Pulling Your Hair Out: Conversations About The Writing Process

Jeremy Hsu was born – and later, raised. Even though his parents wanted him to be a Certified Public Accountant, Jeremy always knew that he was destined to do at least one of two things: become a TV writer and disappoint his parents. He's been on five showrunner interviews. "Making myself uncomfortable is pretty effective for getting me to do something I don't want to do. Anytime you're uncomfortable, something comes out of it."   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Shruti Saran is a screenwriter and third-culture kid from Ann Arbor, Michigan (by way of India, England, and Missouri). She graduated with a degree in Biology from the University of Michigan and began writing a few years later while working in digital marketing. She loves writing comedies with science-based premises and industry satires about unique workplaces. Her original pilot, BEFORE MARS, a Mars One satire, was a Tracking Board Finalist, Finish Line semi-finalist, and AFF quarterfinalist. She also recently wrote, directed, and produced the series GYM BUDDIES, a lady-driven, partly-musical web comedy about two women tryna get in shape, which was inspired by musical comedies and her own efforts to stay reasonably fit for a desk-based person. Currently, Shruti lives in Austin, TX with her fiancé, a crypto entrepreneur and the inspiration behind her first one-hour, a cryptocurrency drama called FINDING SATOSHI. "I write everyday. I write on a really regular schedule. I get up in the morning and I write. And

Margot Ye is a South Florida native and first-generation Chinese-American. She spent her childhood dodging piano practice, daydreaming at the pool, and swimming against the current of her large extended family. Putting her best practical foot forward, Margot left her hometown to pursue a business degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. There she quickly realized that finance and accounting were not her calling, but the industry of film and television beckoned. After working at a talent agency, production company, and post house, Margot studied the craft of storytelling at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Margot’s short film OUT OF THE BLUE earned a DGA Student Film Award, LACMA’s Young Director Art of Film Award, and three UCLA Spotlight Awards for Best Narrative, Best Screenplay, and Best Visual Design. Following grad school, Margot got a glimpse of the start-up life while producing content for media-tech companies such as H

Jonathan Hurwitz is a writer living in Los Angeles. Most recently, he was the Writer’s Assistant on Disney Channel’s “Andi Mack,” where he received a Writers Guild Award nomination for his episode, “For The Last Time.” He’d like to thank Beyoncé for her continued support. "If I get stuck, I'll go and run my errands and go through my day as if I'm the main character. I remember being at the grocery store and I was shopping for myself, but I was mentally shopping for him." • Jonathan on Instagram • GLAAD's interview with Jonathan on his groundbreaking Andi Mack episode, "Once In A Minyan" • A clip from Joanthan's Andi Mack episode   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Gil Hizon is a half-hour writer who was born and raised in the Philippines. A serial monogamist and a child of divorce, Gil is drawn to stories about how people cope with relationship issues. For instance, he believes that people find out who they really are when trying to pick up the pieces after a breakup. The comedies Gil writes tend to be unapologetic, grounded and emotional. Gil has BA degrees in Psychology, Theater and TV Writing/Producing. He’s also a self-proclaimed astrology expert. He’s a graduate of Fairfield University and Columbia College Chicago, and is thrilled to be a part of the 2017-2018 CBS Writers Mentoring Program. "You write what you wanna see on TV. That's it." • CBS Writers Mentoring Program   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Morgan Dover-Pearl was born in Austin, Texas but thanks to her adventurous parents spent her early formative years in Spain and Argentina. Morgan’s love for storytelling was first ignited by Argentina’s abundant power outages. She wrote, or more accurately one should say dictated (because let’s be honest, at seven her writing skills were limited) plays for her and her little sister to perform while they waited out the hours of darkness. If only her time in Argentina had been solely plays and power outages, but unfortunately her father was targeted by the corrupt Argentinian government and falsely held captive for two and half years. Despite the severity of the situation, Morgan’s mother worked incredibly hard to make sure that her daughters had a normal childhood. Through her mother’s example, Morgan was fortunate to learn at a young age the power of resilience, that optimism is a courageous act and that there is humor to be found even in the darkest moments. That outlook on life informs who Morgan is as a pe

Rachel Avery is an award-winning actor/writer/director who recently won the Producers Encore Award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival for her work developing and directing the one woman show The Pleasure Project, which just completed a run in Adelaide, Australia. She recently directed, wrote, and starred in the TV comedy Wake Up America! which is now available on Amazon Prime. Rachel’s short film Jet Lag, premiered at the California Women’s Film Festival. She was nominated for Best Director of a Musical by the Calgary Theatre Critics’ Awards for Blanche, which premiered at the New York Musical Festival and Huffington Post put it on the list of top 20 shows for 2011. Rachel has been actively shadowing TV Directors on Criminal Minds and the upcoming Roseanne reboot. As an actress, she performed Off-Broadway and around the world in Re-Animator the Musical, (Original Cast Recording) directed by Stuart Gordon and co-starring George Wendt. Film/TV appearances include Tropic Thunder, The Giant Mechanical Man, Big Love

