Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, and Welcome to Life is a gamble. My
Speaker 1: guest today is Elizabeth Reischardt, who we talk a lot
Speaker 1: on this show about life scambals that don't involve money necessarily,
Speaker 1: and so Elizabeth, Welcome to Life is a gamble.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm always so thrilled to have a chance
Speaker 2: to talk to you, so I'm very excited to be here.
Speaker 1: Well. Thanks. So you have chosen what I kind of
Speaker 1: call lottery professions, which are people and I did this myself,
Speaker 1: you know, wanting to be an actor, and so you
Speaker 1: first wanted to get into dance, and then comedy and
Speaker 1: stand up comedy and then writing for television, all of
Speaker 1: which are these things where super high risk but can
Speaker 1: be very high reward, except for maybe dance. I don't
Speaker 1: think there are any such Charissa's anymore that can actually
Speaker 1: make a lot of money being a dancer. But that's
Speaker 1: where you started, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, you're right, high risk, some reward. Dance leaves
Speaker 2: you with a lot of injuries and a lot of
Speaker 2: mental stuff where you're just always criticizing yourself. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I started with dance when I was younger, and I grew.
Speaker 1: Up how old, oh four? Wow?
Speaker 2: Yeah. I grew up very, very poor, and so my
Speaker 2: mom put me in dance at our church and then
Speaker 2: saw I had a talent. And then she was gambling
Speaker 2: herself because she would put me in classes and get
Speaker 2: them to do do you remember layaway where they would
Speaker 2: have it? I guess she basically did that with dance studios.
Speaker 2: She would have them do payment plans when they didn't
Speaker 2: do that for anyone else, and then I would get
Speaker 2: scholarships to go to summer program. So she really we
Speaker 2: did not have any money, and she put a lot
Speaker 2: of effort into helping me pursue that passion. And then
Speaker 2: at a certain point I was getting way too many injuries.
Speaker 2: My mom got sick, and then I made the decision
Speaker 2: to leave dance behind, even though I still very much
Speaker 2: love it and anytime I get tipsy, I'm dancing around
Speaker 2: the place.
Speaker 1: You know, were you focused on ballet or other forms
Speaker 1: of dance?
Speaker 2: Mainly ballet? I did everything else. I hated tap. Tap
Speaker 2: was my enemy. It was too loud. But ballet I
Speaker 2: loved it. It was so graceful. I think I fit very
Speaker 2: well with it, and it was always away for me
Speaker 2: to express myself. I was very shy when I was younger,
Speaker 2: and so dance was away for me to be vocal
Speaker 2: when I couldn't really be vocal, which really helped at
Speaker 2: that time, that adolescent time when you're so angsty.
Speaker 1: And was the dream to go to New York and
Speaker 1: join ABT or or yeah? Was it so?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And at what age did you finally say all right,
Speaker 1: my body won't put up with this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was nineteen. I had a knee injury. I
Speaker 2: kept getting my feet were always in points to you,
Speaker 2: so I was getting infections from the just the moisture
Speaker 2: of always having it in there. But yeah, I remember
Speaker 2: I was in a studio by myself, practicing a variation
Speaker 2: for an audition coming up, and I looked at myself
Speaker 2: in the mirror and I was like, I don't think
Speaker 2: I'm ever going to achieve what I want to achieve,
Speaker 2: which is to be a prima ballerina. And I made
Speaker 2: the choice to go. I don't think. I think I
Speaker 2: got to stop. I don't want to be in the core,
Speaker 2: I don't want to be in the ensemble. And if
Speaker 2: I can't achieve this goal, I think I'm going to
Speaker 2: go to something else. So and at the same time,
Speaker 2: my mom got sick, so I was like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 2: not I went and helped my mom while she was
Speaker 2: going through treatment.
Speaker 1: Where were you when this happened.
Speaker 2: I was in Pittsburgh. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And was that a I mean for me when I
Speaker 1: reached that moment where you know, I had spent my
Speaker 1: life my life thinking I wanted to be an actor,
Speaker 1: and when it suddenly occurred to me, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I do not want to do this. It was a
Speaker 1: real crisis for me to absolutely And is that what
Speaker 1: happened with you two?
Speaker 2: Yeah. I had a huge identity crisis. I didn't know
Speaker 2: what was up, what was down. I didn't know what
Speaker 2: I was going to do next. It was it was
Speaker 2: very jarring. And you had the same thing with.
Speaker 1: Acting, exactly exactly the same. And it wasn't the acting.
Speaker 1: I still loved the acting, it was the business of
Speaker 1: Hollywood and what the way that actors were treated. And
Speaker 1: you know, my background was on the stage and it
Speaker 1: it was completely different than when you were trying to
Speaker 1: get roles in film and television.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And that's my biggest thing with any of the
Speaker 2: because I know you and I've dabbled in many different
Speaker 2: industries with art and That's my biggest thing is when
Speaker 2: you start getting treated a certain way, our politics come
Speaker 2: into it, favoritism, Like you start with a bunch of
Speaker 2: group like with your with people who will you just
Speaker 2: have so much passion for the art form, Like I
Speaker 2: know both you and I have done improv and that
Speaker 2: was my biggest thing with improv. I was like, this
Speaker 2: is so cool. It's we get to just have fun
Speaker 2: and laugh. And then all of a sudden people get
Speaker 2: put on teams and then people start being competitive and
Speaker 2: not wanting to hang out with certain people, and you're
Speaker 2: just like, remember when we were all in college and
Speaker 2: hanging out at a pizza's job. Why can't we go
Speaker 2: back there?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So how did you handle that when the well,
Speaker 1: I mean you had a big distraction. I guess if
Speaker 1: you're mom was very ill and you were taking care of.
