Enjoy!TICKETS TO OUR LIVE SHOW ON 11/17Link to ticketsOur November 17 show will feature scripts by John Enbom (co-creator, Party Down) and Brendan Scannell (Loot) & Amy Reed (Diary of a Future President).Cast includes:Martin Starr (Party Down, Spider-Man)Ryan Hansen (Party Down, Veronica Mars)Olivia Liang (Kung Fu)Chris Witaske (The Bear)Anna Seregina (The Civil Dead)…and more to be announced!For more information about Dead Pilots Society and to listen to past episodes featuring John Hodgman, Emerald Fennell, and many others, visit: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/dead-pilots-society.
Our featured dead pilot this month is Mr. Macho, written by Al Madrigal. You might know Al from his stand-up, his time on The Daily Show, or his many TV and film appearances over the years. His autobiographical, focuses on a man struggling with his cultural identity and his place in a newly gentrifying neighborhood. The project was supervised by Chris Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and was set up at CBS with CBS Studios attached to produce. It's an incredibly funny pilot that we know you're going to love.Mr. Macho stars Al Madrigal, Sherry Cola (Joy Ride), Julio Macias (On My Block), Marc Evan Jackson (The Good Place), Rachael Harris (Suits, Lucifer), Melissa Villaseñor (SNL), and Andrew Reich providing stage directions.TICKETS TO OUR LIVE SHOW ON 11/17Link to ticketsOur November 17 show will feature scripts by John Enbom (co-creator, Party Down) and Brendan Scannell (Loot) & Amy Reed (Diary of a Future President).Cast includes:Martin Starr (Party Down, Spider-Man)Ryan Hansen (Party Down, Veronica Mars)Olivia Liang (Kung Fu)Chris Witaske (The Bear)Anna Seregina (The Civil Dead)…and more to be announced!For more information about Dead Pilots Society and to listen to past episodes featuring John Hodgman, Emerald Fennell, and many others, visit: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/dead-pilots-society.
This is the after-show for Honey Do List, featuring our interview with Julie Bean and Brian Donovan. Julie and Brian share incredible stories about breaking into the industry and how they worked their way up to becoming showrunners. Brian also discusses his time on the legendary Georgetown improv troupe alongside Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia, and Jacqueline Novak, to name a few. There's great practical and honest insight into showrunning in this episode. Plus, you'll find out why every writer should have a post-it note on their computer that says: "Put it in the bathroom." You'll also hear about the development of Honey Do List and how it went from a tik tok video to a TV pilot. We loved chatting with Brian and Julie, and we know you're going to love listening to this one. Enjoy!The mother-daughter duo and tik tok video that inspired Honey Do List hereTickets to Ben Blacker's show Retro Specs live at The Elysian Theater on 9/29ticket link: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/retrospecsFor more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
This month's pilot is Honey Do List, written by Julie Bean (showrunner of Grown-ish) and Brian Donovan (American Housewife). It's based on the real-life story of a mom who extricates herself from a controlling marriage, moves in with her lesbian daughter, Summer, and begins to rediscover joy by checking items off her bucket list, one at a time. This fantastic pilot was written during the pandemic, and we know you're going to love it! Enjoy!The cast for this one includes Katy Mixon (American Housewife), Olivia Scott Welch (Fear Street), Brea Grant (director of Torn Hearts and 12 Hour Shift), Andrew Ti (Yo Is This Racist podcast; That 90s Show writer), Chris Tallman (The Thundermans), Jamila Velasquez (Empire, Law and Order SVU, and West Side Story), Raymond Lee (Quantum Leap), Simon Gibson (Netflix is a Joke Festival & Star of the Amazon Prime Docuseries “Inside Jokes”) and Andrew Reich with stage directions. For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
This is a very special episode of Dead Pilots Society. It's our interview with Damir and Dario Konjicija, and in it, you'll hear perhaps the most interesting Hollywood origin story we've ever encountered. Damir and Dario discuss their journey from being Bosnian refugees to arriving in America in 1997 and falling in love with American television. They talk about starting school in America as Bosnian immigrants, how they quickly found their artistic passion, and the pact they made to move to Los Angeles and try to make it. They also discuss their humble beginnings in Los Angeles, how they started writing together, and the development of their pilot I Hate Myself. This is a terrific interview that we know you're going to love.For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
