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THREAD: In 2013, I was an assistant to a comedy manager whose clients banded together to make a pilot for a radical new show, completely self-financed and produced outside the system. Everyone thought they were nuts. It was a little show called #SchittsCreek 1/
Tired of all the "goofy dad" roles he was sent, Eugene set out to create his own show with his son Dan. They wrote draft after draft until they were satisfied. At this point, they were expected to shop the script to studios. Eugene & Dan said nope! They had a better idea. 2/
Rather than risk ending up in development hell where rounds of network notes would compromise their vision, Eugene & Dan wanted to shoot the pilot themselves. WHAT!? Don't you know pilots cost millions of dollars?! This isn't how it's done! But they weren't deterred. 3/
So Eugene and Dan called up their friends & family -- Catherine O'Hara, Chris Elliott, Eugene's daughter Sarah -- to get together for a week and shoot it. It was like being back in film school. I even helped find locations - like this one! 4/
Eugene even directed the pilot himself! And when the opening scene required a newscast, as luck would have it, my Mom worked in the KNBC Newsroom. Being a big fan of Eugene, she told him to come on down! Eugene and I raced to the Valley at rush-hour to get the final shot. 5/
With everything in the can, I drove a DVD of the show around town to various networks. The Spec Pilot turned out great (if a little too short at 17 min). But in the end, it was pretty close to the pilot that aired on Pop TV. Of course, that one had a lot more money behind it. 6/
You know the rest. The Emmys, Le Bébé... but what I took away from this experience was: if you want a change, you have to manifest it yourself. You can literally WRITE yourself a new start. And Eugene & Dan inspired me to do that very thing myself, 3 years later. END
More behind the scenes photos for you : Eugene directing by a literal trashcan (so glamorous) and an early Moira Rose look — pretty sure Catherine brought her own wigs.