Speaker 2: Her, yeah that period of time, I mean, yeah, so
Speaker 2: with the identity crisis that that took over and then
Speaker 2: she ended up passing away and that was a whole
Speaker 2: nother identity crisis. And you know, I think in big
Speaker 2: life moments like that, you either kind of crumble or
Speaker 2: you you rise like a phoenix from the ashes. And
Speaker 2: me and my siblings were just like, we have to
Speaker 2: honor our mom, you know, all the things that she
Speaker 2: couldn't do. And she was such an artsy person too,
Speaker 2: and she never got to travel. So then I pivoted
Speaker 2: and I was like, I'm going to move to LA.
Speaker 2: I'm going to pursue comedy and writing. And she was
Speaker 2: a big She was a big factor in me really
Speaker 2: jumping and seeing if the net appeared with that, with
Speaker 2: that decision, and.
Speaker 1: So you moved to LA And how old were you
Speaker 1: at that point?
Speaker 2: I was, I think twenty five, twenty four to twenty
Speaker 2: five because in Betwo Queen my mom being her passing away.
Speaker 2: I got my master's in social work when I worked
Speaker 2: in that field for a while, and that was a
Speaker 2: job that brought me to La so I could. I
Speaker 2: worked overnight graveyard shift at a treatment center in Malibu,
Speaker 2: and then I would not sleep, wake up, take improv classes,
Speaker 2: and then I would sleep in my car for a
Speaker 2: little bit, and then I would intern at the comedy places.
Speaker 2: It was I don't know how I did that during
Speaker 2: that time, but it was just go, go, go, go
Speaker 2: go constantly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're kind of invulnerful when we're young, and she
Speaker 1: don't realize what we can't do.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 1: And so when you moved to LA did you know anybody?
Speaker 1: Did you have any kind of support network out there
Speaker 1: at all, or did you just go in blind?
Speaker 2: Great question. My brother he was actually going to film
Speaker 2: editing school in Burbank, so I stayed with him for
Speaker 2: a little bit. And I did have an old dance
Speaker 2: friend and her now husband that I ended up moving
Speaker 2: in with in North Hollywood, so they were here, but
Speaker 2: it was limited really truly. My community started by going
Speaker 2: to improv. I took a ton of classes and that's
Speaker 2: where I met some of my best friends still to today.
Speaker 2: That yeah, I just hopped around a bunch of improv
Speaker 2: schools and then collected friends and forced them to be
Speaker 2: friends with me too.
Speaker 1: And you were working as a social worker, which yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, man, is that a thankless job? And I've
Speaker 1: had several friends who did it and the burnout rate
Speaker 1: is very high.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's insane. It's insane. And I had this moment
Speaker 2: where I told myself social work is something you can
Speaker 2: do at any age, and so I made the decision
Speaker 2: that you know, writing and improv and all that stuff,
Speaker 2: I had to do it at that point and I
Speaker 2: would put social work on the back burner. But I
Speaker 2: still today, I'm still going to go back. I have
Speaker 2: such a passion for it. Oh yeah. I My passion
Speaker 2: is victim of victims of domestic violence and human trafficking,
Speaker 2: and I was able to work with that population before
Speaker 2: I stopped, and I'm going to go back to it eventually.
Speaker 2: And even things like acting, painting, improv those art forms
Speaker 2: you can use as a tool for therapy, so I
Speaker 2: really want to bring that and dance as well. I
Speaker 2: was doing dance movement therapy before I stopped. So all
Speaker 2: of this stuff that I'm kind of collecting all my
Speaker 2: interests I really want to take back to the social
Speaker 2: work world eventually, just not yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny. I told my you know, I had
Speaker 1: an acting teacher when I was in college who used
Speaker 1: to say to me, it'll take you many years to
Speaker 1: grow into your face. And I had no idea, like
Speaker 1: what does that mean? And I think, looking back on it,
Speaker 1: what it meant is you're never going to get work
Speaker 1: until you're old. And when I gave up acting, when
Speaker 1: I was fortunate that I had a skill I was
Speaker 1: able to use and make earn a living. But once
Speaker 1: I moved back to Las Vegas, I thought, you know what,
Speaker 1: now I can go back to acting without any of
Speaker 1: the worries about not interested in a career or having
Speaker 1: to make money at it or any of that stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, I could just do it for the joy
Speaker 1: of it. And it sounds like you're thinking about that
Speaker 1: in terms of social work in the same way that
Speaker 1: you will be able to go back to it at
Speaker 1: some time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And isn't that so freeing when I mean, both
Speaker 2: of us, I know, can put ourselves back into that
Speaker 2: mindset because I also acted in LA and commercial work
Speaker 2: and I was fed up with it too. But it's
Speaker 2: so freeing when you're like, I'm just going to use
Speaker 2: for fun. I don't care about the getting the right
Speaker 2: agent or yeah, trying to get that lead role, being
Speaker 2: like the hot commodity in LA. It's nice when you're
Speaker 2: just like, I want to do a play just for fine,
Speaker 2: just for fine, So freeing. I love it.
