Up next in 10
On this episode of The Super Boomer Lifestyle Caren Glasser and Author and Executive Producer Bruce Ferber are Telling Stories From Hollywood. Pick up a copy of the book here: https://amzn.to/3d0lKJr
They cover the following topics:
The journey as a veteran writer on sitcoms like Home Improvement and how he transitioned from TV to the award winning author he is today.
The origins of his new book “The Way We Work: On The Job in Hollywood” and how it came together.
The story behind the hit movie “Frisco Kid” starring Gene Wilder.
Bruce Ferber is an Emmy and Golden globe nominated comedy writer and producer. His credits include Home Improvement, where he served as Executive Producer and showrunner. His work has received the People’s choice and Kid’s choice awards and more. Bruce’s first novel, Elevating Overman (2012) caught the eye of actor Jason Alexander who is attached to a potential TV series. His second novel, Cascade Falls (2015) won the Foreword Indie Book of the Year Gold Prize for Humor and Bronze Prize for General Fiction.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
we are telling stories and going on the
0:03
job in Hollywood with my very special
0:05
guest Bruce Ferber on today's super
0:07
Boomer lifestyle show this is the show
0:09
for super boomers and Beyond that will
0:11
enhance your lifestyle health
0:12
empowerment and more
0:15
hello everyone karen Glasser here and i
0:18
am so excited that you are here today we
0:22
have quite the show my guests I've known
0:25
for many many years and I'm just so
0:27
excited that he is joining us today but
0:29
before we do that let's just do some
0:31
housekeeping if you're here live I'm
0:33
thrilled make sure you comment below
0:35
because we will if you come in put your
0:39
comments right up on the screen if
0:40
you're here on replay let me know your
0:42
henry play because that's almost as good
0:44
and i will make sure to comment and
0:46
respond to your messages to me and
0:48
finally why don't you share click that
0:51
button you know you want to click the
0:53
button share it out to your network let
0:55
people know that we're on live with our
0:56
very special guest today
0:58
Bruce Ferber Bruce Ferber is now take
1:03
notes because he's quite quite the
1:05
resume he's an Emmy and Golden Globe
1:06
nominated comedy writer his credits
1:09
include home improvement where he served
1:11
as the executive producer and showrunner
1:13
and that's actually where I think I met
1:15
Bruce back in those days his work has
1:17
also received People's Choice and Kids
1:19
Choice Awards his first novel elevating
1:22
Overman back in 2012 it caught the eye
1:24
of actor Jason Alexander who is now
1:27
attached to a potential TV series for
1:29
that his second novel cascade falls in
1:32
2015 won the forward indie book of the
1:35
year gold price for humor and bronze
1:37
prize for general fiction and he is
1:40
joining us today to tell some stories
1:42
and talk about his new book the way we
1:44
work the job in Hollywood hello Bruce
1:49
welcome to the show hi Karen nice to be
1:52
here thank you so much for having me
1:53
well I'm just so happy that you're here
1:55
and we're gonna be telling stories today
1:57
which is part of my one of my favorite
1:59
favorite things to do but before we do
2:01
that I like to start the show by
2:03
describing a super boomer so I always
2:06
like to ask everyone how do you describe
2:08
a super boomer now personally I describe
2:11
a super boomer by not be
2:13
defined by their age by how they show up
2:16
and that they're fearless Bruce how do
2:19
you define a super boomer a superhero
2:22
but not quite as powerful almost as
2:25
powerful I guess I never thought about
2:31
what it means to be a super boomer but
2:33
what I would say that means is that you
2:40
just you just keep working I mean you
2:43
want to keep working you hit a certain
2:44
age and especially as a creative person
2:48
the the ideas don't stop coming so you
2:52
want to figure out a way to scratch that
2:55
itch satisfy that urge and in my case do
2:59
the best work you're possibly capable of
3:02
putting out there so it's just it means
3:05
you know we're the kind of people who
3:07
just want to keep moving forward right
3:09
and and making whatever impact we can
3:12
make and that's what you've done all
3:13
your life I mean that is what you've
3:15
done all your life and and so let's just
3:17
talk a little bit about your journey
3:18
from being a veteran writer on sitcoms
3:21
and television and then moving over the
3:24
transition over to becoming a writer
3:27
writer author yeah that transition I
3:30
mean that that there there are two parts
3:34
to that story there's the parts of how
3:36
it happened and then what the
3:38
differences are between you know writing
3:42
for TV and being an author and in my
3:45
case what happened was you know it
3:48
starts off with this a sad story I had a
3:51
wife who was very ill and I had at
3:54
certain point responsibilities and I
3:57
decided to stop doing the television or
3:59
pursuing it because I needed to take
4:01
care of her and you know take care of
4:04
business and then she passed away and a
4:08
couple of years later I felt like well
4:11
you know what I'm still a writer I still
4:13
want to do something but I didn't want
4:15
to do television they I mean I didn't
4:16
want to do sitcoms and it wasn't because
4:18
