Miami Medical - (MUST WATCH TV - Find out why!)

[Cheesebeef]

Sure you're probably sick of the promos for it during the tournament, asking yourself why the world needs ANOTHER medical show and I'll tell you why... BECAUSE I WRITE FOR IT!

It may not reinvent the wheel, but it's a solid show for those who can't get enough of their medical fix!

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Congrats and thanks for the heads-up !!

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Wow!

My first question is, were you on strike a couple of years ago?

I checked your profile. You're 33 and you're writing for a Bruckheimer series? I am totally impressed. Just being paid for something you write is huge so this is so cool.

More details on your involvement? How did you get the gig? Have you written for other series?

Good job, Cheesebeef!

 

[Cheesebeef]

thanks Dems! While I wasn't a WGA member, my boss was so, I was on the picket lines, but I wasn't exactly on strike per se... more like a casualty of war. Since my boss couldn't "work", I had no work.

And it's been a long and winding road to get here. I'd been banging my head against the Hollywood wall for about 9 years, coming close on a couple things, being flirted with by agents a couple times but just couldn't break through. Then, back in 2008, just after the strike ended, I ended up destroying my back necessitating two really awful surgeries that forced me to move back to Phoenix for 10 months into my parents home where all I did was lie in bed for 4 months and then had 4 days of PT for the next 6 months after that.

Luckily, just as I was somewhat starting to come around, my boss, who had held my position open for the ten months I was gone, called and said his pilot was picked up and asked if I was well enough to come back... and I probably wasn't, but I came back anyway, worked on the pilot for him, then was his assistant throughout the first season of the show and ended up pitching the story for the season finale which he loved.

So we both wrote the story for the finale, I ran the writer's room as we gang-banged the script, he wrote the final polish and off we went to pre-production, where he sent me in to do casting and sit in on all the production meetings and then had me on set as his eyes/ears, where I got to work with the director (who was amazing... guy named Matt Earle Beasley, who directed the Mr. Eko episode of Lost back in the day) who treated me not like the complete novice I was, but with the respect of an established writer.

It was a truly amazing experience... all made even better when CBS went through the roof for the episode and moved it up in the air order (and with the show mostly procedural, it doesn't seem out of place).

I'm currently writing a spec for next season which my boss hopes to use as ammo to get my on full time as the Staff Writer... but first we gotta get numbers! So tell all your friends!

 

[Stout]

When's the pilot and on which channel?

 

[DemsMyBoys]

Cheese,

I am tremendously proud of you. Having friends and family in the industry I can appreciate what you've done. It's HUGE! (Since moving to AZ I can be identified as the solo person sitting through the credits after a film. Need to see who's working!)

You know, this board is a pretty special place. I run into Doug here. We have a shared history from years ago in So Cal. And now here you are. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out that we know some of the same people. Or maybe you are GOING to know them. (I trust you made friends and contacts on the picket line.) Dang. Might have seen you out there.

While I've taken the last few years off, my writing career has been a solo affair so when you say "writer's room" I am filled with jealousy. I've always thought it would be terrific writing with a bunch of people I could bounce ideas off of. All I've had is editors and they are no fun. (At least mine aren't. Of course their major job is correcting my spelling so all I ever see is their red pen and the smoke coming out of their ears. LOL)

So, again, congratulations! I am very, very impressed. And very, very happy for you.

 

[Cheesebeef]

When's the pilot and on which channel?

April 2nd, CBS!

 

[O]

Good luck Cheesebeef, I hope it has an extremely long run.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Not to nitpick it before it airs, but were there other "more exciting" names besides Miami Medical?

I suppose it doesn't mean much since Emergency and E.R. both had success. Just seems rather bland, IMHO.

Just wondering what the thought process was behind the name...

 

[thirty-two]

Very cool, man. I will be sure to fan-girl the hell out of it.

But only if there's a 'ship I can start liking!!!

 

[thirty-two]

You know, this board is a pretty special place. I run into Doug here. We have a shared history from years ago in So Cal.