Speaker 1: Have you will get into writing in a minute, But
Speaker 1: have you written any plays?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I actually took a really great play writing class
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles last year when I wrote my first play,
Speaker 2: and it was such a fun experience. And my teacher,
Speaker 2: Bernardo Cubria, who's also a working writer, started as a
Speaker 2: playwright and now works in TV, and I think just
Speaker 2: sold a movie. But he was one of those dead
Speaker 2: poet society teachers that was like hop on your desk,
Speaker 2: and it really made me think about writing in a
Speaker 2: whole different way and like we're saying, like the art
Speaker 2: form should be fun. So, yeah, I wrote my first play,
Speaker 2: and I think you've written place too, right.
Speaker 1: I wrote one, and you know, all the writing that
Speaker 1: I've done has been basically because I had to. I
Speaker 1: wasn't doing it for the joy of it. I was
Speaker 1: doing it in the case of the play, which was
Speaker 1: the first thing that I wrote, other than sort of
Speaker 1: you know, short piece kind of things that were anyway,
Speaker 1: when I got to LA I realized that I was,
Speaker 1: you know, getting into some plays, but I realized I
Speaker 1: was not getting the kind of roles that would get
Speaker 1: me noticed by anybody. And so I thought, the only
Speaker 1: way I'm going to be able to get noticed I
Speaker 1: have a role that because my type was not a
Speaker 1: type that you know, leading man type, even though I
Speaker 1: looked very much like George Clooney. But so I thought, okay,
Speaker 1: I need to write a play for myself. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that can showcase my talents as an actor.
Speaker 2: And what were what was the what was the type
Speaker 2: that you really were trying to showcase? Like what would
Speaker 2: you describe that like for a log line for that
Speaker 2: that character or type that you were trying.
Speaker 1: To for nowadays, you would call that character of the
Speaker 1: gay name friend, right, I mean, and I wasn't playing
Speaker 1: someone gay, but it was. I mean, that's the kind
Speaker 1: of type I was. I was the best friend, you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of either nerdy guy or weirdo guy that
Speaker 1: was the friend of either the girl or the guy
Speaker 1: or whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The George Costanza George Castanza, which is my favorite. Yeah
Speaker 2: there you go, yes, SA character on TV. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: So yeah. Anyway, so I wrote the play and what
Speaker 1: was funny was, you know, one of the reasons I
Speaker 1: did it was to try to get an agent. And
Speaker 1: after one of the performance as a guy approached me
Speaker 1: and he was an agent, and he said, hey, I'd
Speaker 1: like to represent you, and I was like, great, that's
Speaker 1: exactly why I did this, And he said, so, the
Speaker 1: first thing I'd like you to do is write a
Speaker 1: specscript for any sitcom on TV. And I was like, whoa, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: that's not why I'm I'm looking for a nitchin as
Speaker 1: an actor. And he's like, yeah, well, I'm not really
Speaker 1: interested in that. I'm interested in you as a writer.
Speaker 1: And so he agreed to take me on as an
Speaker 1: actor if he could also take me on as a writer.
Speaker 1: But then I didn't do any more writing until I
Speaker 1: was offered my first directing job. But I had to
Speaker 1: write the script in order to direct it.
Speaker 2: So yeah, and do you think that that like him
Speaker 2: pushing you to consider yourself more of a writer as well?
Speaker 2: Do you think that that led to your directing career
Speaker 2: without him, without him saying like I want you as
Speaker 2: an actor and writer, do you think you would have
Speaker 2: pursued directing? Still?
Speaker 1: You know, the two things were totally separate. The directing
Speaker 1: came about as really a fluke. You know. I hit
Speaker 1: the that wall where I realized I didn't want to
Speaker 1: be an actor in Hollywood and I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do. And I had a friend who was going
Speaker 1: to make a movie. He had put together like sixty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. He was going to make a little movie.
Speaker 1: He asked me to help. I said, of course. And
Speaker 1: I was basically doing what you would call the production manager,
Speaker 1: although it was on a very small, very low budget film.
Speaker 1: And from there he formed a partnership with somebody and
Speaker 1: started a film company and started making these low budget
Speaker 1: movies that they were cranking out. And I was basically
Speaker 1: the production manager on all these early films, and they
Speaker 1: started to it started to be too much for him.
Speaker 1: He was doing all the writing and directing, and his
Speaker 1: partner was doing all of the shooting and editing.
Speaker 2: And only two people. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah. And I mean our crews in the
Speaker 1: beginning were you know, ten twelve people. And anyway, they
Speaker 1: got to the ninth film and he said, you know,
Speaker 1: do you want to direct? And I was like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would, you know, and and and that's kind of
Speaker 1: how that happened. So it had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: my agent, who never really did anything for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh my gosh, they never do. But you know,
Speaker 2: I'm going to be a big nerd right now and
Speaker 2: go back to improv. And yes, and I think that
Speaker 2: that's something that again you and I both share, not
Speaker 2: having an experience with something someone offering it to us
Speaker 2: and us going yeah, I'll do that and then internally
Speaker 2: being like maybe a little scared, but I'll figure it
Speaker 2: out as I go, or I'll do a bunch of research.
Speaker 2: And a lot of people I think they let fear
Speaker 2: stop them from saying yes. And you, if you say yes,
Speaker 2: your life can skyrocket in totally different, wonderful directions. So
Speaker 2: I'm glad we both have that yes and skill.
