Ep409 - Justin Halpern & Patrick Schumacker, Screenwriters ‘Harley Quinn’ & ‘Abbott Elementary’

“We were interns together at A Band Apart Productions, which was Quentin Tarantino’s production company,” says Justin Halpern, about his partnership with Patrick Schumacker. “We worked in commercials and music videos…we never saw Quentin, ever. Ever.” Back then, Halpern wanted to be a screenwriter and Schumacker wanted to be a commercial and music video director. “I always enjoyed writing, but I think I was more passionate about communicating through visuals, or words being secondary. That’s perhaps too reductive, but I think that’s why we make a good pairing.” As writing partners, the duo have credits for $#*! My Dad Says, Cougar Town, iZombie, Harley Quinn, and Abbott Elementary. “I come at ideas from a visual or aesthetic place and Justin comes at it from more of a character or psychological place. It works for us.” “We started out feeling like we both had to do the exact same job. We wrote stuff together. We directed together, on the side, when we still had day jobs. But when we got our own show on the air, we felt like we needed to be this two-headed entity performing the same tasks. But now, we’ve developed a system to divide and conquer.” Halpern spends the bulk of his time in the Writer’s Room focusing on story breaking. Schumacker floats between the Writer’s Room and set to oversee the filming process. Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on over 400 interviews here at Creative Principles. Enjoy! If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

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