Dead Pilots Society and The Greatest Generation got together to celebrate MaxFun Block Party! If you enjoyed this conversation we had with hosts Benjamin Ahr Harrison and Adam Pranica, be sure to subscribe to The Greatest Generation and the Greatest Discovery! Thanks to Christian Dueñas for editing!
Have you listened to the table read of Everything’s Under Contro l written by Megan Gailey (Conan) and Aaron Burdette (Man Seeking Woman)? If not, get on that! This episode is the After Show! In it, Andrew sits down with Megan and Aaron to talk about the development of their brilliant and heartwarming pilot. They open up about their experience dealing with grandparents who suffered from Alzheimer’s, working with legendary late television producer Jamie Tarses, the fantasy that comes with an “If ...
This month’s pilot is a real doozy! It’s called Everything’s Under Control written by Megan Gailey (Conan) and Aaron Burdette (Man Seeking Woman). It centers around a working-class Midwestern family who are just barely keeping it together when their grandmother develops Alzheimer’s. It was developed during the 2019-2020 pilot season. It was set up at ABC Network with the late Jamie Tarses and ABC Studios attached to produce. Everything’s Under Control stars Megan Gailey, Patricia Richardson (Hom...
We hope you had a chance to listen to the table read for Middle of Somewhere written by Andrew Reich (Friends) and the WellRED crew aka Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester, and Drew Morgan. In this episode, Andrew sits down with the guys for a deep dive into the development of this pilot, including an expansive conversation about some of the more controversial story ideas that the studio and network nixed. They break down how studios pair showrunners with talent, how the news cycle can affect pro...
Our pilot this month is called Middle of Somewhere written by Andrew Reich (Friends), Trae Crowder (Well Red), Corey Ryan Forrester (Well Red), and Drew Morgan (Well Red). This is an ensemble comedy about three best friends in the rural south and the women in their lives. Middle of Somewhere was set up at ABC with The District and ABC Studios attached to produce. Middle of Somewhere stars Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester, Drew Morgan, Dylan Gelula as Paige, Beth Stelling as Amber, Keith Johnso...
We have a great after show interview for you! It’s an enlightening conversation with Hilary Winston (My Name Is Earl, Community) & Mat Harawitz (Angie Tribeca, Will & Grace) writers of last week’s episode, Common Areas. Hilary spills some life changing advice she got from Kerry Washington in college and tales from her first staff writer job on The Orlando Jones Show. Mat tells us about his most embarrassing job interview moments, some sage (and practical) writing advice, and a conversation about...
Our pilot this month is called Common Areas written by Mat Harawitz (Angie Tribeca) & Hilary Winston (Happy Endings). In cities where rents have sky rocketed, people are turning to micro-units in luxury buildings, where they can get a bedroom for the price of an apartment in any other city. These dorm residents are getting a lot more than just a tiny bedroom and athlete’s foot, they’re getting a community (but also probably athlete’s foot). Common Areas centers around the tenants of one of these...
We caught up with the writers of Voice Of The People this week! Andrew sat down with Paul Scheer (The League, Black Monday) and Andrew Guest (30 Rock, Community) for their after show interview. They talked about the development process for Voice Of The People and where they saw the series going. They go in depth about the notes they received from HBO and what it was like to work with Adam McKay and Owen Burke at Gary Sanchez. A deep dive into news pundits and Paul realizes that he actually was a...
We’re kicking off summer with a hot pilot! It’s called Voice of the People written by Paul Scheer & Andrew Guest. It’s a behind the scenes look at the cutthroat world of cable news punditry, where people treat the news like entertainment, in which one woman slowly loses her integrity as a journalist on her path to becoming an “expert.” It was set up at HBO with Adam Mckay’s company, Gary Sanchez attached to produce. Voice of the People stars Sasheer Zamata as Lucy (Woke, Saturday Night Live), Pa...
It’s week two of the Max Fun Drive! Thank you so much if you’ve already supported the show by becoming a MaxFun member. Make sure you let us know on twitter or instagram so we can properly thank you! For week two we caught up with Riki Lindhome (Knives Out, Another Period) and Monica Padrick (Community, Central Park) about their pilot Tails. They were so great to talk to. Monica told us about her transition from being a journalist to a TV writer and how a dinner with a family friend changed her ...
