Last night, Will and I went with a few friends to catch "Better Off Dead" at the Aero in Santa Monica. The extra-awesome catch? There was LIVE COMMENTARY provided by Savage Steve Holland, E.G. Daily, Diane Franklin and Curtis Armstrong. How could we not go?
...
Lizzie McGuire was my first writing job, ever. I had been working around sitcoms with my boss at the time, and had even had the good fortune to hang out in a few Writers' Rooms. I was banging out spec scripts with my writing partner (and older brother) and watching my 30th year looming on the horizon. I wondered if perhaps I should pack up and go home.
My boss, Susan - also a friend and mentor (and someone that I have not talked to in ages because I suck, and I need to remedy that, stat) - asked me to give her just one more TV season to see if she could get us a job. Let me repeat that for the cheap seats.
She asked me to give her one more TV season to see if she could get us a job.
Talk about an offer you couldn't refuse.
I loved working for Susan, but she knew that I didn't want to be fetching lattes when I was 30.
Six months later, there was a knock on my front door. I opened it. Susan walked in, sat down on the couch and said congratulations, you're a Staff Writer on Lizzie McGuire.
Disney had asked Susan to run Lizzie, and the first thing she did was hire us. It was a weird feeling, and after hugging her with what I'm sure was a slack-jawed expression and promises that the details would be worked out later, I sat down on the couch with my dog Thurber and said it out loud. I'm a writer. I have a writing job.
Flash forward months later and I'm in the thick of writing for Lizzie (which at that point was called "What's Lizzie Thinking?") Story meetings and Writers' Rooms and walking down to stage to watch the sets being built. Our first episode began shooting on my older brother's 30th birthday. Life was good.
And it was about to get better.
Around Thanksgiving, I checked the directing schedule to see who would be shooting our next episode. The name? Savage Steve Holland.
I ran up to our office (which had formerly hosted the staff of I Love Lucy, and hadn't been updated since) and shared the news. SAVAGE STEVE HOLLAND. Writer and director of Better Off Dead, which was one a cornerstone of our comedy development, WAS DIRECTING SOMETHING WE WROTE. (I believe the episode was Obsession, but I could be wrong.)
I returned to work after holiday break filled with nervous energy.I checked in at the office to discover that even thought it was 11:30am, everyone on set had already broken for lunch. They were ahead of schedule. I ran down to the stage, ignoring craft service to find our 2nd AD. I finally found Polly and asked where I could find Mr. Holland. She laughed and pointed me to the cafeteria set.
I poked my head in to see him eating at a lunch table, alone.
Here's something you may not know about me: I don't get star-struck. Maybe it's a function of living and working out here, I don't know. But that day, I was shaking I was so incredibly nervous as I approached someone who was such an inspiration to me, in a TV set that mimicked my own Junior High cafeteria where my friends and I discussed Better Off Dead over greasy slices of pizza and Diet Cokes.
To this day, I'm not exactly sure what I said, but I think it was something like
Mr., um, Savage Holland, uh, sir...
Over the next couple of years, our paths crossed on Lizzie, and then he talked to us about a project he wanted to bring us in on. We couldn't comprehend it. He wanted to work with US? Unfortunately, that project went nowhere (as projects sometimes go.) With the craziness of life, the universe and everything, it had been a few years since I saw Savage last.
As Will and I approached the theatre, I was delighted to see all of the fans, all of us who knew each line of dialog. We found our seats with Dan and Chia and Joe and everyone applauded as Savage and the rest of the cast made their way to the front of the theatre. It was less like a screening and more like a party as we all watched together. There's something about being with a bunch of awesome people honoring someone that you think is awesome that is just, well, awesome.
There are so many stories of people crapping all over each other in Hollywood. I've probably told a few of them myself. But last night I was reminded of how lucky I've been to work with the people that I've worked with. I've had the opportunity to meet with those who have inspired me, and now I have the honor of calling them friends.
And it reminded me that I'd like to work with a lot of them again. So I'd better get to work.
