In looking for another storyteller to attend for this blog, I wasn’t seeing anything that caught my eye. The few that did, were naturally scheduled during classes. So I was pretty optimistic when I heard that Newhouse alum Danny Zuker was speaking at a time “convenient” to me. All that I knew about Mr. Zuker (Danny, as he told us to call him) was that he was a fairly successful writer, surely a storyteller, and he worked on a show that I’d seen from time to time.
Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made this semester. Danny sat on a pannel with two Newhouse writing professors (as the lecture was part of a writing class that was open to other students) and spoke openly about the writing process, his inspirations, and his specific role at his current job- oh yeah, he works on Modern Family. Turns out, everyone gets writers block. Whether you’re writing your fiction pitch for COM117 or a treatment for the season finale of Modern Family, it happens to everyone. Also, apparently it helps if you have a loveless marriage. At least that’s something that Danny referenced several times, along with his other “life experiences” that he said most students just don’t have enough of to write some of the material that the writers of Modern Family can come up with. He also proudly claimed that he was responsible for writing the four most expensive episodes in Modern Family’s run so far.
Overall the talk was well worth it. A very cool insight to a true industry professional. On top of it all, the entire lecture was hilarious. One specific episode Danny cited was “Manny Get Your Gun.” The majority of the ideas from this episode came from his home life, including how his wife always misplaces her keys and acts as if they were stolen. “Yes dear, they stole they keys and left the car.” Gotta love a loveless marriage.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTOvZdAqrwM[/youtube]
