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00:00Let me start with Todd on high potential. As of today, I just want to announce, in case, I'm sure all of you go to Variety.com every single day, every moment, you got the breaking news alert, number one new show in streaming. Congratulations.
00:17What's the secret to your success? You know, how do you make a hit show that hits at all cylinders?
00:26Well, it's easy. These things sort of happens on its own. I mean, I was just saying to my new friends here that while we were filming, Caitlin Olsen and I were talking daily about how much fun we were having and then how terrified we were that nobody was going to watch the show.
00:47But I don't know. I think that you just put something out there that you hope has the sort of charm and the kind of storytelling that will get people to come back every week and hope for the best.
01:03I mean, I just try not to overthink these things. The marketplace is so bizarre right now, and it's hard to keep people coming back week to week.
01:11I mean, honestly, our approach was we have 13 of these things, so each one of them is a gem. So let's not phone it in on any one episode, and hopefully the audience will show up, and they did.
01:24Well done. Jenny, some people may have heard of you before and may have heard of your star of your show, Matlock. Her name's Kathy Bates, up-and-coming star.
01:40Matlock premiered in 1986, the original. I wasn't born yet. I don't know why you're laughing. That's true. We only tell the truth in journalism, thank you very much.
01:53And it ran until 1995, and what you decided to do was give it a woman's touch. This is where you need to make things better in this world. Unfortunately, not very recently in some spaces.
02:08But in this instance, we have a great success. Can you please talk about Matlock and giving it the good facelift of bringing it to today?
02:18You know, the big thing for me was that if I was going to do any kind of reboot or reimagining, I wanted to make sure there was a reason that it justified its own existence, and that you would understand immediately why I was using the title.
02:35And so that's why I decided to knit the character's motivation into my motivation, that we would both be using the Matlock as sort of this Trojan horse to put in a totally different show that was original, but would trade on the familiarity that both the audience felt and the people within the show felt about it.
02:55So it sort of gives you this couch of comfort, and then all of a sudden you wake up and you're in a totally different place. So that was sort of what I was thinking about, was if I do this, how can I make it different enough, pay homage to the original, but make it its own show that is not going to be compared to the original using the same rubric.
03:17Awesome. Well, you did a great job.
03:20Allison, you had the easiest job because fan culture is so easy to deal with, and they are never critical about anything, nothing.
03:30So I mean, you're just walking in, you're like, all right, Dune Prophecy, let's get it going.
03:35But can you talk about making a show that would invite new people who don't know the word Dune or what that means, and also honoring those Dune fans that are going to be hyper-specific and tweet a lot about things that they see happening on the show?
03:57Sure. I'm very jealous when you said a show that's not compared to anything.
04:03But yeah, I mean, well, that was something we were quite conscious of, that we were trying to make a show that we could have new people who, if for whatever reason had not engaged with Dune before, would be able to use the show as a point of entry, which is easy to do.
04:19I mean, it's a prequel 10,000 years before the films that are so popular right now, Dune films.
04:25And so we wanted new viewers to be able to come, but we didn't want to in any way dilute the material.
04:34And we wanted Dune fans to have enough to dig into, because I think it's one of those shows that people can theorize about or guess how we're doing it or bring a lot of Dune knowledge to it.
04:44So that was just something we constantly were trying to navigate.
04:50Why are you looking at us when you say dilute the material?
04:53I have a lot of questions for you guys.
04:56We have exactly zero answers.
05:00Yeah, totally.
05:02JD and Patrick, you're the veterans because it's season two of your show.
05:06No, we are not the veterans on this stage.
05:09Lord of the Rings, Rings of Power, again, no comparison whatsoever.
05:14You have this guy named Peter Jackson that made some stuff back in the day.
05:18People aren't passionate about those.
05:21But talk about what was your entry point or what did you go into this season versus the first season?
05:29What was the obstacle or goal you set out to?
05:33I think I shot at that.
05:35I actually suspect the other folks at this stage could say a similar thing.
05:38You're making a show no matter where it's set, Middle Earth or anywhere.
05:42The second time around, you have institutional knowledge of what your lane is.
05:46The first time around, in some ways, you're stretching the boundaries of what it is and throwing paint at the wall.
05:51As much as you don't want to think of it that way, I think in retrospect, some of it is.
