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The James Altucher Show

333 - Adam Perlman: ‘Billions’ Writer on The Internal Struggle that Comes With Changing Your Career

The James Altucher Show

James Altucher

Education, Business

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2018

⏱️ 84 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Adam Perlman is a TV writer, director and co-executive producer. We met on the set of Showtime's "Billions," which I can now say I am a technical writer for. He's also written for some of my favorite shows like "The Newsroom" and "The Good Wife." Adam used to be a lawyer. But he went through this constant battle with himself on whether it's "okay" to be an artist. Finally, the market collapsed. And there was no work for him in corporate law. So he spent his days writing and eventually landed a mentor, and a gig, and the story picks up from there. Adam Perlman's a true example of the struggle a lot of us go through when we know we have some bigger dream... but don't know if survival comes with that dream. So I look at Adam as living proof that it can be done. That you can have your dream and your wellness and your finance all at once. Show Notes: Some of the shows Adam Perlman writes for: "The Newsroom" "The Good Wife" "Billions" (on Showtime) My interview with Bill Cartwright My interview with Kareem Abdul Jabbar Bob Scanlan Samuel Beckett David Mamet David Rabe The Harvard Lampoon The Acting Company The Flea The New York Fringe Festival Aaron Sorkin's shows: "The West Wing" and "Sports Night" "Seinfeld" (TV Show) by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld "Curb Your Enthusiasm"  "Silicon Valley" "Veep"  "The League" Michael Patrick King (Adam says Michael Patrick King was the major creative force behind "Sex and the City") t (the play Michael Patrick King worked on with writer Nancy Shane) Transport Group (the off broadway theater company that Adam Perlman was the literary manager for) "Sex and the City" (Movie) "Ugly Betty" "Law and Order" Gen Maynard (the first person to help out Adam in his TV career. Gen worked on "The Amazing Race," "Survivor," and later "CSI") Josh Berman I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast. Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts Stitcher iHeart Radio Spotify Follow me on Social Media: Twitter Facebook Linkedin Instagram ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host.

0:06.6

This is the James Altiger Show on the Choose Yourself Network.

0:12.6

Today on the James Altiger Show.

0:14.8

You know, I spent all of law school kind of in this battle with myself to I want to be

0:19.2

pursuing something more in the arts and entertainment field or to I want to be here in law.

0:23.1

When I went to law school, I had this idea in my head which I've been told by a couple

0:26.5

of people if you can do anything in your life other than working the arts and be happy,

0:31.6

do that.

0:32.8

So when I entered law school, I decided I was going to give up everything else.

0:36.6

Just quit at cold turkey, do nothing to focus on the law.

0:40.2

And I was able to make it three months.

0:42.4

And so the summer after I graduated law school, I'd started to have this really crazy thought

0:46.2

of like, wait a second, what if I did go into the arts and what if I went into TV and

0:51.2

film, which was this thought I'd never had before.

0:54.0

So you basically, you were on track to being one of the top lawyers around because of the

0:58.5

cases you were involved and you could have gotten in any direction possible like banking,

1:02.6

hedge funds, being a top lawyer, being federal, being corporate, whatever.

1:08.4

And you said, screw it, I'm going to start at the bottom in a totally different field

1:13.4

I've never done before.

1:15.4

When did you decide to say, hey, I hate this?

1:18.8

I'm going to write for major TV shows from now on and how that happened.

1:24.0

I'm excited to have Adam Proman here, Adam before you speak.

...

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