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PODCAST

Dead Pilots Society

Ben Blacker and Andrew Reich

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).

tv & film tv reviews

All Episodes

00:44:56

Episode 164: Eternally Yours written by Joe Port &...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2025/01/23

Things have been a little tough in Los Angeles this month, so we are bringing you our first ever Dead Pilots Society Rerun. This is one of our all-time favorite episodes. From way back in 2020, it's Eternally Yours from Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (Ghosts, 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. Eternally Yours was recorded live

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01:11:53

Episode 163: Amy Reed (The Diary of a Future...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/12/25

A happy holidays to you! Hopefully you're wearing that Dead Pilots Society shirt you bought for yourself as a gift while listening to this episode! This is our interview with Amy and Brendan. In it you'll hear an honest take about how hard it is to sell things and make a living in Hollywood these days. We get into Amy & Brendan's writing dynamic, navigating writing with a partner versus writing solo, and the shows Amy and Brendan go back to for inspiration. Thanks for listening—we know you’re going

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00:38:52

Episode 162: The 14th Floor written by Amy Reed (The...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/12/20

It's the end of the year and we have a very special dead pilot for you! This is The 14th Floor written by Amy Reed (The Diary of a Future President) & Brendan Scannell (Bonding). It centers around an ambitious young executive at multinational McKenna Corp who gets hip-checked by her threatened CEO, and is then banished to the depths of the 14th floor, where a staff of castoffs collect checks doing absolutely nothing. It was setup at HBO and this episode was recorded live at The Elysian Theater in

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01:14:05

Episode 161: Bill Callahan Interview (Massholes After...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/11/29

Happy Thanksgiving! In this episode, Andrew interviews Bill Callahan about his pilot Massholes. Bill has an impressive résumé, having worked on Spin City, 8 Simple Rules, Scrubs, Psych, American Housewife, and The Goldbergs.A former college athlete turned comedy writer, Bill shares his journey from football to comedy, starting in an agency mailroom and learning from legends like Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence. He discusses the differences between multi-camera and single-camera comedy writing,

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00:43:00

Episode 160: Massholes written by Bill Callahan...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/11/21

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

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01:09:52

Episode 159: Al Madrigal & Chris Harris Interview...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/10/31

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

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00:52:15

Episode 158: Mr. Macho written by Al Madrigal (The...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/10/24

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

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01:25:00

Episode 157: Julie Bean & Brian Donovan Interview...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/09/26

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

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00:53:29

Episode 156: Honey Do List written by Julie Bean...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/09/19

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

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01:01:03

Episode 155: Damir & Dario Konjicija Interview (I...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/08/30

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

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00:43:40

Episode 154: I Hate Myself written by Damir & Dario...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/08/22

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

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00:53:03

Episode 153: Jordan Roter Interview (Common Enemy...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/07/25

We 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

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00:50:33

Episode 152: Common Enemy written by Jordan Roter...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/07/19

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

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01:26:40

Episode 151: Mark Gross (How We Roll, Mike & Molly)...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/06/27

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

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00:42:32

Episode 150: Codependent written by Mark Gross (How...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/06/20

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

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01:13:00

Episode 149: Michael Jonathan Smith (Twisted Metal)...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/05/30

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

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00:54:55

Episode 148: Faking A Murderer written by Michael...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/05/23

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

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01:11:16

Episode 147: Michael Lisbe & Nate Reger (Acapulco,...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/04/26

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

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00:46:44

Episode 146: Frenemies - The Journey Of Lewis & Clark...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/04/20

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

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00:52:04

Episode 145: Unscripted Dead Pilots with J. Keith van...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2024/03/28

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.MaxFunDrive ends on

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