[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: How much of what you do is writing what you want to write versus figuring out what other people want to watch?
Billy Van Zandt, Comedy Writer/Playwright/Author: I always write what I want to. I always write for myself. Actually I write for the audiences that I’ve had for the last 50 years, the same people come to all my shows. I always go back to the same place and put them all on. I write for those people.
I don’t know that there’s much around now that’s similar to what I do, sort of in a weird way, it’s slightly old-fashioned and not at the same time. Nobody does big physical comedies anymore, they just don’t. I was looking at what comedies do I watch now and for the most part I don’t watch comedy because I spend too much time going That’s terrible…I should change…Why’d you cast that person?…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Billy Van Zandt and his writing partner, the late Jane Milmore, are two of the most often produced playwrights in the world. Billy and Jane met at a high school acting competition in their home state of New Jersey. Together for 46 years, they wrote and starred in 25 plays together. Billy’s solo play “The Property Known as Garland” starring his ex-wife Adrienne Barbeau broke box office records at Off-Broadway’s Actors Playhouse. The plays have been produced in thousands of theaters worldwide, including two productions directed by Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis (“Billy and Jane are funny, outrageous, off-the chart writers/performers”) and one by film legend Burt Reynolds. For television, these award-winning writers have produced over three hundred hours of television comedy, including “Newhart;” “Martin,” which won them a People’s Choice Award; “The Hughley’s,” which won them a Prism Award;” “Suddenly Susan” for Brooke Shields; “Daddy Dearest” for Don Rickles and Richard Lewis; “Anything But Love” for Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis; “The Wayans Bros.”; and “I Love Lucy: The Very First Show” which won them an Emmy nomination. As an actor, Billy made his film debut in “Jaws 2”; Billy lives in Los Angeles, when he’s not touring the world in the last Van Zandt/Milmore musical, “The Boomer Boys Musical.”
PRE-ORDER THE BOOK
BECAUSE IT’S FUNNY!: The Plays of Billy Van Zandt & Jane Milmore
BUY THE BOOK – GET IN THE CAR, JANE!: Adventures in the TV Wasteland
CONNECT WITH BILLY VAN ZANDT
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