05:56In Middle Earth, I think there's just more paint.
06:01In season two, I think we started to really find our footing as a show outside of.
06:05At least that's what we were trying to do.
06:07It felt like we were making it outside of the lore and the legend and the Peter and all of it.
06:12All of which we love and are so reverent for.
06:14But at the end of the day, it's a television show that people need to watch and tune in on.
06:17Connect to the characters emotionally outside of all of that other stuff that is so important.
06:22Which, I guess, weirdly speaks to some of what you're talking about.
06:25At the end of the day, it's got to be entertaining and delightful and emotional no matter where it's set.
06:29Hopefully, every show, each time out, you're maybe getting a little better at your job.
06:33I think any amount of storytelling, there's going to be some pushing the rock up the hill
06:37before the rock can start to roll down the hill.
06:39You have to bring people into a world. You have to make them worry.
06:41You have to make them care. You have to invest them in characters.
06:43You have to invest them in a situation. You have to invest them in cultures and people.
06:47In season one, there's so much of that to do in a place like Middle Earth
06:51where you have all these various different peoples together.
06:53In season two, you can come back and now people know the world they're coming to
06:57and they're able to settle back in and see the next part of it.
07:00These lights, I feel like it's like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
07:03Literally, we are about to all be taken up into the mothership.
07:06We're putting the spotlight on writers. That's what it is.
07:10That's what we're supposed to be doing.
07:12Let's open up to everyone here.
07:15You're in a room full of artists and some writers, some just work in this biz.
07:21Some have dreams of being successful in this business.
07:25There are a lot of obstacles that you face when you're bringing your vision
07:29or a collective vision to the screen.
07:33Is there something about your shows this season that you feel the most proud of?
07:41That you see something that you can hold your head?
07:46I know writers don't like to compliment ourselves.
07:49It's really hard for us to do this.
07:51Is there something that you're really proud of that really kicked butt?
07:55I think that was for someone else than me.
07:58What am I proud of?
08:02I think one of the things I've tried to do on every show I've done
08:06is make the actors my partners.
08:11Like an extension of the writer's room.
08:13This one was challenging only in that I came in a little bit deeper into the season.
08:21I wasn't there for that initial jumping off point.
08:24I had to work pretty quickly to bond with the cast.
08:27Because I felt like and I feel like on the shows I've done in the past,
08:34once I have that sort of trust and they know that there's this give and take
08:38and that they're always going to be heard creatively,
08:40so that when they get down to the floor they have that sort of confidence
08:43in front of the camera that we've had those conversations
08:47and worked through it creatively.
08:50I don't treat them as just people that are there to say the words.
08:52And I think this cast all the way down to Amira and Matthew
08:58who play the kids, Caitlin's kids, I had that relationship.
09:03And I think it really comes through in the episodes
09:06and you just get another level of investment.
09:08And carrying that into a potential season two is invaluable
09:12because I think that will just get even stronger.
09:14And hopefully we don't have that sort of sophomore slump
09:17because we've started to build those relationships.
09:19I think that's probably the thing I'm most proud of.
09:20I hear kid actors are really easy to deal with on sets all the time.
09:25You know, you joke, but the last couple of shows I've done
09:27have had a lot of kid actors and I've gotten lucky.
09:31I've gotten lucky. I mean, the parents were totally normal.
09:34The kids were great.
09:38That was such a dig.
09:40I mean, it's a thing, right?
09:42But look, anyone knows it's ever run a TV show.
09:45It can get weird on any given day.
09:47But I've been really lucky, just my cast in general.
09:51But the kids on this show in particular are like wise beyond their years.
09:55And Caitlin's also, she has such a special relationship with both of them.
09:58That also comes through, right?
10:00It's just there's an authenticity to their performances
10:04because she's so nurturing day to day with them.
10:07So yeah, it's, you know, so far so good.
10:10Anyone else?
10:12Well, it's funny. I thought I'd have the same thing come to mind.
10:14I mean, even beyond the actors, like the sense of like,
10:17I think you see your show on the screen
10:19and you just see all the relationships behind it
10:22and all the cast, the crew, the millions of decisions that you made.
10:28You know, what led to that being on screen versus something else?
10:31Or, I mean, I was just, I guess I'm most proud that we, you know,
10:35we were filming over in Budapest.
