Contributor Matt Ruby speaks with comedian and writer Dan Shaki about his experience of working on a sitcom pitch and pilot with Nate Bargatze and Jerrod Carmichael. We’re also joined by Jacqueline Soller to discuss two newly released movies: Disobedience, directed by Sebastián Lelio and starring Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola; and Duck Butter, directed by Miguel Arteta and starring Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa. Along the way, we’ll also hear from Radio Dispatch’s Molly Knefel about how Democrats are moving to the left on jobs and related policies; we’ll hear from a woman named Summer about being proactive in helping others; and we’ll hear a song from a recent BTR Live Studio session featuring Brooklyn’s Operator Music Band.

Music composed by and show edited by Hansdale Hsu.

00:00 - Intro

01:16 - START /// Dan Shaki on Writing A Sitcom Pilot (w/ Matt Ruby)

01:48 - Pitching a show to networks with Nate Bargatze & Jerrod Carmichael

06:02 - About Jerrod Carmichael

07:34 - About Nate Bargatze

08:49 - Meeting and working with Nate

12:57 - Crash course in the business side of selling a script

13:57 - “Selling a world” / forward in the process / defining the show

19:41 - Nate vs. Jerrod / exploring issues / multicam vs. singlecam

25:35 - Outlining classic sitcoms to learn from them

26:43 - The ‘Golden Girls’ pilot is “unbelievable”

28:38 - ‘The Cosby Show’ pilot

33:08 - From pitch to ‘story area’ to outline to script and rewrites

36:24 - Current status of the pilot

40:12 - Differences in the Netflix model

41:54 - 1st Person: Summer // Being Proactive About Helping Others

44:45 - Movie Review: ‘Disobedience’ w/ Jacqueline Soller

46:08 - Movie Chat: ‘Disobedience’ (spoiler alert)

59:38 - Movie Review: ‘Duck Butter’ w/ Jacqueline Soller

61:09 - Movie Chat: ‘Duck Butter’ (spoiler alert)

73:06 - Molly Knefel // Dems Move To The Left On Jobs

75:41 - “Sunk” (BTR Live Studio, 2018) - Operator Music Band

80:15 - Outro / Credits

81:04 - Finish.