Dead Pilots Society producer Ben Blacker chats with Janet Varney, host of MaxFun's The JV Club podcast. DPS fans will enjoy Janet (you know her from several of our episodes!), the funny and frank conversations about our most awkward years, and the celebrity guests. Don't forget to check the boxes for Dead Pilots Society and The JV Club when you become a MaxFun member! Please help support the little shows that can and do! To become a MaxFun member go to maximumfun.org/join Janet shares episode 9 ...
Dead Pilots Society producer Ben Blacker chats with Hal Lublin and Mark Gagliardi, hosts of MaxFun's We Got This podcast. DPS fans will enjoy the comedy arguments, the silly decisions, and the celebrity guests of We Got This. Don't forget to check the boxes for Dead Pilots Society and We Got This when you become a MaxFun member!Please help support the little shows that can and do!" Mark and Hal share episode 56 with us: Batman vs Superman with guests Travis McElroy and Ben Blacker. The Man of St...
To keep in line with the spirit of #MaxFunDrive, we are feed swapping with fellow MaxFun podcast Mission to Zyxx. Dead Pilots Society producer Ben Blacker chats with Mission to Zyxx hosts/comedians Seth Lind and Moujan Zolfaghari. DPS fans will LOVE this podcast! Each episode features a special guest comedian who plays an inhabitant of the Zyxx Quadrant unlucky enough to encounter our crew. Episodes are fully improvised, then lovingly edited and sound designed. Don't forget to check the boxes fo...
The MaxFunDrive is here and we have a very special episode for you. It’s Tails written by Riki Lindhome (Knives Out, Another Period) and Monica Padrick (Community, Central Park). Tails follows Erika, a woman in her late 30s, who despite the pressure she feels from the world around her, refuses to settle in any area of her life. It was set up at Fox with Universal TV, Paper Kite Productions and 3 Arts attached to produce. Our table read stars Riki Lindhome as Erika, Maria Bamford as Greta, Ron Fu...
In our episode today, we are feed swapping with Reading Glasses! Dead Pilots Society producer Ben Blacker chats with Brea Grant and Mallory O'Meara, hosts of MaxFun's Reading Glasses podcast. This is a podcast all about book culture and literary life. No matter how much you read, you can listen to this show! Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara are joined this week by Rider Strong to discuss bad book habits. Is it okay to dog ear a library book? What about writing in a book you know you’re going to gi...
In this week’s episode, Andrew sits down with with the writers of last week’s pilot Next Door, Steven Cragg & Brian Bradley (MadTV, Happy Endings). In their interview, Steven and Brian talk about how they met on MadTV and what the writing process for that show was like. They tell war stories about past pilots, their experience show running Uncle Buck , and a helpful tip for mining material. Steven and Brian are examples of talented TV writers who’ve made a wonderful living selling and developing...
Our pilot this month is called Next Door written by Steven Cragg & Brian Bradley (Mad TV, Happy Endings). It’s a multi-generational comedy about three diverse suburban couples, all at crossroads in their lives, who bond while investigating the murder of the worst person in their neighborhood. It was set up at Fox with Sony Pictures TV and Stoller Global Solutions attached to produce. Our table read stars Jackie Tohn as Tommy, Okieriete Onaodowan as Brad, Edi Patterson as Margaret, Toni Trucks as...
This week’s episode is a special tribute to Jamie Tarses. An irreplaceable force in the television business, Jamie was the producer of shows such as Happy Endings, My Boys, Franklin and Bash, The Wilds, Men at Work, and the upcoming Mysterious Benedict Society. She was a tireless and fearless supporter of writers, and Andrew interviewed 16 writers who worked with her to talk about what Jamie meant to them. We invite you to listen to his edited conversations with Betsy Thomas, Adrian Wenner & Eth...
After months of tracking Tessa Coates’ pilot Primates, we were so happy to finally get it on the pod last week. If you haven’t listen to it yet, get on it! Andrew caught up with Tessa in this week’s episode to discuss the rollercoaster ride her pilot went on in the development process. She talked about her experience of learning how to write a pilot on the spot. What it was like to work with Greg Daniels (The Office, King of The Hill) and a helpful tip on how to make your characters come alive. ...
This month we bring you a pilot that was consumed in the fires of Quibi's epic flame-out! The pilot is Primates by Tessa Coates. Tessa is a British writer, performer, journalist, and comedian. Primates is based on her debut solo show which sold out its entire run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and ran at the Soho Theatre to even more sell-out audiences. After Soho, Tessa performed her show around Los Angeles, and then sold it in a competitive situation to ABC Studios with Greg Daniels (The Off...
