Well well well, look who it is showing up in your inboxes/on your Substack apps again. It’s apparently been a few weeks, but time is a construct and my sinuses have been pounding in this cool new, aggressive way that’s giving me vertigo sometimes, so both time and space are completely fluid at this point in time. But! That shouldn’t stop us from having fun here!
Last week I turned in an application for a fellowship that I made it to the final round for last time. After multiple rounds of reads and cuts, the fellowship committee interviewed 12 of us finalists, then picked eight fellows. Soooo needless to say, I got really in my head about what materials to submit and what it would mean if I don’t make the finals this time around!! Obviously I didn’t get worse at writing since the last time this program was put on, right?? Well, we’ll know in six to eight weeks hahahahahahaha.***
In the meantime, let me offer you an essay from a totally different fellowship app in a different medium! The prompt asked what TV show we’ve been recommending to other people, and my answer has its season 4 premiere in just over two weeks on April 10, making this essay suddenly timely!! Enjoy:
What show do you recommend to others that inspires you professionally? Describe the show, the writing, and why it is impacting you.
Hacks!!! It’s my favorite comedy on right now. The show centers the conflict-ridden relationship between an over-sharing gen Z comedy writer, Ava, and her pseudo-parental figure boss, Debra, a stand-up comedian who’s made more money than god by connecting with huge audiences in a decades-long Vegas residency, but has always struggled to maintain intimate ties with individuals. Both main characters take these beautiful arcs over the course of each season—Ava pushes Debra to dig deeper into herself and write new, raw material, and in the process Debra becomes softer and more able to connect with her actual daughter, DJ. As their work together goes well (and Ava’s frontal lobe finishes developing) she gains self confidence and perspective on how she treated people in the past, and is able to make amends with people she was a real dick to back in LA. And Debra kicks Ava out of the nest after their big project is taped and released, forcing her to take ownership of her own life. The ensemble is rounded out by a crew of characters who are so specific and true to themselves. And the writing is so sharp and the way these strong personalities clash is such a treat to watch. The writers have made choices that give them so much mileage—like giving Debra a really competent personal assistant who doesn’t like comedy, and pairing Debra and Ava’s mutual manager, Jimmy, with an assistant who is some sort of inappropriate savant. Every character has a hobby, a vice, or an opinion that’s mined for comedy. And the episodes are tight. Every word counts, there’s no filler, and every moment is full of tension or moving us forward in the story. It’s absolutely masterful and watching it make me want to dig into every character I write more and give every draft another pass for extraneous lines.
I really used the word “so” a lot in that essay, and guess what? I stand by it! That show is so good, it is so fun to watch, and the writers and cast are so brilliant! Srynotsry!
K I g2g! Miss you, mean it!
***This is a joke, art is subjective, and none of us should place any of our self worth on the whims of any selection committee who may or may not connect with our particular voice or point of view <3
Hi. I used to work at William Morris in the mid “80”s in the literary department. I look forward to reading Call My Agent!