10:37Like we went out and all kinds of crazy conditions
10:39and tried to get the most, you know, best film that we could every day.
10:47And, you know, to see the cumulative result of that kind of effort from people
10:54is really gratifying.
10:56I have a weird quick one.
10:59It's funny, I don't think we've been asked this question
11:02and I'm going to have an answer that I haven't ever given before
11:05in this whole release cycle.
11:06But we, the show is very technically complex
11:11and there's action all over it and there's scale.
11:15You've got to make hobbits and wizards
11:17and that's like a math problem that, you know, deserves, you know,
11:21massive chalkboards and, you know, John Nash from A Beautiful Mind
11:24and all these other things.
11:26So hiring directors on this show is a really big deal
11:31and, you know, we're really placing so much in their hands.
11:33We interviewed a lot of people for season two
11:36and we ended up hiring three directors who did, you know,
11:39the eight episodes of the season and they did wonderful work.
11:42They were amazing collaborators.
11:44They happened to all be ladies.
11:46And I think that's cool.
11:48I think that's cool.
11:50And there was no pretense involved in that
11:52and not trying to wave a flag or, you know, a badge.
11:55But I just think that's cool actually.
11:58It's very cool.
12:00Cosign.
12:01Cosign.
12:03Do you have anything?
12:05I live in shame. I'm proud of that.
12:07I'm, you know, I'm proud when I watch.
12:11We did so many shows.
12:13We did 19 this year and when I watch them all
12:15I really hear all the writers in our room.
12:18Like I can hear specific pitches, specific voices
12:21and I'm really proud of the way that that all came together.
12:24And then just because it's today
12:27and Kathy and Sky were both nominated for Critics' Choice Awards
12:31and I've always said that the, like, I wanted to write this show.
12:35I pitched it.
12:37I said the love story of this show is the relationship
12:39between Maddie and Olympia.
12:41That is the relationship.
12:43That is the spine.
12:45We are going to constantly come back to it.
12:47It's where all the stakes are.
12:49And so today when Sky texted me that she had that recognition,
12:52I mean like, you know, I feel emotional,
12:54but for the two of them to get recognized like that
12:57I'm so proud of them.
13:05So I'm going to open up and expose some squishy
13:09sort of writerly parts of my heart
13:11given that we have a lot of writers here.
13:13I'm also equally proud of a lot of the collaborators we have,
13:15our directors, our technical people.
13:17It takes so many different people to make a show come to life.
13:19But in terms of speaking specifically as a writer,
13:21you know, there's a lot that goes into making a show come to life.
13:25You know, shows can, it's like Normandy.
13:27You know, shows eat ideas.
13:29They get moaned down on the beach.
13:31And you storm the beach over and over.
13:33You keep on sending more ideas
13:35and they keep on getting machine gunned down.
13:37And then maybe one of them makes it to like the bunker
13:39on top of the anthill.
13:41And you see that one idea waving the flag
13:43and you're like, okay, that one made it.
13:45And so one idea that, you know, went from all the way from,
13:47you know, sort of like at various points
13:49that got to the top of that anthill
13:51that like, you know, I take some personal writer
13:52and I squishy pride him.
13:54There's a moment late in the season of the show
13:57when everything has gone wrong.
13:59You know, Celebrimbor has cut off his finger.
14:01The city has fallen.
14:03Horrible things are happening.
14:05Sauron is winning. Good is losing.
14:07And our heroine says to Celebrimbor,
14:09says, I'm sorry that I wasn't stronger.
14:11I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to beat Sauron.
14:13And he says, Lady Galadriel,
14:15there might not be anyone who was strong enough to beat him,
14:18but at this time we need to remember
14:20it is not strength that overcomes darkness, but light.
14:23And that...
14:25Lord of the Rings, Amazon Prime.
14:27And I feel like in times that we live in right now,
14:33there is so much darkness.
14:35And I feel like we often respond to darkness
14:38with just throwing more punches.
14:40You know, we just want to fight it.
14:42And, you know, as Gandhi says,
14:44an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.
14:46And I think we see a lot of just reciprocity of people fighting.
14:48And instead of saying,
14:50what is the light that I can bring into the world?
14:52I can bring something good into the world.
14:54Instead of just bringing more anger and more hatred.