We hope you enjoyed last week’s table read of Space Bound written by Golden Globe-nominated writer/director of Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell. We caught up with Emerald in this week’s episode to discuss her pilot and her writing process. She talked about the importance of writing redeeming characters in comedies and why she prefers writing on spec versus pitching. A lesson in attaching producers to a project and a highly anticipated dive into the space world of Beta Complex 622. If you'r...
Welcome to the first episode in our new format! We are splitting up the table reads and writer interviews into separate episodes. Let us know what you think! We are starting the new format with what we think is one of our all-time best episodes. It’s a pilot from the Golden Globe-nominated writer/director of Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell. Emerald was also the showrunner of Season Two of Killing Eve, and her acting credits include Call the Midwife and The Crown. Her pilot is called Space...
Happy New Year to all our listeners! We're taking a break from dead pilots this month to do something fun and different! At the beginning of the pandemic Jenny Jaffe (Big Hero 6: The Series), asked the Twitter-verse to send her the names of fake TV shows that she could write the cold opens for. It was an incredible writing exercise and Jenny ended up writing over 60 cold opens!! We've selected 19 of them to read for you. They’re all tonally different and jump from genre to genre. They’re silly a...
This month's pilot is Life After Harley written by Randi Mayem Singer ( Mrs. Doubtfire, Mom, Jack and Jill ). Life After Harley centers around Lucy Turpin, who has been emotionally stuck since the death of her famous baseball player husband over a year ago. The day she finally tries to move on and explore a new romance, her departed Harley comes back as a ghost—and he’s more alive dead than most living men. Will he let her go? Will she let him go? Sometimes “until death do us part” isn’t quite l...
This month's episode is a delightful dramedy called Arab Spring written by Ed Weeks (The Mindy Project) and Meena Dimian (Zahret Al Khalieg). It was set up at CBS Studios and sold to Showtime with Craig Ferguson attached to produce. The show's main character is the host of a wildly popular Arab talk show in Dubai. After being fired for offending the powers that be, he moves to , New York, where he drives an Uber while working towards his American comeback. In Andrew’s interview, Ed and Meena tal...
This month's episode is WIDOW written by Leila Cohan-Miccio (Santa Clarita Diet, Awkward). It follows Rachel, a young woman whose husband dies while they’re in the middle of a rough patch. Rachel does not handle it well. In Andrew’s interview with Leila you’ll hear her insane story about development hell and the frustrating double standard executives put on female characters. Leila’s start into comedy writing and a quick dish on pitching shows on zoom. Leila’s a real example of the determination...
We have another hilarious episode for you this month! Its Code 5 written by Sandeep Parikh (The Legend of Neil, Community), Ed Brubaker (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Westworld), and Mel Cowan (Brockmire, Parks & Rec). Code 5 sold to FX and it follows two odd-couple cops stuck on a never ending case. It's like a funny version of True Detective where they're out canvassing and doing the tedious dirty work that you rarely see in cop shows. Based on a short-form series Sandeep, Ed, and Mel c...
This month's episode is Most Likely written by Gloria Calderón-Kellett (Creator of One Day At A Time ). It’s a hilarious, heartfelt and raunchy ensemble comedy about a group of 20-somethings whose quarter-life crises are triggered when letters they wrote in high school to their future selves show up in their mailbox. In Andrew’s interview you’ll get to hear the absolutely incredible story of how she teamed up with comedy legend Norman Lear to create the One Day At A Time remake. She discusses he...
We know you're all avid TV watchers so this logline probably makes you think of The Good Place . You’re not wrong for thinking that! In Andrew’s interview you’ll hear Corinne and Noelle talk about the coincidental parallels between Elsewhere and The Good Place . How they felt after seeing The Good Place get picked up to series while they were still developing their pilot. They also discuss their origin stories into the business, the double standards executives set for female characters and how m...
We’re taking a break from dead pilots this month to talk about race and inclusion in the writers room! Andrew sits down with Alyson Fouse (Scary Movie 2, My Wife and Kids) and Matt Claybrooks (Everybody Hates Chris, The Oscars) for an open and honest conversation. They talk about the challenges they were up against while breaking into the business, the progress they’ve witnessed when it comes to inclusion in rooms, the ways in which it still needs to change, and some things all white writers sho...