Speaker 1: Life is a gamble.
Speaker 2: There is right there there, it is there.
Speaker 1: Takes a risk. Okay, So I want to get back
Speaker 1: to comedy. So you're done with dance, you're working as
Speaker 1: a social work, you're taking improv classes. But the like,
Speaker 1: the the goal wasn't I'm going to be I'm going
Speaker 1: to make my living doing improv. So the thought was
Speaker 1: I can parlay improv into doing stand up comedy.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a great that's a great question. I
Speaker 2: think when I was heavy into improv, I was just
Speaker 2: so happy, like I got out of my shell. I
Speaker 2: was so quiet and shy. Pulled me out of my
Speaker 2: shell and I was just having a blast. You don't
Speaker 2: get opportunities like that a lot as an adult, where
Speaker 2: you get to just play and have fun with your
Speaker 2: friends and laugh. And I know that something you say
Speaker 2: a lot about your gambling days and being in a
Speaker 2: hotel room with your friends and just laughing even though
Speaker 2: you can, and sleeping on the floor even though you
Speaker 2: have separate rooms. It just it had that feel of
Speaker 2: just like so much joy. So at the time, I
Speaker 2: think I just really wanted to be an improv performer.
Speaker 2: I wanted to get on teams and travel, and at
Speaker 2: the time I wasn't really trying to do any stand up.
Speaker 2: But what improv did for me was I started to
Speaker 2: write sketches, and I started I wrote a one woman show,
Speaker 2: and then I remembered how much I loved writing. I
Speaker 2: loved writing as a kid, but I think I told
Speaker 2: you I had this terrible teacher who was too critical
Speaker 2: in elementary school.
Speaker 1: All the grades.
Speaker 2: They're too young to be critical, but I they kind
Speaker 2: of like maybe a little scared to write. And so
Speaker 2: comedy opened up that door again. I started to write,
Speaker 2: and then I realized, like, oh, I think I want
Speaker 2: be in a writer's room. I think the sketch writing
Speaker 2: and this collaboration I'm experiencing on these sketch teams is
Speaker 2: so fun. I didn't want to go back to school
Speaker 2: for it. I did not want to work at an
Speaker 2: agency because I had heard horror stories of agents throwing
Speaker 2: staplers at insurance heads. I didn't want to experience that.
Speaker 2: And so then I just started to tell all of
Speaker 2: my improv friends, if you hear of an assistant job
Speaker 2: in a writer's room, let me know. And I just
Speaker 2: repeated it over and over and over, which again, if
Speaker 2: people don't know what you're looking for, they can't help you.
Speaker 2: So then I had a friend that was leaving her
Speaker 2: job at Shondaland to go to Clowns School, and she
Speaker 2: got me an interview with that writer. Him and I
Speaker 2: hit it off, and then I got my first writing
Speaker 2: assistant job, which was for the show and Mintique Anna
Speaker 2: and I think I told you this. Shonda Rhimes herself
Speaker 2: was show running it, and so I was. I got
Speaker 2: a masterclass in writing and how to give notes and
Speaker 2: how to collaborate in a writer's room. But to answer
Speaker 2: your question, because I can be a little word vomity,
Speaker 2: improv helped me realize I wanted to be a writer.
Speaker 1: Gotcha, Yeah, you know. The writing that I have enjoyed
Speaker 1: has always been writing with a partner, never writing alone.
Speaker 1: And I've always been sort of a team player. I
Speaker 1: you know, for my gambling career, I worked always with
Speaker 1: at least one partner and often more. And the same
Speaker 1: thing in the in writing and anything in my life.
Speaker 1: You know, I want to be working with other people. Yeah, same,
Speaker 1: Where did the stand up comedy come in?
Speaker 2: So when I was doing improv, I got I sometimes
Speaker 2: got a little to do improv. You have to get
Speaker 2: your crew together. You have to make sure everyone's there.
Speaker 2: Schedules are so hard to line up. And then I
Speaker 2: did my one woman show and I had so many
Speaker 2: people come up to me and say you should do
Speaker 2: stand up, and so then I started to do stand
Speaker 2: up because you can just go to open mics on
Speaker 2: your own. You don't need to schedule with anyone, although
Speaker 2: I did. You and I are the same. I love
Speaker 2: having a bud. My friend Carmen would go to open
Speaker 2: mics with me until she moved to New York for
Speaker 2: another job and left me. But yeah, I just had
Speaker 2: so many people say you'd be really good at stand up,
Speaker 2: and so I started to do it, and I really
Speaker 2: loved it. The only reason I stopped was the grind.
Speaker 2: I didn't want to be up at one am doing shows.
Speaker 2: I was tired. I was so tired. But again it's
Speaker 2: something I'll go back to at some point too, because
Speaker 2: I love it. It was so fun.
Speaker 1: You know, it seems like here in Las Vegas there
Speaker 1: is an open night open mic every single night of
Speaker 1: the week. Somewhere.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I assume La is the same way, yeah.
Speaker 2: And different, like there's some that start at five pm
Speaker 2: all the way to but you know, as you know,
Speaker 2: Los Angeles is a driving city, and so you would
Speaker 2: have one open mic and have to drive twenty minutes
Speaker 2: to the next open mic. And it was that was
Speaker 2: the other part of the grind late nights, but also
Speaker 2: having to be in your car. But in New York
Speaker 2: you just hop on the train. It's so much easier. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So you get into the writer's room as an
Speaker 1: assistant to one of the writers on what was the
Speaker 1: name of the show.
