EP. 1400: Screenwriter Amanda Minchin (MARY KAY & JOHNNY)
Watch the best scene reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbYF3iAqTGE
A newlywed couple takes on a one time gig to make ends meet and wind up creating America’s very first sitcom in the process… based on a true story.
Get to know the writer:
What is your screenplay about?
This is easily the hardest question – there’s so much to say about this!
This screenplay is a based on the true story of Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns, a couple of Broadway-bound newlyweds living in New York City during the dawn of the small screen. It’s an interesting time to be sure – post WWII, there are less TV sets in the U.S. than residents in all of of Manhattan. There’s more dead air than actual programming, and anything that does make it to air is done live. The pair manage to get their hands on 15 minutes of precious air-time, and are given carte blanch to make something great with it. They have no idea what they’re doing… but, then again, neither does anyone else! What they come up with is a show about their lives, featuring them as, well, themselves. In doing so, they accidentally create America’s very first sitcom, breaking barriers that would soon be too taboo to show on screen, from sharing a bed, to sharing a child years before I Love Lucy and The Munsters.
… And yet, nobody knows about it!
The reason for this is multifold. Some seasons weren’t recorded at all, or were recorded with lackluster equipment. Years later, company takeovers resulted in entire reels being thrown out. Of 300 episodes, only one remains.
What I’m proposing is a show about the making of this show. This screwball dramedy miniseries would follows the three season timeline of the original, and be in the vein of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but with the self-awareness of Kevin Can Fuck Himself.
Subscribe to the podcast:
https://twitter.com/wildsoundpod