Instructor Biography:
Showrunner/television writer/director; WGA member who has created many shows including The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Suite Life on Deck, and Smart Guy. Mr. Kallis has served as the executive producer on series such as Life’s Work, Phenom, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, and Who’s the Boss? His other writing credits include Mama’s Family, Silver Spoons, The Love Boat, and Taxi, among many others.
Instructor Statement:
Woody Allen said, “80% of success is showing up.” In other words, write. Starting is always toughest. Sometimes it begins with a character, or a situation which leads you back to a character. If it’s a spec script for an existing show, the characters and premise are set, but finding 22 stories to fill an order remains a challenge. I know. I’ve been a showrunner on eight series. What Jim Brooks said when he bought my first spec script for TAXI holds true today, “Scripts are easy; stories are hard.” If you find the story that goes down the middle of the series, capturing the conflict and characters already created, you’ll get hired too. My teaching philosophy is to encourage, guide, and push students toward that end by providing a real world experience, running classes the way I run a writer’s room. All you must do is show up, and write.
Our Students Say it Best!
“Absolutely fantastic. Danny has years of experience in TV writing and relays all of that information to his students. His method is to treat the class like an actual writer’s room. He effectively communicates what is necessary to complete our work, and complete it well.”
— Writers’ Program Student