“I was obsessed with comedy writing as a kid,” said Nicholas Stoller. “I remember watching Saturday Night Live and not wanting to be the actors, but wanting to write the sketches. I don’t even know how I knew that was a job.”

As a screenwriter, Stoller has credits for Fun with Dick and Jane, Yes Man, Get Him to the Greek, The Muppets, Sex Tape, The Carmichael Show, Night School and Bros, many of which he also Directed, including Neighbors and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. 

“I’m excited Bros is going to be theatrically released, but a weird thing happened a few years ago where [studios] were like, ‘Comedies don’t work in theaters.’ Which is not true. Judd [Apatow] always says, ‘If The Hangover came out this weekend, it would make a billion dollars.’”

For whatever reason, studios just stopped making as many theatrical comedies. They’ve instead gone to television, limited series, and leaned in to action comedies for a broader, global appeal. “I love going to see comedy in the movie theater. You get to have that experience with an audience, laughing and reacting.”

“People say it’s a business first, but it’s not run like a business. If anyone thought about it like a business, there’s a huge hole in the comedy department.”

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Ep367 - Nicholas Stoller, Screenwriter ‘Bros,’ ‘Sex Tape,’ & ‘Yes Man’

“I was a theater kid, so I started out writing plays,” says David Zabel. “But I started to think, what does a movie script look like or what does a play look like? Once I had access to those things to see how they worked, I started writing screenplays and had ideas for TV pilots. That pilot opened a few doors of me.”

An agent helped him get his first job on the series JAG, which later led to Star Trek: Voyager, Dark Angel, and ER. “It came out of my love for drama and dramatic theory. All of this came for his love to tell stories to live audiences. 

“That relationship between being a writer, how it’s performed, and how it’s perceived — where it worked, where it didn’t work — I consider that as one of my stronger points as a writer, which is writing for actors.”

Working with so many live performances, he started to see where actors needed less lines to portray the same emotions on stage and later in film and television. “If they understand what you’re trying to convey, it’s better to do it with the greatest economy of language that you can apply.” The same was true in the editing bay. “It’s humbling,” he jokes. 

This economy of language certainly relates to the latest series created by Zabel, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. The spinoff series stars Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, where he was arguably the most stoic character on the series. 

“It was an interesting challenge,” he jokes about the stoic character who is also now in a land where he doesn’t speak the language. “I felt like that was a classic American character. This laconic hero, the man without a name that you see a lot in Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, or Gary Cooper and people like that.”

“I was excited for that kind of storytelling that wasn’t so expository. Norman, as an actor, relishes the idea of living in a world without speechifying. That’s how he wants to play drama. The challenge is to put people around him who have stories that are compelling, that draw him into their story. He’s not looking to get into other people’s lives and he’s not talking, so people have to be irresistible to him, for him to resonate with them. He’s the reluctant hero but he’s got a heart that makes him hard to walk away.”

As for actors who have been playing characters over a long period of time (about 13 years for Norman Reedus), Zabel says, “You have to lean into the knowledge that they have. It was also true on ER and other shows I’ve done. We learn each other’s rhythms and it becomes symbiotic. That’s one of the joys of television, to dance that dance together.”

Want more? Steal my first book, Ink by the Barrel - Secrets From Prolific Writers right now for free. Simply head over to www.brockswinson.com to get your free digital download and audiobook. If you find value in the book, please share it with a friend as we’re giving away 100,000 copies this year. It’s based on hundreds of interviews here at Creative Principles. 

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It only takes about 60-seconds and it really helps convince some of the hard-to-get guests to sit down and have a chat (simply scroll to the bottom on your iTunes Podcast app and click “Write Review"). Enjoy the show!

Ep542 - David Zabel, Creator ‘The Walking Dead - Daryl Dixon’

In ‘Day of the Dead: Bloodline,’ “A small group of military personnel and survivalists dwell in an underground bunker as they seek to find a cure in a world overrun by zombies.” In this interview, Director Hector Hernandez Vicens discusses the masters of suspense, his love for George Romero, what makes a film truly scary, and the importance of character.

Ep 27 - Hector Hernandez Vicens, Director ‘Day Of The Dead Bloodline’

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Welcome to Creative Principles, I'm your host Brock Swinson. Here I'll be speaking with writers, directors, actors, musicians and more. We'll discuss the habits, routines, and methods of a creative life.

Ep542 - David Zabel, Creator ‘The Walking Dead - Daryl Dixon’

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