Danny Kallis

Instructor Biography:

showrunner/television writer/director, and WGA member who created 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?

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.