Speaker 2: Again, inventing Anna. It's about that grifter who stole a
Speaker 2: lot of money from banks and hotels and.
Speaker 1: Oh, based on the true story, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah yeah and Adelie yeah an adelv yeah yeah
Speaker 3: yeah yeah yeah yeah okay, and and so then was
Speaker 3: there was that a grind until you actually got into
Speaker 3: a room as as a writer as opposed to an assistant.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it was. I've I feel like the common
Speaker 2: theme of all the things I've done are it is
Speaker 2: a grind and the path I took from assistant to writer.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know this too from being in LA
Speaker 2: that is so rare. One percent of people go from
Speaker 2: assistant to writer. It is a hard It's hard to
Speaker 2: find an assistant job. It is almost impossible nowadays. It's
Speaker 2: something that is word of mouth. No one posted posts
Speaker 2: it on any job listing or anything. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: had to work really, really really hard. I had to
Speaker 2: kind of be available around the had to I had
Speaker 2: to always like read scripts and have notes ready and
Speaker 2: have like feedback ready for my boss. And even when
Speaker 2: you're in a bad mood, you have to like put
Speaker 2: on a face.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: It's because the industry is a lot of do when
Speaker 2: people are hiring an assistant, are you talented? Like kay?
Speaker 2: Can you write? And also a big one is do
Speaker 2: will I be able to hang out with you for
Speaker 2: the entire week? Are you someone that I'll mesh with?
Speaker 2: And so you never want to be a debbie downer
Speaker 2: or you know, it's hard because everyone has bad days,
Speaker 2: but I really had to kind of hide how much
Speaker 2: it was affecting me. All of the grind in the work.
Speaker 2: It was tough. It was really tough.
Speaker 1: You weren't still trying to work another job at the
Speaker 1: same time right once you were.
Speaker 2: No. I was lucky because my brother had a thriving
Speaker 2: mobile game business at the time, so I was able
Speaker 2: to work for him a little bit because assistant jobs
Speaker 2: pay nothing, but I was able to work for him,
Speaker 2: and the assistant job and working for your brother is
Speaker 2: a lot easier than yeah, having a full time a
Speaker 2: full time gig for a company. So yeah, I did.
Speaker 2: I didn't have to. I didn't have to do the
Speaker 2: whole graveyard shift thing that I was doing when I
Speaker 2: first moved to La Think. God, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: If i'd made I would have made it out.
Speaker 1: So what was your first shot then of actually writing something?
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't just immediately get hired as a writer.
Speaker 1: You they ask you to do a script, right or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So Shondaland is really great about nurturing talent for
Speaker 2: assistant So one of the first steps you have at
Speaker 2: Shondaland is once you're a writer's assistant. You're allowed to
Speaker 2: pitch in the room. Now, you're not supposed to pitch
Speaker 2: too much. You can't pitch more than the writers. You
Speaker 2: can't overtalk. It's like being at a party and being
Speaker 2: in a circle and one person is like monopolizing the conversation.
Speaker 2: That's a no, no, you can't ever do that. So
Speaker 2: you have to find your time and you know, be
Speaker 2: a problem solver, find a pitch that if the writers
Speaker 2: are like, like, how, you know, how do we get
Speaker 2: this character this on this yacht because they're all the
Speaker 2: way in Kentucky and we got to get them to
Speaker 2: this to the ocean, how like? And then you're the
Speaker 2: person that's like, hey, just hop them on an airplane,
Speaker 2: fly them to the you know, you just have to
Speaker 2: find a solution. And then everyone's like, oh my gosh, amazing,
Speaker 2: why didn't we think of that? And then you look
Speaker 2: like a hero. So you start with pitching a little bit.
Speaker 2: And then at shondaland sometimes they'll assign scenes scene work
Speaker 2: to the assistant. Not every assistant, but if you're the
Speaker 2: writer's assistant, and that's the way that they can read
Speaker 2: your work, give you notes. Sometimes a couple of things
Speaker 2: might stay on the screen when it finally gets there,
Speaker 2: which is very cool. And then when I was I
Speaker 2: went from writer's assistant to researcher because Shondaland is another
Speaker 2: like Aaron Sorkin, a couple of these production cup to
Speaker 2: you have a researcher on the show, and so on Bridgerton,
Speaker 2: I was a researcher and that's when I was allowed
Speaker 2: to write an episode with one of the writers. And
Speaker 2: that was an amazing experience and one that when you're
Speaker 2: finally able to do it, you either love it or
Speaker 2: you hate it, and luckily I loved it. You know,
Speaker 2: you have to have these experiences to know if you
Speaker 2: actually want to pursue the career. But I was able
Speaker 2: to run the room, be in charge of like what
Speaker 2: went on the board. It was so exciting and so fun.
Speaker 1: Wait, so that was just for the one episode that
Speaker 1: you were co writing.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, so that was season four.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I didn't realize there was a whole room
Speaker 1: for each individual episode.
Speaker 2: I mean, well, what was your question?
