Sam & Jim say hi

Another pretty good day in L.A. Ordinarily there's nothing more depressing that signing up for a temp agency, however, there's nothing more exciting than signing up for a temp agency with the Hollywood sign as a backdrop to the woman interviewing you as she tells you that they mostly staff Fox and Paramount and that your writing and film crew pedigrees will come in handy. She gave me a word of warning that the studios don't pay much, usually $16 an hour (the most I ever made temping in Chicago was $12). She also told me that they mostly staff assistants to producers and that if they take a shine they'll take you in full time. Might be bullshit, but like everything in this town, I like believing it. Unfortunately I had to tell her I wouldn't be available until January because of another job, which makes me seem like less of a schlub.

Then I traveled entirely by rail (buses suck as much here as they do in Chicago) to gorgeous Pasadena to meet VIP's (Very Important Pasadenians)...Sam & Jim.



Who are Sam & Jim you ask? Well, my non-podcasting friend, they are the Car Talk of screenwriting on this lovely invention called Podcasting or democratized radio. I've been a lifelong talk radio fan long before the government passed a law that all talk had to be conservative, which is just shock jock radio all dessed up for church, "the 9/11 families are just people who want to be on tv?" gasp, you are very shocking, what's in the news Robin?

Podcasting was a lovely respite from the paucity of talk radio in my life a couple years ago. Instantly I found all kinds of filmmaking podcasts, final cut tip podcasts, Penn Jillette's show, Air America (godbless you), Fanboy Radio, CHUD, Creative Screenwriting, and...Sam & Jim Go To Hollywood. Sam & Jim are two Minnesota restauranteurs (and Macalestar grads) who decided one day after opening yet another smash hit restaurant in Minnesota that they weren't living the lives they'd always wanted to live. I know most of the people reading this are perfectly satisfied with where they are and have no unfulfilled dreams, but it really resonated with me (irony alert).

Sure, I had little to complain about, having accomplished my goal of making a sizeable dent in the comedy community in Chicago with the help of five people more talented than myself, but dammit I always wanted to be a filmmaker. Sure you can do all that in Chicago, but name somebody who has (really? are you sure John McNaughton never made a few trips to L.A prior to that? Maybe for financing?). I had to figure this industry out and Sam & Jim put a human face on this need. There they were, perfectly successful, but not perfectly happy. Can regular Joe's make it in Hollywood? No, of course not, go back to xeroxing for Anderson Consulting and stop asking stupid questions. BUT WAIT! Sam & Jim aren't the sons of Jerry Bruckheimer, they're just regular guys with few connections, let's listen in and see if regular Joe's can make it. That's the draw, Sam & Jim are you and I and the podcast chronicles their (your) move to L.A., the trials an tribulations as they get poor, poorer, get agents, get paid a piddling to write screenplays for movies that don't get produced, and eventually to the point where they sell a pilot and end up pitching Stephen King.

So a couple months ago while I was thinking about moving to Los Angeles (not a new thought) and I heard Sam & Jim put out the word that they were starting a new podcast that would be more Public Radio, more narrative, more...radio. They put out the call for writers and I promptly threw my hat in the ring.

So now, 29 days into this crazy adventure where did I find myself? On Sam's gorgeous back porch right outside his converted garage/office, sipping ice tea and having one very enjoyable industry conversation after another.

Sam picked me up at the train depot and drove me to his house. It is weird meeting a stranger who's voice and intonations you know very well. Sam has a particular way of delivering a joke and there I was in the car hearing this familiar delivery come from a stranger. It got stranger when, moments later, I'm standing in Sam's kitchen and in comes Jim, who had been playing video games all day as research (they're writing a video game). Now I'm hearing this duo of voices that were so familiar coming from guys I had only just met. Surreal is not the word, particularly when Jim laughed his very distinctive laugh.

Part of the charm of Sam & Jim's show is their personalities, they're just fun and funloving guys. Well, it's not an act, I'd just as easily hang out with Sam & Jim and talk about dirt as I would film. You should all spend some time with them if you get the chance.

We sat around for two or three hours on a gorgeous day at the foothills of some huge Pasadena mountains shoehorning the topic of democratized radio and Sam's grand and do-able plan to add real value to the medium in-between industry talk. They sent me home with an armful of reading: their radio pitch, the format pitch, the episode pitches, as well as two scripts that I already knew about from their podcast. I left them with a couple episodes of Schadenfreude and told them I'd help out in any way I could.

Pretty good day. Pre-tay...pre-tay...pretty good.

By the way: to get Sam & Jim's podcast, or any others just open up iTunes, go to the iTunes store and enter "Sam & Jim" in the search box, when it brings up "Sam & Jim Go To Hollywood", click "subscribe." It will now dowload the latest episode (a very good on e on Agents & Managers) and if you hit "podcasts", which is a few selections above the iTunes store you will see a listing of the one episode you have and 28 other episodes colored gray, click "get" on those to get the entire Sam & Jim oevre from restauranteurs to Steven King. Now enter Penn Jillette, Sam Seder, Air America, KCRW'S The Business, Fanboy Radio, Creative Screenwriting magazine, The CHUD Show, and Talkin' Funny, and you pretty much have my list.