Holly Schlesinger is the booking power behind Invite Them Up, the East Village's most popular weekly comedy show, but she's also got a flourishing career in the field of television. She's worked on Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, Home Movies, is the creator of O'Grady, and is currently working on Adult Swim's Lucy, Daughter of The Devil. And it all started with a college internship.
How did you get involved with booking for Invite Them Up?
A couple years ago, Eugene and Bobby asked if I wanted to be their booker. The show had been running for almost three years and was becoming more and more popular. I remember when they asked, we were at a party. I'm pretty sure I was drunk when I said yes, but obviously it was a good drunk decision. I have a lot of fun working on the show.
And how did you get involved with Soup 2 Nuts?
I started at Soup 2 Nuts as an intern during my last year of college. I worked for Loren Bouchard, who at the time was producing Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. After I graduated, my internship turned into a full-time job on Dr. Katz and later, on Home Movies and Hey Monie, which aired on Oxygen. I stayed at Soup 2 Nuts for almost three years.
It's there that you developed O'Grady?
Yes. O'Grady was initially developed as a web show. In 2000, when the company was called Tom Snyder Productions and run by Tom Snyder (an executive producer on Dr. Katz, not Tom Snyder the interviewer), Tom was interested in internet programming. Back then, there was a lot of anticipation about web shows, but only a handful of internet sites actually broadcasted original content. One of them was Shockwave.com. Tom had just seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers and I really wanted to do a show about high school kids. I had the characters in mind. Tom thought, "What if all the teachers at the school turned into pods?" We further developed the concept, named the show O'Grady High and sold it to Shockwave. I wrote eight two-minute episodes of the show. But unfortunately, the webisodes never aired because for whatever reason, Shockwave shifted direction. Shortly after, I left Soup 2 Nuts and moved to New York. I figured O'Grady would be something for my reel, nothing more. About a year after I moved here, Soup 2 Nuts called to say they had sold O'Grady High to The N, Noggin's primetime teen programming block.
Since you were going from the internet to The N, what sort of changes did you have to make other than adding an extra twenty minutes of content per episode?
For a two-minute webisode, you only need a bare bones storyline and a handful of jokes and then you're done. But a twenty-two minute show needs a lot more detail to hold a viewer's attention. The N thought the concept of teachers turning into pods wasn't strong enough to base the TV series on and might get old fast. We redeveloped the show so that a different bizarre and unexplainable phenomenon –like teachers turning into pods- occurred every episode. The people of O'Grady referred to the bizarre and unexplainable phenomenon as "the weirdness," which ranged from talking backwards to temporary rapid aging to animals being able to speak. Noggin also wanted to give the characters more back-story and added the character Harold, played by Patrice O'Neal.
Outside of providing voice acting, how involved were you with O'Grady?
I was involved in the development of the show before it aired. I helped figure out who the characters were, their back-story, how they related to each other, what their lives were like, etc. Once the show started production, my only involvement was voicing the character of Beth.
With Soup 2 Nuts, when you came in as an intern, what sort of position did you have?
As an intern, I assisted Loren with audio editing. About ninety percent of the dialogue for Dr. Katz was improvised. Jonathan Katz, Jon Benjamin and Laura Silverman would first improvise their scenes using an outline with story beats and then read from scripts. We would record about twenty or so minutes of unscripted material for every scene. After the entire show was recorded, Loren or another audio editor would shape the Improv into a twenty two-minute show. Tom Snyder called this process retroscripting. Rather than scripting beforehand, you sort of go back and script the episode from the improvised material.
What was your goal just in general?
I knew that I wanted to work in television and that I wanted to write or at least work in scripted TV. And I liked comedy.
And what sort of degree did you end up getting from BU?
I started as a Psychology major and then when I realized you could major in television, I switched to the College of Communication and got a Film and Television degree with a concentration in TV. I got a degree in TV!
In your experience, how useful is it to have a degree in the field of television?
A college education is very useful. But in my opinion, in the TV field, most opportunities come from the contacts you make and showing people that you're confident and competent. Sounds trite, but it's true. And it also helps if you have a connection or blood relation to a big, powerful TV person like Les Moonves or Barbara Walters.
Are there any places that have some sort of policy that regardless of experience required the employee is to have a degree?
Probably for network or business-related TV jobs. But for creative or production positions, you don't usually hear of a degree being a major priority. It's much more about talent and experience. In fact, there are tons of people that left college to just pursue their passion and ended up doing exactly what they wanted. Not me, I stayed in school. And that worked out totally fine, too.
What is the TV show that you're involved in now and what role will you play in its production?
I'm working on a series for Adult Swim called "Lucy, Daughter of the Devil," which was created by Loren Bouchard. The show is about Satan's relationship with his daughter Lucy, who bartends at a crappy chain restaurant in San Francisco and dates a guy named DJ Jesus (pronounced hey-soos). I'm writing, dialog editing and doing other production-related jobs for the show. Jon Benjamin plays Satan, Jon Glaser plays DJ Jesus and Melissa Galsky plays Lucy. Sam Seder, Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman are also in the cast. The show is supposed to air later this year.
How did you get involved with Adult Swim?
I met people at Adult Swim through Loren and when I worked on Home Movies at Soup 2 Nuts.
What sort of content is Adult Swim looking for at this time?
The development executives at adult swim could probably give you a more accurate answer than mine. I would say, they're looking for hilarious 11-minute shows that strongly appeal to a young male demo.
What advice would you offer to someone pitching a show to Adult Swim?
I think when pitching to any network, it's wise to have a conversation with the development executives to ask them what they're looking for and on the flip side, ask them what pitches they've heard a million times. It's good to know what networks want and what they don't want, so you don't waste your energy making something they'll pass on. And most of all, avoid saying things like, "everyone I tell this idea to loves it and thinks it's perfect for Adult Swim." I'm sure that line has never worked on anyone.
