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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

00:48:21

Episode 125: The Sleeping Father Episode 2 written by...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/07/27

You guys are in for a treat! It's episode two of The Sleeping Father written by Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney (Power Rangers, Sherlock Holmes:A Game Of Shadows), based on the novel by Matthew Sharpe. Michelle and Kieran originally wrote this as a screenplay for Warner Bros and was later revived as a television series for Warner Bros. Television. Enjoy it!We had a terrific cast for this one including Dave Foley, Ennis Esmer, Ciara Bravo, Daniel DiMaggio, Nichole Sakura, Niles Fitch, Sarah

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00:56:25

Episode 124: The Sleeping Father written by Michele...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/07/20

We have a truly one-of-a-kind dead pilot for you this month! It’s The Sleeping Father, written by Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney (Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Power Rangers), based on the novel by Matthew Sharpe. It follows the slow-motion implosion and long and ridiculous recovery of the Schwartz family after patriarch, Bernie, goes into a coma and comes out of it even more screwed up than when he went in. Michele and Kieran originally wrote this as a screenplay for Warner Bros and it

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01:03:47

Episode 123: Julia Ahumada Grob (Mr. Iglesias) &...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/06/29

Grit and determination are the themes of this week’s after show interview with East WillyB creators, Julia Ahumada Grob (Mr. Igelsias) & Yamin Segal (The Wonder Years). You’re going to hear about the trials and tribulations of this project and get a blue print for how to make your own TV show. Julia & Yamin go in depth on their experience financing, writing, producing, and starring in two seasons of the East WillyB web series. They tell the story of the 7 year journey to selling this pilot. (If you

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00:46:48

Episode 122: East WillyB written by Julia Ahumada...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/06/23

This month’s pilot is East WillyB written by Julia Ahumada Grob (Mr. Iglesias) & Yamin Segal (The Wonder Years). It’s a half hour comedy based on their indie web series of the same name. It revolves around a truly unconventional family, dysfunctional neighbors who populate the last hold-out dive bar in gentrified Brooklyn. Together they’ll face life’s challenges — from love, friendship, and legacy, to family and change — realizing they can only do it if they lean on each other; their chosen family

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01:14:32

Episode 121: Kat Likkel & John Hoberg (Elemental, My...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/05/25

We had a delightful conversation this week with the writers of Kings of Ohio, Kat Likkel & John Hoberg. Kat & John kicked off the interview by telling us about their six adopted goats. They gave us an in-depth recap of what it was like to work with Pixar on their new movie Elemental (coming out on June 16th, 2023). How their years in TV writing prepared them for that development process, a process that taught them to be more flexible and less precious in their own writing. They also share their

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00:47:41

Episode 120: The Kings Of Ohio written by Kat Likkel...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/05/18

Our dead pilot this month comes from two brilliant scribes: Kat Likkel & John Hoberg (Elemental & My Name Is Earl)! Their pilot is a half hour single camera dramedy called The Kings of Ohio. It centers around a blue collar laborer, Brad, who is trying to keep his two best friends Ronnie (fast talking schemer with a "plan") and Carl (a combat vet with a short fuse) from falling through the cracks in an economically depressed town in southern Ohio — all while attempting to win back the love of his

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01:01:17

Episode 119: David Litt (White House Speechwriter)...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/04/27

We caught up with David Litt this week about his pilot, Young Professionals. At age 24, David, became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. In this interview, you’ll hear about David’s journey into politics and comedy writing. David and Andrew reminisced about their time on The Exit Players, the oldest improv troupe at Yale. David told us why he joined the Obama campaign in 2008 and how he became the head writer for The White House Correspondents dinner. He shared a story about

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00:50:40

Episode 118: Young Professionals written by David...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/04/20

Our dead pilot this month is called Young Professionals and was written by David Litt, who, at age 24, became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. David is also the author of two bestselling books: "Thanks, Obama" and "Democracy in One Book or Less". Young Professionals follows five friends who struggle to make a difference in the broken, bizarre, hopelessly absurd world of Washington DC. It’s Veep meets Broad City! The project was initially set up at Comedy Central and then

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01:03:08

Episode 117: Brooks Wheelan (I Think You Should...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/03/30

There’s only a few more days left of Max Fun Drive and we’re sad to see it go! This is the one time of year where we ask you to become a member or upgrade your membership to help make our show possible. If you’ve already done your part, thank you so much for your support. We couldn’t bring you the best damn dead pilots in Hollywood without it. There’s always time to become a Max Fun member, so if you want to help us keep fighting the good fight go to maximumfun.org/join ! For this year’s Max Fun

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00:49:40

Episode 116: Wheelan Motors "Every Rose Has It's...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/03/27

It’s Max Fun Drive! The one time of year where we ask you to become members or upgrade your membership to help make our show possible. For this year’s Max Fun Drive we’re bringing you something super special. A full on Dead Pilots Society Series. Well, the first three episodes of one at least.Today we’re releasing the third and final episode of Wheelan Motors written and created by Brooks Wheelan (I Think You Should Leave, SNL) & Isaac Rentz (Opening Night). The title of this one is “Every Rose Has

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00:53:30

Episode 115: Wheelan Motors "Bad Press" written by...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/03/23

