x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

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

00:54:00

Episode 105: Niki Schwartz-Wright (The Office,...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/10/27

This is the after show interview with Niki Schwartz-Wright (The Office, Speechless). Niki was the writer of Valley Trash which we released last week. In this interview, Niki lets us in on how autobiographical and personal this pilot was. She dishes on some advice her father gave her on how to handle bullies. Niki walks us through her journey to becoming a TV writer: starting as an assistant at a talent agency and transitioning to being a script coordinator on a show she would later get staffed on

en

00:49:32

Episode 104: Valley Trash written by Niki...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/10/20

This month’s pilot is brought to you by the clutches of the pandemic! It’s called Valley Trash written by Niki Schwartz-Wright (The Grinder, Speechless, The Office). Valley Trash was days away from going into production when the network shut it down at the start of the Covid lockdowns in March 2020. The pilot centers on The Harmans, a scrappy, blue collar family living in the deep Valley who suddenly experience a major culture clash when their fourteen-year-old daughter, Abby, gets accepted to a

en

01:00:36

Episode 103: Lon Zimmet (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/09/30

Welcome to the after show interview! This week we sat down with the writer of Peak Eve, Lon Zimmet. Andrew and Lon worked together on Lon’s first show, Worst Week. Since then Lon has gone on to write for Happy Endings, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Superstore, and he created the sitcom LA to Vegas on Fox. In this interview, Andrew and Lon talked about Lon’s transition from working in a writing team to going out on his own. He credits his solo success to writing as much as he possibly could. Lon talks

en

00:39:13

Episode 102: Peak Eve written by Lon Zimmet...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/09/22

We have an edgy FX pilot for you this month! It’s called Peak Eve and it comes to us from Lon Zimmet (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Superstore, creator of LA to Vegas). It centers on a misanthropic, twenty-something narcissist who resigns herself to becoming a better person… and then is annoyed to discover what a huge pain in the ass that’s going to be. This one is really good and super funny! You won't want to miss it!We had a stellar cast for this one including Dylan Gelula (Loot) as Eve, Biniam

en

00:51:39

Episode 101: David Iserson (SNL, New Girl, Mad Men)...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/08/25

Please listen to the table read of Electric Youth written by David Iserson if you haven’t yet. This is the after show with David, who has a ton of amazing credits including SNL, New Girl, and Mad Men. We get into a lot of them in this interview! David let us in on some great advice he got from Matthew Weiner when he was on Mad Men and how that show was more of a comedy than people realize. He gives us his trusted metaphor for how to know whether an idea is a keeper. He also shares an absolutely

en

00:45:29

Episode 100: Electric Youth written by David Iserson...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/08/19

This month’s pilot is going to make you want to go back in time and start this summer all over again. That’s right it’s our very first time travel pilot. It’s called Electric Youth and it comes from the prolific screenwriter David Iverson (The Spy Who Dumped Me, Mad Men, New Girl, SNL). It centers around Britt, a woman in her 30s who gets a knock on her door one night and finds her high school boyfriend, only he’s still sixteen and just successfully traveled in time. This comedy explores our

en

00:59:56

Episode 99: Brian C. Brown (Lucy In The Sky, About A...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/07/28

We have a unique and enlightening interview for you for this month! This is the after show for Mostly Dead Things written by Brian C. Brown (Lucy In The Sky, About A Boy, Bad Monkey) and Jessica Lee Williamson (I’m Dying Up Here, F Is For Family) based on the book by Kristen Arnett. In this interview we discussed Brian and Jessica’s experience as veteran storytellers from The Moth. The Moth is clearly an underused potential path to television writing. A path with no barrier to entry too! Jessica

en

00:53:54

Episode 98: Mostly Dead Things written by Brian C....

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/07/21

We have a wild and weird and very Florida pilot for you this month! It’s called Mostly Dead Things written by Brian C. Brown (Lucy In The Sky, About A Boy, Bad Monkey) & Jessica Lee Williamson (I’m Dying Up Here, F Is For Family). After the death of their patriarch, a dysfunctional family of Florida taxidermists spirals out of control, coping with their loss through redneck love triangles, interspecies porn dioramas, and a bunch of cute squirrels stuffed full of narcotics. Briana and Jessica are

en

01:08:04

Episode 97: Lucas Hazlett (American Princess) & Alex...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/06/30

If you haven’t listened to the table read of Lenny written by Lucas Hazlett (American Princess, Wrecked) & Alex Herschlag (Will & Grace), you should do it now. This is our after show interview with Lucas & Alex. It’s a fun interview where we got into very specific details of Lucas Hazlett’s background and origins. His transition from studying philosophy to studying improv! We also dive into Alex’s career origins, writing for Rob Schneider and Ellen Degeneres before moving on to some of the best

en

00:43:07

Episode 96: Lenny written by Lucas Hazlett (American...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/06/23

We’re kicking off summer 2022 with a wonderful pilot! It’s called Lenny written by Lucas Hazlett (Wrecked, American Princess) & Alex Herschlag (Will & Grace, Modern Family). Lenny centers around a gay half black half white man child who moves in with his white mother and her new white fiancé on the condition that he becomes the nanny to the fiancé’s children. It was written for CBS and it’s just a ton of fun. Our cast for this pilot includes Lucas Hazlitt as Lenny, Suzanne Cryer (Silicon Valley) as

en

01:05:18

Episode 95: Naomi Ekperigin (The Stand Ups on...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/05/26

If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode How To Be A Couple written by Naomi Ekperigin (The Standups on Netflix) & Andy Beckerman (The Pete Holmes Show) you must! While you’re at it, check out their podcast Couples Therapy too. This is our After Show interview with Naomi & Andy. It’s a fun one too! You’ll hear them get into the unique dynamics of their writing relationship and how they go about writing their relationship. We got into the great New York watercolor magazine wars of the early

en

00:44:03

Episode 94: How To Be A Couple written by Naomi...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/05/19

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 fantastic

en

01:25:19

Episode 93: Andy Bobrow (Community, Last Man On...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/05/02

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 on

en

01:19:34

Episode 92: Greatest American Heroes written by Andy...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/04/27

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 Bobrow

en

01:14:23

Episode 91: Jonathan Groff (Black-ish) & Elena...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/03/24

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

en

00:55:37

Episode 90: The Thing About Lulu written by Elena...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/03/17

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

en

00:58:29

Episode 89: John Quaintance (Will & Grace, Hot...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/02/24

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 have

en

00:45:01

Episode 88: Fun For The Whole Family written by John...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/02/17

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 was

en

01:02:06

Episode 87: Tim Long (The Simpsons) & Jon Radler...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/01/27

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 pilot

en

00:52:45

Episode 86: Perfect Harmony written by Tim Long (The...

Dead Pilots Society ·

2022/01/20

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 Shawshank

en

187 results

Similar Podcasts

BEHIND THE VELVET ROPE

David Yontef

Nerd Culture - A Gamekings Podcast

Blammo Media

UPodcast

UPodcast

The Writers Hangout

Sandy Adomaitis

The Sarah Fraser Show

Sarah Fraser