Craig welcomes Alec Berg, executive producer of two current HBO comedies (Barry and Silicon Valley), to discuss balancing productivity and creative energy, “comedy geometry,” and identifying as a craftsman rather than an artist.
We also answer listener questions about committing to a genre, the necessity of act breaks, and how much writers actually get to keep of their paycheck.
Links:
- Thanks for joining us, Alec Berg! Check out his credits.
- Barry is now on HBO!
- Silicon Valley is in its 5th season on HBO.
- Sharing your wifi password
- The Last of Sheila by Anthony Perkins and Stephen Sondheim, directed by Herbert Ross. Here’s the trailer.
- The Scriptnotes Listeners’ Guide!
- The USB drives!
- Alec Berg on Twitter
- John August on Twitter
- Craig Mazin on Twitter
- John on Instagram
- Find past episodes
- Outro by Rajesh Naroth (send us yours!)
Email us at ask@johnaugust.com
You can download the episode here.
UPDATE 4-11-18: The transcript of this episode can be found here.