Episode 46 - Eight written by Alison Bennett (You're The Worst, Single Parents)
Dead Pilots Society
We have more laughs for you this month! Our dead pilot is Eight from Alison Bennett (You're The Worst, Single Parents). After a whirlwind romance that resulted in a baby and a wedding (in that order), children of divorce Jillian and Trevor attempt to carve out their own family’s identity, with eight grandparents there to offer eight million different opinions. In Andrew's interview, Alison talks about her humble beginnings at UCB New York and how she got her first job on one of Amazon's first shows. She talks about her experience writing on You're the Worst and what...
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Episode 45 - Eternally Yours written by Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (The Office, New Girl)
Dead Pilots Society
You probably need some laughs more than ever, and we can definitely provide them with this month's episode. Our dead pilot is Eternally Yours from Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (The Office, New Girl), about a family of normal looking but emotionally closed off, stuck-together-for-eternity vampires. If you think there's no fresh spins left in the vampire genre, you need to listen to this one. In Andrew's interview, you’ll hear about Joe & Joe's first show business gigs, including the insane, no-longer existent job of Night PA, delivering scripts in the wee hours. They talk...
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Episode 44 - Training Room written by Brig Muñoz-Liebowitz (People of Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
Dead Pilots Society
Our episode this month is Training Room from Brig Muñoz-Liebowitz (People of Earth, Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Jamie (played by Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Melissa Fumero), the female physiotherapist for a men's pro soccer team, has always been a guys' girl. But when the team acquires a new star player who challenges Jamie's place on the team, Jamie is forced to seek support from a group of coworkers she's always avoided: the other women. Training Room was produced with Greg Berlanti and former professional soccer player, Robbie Rogers. In Andrew's interview with Brig,...
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Special Executive Episode: Samie Falvey (Imagine Entertainment, ABC Comedy)
Dead Pilots Society
We’re kicking off 2020 with another true insider look at how television gets made! Andrew sat down with seasoned television executive, Samie Falvey. Samie spent many years as Head of Comedy at ABC, where she played a huge role in developing shows like Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat and The Goldbergs. She is now on the selling side as Chairman at Imagine Television. In this interview, you’ll hear her speak openly about running a network comedy department… what it was like to hear David Caspe pitch Happy Endings… what made...
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Episode 43 - Whatever Happened to... Gigi's Pants written by Jen Crittenden & Gabrielle Allan (Divorced, Veep)
Dead Pilots Society
This month’s pilot is a mock rockumentary, or, as we like to say, a mrockumentary. It's called "Whatever Happened to... Gigi’s Pants" and it's written by Jennifer Crittenden & Gabrielle Allan (Veep, Divorce). After twenty years of bad blood, a super cool girl band from the nineties, Gigi’s Pants, tries to reunite despite the fact that they are no longer girls and no longer cool. Andrew sat down with Jen and Gaby to discuss how seeing the drummer of The Go-Go's wearing sweatpants at a reunion concert inspired this show. They also share some war stories from the comedy...
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Episode 42 - The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud written by Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives)
Dead Pilots Society
This month’s dead pilot is over ten years in the making. It’s called The Rich Inner Life of Penelope Cloud and was written by Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives). The story centers around Penelope Cloud, a woman who who has been struggling for 15 years to deliver the follow-up to her celebrated first novel. In that time, she's become dependent on a cocktail of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications to get through the day. The story begins when Penelope, desperate to unblock herself, decides to go off all her meds at once and...
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Episode 41 - Sterling written by Dan Sterling (The Sarah Silverman Program, Long Shot)
Dead Pilots Society
We're back to business as usual in this month's Dead Pilots Society episode. Our dead pilot is Sterling, written by Dan Sterling (The Sarah Silverman Program, The Office, Girls, South Park, The Interview, Long Shot). Sterling is about a TV news producer whose life is turned upside down when he is paired up with a beautiful, loose-cannon reporter. Andrew sat down with Dan to talk about his impressive career: Getting the job running The Daily Show after hitting it off with Jon Stewart at a Comedy Central Emmy Party, despite never having worked in late night...The decade...
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Special Executive Episode: Jamila Hunter (ABC Network, Khalabo Ink Society)
Dead Pilots Society
No dead pilot this month, but we have something special instead! On this episode we get to hear a network executive's side of the story. Andrew sat down with television comedy executive, Jamila Hunter. Jamila was the Senior Vice President of ABC Comedy before leaving to head up Kenya Barris's production company at Netflix. In this interview, you'll hear her speak openly about running a network comedy department... What it's like to hear 10 to 12 comedy pitches every single day for months...The number one thing she looks for in a pitch... Embarrassing mistakes writers make and how to avoid...
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Episode 40 - Small Town Love written by Sarah Haskins & Emily Halpern (Booksmart, Trophy Wife)
Dead Pilots Society
Our pilot this time is Small Town Love by Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern (Trophy Wife, Booksmart). Small Town Love is about a sparring mother and daughter in rural Michigan who are forced to lean on each other when they become pregnant at the same time. Listen to Andrew’s interview with Sarah and Emily to hear about how the first script they wrote together, Booksmart, took eleven years to reach the screen; what Emily learned from working with David Mamet; why they made the transition from film to TV; and how you can tell when an idea will actually make a good TV...
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Episode 39 - Lenny's Doing Great and His Family's Terrific written by Alex Cuthbertson & Matt Fusfeld (New Girl, Community)
Dead Pilots Society
This week’s episode is called Lenny’s Doing Great and His Family’s Terrific written by Alex Cuthbertson & Matt Fusfeld (New Girl, Community). The log-line for this one one goes something like: a young man who’s been helicopter-parented within an inch of his life reconnects with his selfish, absentee grandfather—in the process bringing an estranged family back together in ways no one wanted, but everyone needed. Listen to Andrew’s interview with Alex and Matt for a fun conversation about their real grandfathers whom inspired this pilot, how they got their first gig on...
info_outlineThis month's episode was recorded live at SF Sketchfest 2019 and it’s Andrew's all-time favorite of his own dead pilots. Inspired by his own mother, "Pearl" tells the story of a woman who receives a diagnosis of terminal cancer, and decides to use the time she has remaining to orchestrate the lives of her loved ones to her liking.
Our cast for this one was incredible: Julia Duffy as Pearl, Tony Hale as Billy, Alice Wetterlund as Olivia, Craig Cackowski as Kurt, Atsuko Okatsuka as Sara, Lucy Davis as Joy, Keiko Agena as Arlene, Carla Cackowski as Deedee, Kevin Pollak as Len, Tawny Newsome as Shelby/Waitress/Quinn, Will Choi as Travis/Cicerone, Guy Branum as Doctor Hudson/Radio Announcer/Student #2, Joel Kim Booster as Henry/Student #1, and Andrew Reich with stage directions. Before the read, you'll hear Ben’s interview with Andrew where he discusses the process of developing this very personal story into a network sitcom. Enjoy!
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