Dead Pilots Society

Episode 184: Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton Interview Welcome to this month’s after-show interview with Brian Singleton and Jim Brandon. You heard their hilarious pilot Humans of the Americas last week on Dead Pilots Society . You may know Brian and Jim from their work on Mixed-ish (ABC), Black Monday (Showtime), Arrested Development (Netflix), or their current show Animal Control (FOX), now on it’...

Episode 183: Humans of the Americas Written by Jim Brandon & Brian Singleton   This month’s dead pilot is Humans of the Americas by Jim Brandon and Brian Singleton, whose credits include Animal Control (FOX), Mixed-ish (ABC), Black Monday (Showtime), and Arrested Development (Netflix).   Here’s the logline: A single camera comedy set in a small town neighborhood, that is actually a human exhibit....

Episode 182: David S. Rosenthal Interview In this after show for The Cheap Seats , Andrew sits down with writer David S. Rosenthal, whose career spans some of television’s most iconic series. Andrew and "Rosie" go way back to their days at summer camp, and their longtime friendship adds a personal dimension to this conversation. Rosenthal’s career took off quickly—soon after his first writing job,...

Episode 181: The Cheap Seats Written by David S. Rosenthal   This month on Dead Pilots Society we have The Cheap Seats by David S. Rosenthal, a veteran television writer whose credits include Spin City, Gilmore Girls, The Middle, and Jane the Virgin . The script centers on a close-knit group of emotionally and intellectually stunted friends whose world is shaken when one of them begins dating a br...

Episode 180: Gracie Glassmeyer Interview   This after-show episode dives deeper into Here She Lies with its creator, Gracie Glassmeyer. If you heard the table read of this dark, twisty pilot, you probably have questions—like why Seth can’t leave his house, or why Talia has been spying on Amber’s stepmom. Gracie shares the answers, along with her unique path into comedy writing. She’s part of that...

Episode 179: Here She Lies Written by Gracie Glassmeyer Welcome to Dead Pilots Society, the podcast that takes comedy pilots from A-list writers that were sold and developed at networks and streamers but never produced, and gives them the table reads they never got to have. This episode features a pilot from Gracie Glassmeyer. Gracie has written for Ghosts and The Neighborhood , with previous cred...

Episode 178:  Chris Marcil & Sam Johnson Interview ( Blessed and Highly Favored , NewsRadio, Beavis and Butt-Head)   In this after-show interview, Andrew sits down with longtime writing partners Chris Marcil and Sam Johnson. Friends and collaborators, Marcil and Johnson share some incredible stories from their decades in the business. They talk about how they got their start writing for Beavis and...

Episode 177: Blessed and Highly Favored by Chris Marcil & Sam Johnson - Live from the Elysian Theater We have such a great dead pilot for you this month. It's called Blessed and Highly Favored. It’s a hilarious comedy about a rookie pastor struggling to keep her progressive Baptist church afloat while dealing with megachurch competition, financial strain, and the looming presence of her father—the...

Episode 176: Ilana Peña ( Diary of a Future President ) and Anne Sundell (writer and comedian) Interview In this month’s after-show interview, Andrew chats with Ilana Peña ( Diary of a Future President ) and Anne Sundell (writer and comedian) about their pilot How to Get Over Bryan Byers . The pair share the real-life inspiration behind the show — yes, the actual Bryan Byers who unknowingly brough...

Episode 175: How To Get Over Bryan Byers Written by Ilana Peña & Anne Sundell (Recorded Live at the Elysian Theater) This month on Dead Pilots Society , we’re bringing you How To Get Over Bryan Byers , a hilarious comedy pilot from Ilana Peña ( Diary of a Future President ) and Anne Sundell (writer and comedian). The show follows two former enemies, Anna and Izzy, who become best friends after rea...

Episode 174: Austen Earl Interview ( Letters to Beyoncé, Up All Night , The Millers , Happy Together ) In this after-show interview, Andrew talks with writer/producer Austen Earl about his pilot Letters to Beyoncé , inspired by his own mom. Austen shares how he went from a tiny town in Vermont to a Hollywood writing career—with a surprising assist from his athletic background. They discuss the ups...

Episode 173: Letters to Beyoncé written by Austin Earl ( Up All Night , The Millers , Happy Together )   In this episode of Dead Pilots Society , we bring you a heartfelt and hilarious pilot from Austen Earl ( Up All Night , The Millers , Happy Together , About My Father ). The script, Letters to Beyoncé , tells the story of a middle-aged schoolteacher in rural New England who decides to reclaim h...

