Ep468 - Lee Eisenberg, Screenwriter ‘Lessons in Chemistry,’ ‘The Office,’ and ‘Jury Duty’

“I moved out to LA in 1999 with my best friend from high school. Every summer in college, we would write a screenplay. We were waiters during the day and then at night we would write,” says Lee Eisenberg. “Primarily, we would write comedies, or at least what we were attempting to be comedies.” Eventually, the partnership dissolved. Eisenberg’s friend got a real job and he eventually landed a PA job on the film, Bedazzled. “I was the office PA and I met an intern named Gene Stupnitsky (No Hard Feelings) who was working for Harold Ramis.” “We started writing together, sold a few ideas to Larry David for Curb Your Enthusiasm, then wrote a pilot about two loser magicians who were roommates and just trying to get ahead. We were the two losers,” he jokes. “We sold it to Fox. It never got made, but that was our writing sample. We got hired on The Office. Funny enough, Harold read it, liked it, and hired us to co-write the movie Year One with him.” “When we were first starting off, I think jokes ruled. I’m very proud of that initial pilot, but it has no pathos. It could be animated to a certain extent. It had a lot of similarities to Flight of the Conchords or Arrested Development and less so, The Office.” These days, Eisenberg is best known for writing The Office, Bad Teacher, Hello Ladies, Good Boys, WeCrashed, Little America, and two new series, Jury Duty and Lessons in Chemistry.  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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