Do spec pilot scripts sell? What about pilots shot on spec? This week Gray talks to successful author-writer-producer Rob Thomas, creator of Cupid, Veronica Mars, and most recently, Party Down.
Rob Thomas has a fascinating story. He went from basketball and football player to rock band bassist, then graduated from college with a history degree and taught high school … all by his early twenties!
He moved to L.A. in the early 1990s to work at Channel One News, an L.A.-based TV news show aimed at teenagers. He then got a book deal, and published four young adult novels and a collection of short stories.
One of his novels led him to his break in Hollywood, and he got on the staff of Dawson’s Creek in its first season. Fourteen months after starting Dawson’s Creek, Rob wrote and sold the pilot Cupid, which was picked up! Halfway through its first season he became the showrunner.
Rob shares some great stories about how he came up with the idea for the critically acclaimed Veronica Mars, which he wrote on spec, and also how he not only wrote Party Down on spec, but shot the pilot with his own money at his own house!
Follow Rob on Twitter: @slaverat1
Visit Rob’s web site: www.slaverats.com
Buy Gray’s book for only $4.99! Look for it on Amazon – How To Break In To TV Writing: Insider Interviews.
Didn’t get your questions asked? Make sure you follow Gray on Twitter (@GrayJones) so you can get the scoop on who is being interviewed and how to get your questions in. Also check out our TV Writer Twitter Database to find Twitter addresses for over 1,000 TV writers. Find our previous episodes and other resources at www.tvwriterpodcast.comor on Gray’s YouTube channel.
First published August 28, 2011.
095 - Michael Narducci (Showrunner of The Originals)
094 - Arika Lisanne Mittman (EP of Paradise Lost, Timeless)
093 - Sarah Watson (Creator of The Bold Type, Author of Most Likely)
092 - Bob Goodman (Creator of The Zeta Project, EP of Elementary)
091 – “How I Wrote That” Podcast Host Khanisha Foster (VIDEO)
090 – Touched By An Angel, A Prairie Home Companion Writer Ken LaZebnik (VIDEO)
089 – Kirby Buckets Co-Creator Mike Alber (VIDEO)
088 – Jimmy Kimmel Writer, 2nd Smartest in the World Rick Rosner (VIDEO)
087 – Hand of God Creator/Showrunner Ben Watkins (VIDEO)
086 – Automatic Pilot Author Bill Taub (VIDEO)
085 – San Diego Comic-Con Panel - How to Write a TV Pilot (VIDEO)
084 – Unseen Africa Pilot Producer/Host Francis Tapon (VIDEO)
083 – Bad Teacher Creator/Showrunner Hilary Winston (VIDEO)
082 – Caper Creator, Eureka Writer/Producer Amy Berg (VIDEO)
081 – Lost Co-Creator, Tuck Everlasting & Necessary Roughness Writer Jeffrey Lieber (VIDEO)
080 – UK Writers James Whitehouse & Hannah George (VIDEO)
079 – The Finder, The Good Guys Writer Aaron Ginsburg (VIDEO)
078 – The Client List Writer, Script Anatomy Consultant Tawnya Bhattacharya (VIDEO)
077 – Own Your Career – Sterling Anderson from Sterling Writers Group (VIDEO)
076 – Hemlock Grove, Battlestar Galactica, Smallville Writer/EP Mark Verheiden (VIDEO)
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