How did you end up finding this place? Just curious!

 

[Dback Jon]

There'd better be some hot Latin hunks in it...

 

[AZZenny]

Wonderful, Cheese!! Very proud and pleased for you -- and thanks for laying out the long haul. Personal sagas of determination and persistence to accomplish a dream are too rarely heard, these self-indulgent days. Will watch and suggest it to friends.


(Have to agree on the name. Not even the cool weirdity of "St. Elsewhere" or the punch of "E.R." Tell us you didn't come up with the name...)

 

[abomb]

Awesome man, just for you, we will check it out.

 

[DemsMyBoys]

How did you end up finding this place? Just curious!

After I decided to become a rabid Cardinals fan I found a reference to this board on the AZCardinals board.

Found a ton of people who loved football as much as I do and a ton of people who knew what they were talking about it. And it took me about 30 seconds to figure out that the "cool" factor of the people on this board was way higher.

How about you, Kate?

 

[Stout]

April 2nd, CBS!

 

[conraddobler]

Way to hang the heck in there Cheese!!!!

Awesome that you had the stones to keep on keeping on, break a leg? Whatever is good luck to writers, I think that works and at least it's not your back

BTW... write someone in wearing some Cardinal pin, hat, shirt, something.....well after it's safe to do, now that would be cool.

 

[AsUdUdE]

alright cheeze, just fr you, I'll totally check it out...

Congrats on getting the gig, I hope it is awesome for you and your family..

Just a suggestion, from the average viewers standpoint, what makes Greys Anatomy great, is the chemistry of the characters, and the writers ability to take single-layered conflicts in each episode and roll them into characters development...

After the debacle that was 3 rivers, I trust this will be MUUUUUCH better, and I will check it out..

Again man, the entire ASFN network is proud!

 

[DemsMyBoys]

BTW... write someone in wearing some Cardinal pin, hat, shirt, something.....well after it's safe to do, now that would be cool.

Excellent, Conrad. Come on Cheese! Make one of your characters a Cardinals FAN!! You know everybody has a back story. The possibilities are endless.

(Do you love it as much as I do when peole tell you how to write? )

 

[azsportsfan01]

I saw an episode of this a few days ago. Wasn't bad. Seemed to have quite a few cliches in it. I'm not a big medical drama person though. But Omar Gooding is in it so that was a big plus.

 

[Stout]

alright cheeze, just fr you, I'll totally check it out...

Congrats on getting the gig, I hope it is awesome for you and your family..

Just a suggestion, from the average viewers standpoint, what makes Greys Anatomy great, is the chemistry of the characters, and the writers ability to take single-layered conflicts in each episode and roll them into characters development...

After the debacle that was 3 rivers, I trust this will be MUUUUUCH better, and I will check it out..

Again man, the entire ASFN network is proud!

Bah, lots of people look at that aspect of Grey's Anatomy and chime 'chick flick soap opera'. It looks and sounds like a latter version of the latter years of ER. Am I wrong?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Not to nitpick it before it airs, but were there other "more exciting" names besides Miami Medical?

I suppose it doesn't mean much since Emergency and E.R. both had success. Just seems rather bland, IMHO.

Just wondering what the thought process was behind the name...

you don't even want to know. it all started with a legal battle with Trauma, which we won and lost and if that doesn't make sense, don't worry, nothing else I'd tell you re: the naming of the show would either.

trust me. it was out of our hands.

 

[Chaz]

Congratulations on the gig!

I am not big on medical shows but I'll check it out.

 

[arthurracoon]

congrats cheese!

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

Sure you're probably sick of the promos for it during the tournament, asking yourself why the world needs ANOTHER medical show and I'll tell you why... BECAUSE I WRITE FOR IT!

It may not reinvent the wheel, but it's a solid show for those who can't get enough of their medical fix!

Please, please, please...don't tell me that the Chief Resident finds an intern eating poo out of a toilet...