14:56And so that's a moment where Tolkien allows us
14:58to sort of speak in those kinds of registers.
15:00And that was a writerly moment that I'm grateful
15:02to have made it all the way there.
15:04Oh, that squishiness, man.
15:06Good.
15:08He used this for therapy up here.
15:10I like it.
15:12Jenny and Todd,
15:14I have a question for you two specifically
15:16because you deal with crime shows.
15:19And there's crime that happens today.
15:22There are so many different ideas.
15:24I mean, we've all watched a lot of,
15:26well, I'm going to speak for my wife.
15:28My wife watches a lot of murder shows.
15:32And I think she's taking notes.
15:34But how do you manage the expectations
15:38of going too far in certain aspects
15:41but also staying true to the subplots
15:45and it's about a family, a single mom with kids.
15:48How do you keep all those things grounded
15:50that you don't let your ideas get too big?
15:55You want to kick this one off?
15:57You know, in our room,
15:59we really, really track it all through Maddie.
16:03And we make sure that that story we're telling
16:06that's in the legal world,
16:09that she or Olympia are feeling a connection emotionally
16:14and we're following that.
16:16And for our show,
16:18there's always the case of the week
16:21and then there's also her case of the week.
16:24So we have to, it's a lot of cards up and cards down
16:27and what does the audience know
16:29and what do they think they know
16:31and what are we going to surprise them with at the end?
16:33It's all of that balancing
16:35because we have surprises built in episodically.
16:37So it really is like a lot of math.
16:39And in the writer's room,
16:41we just talk about lay the architecture,
16:43get all the architecture right
16:45before we start to decorate the house.
16:46And so to me,
16:48it's really just being rigorous about the story breaking
16:51and all of the home story,
16:54the spy story,
16:56the case of the week story,
16:58the friendship story.
17:00And if all of those are working in tandem,
17:02then I'm really happy with the episode.
17:04Well done.
17:06We steal directly from Forensic Files.
17:08We just go in, we watch all the Forensic Files.
17:10No.
17:12I do watch that show religiously.
17:14For us, it's similar.
17:16It's really twofold for us.
17:18It's is this case going to resonate
17:20in some meaningful way
17:22with one of our core characters?
17:24What is this case going to draw out of?
17:26Especially, I mean, in season one,
17:28I mean, we have 43 minutes and 20 seconds
17:31to check all the boxes.
17:33And so for us,
17:35it's like how is this case going to be a twofer?
17:37How is the person that either lost their life
17:39or someone attempted to steal their life?
17:42Who are they?
17:44What is their background?
17:46What were they struggling with in life?
17:48You know, all those things.
17:50And how is that going to apply
17:52mostly to Caitlin in season one?
17:54But then we started to really sort of branch out
17:56and share the story wealth
17:59with some of the supporting,
18:01the other series regulars as well.
18:03That's one for us.
18:05The hardest part in our writer's room,
18:08which is the thing that keeps me up at night,
18:10is she has HPI.
18:12She's like, there's a genius
18:14and then there's Caitlin Olsen's character, Morgan, right?
18:16These cases cannot be pedestrian.
18:18They have to be really, really complicated.
18:20So we'll sit there and talk about
18:24just people throwing stuff at the wall
18:27and going, oh yeah,
18:29in a lot of procedurals it would work
18:31if they were normal detectives, right?
18:33Once you throw a genius into the mix,
18:35and I have a room with respect to all of my,
18:37none of us are geniuses, right?
18:39At least not on paper.
18:41And so, but collectively,
18:44I think maybe you've put all of our IQs
18:46together.
18:48We've got a shot.
18:50Half the room just quit.
18:52Did you ever consider a pivot?
18:54You're like, guys, we need to make it really dumb.
18:56Maybe we should go the polar opposite.
18:58So it was a brain injury season two
19:00and now she's like, listen,
19:02everything's on the table.
19:04So yeah, it's those two things.
19:06It's a really complicated case
19:08that isn't convoluted
19:10because we only have the 43 minutes, 20 seconds
19:12and we do want to do some personal things.
19:14And then look, at the end of the day,
19:16we want to, you know,
19:18take them on an emotional roller coaster.
19:20So it's those are the two
19:22sort of key ingredients.
