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Curated playlist

American television show creators

  • Simon KinbergSimon Kinberg plays a banker in his own script for Mr. & Mrs. Smith. He began that screenplay as a film school thesis.
  • David LynchDavid Lynch began as a painter who just wanted his canvases to move. That wish led him to film.
  • Kevin SmithKevin Smith maxed out credit cards and sold his comic books to make Clerks. The film raised $27,575 and won at Sundance.
  • Stephen ColbertAt a 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush to a cold room. His show's ratings jumped 37% the next week.
  • Mel BrooksMel Brooks was 14 years old when he climbed onto a diving board at the Butler Lodge, a second-rate hotel in the Borscht Belt. He worked there as a pool-side tummler, an entertainer hired to keep the guests amused. On this day he wore a…
  • Jim HensonJim Henson made the first Kermit from a halved table tennis ball and his mother's old coat.
  • Lucille BallLucille Ball's real-life pregnancy became an I Love Lucy episode, and CBS banned the word "pregnant."
  • Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi sold CBS a show it already owned. CBS had acquired the Terrytoons library in 1955 and forgotten it.
  • Walt DisneyIn 1928, Walt Disney lost his hit cartoon rabbit Oswald to Universal. Only Ub Iwerks stayed, and Mickey Mouse followed.
  • David LettermanDavid Letterman got fired from campus radio for treating classical music irreverently.
  • Conan O'BrienConan O'Brien went from writing The Simpsons to hosting late night, and critics said he would fail.
  • J. J. AbramsJ. J. Abrams wrote his first film score at age 16 for a horror movie. The 1982 low-budget film was called Nightbeast.
  • Bill CosbyBill Cosby holds the record for the most Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, with seven wins. To a vast television audience, he was also Cliff Huxtable, the father at the center of The Cosby Show. That role earned him a reputation as…
  • ND StevensonA class assignment at art school became the webcomic Nimona. It later became a National Book Award finalist.
  • Damon LindelofBefore writing professionally, Lost creator Damon Lindelof read other people's screenplays for film studios.
  • Michael CrichtonMichael Crichton once submitted a George Orwell essay as his own and got a B-minus.
  • Lorne MichaelsLorne Michaels once offered The Beatles $3,000 to reunite on live TV. It came in Saturday Night Live's first season.
  • D. B. WeissA petition with over 1.5 million signatures demanded a remake of Game of Thrones season eight.
  • David BenioffDavid Benioff was a club bouncer and a high school wrestling coach before Game of Thrones. He later co-ran the show.
  • Fred RogersFred Rogers weighed 143 pounds for most of his adult life, and he treated the number as a private message. In a 1998 Esquire profile, he told the writer Tom Junod, "the number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four…
  • Joss WhedonJoss Whedon earned more from a web musical than from directing The Avengers.
  • The Duffer BrothersThe Duffer Brothers turned down Florida State's film school because it would not let the twins study together.
  • Jon FavreauJon Favreau named his company after the golem of Jewish folklore. It can protect or destroy, like technology.
  • Beau WillimonBeau Willimon says he was the worst student in his Columbia playwriting class. He later created House of Cards.

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