6 Questions with Danielle Sanchez-Witzel

Join the Survival of the Thickest co-creator for this Sat's Q&A!

Guts and Glory

Our next live Zoom Q&A is this Saturday, 10/26, 11am PT, with the brilliant Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. The link is below for paid subscribers.

I am such a fan of Danielle. She’s a smart and hardworking writer who’s managed to carve out a career for herself writing actual comedy, a feat that became more difficult over the past decade.

When we first met in 2017, Danielle was running The Carmichael Show, which was an incredibly well-regarded show. It was her first showrunning gig, and she emulated best practices from her previous experiences. “Showrunning was described to me once as hosting a cocktail party,” she told me.

Before Carmichael, she’d already been in heavy-hitting comedy rooms, including My Name Is Earl and New Girl. She credits Earl creator Greg Garcia as a model for showrunning: “Greg… always said they’re looking for a general… And it’s the truth, because you’re making, what, a hundred decisions a day? Like, literally, and there just has to be someone who decides ‘this is the direction we’re going’. And sometimes you’re right, and sometimes you’re wrong, but you just have to be confident, and you’re the final decision maker. Really creatively, but even with the budget stuff... So I think I learned from him to just be confident, even in being wrong, just be confident, because someone’s got to steer the ship.”

You can hear Danielle’s first appearance on the podcast here, and it’s well worth a listen. I also asked Danielle back to be my co-host when I interviewed the showrunners of General Hospital, as she was a big fan of the show, and that’s a really fun listen too!)

Since then, Danielle has written for shows such as The Grinder and LA to Vegas, developed various shows, co-created the musical rom-com Up Here, and co-created Survival of the Thickest with star Michelle Buteau, season 2 of which will premiere soon.

On that earlier podcast, the subject of notes arose, and Danielle brought up an idea that applies not just to reacting to notes but to writing altogether. “They’re paying us for our guts, really,” she said. Like the confidence in decision-making she took from Greg Garcia, Danielle said, “if they knew what [the show] was, [then] they’d do it. Because who wouldn’t want to be on the creative side? And I think a lot of times we, as writers, get... nervous that they won’t make [the show] if I don’t do it their way.”

In that conversation, she says sometimes the right response to a note or even taking on a project is “fuck no, I’m not doing it.” You know better than anyone what your show is. “You can just absolutely say no and stand up for it, and then keep moving.” The breadth and depth of Danielle’s work proves that she’s right.

6 Questions with Danielle Sanchez-Witzel

1. What you working on right now?

I’m editing Season 2 of Survival of the Thickest, a show I co-created with stand-up and star Michelle Buteau, for Netflix. I’m on an overall deal at Netflix, in the process of developing more shows for them, including a multi-cam half hour set to star another multi-talented female stand-up, and a single-cam about sisters.

2. What challenges are you facing specific to your current writing project?

Development is development — always equal parts thrilling (it can be anything!!) and ruinous (it can be anything??).

And I love editing. It is the final frontier of storytelling. But we have to get it right, right now. This is it before Netflix hits a button and shoots it to basically the entire world. Fair to say it creates a bit of pressure.

3. What advice about the business of TV/film writing can you give to someone starting out now?

I understand it is a very difficult time to break in. There’s never been an easy time, but right now is particularly fraught. But… the world needs content. Paying audiences want TV and movies. I want to sit on my couch, eating chips, watching entertaining stories. So the need for writers is there. Don’t give up! The need for diverse perspectives and new voices is there. Don’t give up! The subscription model necessitates stories be reflective of a vast array of realities to ensure all subscribers are being serviced or else they will take their $16.99 and spend it on something else. Don’t give up! 

4. What advice about the craft of writing can you give to someone starting out?

To be a writer you have to write. The job of a writer is writing. How else can I say it? It’s so easy to talk about writing, to complain about writing, to throw yourself around your living room because after all these years you still don’t seem to know how to write!!! (No? Just me?)

But ultimately, the job is writing. The first thing you write won’t be your best. Neither will the second. Or the third. Or the sixth. The more you write, the better you will become at writing. So go write.

5. What do you respond to most in a piece of writing?

The first five pages. That’s all it takes to decide if you’re in or out as a reader. It’s a brutal reality. The story has to start, the characters have to have defining perspectives, and the dialog has to be sharp (and if it’s a comedy, funny) in the first five pages. 

6. What are you watching/reading/listening to lately that’s getting you excited or inspired?

I don’t know Ryan Murphy. I know and adore some of the writers he collaborates with, and I have to say that camp knows how to tell a compelling story. I’ve recently watched a couple of shows from his universe and been inspired by some daring storytelling choices.

But just to give you the full scope of my television viewing, I’ve been watching General Hospital on and off since I was a 5-year-old watching with my mom. How can I not be inspired as a writer by something that has survived some six decades of daily storytelling?

I am also happy we are in the middle of a new season of Great British Baking Show. It is the greatest competition show on television, and the grand prize is simply pride and a cake plate. What a wonderful character study of being the best you can be at something you love doing.

This is someone who loves TV like we do! Join us this Saturday, Oct 26, 11am PT for the Q&A with Danielle! Info below. If you’re not already a paid subscriber…