Our dead pilots this month is I Hate Myself by Dario & Dami Konjicija (Home Economics, Young Sheldon). This is a fun multi-camera buddy comedy with a time traveling twist. It was developed for CBS Studios and we know you're going to love it. The cast for this one includes Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Josh Banday (Upload), Paige Collins (Good Girls), Leah Lewis (Matlock), Nabeel Muscatwalla (Better Days), Punam Patel (Ghosts) and Andrew Reich with stage directions. For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
1We sat down with Jordan Roter to discuss her pilot Common Enemy. If you haven't listen to it yet, what are you waiting for? Jordan is an experienced writer who's sold her work in the literary, feature and television space. She talks about the process of pitching a low concept character driven show, pushing the envelope in the family space and development stories about various projects she's had over the years. We loved getting to sit down with Jordan and you're going to love listening to her too. Enjoy!For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
You're listening to the table read of Common Enemy written by Jordan Roter (Girl in Development author, American Housewife, The Watchful Eye). Common Enemy is a multi-generational family comedy about three generations of the same family going through their own version of puberty at the same time. The title comes from a joke Jordan's dad loves to tell. You'll have to listen to the table read to hear it. Common Enemy was developed for ABC Signature. This is a great network family show that totally pushes the envelope of what you can do in that space. It's a great script, with great energy. Enjoy it!Common Enemy stars Beth Dover (Orange Is The New Black, Another Period), Antonio Raul-Garcia (Brooklyn 99, Minions), Zainab Johnson (Upload, Hijabs Off), Nancy Lenehan (The Boys, Veep), Emma Shannon (Righteous Gemstones) Olivia Sui (Smosh, Do Revenge), Keith Szarabajka, (Fargo, The Dark Knight), Jonathan Tucker (Westworld, Kingdom), with stage directions by Andrew Reich. For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
Welcome to the after show, folks! Andrew sat down with the writer of last week's pilot Codependent, Mark Gross. Mark spoke to us about all things sitcom writing. We talked about how he got his start in comedy and his early days as a touring stand up comedian. How fellow comic Rodney Carrington helped him break into tv writing and what he learned working with the great Chuck Lorre. He also told us about the key word he has on a post-it by his computer when he's writing. No spoilers though! Mark offers some great perspective in this one! Enjoy it!WE HAVE A LIVE SHOW ON 6/30 / 2 PM at The Elysian Theater in Los Angeles. Our June 30 show features scripts by Dario Konjicija & Damir Konjicija (Home Economics; Young Sheldon) and Jordan Roter (American Housewife). We have a great cast for this one including: Beth Dover (Orange Is the New Black), Jonathan Tucker (Warrior; Westworld), Josh Banday (Upload; Not Dead Yet), Vinny Thomas (Platonic; Ahsoka), Leah Lewis (Matlock; Elemental), Punam Patel (Special; Ghosts), Nancy Lenehan (The Boys; People of Earth), Olivia Sui (Smosh; Do Revenge), Zainab Johnson (Upload; Last Comic Standing), Nabeel Muscatwalla (Good Trouble; Better Days), Paige Collins (Distance; Good Girls), Emma Shannon (Better Things; Puppy Dog Pals) and Antonio Corbo (Summer Camp Island; Minions). GET YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/deadpilots
We have a great pilot for you this month! It's written by the hilarious and well respected, Mark Gross (How We Roll, Mike & Molly). His pilot is called Codependent and it centers around a relationship between Nate, an aimless substitute teacher and Ed, the grandfather who raised him and how that relationship is challenged when Nate meets a women who could be the one. This pilot was written and sold to CBS twice before we were able to get our hands on it. Codependent stars Billy Gardell (Bob Hearts Abishola, Mike & Molly), Louis Mustillo (Mike & Molly), Katie Lowes (Scandal) Cecily Knobler, Sarah Stouffer (Switched At Birth), Nyambi Nyambi (The Good Fight, Night Court, Mike & Molly), Aaron Branch (Unstable), Tre Hale (Platonic), Marcus Bishop Wright, Katrina Davis, Noah Findling and Andrew Reich with stage directions. Enjoy!WE HAVE A LIVE SHOW ON 6/30 / 2 PM at The Elysian Theater in Los Angeles. Our June 30 show features scripts by Dario Konjicija & Damir Konjicija (Home Economics; Young Sheldon) and Jordan Roter (American Housewife). We have a great cast for this one including: Beth Dover (Orange Is the New Black), Jonathan Tucker (Warrior; Westworld), Josh Banday (Upload; Not Dead Yet), Vinny Thomas (Platonic; Ahsoka), Leah Lewis (Matlock; Elemental), Punam Patel (Special; Ghosts), Nancy Lenehan (The Boys; People of Earth), Olivia Sui (Smosh; Do Revenge), Zainab Johnson (Upload; Last Comic Standing), Nabeel Muscatwalla (Good Trouble; Better Days), Paige Collins (Distance; Good Girls), Emma Shannon (Better Things; Puppy Dog Pals) and Antonio Corbo (Summer Camp Island; Minions). GET YOUR TICKETS HERE: https://www.elysiantheater.com/shows/deadpilots
You're listening to our after show interview with Michael Jonathan Smith (Twisted Metal). In it you'll hear Michael tell the arduous journey he went on to getting this pilot rejected. We talk about his bumpy journey, how he got to where he is now as the creator and showrunner of Twisted Metal on Peacock. For the Cobra Kai heads out there, there's some good discussion of the evolution of that show which he worked on all the way through from season one. We talked about what drew him to write this pilot and where it might go in series and we also discussed the things he would change about it. You're going to love this one! Enjoy it!For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
We have a hilarious pilot for you this month! It's called Faking A Murderer written by Michael Jonathan Smith (creator of Twisted Metal, Cobra Kai). This pilot is about the members of a small town police department who invent a serial killer to save their town's budget. Trigger warning! There's a lot of death, sick gross stuff, and the mistreatment of corpses in this one but it somehow manages to be insanely hilarious. Faking A Murderer was written by Michael Jonathan Smith and developed by Chris Yule and Alex Aschinger. This project was setup at Quibi with Sony attached to produced. Julius Sharpe was signed on to co-showrun with Seth Gordon attached to direct. This is a twisted pilot for all of our sickos out there! Enjoy it!Our cast for this one included Allison Tolman (Fargo), Mike Mitchell (Love, The Doughboys Podcast), Andrew Lopez (The Bear, Platonic), Ryan Asher (Second City Mainstage), Rachel Marsh (Unstable), Chris Yule (I Own You), Alex Aschinger (I Own You) and Andrew Reich with stage directions. For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
This is our after show interview with Michael Lisbe & Nate Reger (Acapulco, The Cool Kids). In it you'll hear them talk about their show business breaks, how they generate ideas for pilots, a real dilemma they faced early on in their career, their favorite staffing jobs and the parts of their pilot Frenemies, that are based on facts. This one is a great conversation with old friends! Enjoy it!For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
Thank you to everyone who upgraded their max fun membership this year. We had more upgrades than last year and we're so grateful for all of you. You're support allows us to keep bringing you dead pilots. Our dead pilot this month is called Frenemies: The Journey Of Lewis & Clark written by Michael Lisbe & Nate Reger (Just Shoot Meet, Cougar Town, 2 Broke Girls). Their dead pilot is a comedic take on Lewis & Clark's epic journey of discovery through the American west. This pilot is hard funny and it's also NSFW. We warned you! It was a spec Mike & Nate wrote in the early days of Covid and they set it up at Sony. Our cast included Brandon Scott Jones (Ghosts), Drew Powell (Gotham), Tre Hale (Platonic), Michael Cassidy (People Of Earth), Haskiri Velazquez (Saved By The Bell), Carlos Aazraqui (Reno 911!), Greg Santos (Great News) and Andrew Reich with stage directions. There's still time to help support our podcast by becoming a maximum fun member for as little as $5 a month. Help us support what we do by going to maximumfun.org/join.For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
This is an episode dedicated to unscripted television. J. Keith van Straaten, Jordan Morris, and John Moe talk about their dead unscripted projects that were sold to networks and streams but never produced. This conversation went to a ton of unexpected places and that's definitely a part of it's charm. Enjoy it!There's still time to help support our podcast by becoming a maximum fun member for as little as $5 a month. Help us support what we do by going to maximumfun.org/join.