19:24And so, yeah, there was a lot of like cases
19:26that would have worked for a lot of other shows
19:28that we just couldn't commit to.
19:30All right.
19:32Now to the fantasy kids
19:34and Lord of the Rings and Dune
19:36that deal with sprawling ensembles
19:38and many characters
19:40that have different abilities
19:42and different powers.
19:44I think everyone's walking out
19:46and leaving here today, right?
19:48That's what I was told.
19:50But can we talk about
19:52the managing of so many people
19:55that you still have to,
19:57by people, I mean characters,
19:59that making them feel still real
20:01and not throwaways.
20:03Like, how do you do that, Alison?
20:07Oh, well, I mean,
20:09that is an endless challenge
20:11to have like a cast
20:13that's a true ensemble
20:14that's really big and sprawling.
20:16And Dune is a big, sprawling world.
20:18And how do you bring people in
20:20and through whose eyes?
20:22And we tried to ground our show
20:24through the Harkonnen sisters.
20:26And it's very fun for anyone who knows Dune
20:28that the Harkonnens are kind of the villains
20:30in Frank Herbert's Dune.
20:32But in our story,
20:34we're seeing the Harkonnen family much earlier
20:36and we're exploring our world
20:38through this very powerful
20:40familial sisterhood.
20:42And that is,
20:44that's something we have to have
20:46Valya Harkonnen and Tula Harkonnen figured out
20:48before we branch out
20:50to the rest of the world.
20:52But I think it's about specificity
20:54in some ways,
20:56like letting every voice,
20:58you know, even we have these young students
21:00who we have big plans for
21:02and they could,
21:04we just don't want anybody to be interchangeable.
21:06Like, everybody has to feel
21:08like they're doing work
21:10in the overall story
21:12that only they could be doing
21:14but the story would be different
21:16if they weren't part of it.
21:18So everyone has a role to play
21:20in the season
21:22and in the series
21:24and they're there for a reason
21:26but it's a lot of characters
21:28so it is a juggling act for sure.
21:30Go ahead.
21:32I didn't have anything.
21:34This is 25 years of our career together.
21:36Back and forth.
21:38What do you got, buddy?
21:40So I think a lot of it is about
21:42rooting it in relationships
21:44and even if you're in a sort of
21:46far away strange different world,
21:48different time,
21:50you still can go back to those things
21:52that anyone can connect to.
21:54It's about mothers and daughters.
21:56It's about fathers and sons.
21:58It's about brothers and sisters
22:00or sisters and sisters,
22:02best friends.
22:04And any of these kinds of stories
22:06are things that instantly we can sort of key into
22:08because we each understand
22:10some version of those kinds
22:12of different relationships
22:14but it's about agency.
22:16It's about control.
22:18And these are things that we can all understand.
22:20We've all wanted to have more control
22:22or we've been in situations
22:24which we didn't feel like we had lots of control
22:26and so I think you bring some of these esoteric things
22:28a little bit more back down to earth
22:30whether it's about relationships
22:32or about universal human experiences
22:34that we can all connect to
22:36and then also root it all in
22:38sort of the driving force
22:40of what the story is about
22:42which is in this case often
22:44a little bit of ditto.
22:49I always feel it's always good
22:51you're in a room full of people
22:53that again want to be able
22:55to sit in the chair one day
22:57up here with Clayton specifically
22:59so that's why I was sold.
23:02But how do you
23:06when you look back
23:08at wanting to become a writer
23:10or wanting to become a showrunner
23:12or wanting to just be an artist
23:14how do you feel
23:16the moment that you wanted
23:18that you knew you wanted to do this?
23:20We don't talk about that enough.
23:22Sometimes you have to go back to the inspiration
23:24go back to minute one
23:26sometimes we feel like we were born with it
23:28and sometimes we fell into it
23:30because we were
23:32hanging out somewhere
23:34and someone found us.
23:36Do you ever look back
23:38and think about
23:40how far you've come now?
23:42How can you give that knowledge
23:44and be able to also
23:46continue on that journey
23:48and remember their why?
23:51It's easy.
23:53It's funny.
23:55I thought I knew that moment.