Kara Lee Burk began writing while working with The Second City-Detroit and various sketch comedy troupes in New York City. An alumni of the Warner Bros Television Writers Workshop, she has been staffed as a writer on Romantically Challenged (ABC), Melissa & Joey (ABC Family) and The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show (Dreamworks / Netflix). She has developed multiple series, wrote on Hanazuki, a bunch digital shorts for The Littlest Pet Shop (both on YouTube) and is currently a writer for the upcoming Costume Quest (Amazon). "[For writer's block], I switch gears and work on something else for a day. It's like a game of Jenga. You gotta poke at different blocks and work on the ones that move. And if something is stuck, you don't know how moving to another project, something may shift and you'll see the answer." • Kara Lee Burk on Twitter   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Nadia Madden is a former 911 dispatcher turned screenwriter. She’s found success as a Humanitas: New Voices Finalist and Sundance Episodic Storylab Semifinalist. Her law enforcement background finds its way into every script. Nadia often writes about underdog characters, particularly women, who persevere despite their circumstances. And although her San Francisco, Chinatown one-hour pilot is intentionally not laden with martial arts, Nadia happens to hold a first degree black belt in Kenpo Karate. "They say, 'Write what you know.' I think it's writing what you know emotionally, whether you want to or not that's gonna come out." • Nadia Madden on Twitter • Humanitas Prize: New Voices • Sundance Episodic Story Lab   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.  

Marc Warzecha is a comedy writer living in Los Angeles. He is a Writers Guild of America Associate Member, and was a writer for Season 2 of Comedy Central's Detroiters. Marc recently wrote for Disney Digital's Babble brand and was a recent finalist in NBC Writers on the Verge and Final Draft Big Break. With The Second City comedy theatre, he is multiple-time Jeff Award nominated head writer/director. His work as a satirist has been featured on ABC's "Nightline," Newsweek magazine, and the Washington Post, he has guested on CNN's "Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" and NPR's "All Things Considered." "Sometimes when I first sit down to write, I'll take out a spiral notebook and write anything that might be churning in my mind, especially if I'm in the middle of a really busy day. Writing out my emotions, writing out how I'm feeling right now, getting that on the page to kind of release it." • Marc Warzecha on Twitter • Marc's website • Marc's pilot The Trumpmaid's Tale • The Second City • Lee Jessup, career coa

Jimmy Mosqueda is a comedy writer born and raised in the deserts of Southern California, more specifically the Imperial and Coachella Valleys. Yup, he was at Coachella before it was cool. Growing up the youngest son of a large and eccentric Mexican-American family, Jimmy often finds humor in the awkward and embarrassing experiences of adolescence. He pulls from his own life to create characters and situations that are heightened and satirical but remain grounded in real emotion. In 2016, Jimmy was a participant in the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Intensive, where he workshopped his high school dark comedy, Valedictorian. He was a 2016-17 Film Independent Writing Fellow and a 2017 TV Writing Fellow with the National Hispanic Media Coalition. He has developed, optioned and written projects for several production companies, and his short film, The Station, premiered at the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival. "I think [being flexible with your story] is an important asset to have as a writer. Things can change

Polina Diaz is a comedy writer from Russia and Florida. Yeah. She graduated with a BFA in Writing for Screen and Television from USC and went through the Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop. She was a staff writer on Fuller House and recently sold a sitcom to the digital studio Astronauts Wanted. She’s currently writing for People of Earth. She’s also a member of UNICEF's Next Generation, a group of young professionals that raise money for UNICEF’s lifesaving work. "When I focused more on myself, my writing got better. The writing I'm doing now is so much better than the writing I did before when I thought I had to be a sad, broken person." • UNICEF's Next Generation • Fuller House (Netflix) • People of Earth (TBS)   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Growing up, Thomas Reyes' Filipino immigrant parents moved a lot. He attended seven different schools, and lived in Las Vegas for seven years, all by the time he was in middle school. As an only child, he could make friends easily, but sitcoms became his surrogate siblings. He attended UCLA and after graduating, instead of going to law school, he studied sitcom writing at UCLA Extension. He has held a variety of positions in both scripted and unscripted television and has written for ISAtv as well the BuzzFeed series Ask an Asian. He has also written for the Disney ABC Talent Showcase and the CBS Diversity Sketch Workshop. He was a semifinalist at the Austin Film Festival and New York Television Festival. He recently completed the Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop and is currently Staff Writer on the upcoming half-hour dramedy American Woman which will premiere in early 2018 on the newly launched Paramount Network. "[The professor] tore my script apart. It was brutal but it was a great lesson in not b

Geeta Malik received her Master of Fine Arts from UCLA’s graduate film program in directing. She wrote and directed the viral narrative short, Aunty Gs, which earned a College Television Award (a “student Emmy”) in comedy production from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Her short film, Beast, played at Method Fest and the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Geeta is a recipient of the Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Production Award, the Coppel Screenwriting Award and the Jack Nicholson Distinguished Director Award. Geeta’s first feature film, Troublemaker, premiered at the 2011 Cinequest Film Festival, and was distributed by Asian Crush. In 2012, Geeta was a finalist for the ABC/Disney Directing Fellowship. She was a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow for 2013 – 2014. Her most recent short film, Shameless, has played at over 15 festivals, including the Sedona Film Festival, and won the jury award for best comedy at the Long Beach QFilm Festival. Geeta is a winner of the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fel