I didn't have a sense of humor anymore
4:20
but that I'd been doing that for so long
4:23
and another thing I guess about being a
4:25
super boomer is that you don't
4:27
stay doing the same thing your whole
4:29
life amen yeah and and so at that point
4:34
I really had the urge to try something
4:36
different but I didn't know what so it
4:39
was my therapist who said to me have you
4:41
ever thought of writing a novel he said
4:43
no I can't write it what are you talking
4:45
about
4:45
and she said well you know you never
4:48
know maybe you could do it and then so
4:50
one day I had an idea for a character
4:53
and I figured if I were gonna write a
4:56
novel it would have to start with a
4:58
character anyway so I wrote this
5:00
character named IRA Oberman who was a
5:02
middle-aged guy who was in a similar
5:06
position to where I was that he wanted
5:09
to do something different with his life
5:10
except I had been successful and he had
5:13
never done anything successful so but I
5:16
wrote this character and I wrote three
5:19
pages of it and it was the the story was
5:23
that this guy didn't want the final act
5:26
of his life to be like the last two acts
5:29
of his life he wanted to do something
5:31
that was important or it means something
5:34
good because the rest of his life had
5:36
been mediocre so he really wanted to
5:38
change his life so I wrote three pages
5:40
of this character and I really enjoyed
5:43
writing this character and then and this
5:47
is really unbelievable how this happened
5:49
one day I go to my mailbox and I take
5:52
out the Pennysaver and on the front page
5:55
of the Pennysaver was an ad for
5:58
life-changing LASIK surgery 299 dollars
6:03
and I so in this book was about a guy
6:05
who wanted it changed his life so the
6:09
book became about a guy he goes he
6:12
figures he doesn't really know how to
6:14
how he's gonna change his whole life but
6:16
he sees this ad and he says you know
6:18
what I've been wearing glasses my whole
6:19
life if I have this you know it's not a
6:22
big life change but it's something so he
6:24
goes to have this life-changing LASIK
6:27
surgery and after that he not only sees
6:31
better he sees the world differently and
6:33
as a result he has more confidence and
6:35
his whole world changes oh my gosh he's
6:38
a super boomer he was a super boomer
6:40
Hittle
6:41
not only super boomer in the book uh one
6:44
of the major storylines is that he's
6:47
been such being a nerd and unsuccessful
6:51
man his entire life that once he starts
6:54
having an impact with other people his
6:56
best friend thinks that he has turned
6:59
into a super hero so oh my gosh well
7:02
stay perfect this is actually I didn't
7:05
know that story so that we perfect so
7:08
you wrote the book Jason Alexander was
7:10
interested he actually did the audio for
7:12
it yeah and as we said earlier there's a
7:15
potential TV series that that is in the
7:17
work so you then moved on to your next
7:20
book right and actually I think I
7:22
interviewed you for that book when that
7:24
came cascade both tell us a little bit
7:25
about that cascade Falls was based on my
7:31
many years going to visit my in-laws in
7:35
Phoenix Arizona and they moved into one
7:38
of these planned communities retirement
7:40
communities with all of this water and
7:42
fountains and things like this in a
7:45
place that had no natural water and it
7:50
was just the whole idea of creating what
7:55
that whole lifestyle seemed to me was
7:58
was that they were creating Florida in a
8:02
place that was a desert and so they they
8:05
put in palm trees and water and create
8:08
what was supposed to be this idyllic
8:10
community in what was then dairy farms
8:13
that smelled awful you know at night and
8:17
it just so III did this whole and then I
8:20
learned that the guy who developed this
8:24
community where my in-laws lived was
8:27
kind of an egotistical guy and had a a
8:31
biography written about him like a
8:33
vanity biography about all his building
8:36
and all so that became a big character
8:38
so it's about this guy who has built
8:40
cascade Falls which is the cheesiest
8:43
building in the world and about his son
8:47
who has to move there because he's
8:49
having trouble working and he has to
8:51
move from California to Cascade Falls it
8:54
is a great book if you're just tuning in
8:56
right now you're listening to Bruce
8:58
Ferber as we're talking about his his
9:01
history his journey coming up to the new
9:02
book that he has just came out yesterday
9:04
at lunch yesterday it's sold out I
9:07
believe you were telling me and and and
9:09
we're talk we're telling stories we're
9:11
telling story so as we move forward into
9:14
your your story you now came together to
9:17
do this book called and I'm gonna put
9:20
the book up because it is put this up
9:22
hold on can't go backwards maybe not
9:28
maybe we'll put it up from here I don't
9:29
know we're gonna see we have a video
9:33
camera that's one okay so we've got your
9:35
book here I'm gonna put this on Lulu
9:36
here's your new book it's called the way
9:39
we work right yeah how did this happen
9:43
where did this come from um a while back
9:47
well the the genesis of this is that
9:50
after working in television writing
9:52
rooms for 20 years and sitting around
9:54
with funny people all telling stories
9:57
just the craziest stories about their
9:59
Hollywood work experiences I thought to
