We have another great episode for you this month, but before we tell you about it, we want to thank everyone who became a Maximum Fun member or upgraded their membership during the MaxFunDrive this year. If you haven’t done so yet you still can by going to maximumfun.org/join . Moving on to this month’s dead pilot! It’s called How To Be A Couple written by Naomi Ekperigin (The Standups on Netflix, Mythic Quest) & Andy Beckerman (The Pete Holmes Show). Naomi and Andy are the co-hosts of the fanta...
May 19, 2022•44 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast It’s week two of the Max Fun Drive! This is the one time of year where all of the shows on the Maximum Fun Network reach out to you and ask you to become members or upgrade your membership to help make our show possible. We’re following up last week’s table read of Greatest American Heroes with an interview with its writer, Andy Bobrow (Community, Last Man On Earth, Brooklyn 99!) In it you’ll hear Andy talk about his fifteen years in advertising before becoming a television writer. He let us in ...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast It’s Max Fun Drive! The one time of year where all of the shows on the Maximum Fun Network reach out to you and ask you to become members or upgrade your membership to help make our show possible. We have an amazing and special Max Fun Drive episode for you this month! We’re bringing our first ever 1-hour dead pilot. Don’t worry! It’s not a dry police procedural or boring medical drama. It’s a funny update of the beloved eighties TV show Greatest American Hero . The pilot was written by Andy Bob...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast This is the After Show featuring Jonathan Groff ( Happy Endings, Black-ish ) and Elena Crevello ( Vida, Grace & Frankie ). If you haven’t checked out The Thing About Lulu , you should do so before listening to this episode because there will be spoilers. We dive deep into the development process of their pilot and its roots in an unaired series called The Jake Effect that Jonathan made starring Jason Bateman. In this interview you’ll also hear Jonathan and Elena discuss the benefits of creative ...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast We have a great pilot about female friendship this month. It's called The Thing About Lulu written by Elena Crevello (Vida, American Auto) and Jonathan Groff (Happy Endings, Black-ish). It centers on two women, Scottie and Lulu, best friends with completely opposing worldviews. It was set up at ABC Network with ABC Studios attached to produce. We had a great cast for this one including Phoebe Robinson (2 Dope Queens) as Scottie, Krysta Rodriguez (Trial & Error) as Lulu , Stephen Schneider (Broad...
Mar 17, 2022•56 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast If you haven’t listened to the table read of Fun For The Whole Family you should do it right now! This is the after show with its writer John Quaintance ( Will & Grace , Workaholics ). In our interview with John, he talked about making the transition from actor to stand-up to writer, his experience working on the Friends spin-off Joey, the tale behind the Workaholics writers' room's list of banned comedy phrases, and some inspiring advice that might make you want to work on that project that you...
Feb 24, 2022•58 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast We have a hilarious pilot for you this month!! This one is called Fun For The Whole Family written by John Quaintance (Hot Pursuit, Will & Grace). It’s the first pilot John ever sold actually! Fun For The Whole Family centers around Max, an estranged son who returns to work alongside his brother and sister at his father’s Michigan Avenue toy company. While there he discovers it's hard to run a functional business with a very dysfunctional family. It was set up at Fox and at one point Adam Scott ...
Feb 17, 2022•45 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast It's the After Show for Perfect Harmony featuring Andrew's interview with writer Tim Long (The Simpsons) along with the producer on the pilot, Jon Radler. Jon was an executive at Imagine Entertainment, the production company on this project. He offers great insight to what a producer does during the development of a pilot. Tim is a former head-writer for The Late Show with David Letterman and has been a writer & producer on The Simpsons for 24 years. The conversation follows the story of the pil...
Jan 27, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep 87•Transcript available on Metacast We have a great pilot for you this month! It’s sure to be a hit with fans of music and character driven comedy. It’s called Perfect Harmony written by Tim Long (The Simpsons). Inspired by Art Garfunkel & Paul Simon’s relationship, Perfect Harmony centers around a pair of warring former musical partners. It was set up at Amazon and it’s a hilarious pilot with an incredible cast! Two legends playing the leads. Harry Shearer from This Is Spinal Tap and The Simpsons and Clancy Brown from The Shawsha...