Another #maxfundrive bonus episode for you! Thank you to everyone who has boosted or become a #maxfundrive member, it's because of you that we can put out episodes like this. We sat down with comedy writer Andy Bobrow about his sitcom writing rules. Andy is a writer who's script Greatest American Heroes (ep link here) was last year's MaxFunDrive episode. We had an incredible cast for that one including Will Forte, Stephen Root, Rachel Harris, Sam Richardson and more. Andy has written on Malcolm In The Middle, Community, Last Man On earth, Brooklyin Nine-Nine and currently he's been writing for Krapopolis. Recently, he posted some of his sitcom writing rules on twitter that we found to be super spot on and we wanted to talk to him about it. There's a lot of extremely practical advice in this one. Things that can help comedy writers at any level who are maybe stuck on a scene or looking for general things not to do. You can find his list here This is for all writers or fans who are interested in the craft of how comedy shows are written. If you get something useful out of this conversation please consider becoming a #maxfun member at just $5 a month by going to maximumfun.org/donate. Thanks for listening! Enjoy!
This is our after show interview with Open Mike Eagle (The New Negroes) & Mike Benner (Bob's Burger) about their pilot Principle. Mike and Mike developed Principle for Comedy Central wanting to explore the differences between a rapper's public and private persona. In this interview, you'll hear them talk about their comedy and hip hop influences, Open Mike's move from rapper to comedy writer/rapper and the process of pitching and developing a rap show for Comedy Central. If you'd like to support our podcast, now is the time. It's MaxFunDrive; the one time of year where listeners like you can directly support our podcast. Your support is what allows us to keep putting out dead pilot after dead pilot. Help us out for as little as $5 a month.
We have a hilarious MAX FUN DRIVE episode for you! It's the table read for Principle written by Open Mike Eagle (The New Negroes) & Mike Benner (Bob's Burgers) recorded LIVE at THE ELYSIAN THEATER! Principle was sold to Comedy Central. It's about a rapper trying to change his life and image but keeps being pulled back into the gangster character that made him famous. This show should be on the list along with Atlanta and Dave of the great television hip hop comedy of the last decade but alas it never it never made it to air. It's only available here on Dead Piltos Society and Dead Pilots Society only exists because of listeners like you becoming Maximum Fun members. Your support is what keeps this podcast going. You can become a member for as little as $5 a month by going to maximumfun.org/joinPrinciple stars Open Mike Eagle, Shakira Ja'nai Paye, Tawny Newsome, Langston Kerman, Jamel Johnson, Paul F. Tompkins, Phil Lamarr, Aaron Branch, Taylor Garron and Andrew Reich with stage directions. For more Dead Pilots Society episodes and information about our live shows, please subscribe to the podcast!Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter, and visit our website at deadpilotssociety.com
This is a special episode in honor of The MaxFunDrive where Andrew and Ben answer a variety questions sent to us from listeners. We had J. Keith van Straaten from Go Fact Yourself drop by to moderate. It was a lot of fun and we know you're going to love it. Thank you for supporting our show!This special network wide event is a celebration of The MaxFunDrive! If you’d like to support podcasts you love for just $5 a month and get bonus gifts in the process, go to maximumfun.org/join.
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Speaking as a country boy from a town in the middle of nowhere, I found this a bit condescending. If you didn't grow up in a small town you would and enjoy it you can't write about it without coming across as elitist 'City Folk" which describes 98% of TV and Movie writers.
I would have watched the shit out of this if it had ever gotten made 😅
Hate audible, love Libby
love Libby ads
so, the only way the protagonist starting as a lawyer would work is if the appearance these two characters get them fired because everybody at the law firm thinks now think he is a nut job and is unemployable and then he is forced to work in a copy shop while having a lot of Gris and there's nothing you can do about it because now everyone in the law thinks he's a total nut job. wow run on sentence much.
the volume this second season is barely audible , I have been tempted to get rid of this podcast, but I am hoping that they will fix the issue, it is a great concept well executed
Awesome podcast!
An absolutely awesome resource for aspiring television writers, but also really worth checking out if you just love sitcom.