In this after-show episode of Dead Pilot Society , we're joined by writer Lauren Herstik, who brought us Camp Friends — a pilot that's had more lives (and deaths) than most scripts could dream of. This one has everything: clown camp trauma, projectile vomit over a salad bar, surrealist puberty freakouts, and a long, winding journey through the chaotic world of TV development. Lauren sits down with...

This month, we have a fantastic dead pilot, Camp Friends, written by Lauren Herstik. You may know Lauren as a writer on American Vandal and Pearson. Camp Friends is about best friends who spend every summer at Camp Wigeon. This is their CIT (counselor-in-training) year, the last before becoming counselors, and the last chance to have the best summer ever. So when a new, hot, mystery girl shows up...

This is the After Show episode for Buffalo Tens featuring Andrew’s interview with Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero (Another Period). It’s also our last episode of MaxFunDrive 2025. If you haven’t joined, boosted or upgraded yet, what are you waiting for?! You’re reading the show notes! You’re obviously a fan! Go to maximum fun.org/join right now! And then you can enjoy the insane story of how mal...

MaxFunDrive 2025 continues with a second episode of Buffalo Tens from Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero (Another Period). Fox liked this show about two Matchmakers from Hell in Buffalo, New York enough to order a second episode from Riki and Natasha. And then they passed, but we have revived it and are bringing it to you here! Remember, this is the time of year where we celebrate MaxFun members an...

You can support Dead Pilots Society and get access to all of our bonus content, and the bonus content from every other Maximum Fun show, by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join . And if you're already a member, first of all - thank you!, you can upgrade or boost your membership and get some cool gifts. Go to maximumfun.org/join now! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a mem...

We have another live show coming up soon. It’s on Sunday March 16th at 2:00 and at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles, and we will be reading not one but two episodes of a hilarious dead pilot or I guess a dead show, written by and starring the incredible Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero. Riki and Natasha co-created and starred in the Comedy Central show Another Period. But you know them from so...

John also wrote on Veronica Mars, iZombie, and Benched. This pilot has that unique Enbom touch. Rich Dan, Poor Dan was recorded live in front of an audience at the Elysian Theatre in Los Angeles. Our cast was Ryan Hansen (Party Down) as Danny, Martin Starr (Party Down, Silicon Valley) as Daniel, Zoe Chao (Party Down) as Marnie, Olivia Liang (Kung Fu) as Sasha, Comedian Patrick McDonald as Stuart,...

In this interview we talk about Joe and Joe’s first show business jobs, including the insane, no-longer existent job of Night PA, delivering scripts in the wee hours of the night. They talk about how far having a great attitude can take you in this business, the lessons they’ve learned through their long careers and what they look for in people when they’re staffing shows.   And we have an update...

Things have been a little tough in Los Angeles this month, so we are bringing you our first ever Dead Pilots Society Rerun. This is one of our all-time favorite episodes. From way back in 2020, it's  Eternally Yours  from Joe Port & Joe Wiseman (Ghosts, The Office, New Girl), about a family of normal looking but emotionally closed off, stuck-together-for-eternity vampires. If you think there's no...

A happy holidays to you! Hopefully you're wearing that Dead Pilots Society shirt you bought for yourself as a gift while listening to this episode! This is our interview with Amy and Brendan. In it you'll hear an honest take about how hard it is to sell things and make a living in Hollywood these days. We get into Amy & Brendan's writing dynamic, navigating writing with a partner versus writing so...

It's the end of the year and we have a very special dead pilot for you! This is The 14th Floor written by Amy Reed (The Diary of a Future President) & Brendan Scannell (Bonding).  It centers around an ambitious young executive at multinational McKenna Corp who gets hip-checked by her threatened CEO, and is then banished to the depths of the 14th floor, where a staff of castoffs collect checks doin...

Happy Thanksgiving! In this episode, Andrew interviews Bill Callahan about his pilot Massholes . Bill has an impressive résumé, having worked on Spin City , 8 Simple Rules , Scrubs , Psych , American Housewife , and The Goldbergs . A former college athlete turned comedy writer, Bill shares his journey from football to comedy, starting in an agency mailroom and learning from legends like Gary David...

This month's pilot is Massholes . It was set up at ABC and written by Bill Callahan ( Scrubs , Spin City ). Bill is a veteran comedy writer who's worked on so many shows you know and love. This is a Friends -style ensemble pilot inspired by Bill's group of friends from Massachusetts. To keep things authentic, we assembled an all-star cast of actors from the Boston area. Massholes stars Rob Corddry...