23:57I thought I was like
23:59I went to school
24:01I love film
24:03I love TV
24:05I studied it
24:07I thought maybe I'd teach
24:09or do something
24:11and I realized
24:12you are making films
24:14and I'm everybody's sounding board
24:16and it was just this slow realization
24:18of actually I think I want to be making it
24:20not just reading about it
24:22or writing about it
24:24or thinking about it
24:26but I want to be doing it
24:28and from somebody from a background
24:30where there's not really artists in my family
24:32and we didn't really know how TV was made
24:34and the whole thing felt like
24:36a later in life discovery
24:38and then I was going through some childhood stuff
24:40I was cleaning out some stuff
24:42and I was watching a movie
24:44and I was writing about how I wanted to make it
24:46and I realized oh my God
24:48that desire has been inside
24:50even I had forgotten almost
24:52so I would just say
24:54it comes or you think you know your story
24:56but if it's in you, it's in you
24:58and I don't know
25:00absolutely
25:02you need to connect to it
25:04Do you remember the movie by any chance?
25:06It's going to sound weird
25:08I was train spotting
25:09That's a good movie
25:11Yeah totally
25:13I really enjoyed that movie
25:15Thank you Danny Boyle
25:18I think there's something to what you're saying
25:20the only thing that I was thinking
25:22as you were speaking was
25:24I think a lot of us are misfit toys
25:26right?
25:28J.D. and I maybe are misfit toys
25:30but we met on the debate team
25:32when we were like 14, 15 years old
25:34I love debates
25:36That's right
25:37My son is a debater
25:39We're about half the negs
25:41Policy debaters in the house?
25:43I love it
25:45Lincoln Douglas?
25:47Lincoln Douglas, my son
25:49But we didn't belong there
25:51we weren't any good at that
25:53Lost so many times
25:55Only lost actually
25:57but we sort of stumbled
25:59into the theater department
26:01and it was like oh these are our people
26:03I think you find your people
26:05and then the only other thing I would say
26:07and this is the sort of inherent
26:09spark plug that
26:11it's somehow there
26:13but I really do think
26:15and we talk about this a lot
26:17you have to just want to live
26:19and breathe and live this way
26:21this is a 24 hour siege
26:23every day
26:25and at the end of the day
26:27you're going to sleep badly
26:29being like I didn't do good enough today
26:31and then you get up
26:33and try to do better tomorrow
26:35you have to want to have that
26:37and you're successful
26:39follow that
26:41but you have to really want to live it
26:43all the time
26:45whether they're paying you or not
26:47and I think we learn that the hard way
26:49and maybe the good way
26:51but yeah
26:53Look at that
26:55He opened up his stuff too
26:57Look at that
26:59It happens, it happens
27:01Wow, I mean
27:03it's tough
27:04Well, I mean mine's pretty black and white
27:06I was in business school
27:08I was an economics major
27:10at Fordham University in New York
27:12I was roommates with like
27:14five other dudes
27:16and they were all artists
27:18they were playwrights
27:20and one of them was on Broadway
27:22and one of them was my best friend
27:24from high school, James Roday Rodriguez
27:26who some people probably know from psych
27:28and he's been my longtime collaborator
27:30and we were all in college
27:32and I was the one business student
27:34and we were like
27:36let's tie and talk about economics
27:38and that seems terrible
27:40and then the guy over there
27:42was writing a play
27:44about a guy who had elastic arms
27:46it was a rip off of whatever
27:48but I was like
27:50that seems like such a great time
27:52and I called my parents
27:54and I was like
27:56I don't think I want to finish college
27:58and do this
28:00I think I want to write movies
28:02because I love going to the movies
28:04and I was a simple
28:0622 year old kid in New York City
28:08that was like I don't want to do this
28:10this is the safe choice
28:12and then
28:14yeah, threw stuff in a station wagon
28:16that we rented
28:18drove to LA
28:20got a PA job
28:22on a show called Ryan Caulfield
28:24Year One, it went one season
28:26and worked on Cruise
28:28and didn't come up with a plan B
28:30I think that was the thing
28:32that I was like listen
28:34maybe I can drive a script
28:36to Agua Dulce
28:38for the stunt coordinator
28:40because there was no email
28:42and nonsense like that
28:44I'm aging myself aren't I
28:46I'm only 29 years old
28:48that was what I was thinking