Jan 20, 2022•53 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the after show for Big Wishes written by Kristen Bartlett (Head writer of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee)! Andrew sat down with Kristen to discuss her dead pilot, her arduous journey into comedy and her day job in standards and practices for a few major television networks. She opens up about the passing of her father, how she cultivated the mentality: “F*ck you, I’m doing my own thing…” and some insight into her days writing on Saturday Night Live. This is an enlightening and heartfelt int...
Dec 23, 2021•59 min•Ep 85•Transcript available on Metacast Another great pilot for you this month! It’s called Big Wishes written by Kristen Bartlett (Full Frontal, SNL) Her pilot is called Big Wishes . It follows Karla, a guilty pushover, and her best friend Hyacinth, brash and full-of-life despite having Stage 3 breast cancer, as they form a Make-a-Wish Foundation for adults. Together, Karla and Hyacinth set out to grant the strange, occasionally selfish wishes of dying adults. It was sold as a spec to ABC Signature and set up at ABC Network for the 2...
Dec 16, 2021•45 min•Ep 84•Transcript available on Metacast We have a very special bonus episode for you! Andrew sat down with Ty Burrell (Modern Family) to discuss the dead pilot he produced, Yours, Mine and Paul’s written by Julia Meltzer. In their interview they discuss breaking new voices, what exactly that entails, what Ty looks for in specs from green writers, and the effort his company puts into finding them. He told us the story about how Julia’s pilot came to him and how his whole production company flipped for it. The benefits of developing a w...
Dec 09, 2021•45 min•Ep 83•Transcript available on Metacast Have you listened to Julia Meltzer’s pilot Yours, Mine and Paul’s yet? Throw it on while you’re whipping up your Thanksgiving meal! Then listen to Andrew's interview with Julia, one of comedy’s next great writers! Joined by her supervisor Abraham Higginbotham ( Modern Family ), Julia tells us about how she went from being Ty Burrell’s development assistant to attaching him as a producer on her pilot ... the long arduous process of packaging this project with a studio, a showrunner, two stars, an...
Nov 25, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep 82•Transcript available on Metacast A first-time writer hits it out of the park in this month's dead pilot! The pilot is Yours, Mine and Paul’s written by Julia Meltzer. It centers around Lauren, a woman who agrees to be a surrogate for her best friend, Paul, and his husband, Xander. There’s just one problem: Lauren and Xander hate each other. Oh, also Paul dies in the cold open. Some great Will & Grace vibes here. It was developed during the 2019-2020 pilot season, set up at ABC Network with Ty Burrell’s Desert Whale Productions ...
Nov 18, 2021•33 min•Ep 81•Transcript available on Metacast If you haven’t listened to The End written by Lindsey Shockley then you have to do it before Halloween or you might turn into a zombie! This episode is the After Show! In it, Andrew sits down with Lindsey to discuss her career and the development of her pilot The End. You'll get the story of how he hired Lindsey as the writer’s assistant for one of his shows, and as a writer on another one. Lindsey dishes on how she made the jump from assistant to staff writer. She talks about what it’s like to ...
Oct 28, 2021•2 hr 33 min•Ep 80•Transcript available on Metacast This month’s pilot is definitely going to put you in the halloween spirit! It’s probably our goriest script yet and without a doubt one of our funniest. It’s The End written by Lindsey Shockley (Black-ish), is a genre-bending comedy about an adorably neurotic woman who gets engaged on the same day zombies take over the world. But even more terrifying? Meeting her new in-laws. It was set up at Showtime with Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky attached to produce and Marc Webb attached to direct. Th...
Oct 21, 2021•44 min•Ep 79•Transcript available on Metacast 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!
Oct 14, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep 78•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Sep 23, 2021•55 min•Ep 77•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep 76•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Aug 19, 2021•48 min•Ep 75•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep 74•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jul 22, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep 73•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep 72•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 17, 2021•51 min•Ep 71•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
May 11, 2021•57 min•Ep 70•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
May 10, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep 69•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
May 08, 2021•53 min•Ep 68•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
May 05, 2021•46 min•Ep 67•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
May 03, 2021•44 min•Ep 66•Transcript available on Metacast 