Speaker 1: Well yeah, so yeah, explain So first of all, on Bridgerton. So,
Speaker 1: for any of the listeners who don't know, Bridgerton is
Speaker 1: a period drama and So first let's start with what
Speaker 1: did the research involved?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Sure, like what can we would this be anachronistic if
Speaker 1: we did this? Is that kind of stuff?
Speaker 2: Or yeah, yeah pretty much that. I mean I came
Speaker 2: on season three, so a lot of the initial research
Speaker 2: had been done, so my job was very easy. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's if the writers are like one episode, we had
Speaker 2: a hot air balloon and they were like, did hot
Speaker 2: air balloons exist? What? How did they look different than today?
Speaker 2: Or like when when people went swimming during that period,
Speaker 2: like what were their swimsuits looked like? Like what did
Speaker 2: they wear in the water. So it's a lot of
Speaker 2: like they come up with ideas for the episode, and
Speaker 2: then it's like did this exist? Can we put this in?
Speaker 2: Is there some kind of wiggle room where we can
Speaker 2: make it realistic even though it kind of didn't exist yet?
Speaker 2: So yeah, a lot of the research is, hey, we
Speaker 2: this cool idea. Can you go see if if it exists?
Speaker 1: Got it? And so okay, so now they give you
Speaker 1: an assign that you're going to co write an episode.
Speaker 1: What happens at that point, Well, first I cried. I
Speaker 1: went home and I cried and I called all my
Speaker 1: friends and then for that, I was episoder. So in general,
Speaker 1: the writer's room, you get together and you're blue sky
Speaker 1: what they call blue sky, which is everyone's kind of
Speaker 1: like throwing spaghetti at the wall pie in the sky ideas.
Speaker 1: We talk about the season that just happened, We talk
Speaker 1: about where all the characters ended, and then we we
Speaker 1: kind of like dream like, what would we want this
Speaker 1: character to do? What are some arcs that like we
Speaker 1: really want to see them pursue this season? So you
Speaker 1: come up with a ton of ideas, and then the
Speaker 1: showrunner narrows it down and we have go through each episodes.
Speaker 1: We've eight episodes, and we go there's usually the lead
Speaker 1: couple that is the rom Commas based on, and so
Speaker 1: we talk about their a story from the first episode
Speaker 1: to the last episode, and we as a group decide
Speaker 1: where the story is going to fall in each of
Speaker 1: those episodes. And so by the time I'm writing my episode,
Speaker 1: I kind of already know the tent poles, the beginning, middle,
Speaker 1: and end of what's going to happen. But then our
Speaker 1: job when it's our episode. They've done one, two, three,
Speaker 1: and four, those writers are off writing the episode. It's
Speaker 1: our turn.
Speaker 2: We show up with the outline of filling in all
Speaker 2: the gaps that we haven't talked about as a group,
Speaker 2: and then that gets the writer, other writers give notes
Speaker 2: on it, it gets approved, and then at a certain
Speaker 2: point then we go off to script and write it
Speaker 2: and then bring it back to the room for notes.
Speaker 2: So it's it's it's pretty basic. But the best part
Speaker 2: is the collaboration at the beginning, where it's like, where
Speaker 2: can this season go and what's what cool crazy ideas
Speaker 2: can we come up with?
Speaker 1: And and so are you now on staff or was
Speaker 1: that like a one off or what what happened at
Speaker 1: that then?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was that was when I was an assistant,
Speaker 2: and then I was asked to be on staff the
Speaker 2: next season, which they're filming right now, and then I
Speaker 2: will go back to the next season after they're done.
Speaker 2: They're done filming in I think we're starting in August
Speaker 2: or September. Maybe not, still up in the air, but yeah,
Speaker 2: so technically now I'm on staff and I can breathe
Speaker 2: a little bit. The hard work is done and I
Speaker 2: can finally just sit back and breathe.
Speaker 1: So for writers, I know, the big issue of the
Speaker 1: day that has many people very worried is the whole
Speaker 1: AI thing and how is that affecting you guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean everyone, I don't
Speaker 2: know one writer that is pro AI. Yeah, I'm sure
Speaker 2: they exist, just like the people during the strike that
Speaker 2: you know, jobs and they're not supposed to take. But
Speaker 2: we've had conversations about it in the room about like
Speaker 2: do people use it to brainstorm or not? And for
Speaker 2: the most part, I think all of us are just
Speaker 2: avoiding it. And then you know, the Writer's Guild, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of committees with writers that are much more
Speaker 2: involved and smarter than I that are yeah, fighting really
Speaker 2: like making sure they're on top of the legislation and
Speaker 2: making sure it's not infiltrating our industry too much. But
Speaker 2: we're you know, we're trying.
Speaker 1: So another thing is, now, I've been away from Hollywood
Speaker 1: for quite a while now, but if you're a writer
Speaker 1: on the network show you know, CBS, NBC, ABC, you
Speaker 1: basically if you've got a few years of that, you
Speaker 1: could be set for life. And streaming was nowhere close.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was pretty pretty bad, and I know
Speaker 1: the Writer's Guild has been fighting that for a long
Speaker 1: long time and now streaming is actually bigger than the networks,
Speaker 1: but the pay is still nowhere close, am I right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's getting a little bit better. And with
Speaker 2: the current the strike that just happened, it finally got
Speaker 2: approved that streaming you'd get residuals, because for a long
Speaker 2: time you'd work on a Netflix show or HBO or
Speaker 2: something and you wouldn't get any residuals. So it was
Speaker 2: like the PAYI wasn't as good. And then you also
Speaker 2: there wasn't like any kind of paycheck in the future
Speaker 2: as your episodes were being watched by millions of people.
