Rick Wiener Uncovered

JF: What's the hardest part about your job?

RW: It's fun, but getting a story that makes sense and gets [the audience] involved emotionally, and also making sure that the actions the characters are taking makes sense. You could have the greatest jokes in the world, but if the script is really not making sense, the jokes for some reason aren't funny.

JF: What's the biggest perk?

RW: Free lunch. One of the perks of Hollywood is there's always free lunch, and when you first get here and you realize it, you usually end up getting fat. Like when you first came to college and you ate pizza every night, it's sort of the same learning curve.

JF: What does it take to be a writer on a show like American Dad?

RW: It takes good storytelling ability and comedy. . . . The most common two ways into the TV-writing business are you either start how I did - I got a job as a production assistant, getting people lunch and then I got to know people; and then I got a job as a writing assistant, and then I got a job as a writer and then worked my way up from there. And then there are those who write a spec script, they write a script for a show that they know and like; and they get an agent with that script; and that script is sent around to different writers at the beginning of the season; and when they are staffing the writing staff and need a lower level writer, and they like your script, they interview you and then they hire you.

JF: These spec scripts are for shows other than the ones applied for?

RW: Usually. People who are working on the exact show know the show so well and the history so well that often times they're also critical of what someone writes, their [characters'] voices and stuff like that. It's just so hard to break that shell.

JF: Why did you choose sitcom writing?

RW: It seemed like a fun job.

JF: Is it a fun job?

RW: It's totally a fun job.