It’s Max Fun Drive! The one time of year where we ask you to become members or upgrade your membership to help make our show possible. For this year’s Max Fun Drive we’re bringing you something super special. A full on Dead Pilots Society Series. Well, the first three episodes of one at least.Today we’re releasing episode two of Wheelan Motors written and created by Brooks Wheelan (I Think You Should Leave, SNL) & Isaac Rentz (Opening Night). In this episode, Wheelan Motors becomes embroiled in an

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01:00:00

Episode 114: Wheelan Motors "The Pilot" written by...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/03/20

It’s Max Fun Drive! The one time of year where we ask you to become members or upgrade your membership to help make our show possible. For this year’s Max Fun Drive we’re bringing you something super special. A full on Dead Pilots Society Series. Well, the first three episodes of one at least.This week’s pilot is called Wheelan Motors written and created by Brooks Wheelan (I Think You Should Leave, SNL) & Isaac Rentz (Opening Night). Brooks and Isaac sold this show to Fox and the network was so

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01:19:39

Episode 113: Andrew Leeds (The Patient, Barry)...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/02/23

The theme of today’s episode is friendship! We sat down with three great friends and writers of Throuple, Andrew Leeds, Lindsey Kraft and Richie Keen. In their interview they debate whether handing out ice cream to executives during their network pitches was a good idea or not. They told us about how their pitch made no sense. Their words not ours. Andrew Leeds told us about how Richie coached him for an audition for Andrew Reich’s pilot. Insight into mining comedic characters from real ones and how

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00:46:54

Episode 112: Throuple written by Richie Keen (It's...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/02/16

We’re bringing you a great pilot this month! It’s called Throuple written by Richie Keen (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia), Andrew Leeds (The Patient, Barry), and Lindsey Kraft (Grace & Frankie). Throuple is an autobiographical comedy based on a short film written by and starring the three real-life best friends. It revolves around a long-term couple and their best friend as they navigate everyday situations in their own unique way. Keen was attached to direct, Scott Fedro and Perry Rogers were

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00:59:33

Episode 111: Steve Basilone (Happy Endings,...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/01/26

Steve Basilone is on the podcast today! Steve has written for Happy Endings, The Goldbergs, and Community. He’s also the writer of last week’s dead pilot, FALLING/APART. In our discussion, Steve told us about his beginnings in Hollywood. How helpful it was to finish his last semester at Emerson College in LA. He told us about how he pivoted from acting to writing after realizing he could write a script as bad as the projects he was auditioning for. Steve discussed his first feature sale, his

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00:55:11

Episode 110: Falling/Apart written by Steve Basilone...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2023/01/19

We’re starting off the year with a great dead pilot! It’s called Falling/Apart written by Steve Basilone (The Goldbergs, Community, Happy Endings). In Falling/Apart Lena and Evan, both newly single, must navigate the uniquely demoralizing song-and-dance of single-hood: the swiping right, the ghosting, the banal first date banter. Honestly, they both (kind of) hate it...until they meet each other. And thus the romantic cycle of falling in love and falling apart begins anew. This project was set up at

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01:00:23

Episode 109: Scotty Landes (Workaholics, Ma)...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/12/29

This week’s episode is an insightful interview with the writer of Dear America: We’ve Seen You Naked, Scotty Landes (Workaholics, Ma). In it, Scotty discusses the Politico article his pilot is based on. You can check that out here. He tells us how he wrote a pilot with 9 main characters, the best breaking into the business story we’ve ever heard, his transition from a reality TV producer to a scripted TV writer and how working in reality made him a better TV writer. Scotty’s insightful stories made

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00:48:18

Episode 108: Dear America, We've Seen You Naked...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/12/22

Happy Holidays, Dead Pilots Society listeners! Our pilot this month is Dear America, We’ve Seen You Naked written by Scotty Landes (Workaholics, Who Is America?, Ma). It’s a workplace comedy about a group of TSA agents at Chicago O’Hare airport. We think this pairs well with our Episode 25: Airport Marriott written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. Dear America also has a unique origin story in that it’s based on a non-existent book. You’ll hear all about that and more in Scotty’s pre-read

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00:52:35

Episode 107: Emily Cutler (Fresh Off The Boat, AP...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/11/24

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Dead Pilots Society listeners! This week we caught up with Emily Cutler (Fresh off The Boat, AP Bio) the writer of Step Dave! Emily talks in depth about how the Step Dave format came to her. Also, Andrew will give you a brief education about what a format even is! Emily felt a special connection to the material because, like Annie in the pilot, her husband is 10 years younger than her. She told us about how she mined material from her own marriage to pitch and

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00:46:39

Episode 106: Step Dave written by Emily Cutler ...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/11/17

We have a wonderful pilot for you this month! It’s the perfect pilot to listen to while curled up next to a fire this holiday season! You all have fireplaces, right?! Either way, this month’s script comes from Emily Cutler (Fresh Off The Boat, AP BIO). In STEP DAVE, lives are turned upside down when a 24 year-old bartender and a 36 year-old divorced mom fall in love. That's right, it's a romantic comedy pilot! Step Dave was set up at NBC through Universal in 2017 and it was inspired by a New Zealand

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