Hey guys, you're listening to the Big Conversations podcast.

I'm your host, Haley Hoffman Smith.

I'm an entrepreneur, a bestselling author, and a Forbes most influential speaker.

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So let's get started with today's big conversation.

Hi, everyone and welcome back to big conversations. Today we are jammin with Michael Jammin,

a screenwriter who is joining me all the way from L.A. And man, guys, his list of credits is incredible. I'm sure that you've

seen some of his writing because he's done credits for shows like Rules of Engagement,

Wilfred, Beavis and Butthead. And we're going to talk all about screenwriting, breaking into

Hollywood, and the forces of creativity and inspiration that we play with when we're writers

as a full-time career. So thanks for coming on, Michael. Thank you for having me. What a pleasure. Yes. So I'm dying to know right off the bat what an average day as a screenwriter looks like. Walk me through. Maybe pre- Corona. It depends. Yeah, pre-Corona. It depends if you're working or you're looking for work.

But if you're, let's say on a TV show.

And it depends if you're running it or if you're just a writer on it.

But basically, if you're on a comedy, it's a lot like being, it's kind of like being in a frat house, I think.

You know, you've got a bunch of very funny writers sitting around a table just trying to make each other laugh. I can only imagine the conversations. Yeah. And if you're not laughing at the end of the day, like you didn't do your job. If you didn't make, you know, 10 people laugh, you're not doing your job. So it's, you know, that's kind of what it is. You sit on a table and you throw it around ideas, and then someone will, then you break a story on a board, kind of like this one here. And then some, one of the writers will be sent off to write it and then write an outline and then a script and then you come back and you go to this set and you watch them shoot it. Oh, wow. Okay. And then I was also always interested, like, as you are seeing these words that you've written come to life when the actors are seeing them, is there any, like, creative liberty that the actors take? Do you guys change anything up while they're saying them? It depends on what kind of show. Like, if you're doing a multi-camera show, which is four cameras, that's like friends, you know, it's like shot on a stage.

Then you shoot in front of a live audience. And then you know immediately, if this joke that you've been rehearsing all week, if it bombs, like, you'll know. You think it's funny during rehearsal, but the audience will tell you, you know, you turn around and no one's laughing. And so then the second pass, you'll typically everyone with all the's huddle and you'll do a rewrite in the line and you'll pitch the new line. Or you, or the actors will come up with something. But usually the first take you'd do the script and the second take you, you can improvise or you'll rewrite. Oh, interesting. Okay, well, now on Diant's note, was there ever a joke that you wrote that, like, right when they said it, everyone erupted in laughter and it was just a total success?

Yeah. Well, yeah. I hope there's like, oh no, not like that, but like is there one that you remember?

And you're like that was that, yeah, the one time, but is there one maybe your first, like a specific memory you can share with us?

That was when I was writing on a show called Just Shoot Me. And, yeah, it was like the big, it was like, that was my dream come true. I wrote my partner and I wrote the scene where the David Spade's character was about to have, he made a friend and she was an older, older woman. And all this, everyone was teasing him. Well, she's gonna wanna have sex with you.

And he's like, oh, no, you guys are sick. No, we're just friends. And then he's at her house and they're one night and they're playing chess. And I'm gonna just make some, can I get you something to drink? And she goes and she gets something to drink and she lowers the lights and she turns on the music. And you can see David's behed, he just gets up from his chair,

and he walks over to the couch and he picks up his coat and he reaches into his pocket and picks us from Benaka, and he runs back to the couch. And that was this joke that I wrote. And I was so excited. And I was so excited. I turned, I wasn't even watching the stage. I just turned around and watched the audience during it. They were just going nuts. And that was like that was the biggest moment I've ever like, that's awesome. Yeah, talk about the immediate fulfillment. Yeah, you're like they loved it. Yeah. That's cool because seldom you see like for the for example like so me I write books, right? I have no idea if people have like lightful moments or

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