Matt Demblowski is a comedy writer and TV producer who got his start in entertainment as a development executive for Stick Figure Productions, in New York, NY. He conceived, developed and produced such reality series as National Geographic's Repossessed! and American Gypsies, among other pilots and documentary films.  Matt's screenwriting has received honors in a number of national competitions including the Austin Film Festival (Finalist, Digital Series), Final Draft Big Break (Semi-Finalist, Comedy Pilot) and the Creative World Awards (1st Place, Comedy Spec). In September 2017, he released his original web series, Halftime, a show he created, wrote, directed and produced in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. Currently, he works as a Script Coordinator on Superstition at Syfy. In his spare time, he enjoys reading detective novels, binge-watching Game of Thrones and eating pizza. "I don't give up on projects. One of the things I'm working on now is literally the first screenplay I wrote ten years ago. I'm worki

Stephanie Coggins spent much of her early life writing stories. As an undergrad at the University of Michigan, Stephanie kept her creative juices flowing by contributing pop culture articles to several campus newspapers, and it wasn’t long before she was accepted into USC’s graduate film program at the School of Cinematic Arts. Since then, Stephanie has participated in NBC’s Writers on the Verge program, has had her work featured in NBC’s annual Scene Showcase in Los Angeles and New York, and had a half-hour pilot place in 2016 Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest. Additionally, Stephanie has been selected as a Finalist for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Disney|ABC Writing Program. She is currently the Showrunner’s assistant on BET’s Being Mary Jane. In her free time, Stephanie watches old episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. "With drama, I feel like I do a lot of the same things that I did with comedy, I just leave out the jokes... The objective isn't to make you laugh. The objective is to make you feel

Ross Zimmerman is a TV writer who recently completed writing his second episode of the Disney XD live-action/animation-hybrid kids show Kirby Buckets. He also wrote and produced the pilot for the online series Geex and has pitched an animated series to multiple networks. He has worked on over 28 different film and television productions during the course of his career, including the final season of How I Met Your Mother, as he worked his way up through the ranks from intern to PA to Script Coordinator to earning his first writing credits. "Writers just go and they write and they do it. You can't not write." • Ross Zimmerman on Twitter • Kirby Buckets (Disney XD) • The War of Art • Final Draft • Sticky Notes   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Mike Roe is a writer based in Los Angeles. His sitcom pilot, Student Government, made it to the quarterfinals of the 2016 Austin Film Festival screenplay competition. It also received a staged reading at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and a fully staged production at the Pack Theater. Mike writes and performs with Pack Theater house team Dandy and writes for topical sketch comedy show Top Story Weekly. He was also a finalist for NBC’s Late Night Writers Workshop. By day, he works as a journalist for NPR affiliate KPCC, covering news and pop culture. His pop culture coverage earned him a nomination for a National Entertainment Journalism award. "We locked ourselves in the hotel and just wrote for a weekend, to just go write somewhere else and not be distracted." • Mike Roe on Twitter • The Pack Theater • The sketch team Dandy • Top Story Weekly • Scrivener • KPCC   // Pulling Your Hair Out is produced and hosted by Richard Lowe. Music by Joshua Moshier.

Paul Ditty is a TV writer. His first writing “break” came in the form of a book when his satire of Nancy Drew books, The Straight Shooter: A Nate Dainty Manhunt, was published in 2010. Most recently, Paul’s dramatic comedy, Thoroughly Mormon Millie, was a second rounder at Austin Film Festival and his Mindy Project spec was a top-three finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break Competition. Currently, Paul lives in Long Beach with his husband Eddie along with their cat, dog and drought tolerant yard. "Four years ago I couldn't have [written an hour-long script]. I needed the practice of writing. But writing this half-hour about the weight loss left me really dissastisfied. It made me realize, "You know what, I want to tell longer stores." Not because I don't want to edit, but because I just feel like sometimes when I write something there's a lot more to tell about it. So the good thing about that script is that it did bring me to the decision to write "Millie" as an hour." • Paul Ditty on Twitter • Freedom app • Th

April Shih is a comedy writer in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Southern California, April attended film school at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She wrote, directed, and produced the indie feature You, Only Better and has produced several plays including the Ovation Award-winning revival of Kiss of the Spiderwoman: The Musical. April spent two years playing professional poker in Las Vegas before completing her degree in English Creative Writing (Playwriting) at Cal State Northridge. April was a Top 3-finalist of the Final Draft Big Break contest, winner of the TV Academy Foundation comedy writing internship, and most recently was a fellow in the 2017 CAPE New Writers Fellowship. "I ask my friends all the time, "What do you think my weaknesses are, what do you think my strengths are?" And it is interesting to me when I check in every six months or every year and it starts changing. That's when it's interesting to me, because it's like, "Oh, I can get better at something."" • April Shih on Twitter • Script Ana