28:50when you said that
28:52I dyed this before I got here
28:54looks good
28:56but I think the thing is
28:58to everyone's point
29:00I never went
29:02oh you know what
29:04when someone cracks the door open
29:06I'm going to blow my way through it
29:08and never look back
29:10and I was fortunate
29:12that I had a few people
29:14that mentored me
29:16and took me under their wing
29:18and James Monaco
29:20gave me my first job as a PA
29:22and let me come into the writers room
29:24every once in a while
29:26and watch them do their thing
29:28and soak it up
29:30I guess my advice is
29:32if you feel it in your gut
29:34go for it
29:36thank you
29:38that closes it out
29:40you know I was a theater kid
29:42so I did theater
29:44I loved acting
29:46I knew I did not want to be an actor
29:48wasn't good enough
29:50and I wrote a lot
29:52but I loved writing papers
29:54so I thought maybe
29:56in college
29:58I was trying to move away from the theater
30:00and move more towards English
30:02and being a professor
30:04and one of my college professors
30:06wives after graduation
30:08and she wrote Dirty Dancing
30:12and I didn't know that
30:14he said I just want you to meet my wife
30:16and have lunch
30:18and we had an eight hour lunch
30:20and afterwards she said
30:22will you come work with me
30:24and so I worked for her
30:26and I just started to write constantly
30:28I wrote plays at first
30:30and I had a friend of mine
30:32who was like you don't want to write plays
30:34and I was like alright
30:36I didn't have a lot of thought
30:38at that point honestly
30:40I just knew that I was writing
30:42and so I would try any version
30:44so we drove to LA
30:46and I got a job at Houston's
30:48and so I would
30:50I remember at Fox
30:52I'd go to Fox for meetings
30:54and I'd be like Arnold Palmer iced tea
30:56everyone
30:58and so I just waitressed
31:00but when I would come home at night
31:02it was a job
31:04and I just constantly wrote
31:06and then I kept doing that
31:08like whenever I got a job
31:10I would look at the market
31:12and how it was changing
31:14oh they're not doing sitcoms
31:16now they're doing one hour dramedies
31:18I better write one
31:20even though I'm on staff
31:22in case the business changes
31:24oh I better write a single camera
31:26I better write an original and a spec
31:28I just constantly so that
31:30if anyone when I was starting out said
31:32do you have this kind of sample
31:34I couldn't do this anymore
31:36I had like so much original material
31:38that was just me in every single genre
31:40and so then I was
31:42not every genre
31:44not your genre
31:46comedy or dramedy
31:48I could not do that
31:50I'll take your side by side
31:52I'm sorry
31:54you have to
31:56as I close out
31:58you have to close this out now
32:00sure why not
32:02so yeah I remember being in like 5th grade
32:04and I looked and she was like what are you doing
32:06I was like I'm writing
32:08oh you've got the 5th grade writer's bug
32:10it'll pass
32:12and there was something deep inside me
32:14that said no it will not
32:16and so as the oppositional
32:18kind of person that I am
32:20I had to prove to my sister
32:22that it was not going to pass
32:24so I kept on writing
32:26flash forward to college
32:28I never believed that you could make a living as a writer
32:30didn't think it was possible
32:32I was an applied physics major
32:34my dad is a scientist
32:36and loved the sciences
32:38and was always pushing me in that direction
32:40at one point said J.D. an English degree
32:42and a quarter can't buy a cup of coffee in this country
32:44get a career that can be solid in
32:47but I think that there's a you inside of you
32:51that is older than you know
32:53that knows
32:55that knows
32:57that really knows who you are
32:59and it's about having the courage
33:01to step out of the boat
33:02and walk on water
33:07don't you guys all feel good now
33:11well
33:13now with all that said
33:16go right
33:19you'll make hit shows just like they do
33:23I've enjoyed our time together
33:25and I hope you've enjoyed your time with me
33:28and then what we're going to do is
33:30I'm going to tell everyone
33:32that you need to watch
33:34Lord of the Rings Rings of Power Season 2
33:36on Prime Video
33:40High Potential on ABC
33:44Matlock on CBS
33:49and Dune Prophecy on HBO Max
33:55and one last time just clap really loud
33:58for these people
34:01and for Clayton also
34:04oh wait never mind
34:06we are not ending
34:08oh please clap for Clayton Davidson
34:10oh sorry
34:12I'll be right back