Speaker 2: Network I don't know if it's as good as it was.
Speaker 2: That's something that like I feel like I got to
Speaker 2: educate myself a little bit better about because for such
Speaker 2: a long time, I was like, I just really want
Speaker 2: to get the job. And now you know, you have
Speaker 2: to be more aware of like what the pay structures are.
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, in the beginning, you just exactly you
Speaker 2: don't care what the money is. You just want the job. Yeah, exactly, exactly,
Speaker 2: but it is you know, you have to inform your
Speaker 2: but but I'll tell you, the dreaming has gotten better.
Speaker 2: But there's a lot of room for growth. But you know,
Speaker 2: as you know, a lot of those companies they penny
Speaker 2: pinch and they they want the cheapest, the cheapest route
Speaker 2: and the cheapest writer. And that's unfortunate. But that's that's
Speaker 2: a tale as old as time. You know, big companies
Speaker 2: they just that's that's their goal is to save money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and while at the same time they waste so
Speaker 1: much money and it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh, I've got thoughts on that that I won't say
Speaker 2: on the podcast, but I'll tell you off the podcast.
Speaker 2: I've got many thoughts, many things I've seen of a
Speaker 2: lot of waste.
Speaker 1: But you know, I you know, I had I had
Speaker 1: a friend that I used to work with in film
Speaker 1: and his dad was a producer of you know, big
Speaker 1: shows back in this early in the seventies, you know,
Speaker 1: shows that we all would have watched when we kids
Speaker 1: or whatever. And he said, you know, whenever my mom
Speaker 1: wanted to remodel the house, he would just arrange for
Speaker 1: scenes to be shot in our house and then he
Speaker 1: would direct the art department how to remodel them house.
Speaker 2: Now that's an advantage player move if I've ever heard of. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's really smart.
Speaker 1: So so you have these long hiatus. Do writers take
Speaker 1: other shows that are when their main show is off
Speaker 1: on hiatus?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean right now. The industry is
Speaker 2: tough and jobs are far and few between. But that's
Speaker 2: why networking is so important in the injury, because you'll
Speaker 2: often hear about jobs through through your friends and through
Speaker 2: people you've worked with. Even like I'm a lower level writer,
Speaker 2: even higher level writers, their agent will say, hey, this
Speaker 2: this room is about to start. Do you know anyone
Speaker 2: in the room that can can vouch for you? So
Speaker 2: it's like, like we said, agents and managers, they don't
Speaker 2: do a ton. They do some stuff, but it is
Speaker 2: really like who you know? So yeah, some of the
Speaker 2: writers in my room, they hopped on some other stuff.
Speaker 2: The there was a legally Blonde TV show that happened,
Speaker 2: and my friend worked on that. But for me, when
Speaker 2: I got my I I had worked so hard. I
Speaker 2: was so burnt out that I kind of was like
Speaker 2: I don't want to I mean, yes, I want to
Speaker 2: work and I want other jobs, but I really was like,
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna take a big break. I needed it.
Speaker 2: I was so burnt out, so burnt out, it was
Speaker 2: so like it drains you because even when I was
Speaker 2: an assistant, I hopped on other shows as a writer's assistant.
Speaker 2: I worked on the show Physical, there was a reboot
Speaker 2: of The L Word I helped on, and it's just
Speaker 2: you just go, go, go constantly. But yeah, right now,
Speaker 2: the industry is a bit hard. Yeah, get hard.
Speaker 1: And the agents and managers base only want you when
Speaker 1: you don't need them anymore. Oh yeah no, I mean
Speaker 1: maybe they could negotiate you a better contract or something,
Speaker 1: but basically in my experience was I already got the job.
Speaker 1: Now they want to Now they want to represent me,
Speaker 1: so they can just take their peace, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Yeah, so yeah, it was a really awful
Speaker 1: part of the business.
Speaker 3: Oh it is.
Speaker 2: But you know, one of my friends, I've learned so
Speaker 2: much from her. She was an assistant as well, but
Speaker 2: she was an assistant before me, so she's always one
Speaker 2: step ahead, and I was able to kind of see, like,
Speaker 2: how is she doing it? What can I learn from?
Speaker 2: And when she got staffed, she got reps and she said, hey,
Speaker 2: I got I got staffed on my own. You're not
Speaker 2: getting any of this money. And the reps were like yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: Like we'll wait till the next job you get. But
Speaker 2: I was like wow, old yeah. And some people again
Speaker 2: we go back, going back to like operating by fear
Speaker 2: of just like I need a rep, so I'll give
Speaker 2: them anything or all. You know, I'm going to prove
Speaker 2: to them that I'm worthy. I had this cool friend
Speaker 2: that was like, I'm worthy, and you're not getting any
Speaker 2: of this money I worked for, and I will if
Speaker 2: you find me something, you can have a piece of it.
Speaker 2: But that's another thing about networking is you learn from
Speaker 2: each other. Yeah yeah, yeah, huge, huge part of it. Huge.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: My sort of general operating principles when I'm trying to
Speaker 1: learn something is first go read everything I can on it,
Speaker 1: and then go find people who are already very good
Speaker 1: at it and try to learn as much from them
Speaker 1: as they will allow.
Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: In La.
Speaker 2: A lot of my friends joke and call me the
Speaker 2: coffee Queen because I'll just ask people to go to
Speaker 2: coffee to ask some questions and I basically what you're saying,
Speaker 2: it's like I don't know everything, Like, yeah, can I
Speaker 2: ask for advice?
Speaker 1: Yep, yep.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: My attitude was always I'm always willing to take the meeting.
Speaker 1: I will go have a meeting with anybody, and ninety
Speaker 1: nine percent of them turn into nothing.
Speaker 2: But you just never know what you know, Yeah, and
Speaker 2: sometimes it's just a really fun conversation. I think the
Speaker 2: way I treat networking is never what could you do
Speaker 2: for me? I've always like really prided myself in that
Speaker 2: of because it's happened to me. I've been at a
Speaker 2: party where I'm talking to someone and then they realize
Speaker 2: I can't I don't have a cool job, or I
Speaker 2: couldn't do anything for them, and then they look over
Speaker 2: my head to scare, oh, oh that's a chip on
Speaker 2: my shoulder. And I remember being like, I'll never do
Speaker 2: that to anybody. But the way I network, and it
Speaker 2: sounds like you're the same way is I go in
Speaker 2: like wanting to make a friend and having a great conversation, yeah,
Speaker 2: and yeah, maybe it doesn't lead to anything. And then
Speaker 2: now with the writing, I really want to demystify the industry,
Speaker 2: and so I told myself that if anyone ever asks
Speaker 2: me to coffee to pick my brain about it, I
Speaker 2: always say yes. I had a girl find me on
Speaker 2: LinkedIn and she was like, you've worked on all these
Speaker 2: shows as a writer's assistant, can I take you to coffee?
Speaker 2: Which when you're a writer, it's you never let anyone
Speaker 2: get you coffee. You always get the person who doesn't
Speaker 2: have the job coffee. It's a it's a nice thing
Speaker 2: where it's like, oh, I have I've have this, like
Speaker 2: a I have this cool job and I can afford it.
Speaker 2: Let me buy you coffee even though you've offered it
Speaker 2: to me. But yeah, I will, even at this podcast,
Speaker 2: if people want to reach out to me, I will
Speaker 2: always take that meeting and and give them any information.
Speaker 1: I have perfect segue. So if people want to get
Speaker 1: a hold of you, what is the best way.
Speaker 2: My email? My email's good or my my instagram is
Speaker 2: at Liz Reichel, which is l I z R e
Speaker 2: I c h E l T. Or my email is
Speaker 2: very similar, it's e R E I c h E
Speaker 2: l T twenty three at gmail dot com. Sometimes I'm
Speaker 2: bad at respons quickly, but I always respond. I always
Speaker 2: write to respond.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, And just any advice for those want to
Speaker 1: be writers out there before we go.
Speaker 2: Oh, of course, write a lot. People can't take that
Speaker 2: away from you. Try to write as much as you can.
Speaker 2: If people try to, you know, say that your perspective
Speaker 2: or your point of view is wrong. They're wrong. So right,
Speaker 2: the things you want to write, the genres you want
Speaker 2: to write, and really find a network of people that
Speaker 2: you can have writer meetings with, like where you can
Speaker 2: share work, people you can vent with, people you can
Speaker 2: go go watch a movie with and analyze it with.
Speaker 2: So write a lot and find a community. Great.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a question I ask all my guests before
Speaker 1: we leave, and that is favorite restaurant in Las Vegas
Speaker 1: that is not in a case.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's hard because my brain just went
Speaker 2: to a Malfie in Caesar's because I'm obsessed with it. Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: you might have to edit out this pause. Where have
Speaker 2: I been? Oh, you know, there's a lot of really
Speaker 2: good Hawaiian barbecue here. I think there's one called Mobetta's,
Speaker 2: and I order a lot from it. It is cheap,
Speaker 2: it's so good. The chicken. Yeah, it's any Hawaiian barbecue,
Speaker 2: but that one I ordered from a lot?
Speaker 1: Uh huh, Okay, I will This question is completely selfish
Speaker 1: because I'm always looking for new places to go eat.
Speaker 2: So oh, and and the pizza place that you and
Speaker 2: I went to that was a recommendation. I forget the
Speaker 2: name of it.
Speaker 1: That's oh, a more taste of Chicago.
Speaker 2: No, not that it was. Wasn't it something zero? It
Speaker 2: was in Chinatown?
Speaker 1: Oh oh yes, yes, yes that yeah, I think it
Speaker 1: was called Pizza zero.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that thing from a friend of ours recommended it.
Speaker 2: But that pizza place was so great. Yeah. And then
Speaker 2: Mobeta is if you want Hawaiian barbecue, it's very good.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I'm going to thank you for doing
Speaker 1: this and and that's it. Any final thoughts.
Speaker 2: This was so fun, Thank you for having me on it.
Speaker 2: And everyone should listen to this podcast.
Speaker 1: Well if they heard you say that, they already are
Speaker 1: so exactly in that case, recommended to a friend.
Speaker 2: The recommend it to a friend. Even your dentist, your therapist,
Speaker 2: recommended to somebody.
Speaker 1: There you go, all right, we'll see you next time, everybody.
Speaker 2: Free audio post production by alphonic dot Com.