10:02
myself you know that would make a good
10:04
documentary and I had this documentary
10:06
it was called one Hollywood story where
10:09
each person would get a chance to talk
10:10
about one episode from their Hollywood
10:12
career and I thought oh this is a great
10:15
idea great idea and then I started to
10:17
think about it and I realized that I
10:20
would have wound up with like 90 minutes
10:22
of talking heads and that a lot of the
10:24
people wouldn't necessarily look like
10:25
Bradley Cooper or Jennifer Lawrence they
10:28
look kind of like me and I thought well
10:32
okay maybe the way around that is to get
10:35
like some clips from their work but then
10:38
that costs a fortune you have to go to
10:40
the studios and and pay you know for
10:44
each clip for one clip it could cost
10:46
more than to shoot the whole movie so I
10:48
show that idea and then years later I
10:51
was asked to write an essay for a book
10:53
called Los Angeles in the 1970s and I
10:57
wrote about coming to Hollywood and my
10:59
first job and all this kind of stuff and
11:01
it was a great experience and then I
11:03
thought later on I thought wait a minute
11:05
maybe that documentary is really a book
11:08
maybe it's not necessarily one Hollywood
11:10
story but it you know I get writers to
11:14
write you know just on a subject matter
11:17
having needed with Hollywood that
11:18
interested them and get these really
11:21
great essays from people I knew and the
11:23
rest is history right well there was
11:26
another part okay then I thought well
11:29
why does it have to be just writers
11:30
maybe I could do a book that sort of
11:34
like the Studs Terkel book working where
11:36
he interviewed people in every job in
11:39
America you know I'll interview people
11:41
who below the line people who are
11:44
customers and script supervisors and you
11:47
know hear their point of view because
11:48
they don't usually get to talk about
11:50
what they do and so I kind of went after
11:53
that and and then the third component
11:56
was researching stuff that had already
12:00
been written about this that I thought
12:02
would fit into this book and trying to
12:04
get the rights to those pieces and and
12:07
that's how it and that was the whole
12:09
it's fascinating for guys this book is
12:12
available in the super boomer lifestyle
12:14
com go pick it up it's it's awesome
12:17
I actually pre-ordered so I'm gonna get
12:20
my copy I'm so excited about this I have
12:22
some comments I'm gonna put them up
12:23
right now the way we work what a great
12:25
book full of lots and value Joey says
12:28
Congrats on all of your success in
12:30
Hollywood Bruce very impressive and he's
12:33
a really nice guy too Joey on top of
12:35
everything else so we got the whole
12:36
package here you know one of the things
12:38
that I find really fun is in you saw it
12:41
was this camera this is for outdoor
12:44
video you can literally invite the
12:46
neighborhood and project a movie right
12:49
on on the screen you maybe want to
12:51
project home improvement maybe get some
12:53
television you know television shows and
12:54
project them pretty cool stuff
12:56
so okay so let's talk about the
12:58
contributors you have as you said a ton
13:01
of people that are involved with the
13:02
books who are some of your well maybe I
13:04
don't want to tell you your favorites
13:05
are who or some of the ones that stick
13:07
out you okay there's there's one I mean
13:11
I only say that that this sticks out
13:13
because it's a really unlikely story
13:16
that came from somebody who isn't even a
13:19
writer and you wrote this up as an
13:21
say and this is a story in the book it's
13:24
called the yeshiva gopher and and what
13:27
it's about it's about um they made a
13:30
movie a while back called the Frisco kid
13:34
and what the movie was about it was
13:36
about an Orthodox rabbi in the Old West
13:39
and Gene Wilder was the star of the
13:41
movie the great Gene Wilder and so one
13:44
of the contributors in the book had this
13:46
experience he was an assistant director
13:47
and he was in the assistant director
13:50
trainee program yeah and he was hired to
13:53
do this movie the Frisco kid and when
13:55
they shot and he was raised an Orthodox
13:58
Jew in Brooklyn
13:59
so when they when they started shooting
14:02
the Frisco kid and they shot in the
14:04
studio the interiors they had a rabbi on
14:07
staff and they had all kinds of Jewish
14:09
advisers too you know so they got things
14:11
right
14:12
but they were on location shooting in
14:14
Colorado okay and they had no religious
14:18
advisors out there and then they found
14:19
out that this guy who was a young DG a
14:21
trainee had been brought up Orthodox in
14:24
Brooklyn so one day Gene Wilder's in his
14:28
trailer and he tells the assistant he
14:31
tells somebody else he says I have this
14:33
scene where I curse it
14:34
I want to curse at the chickens and
14:36
Yiddish and how do I do that and so they
14:39
find out that this D G nutrient trainee
14:41
herb was raised an Orthodox Jew so they
14:45
drove this kid into the trailer with the
14:47
star Gene Wilder he says and he says kid
14:49
you know I I got to go out there I got a
14:51
you know got a curse the chickens in
14:52
Yiddish what do I say and so herb says
14:55
well you know I don't know you dish I
14:57
know Hebrew uh uh and I'm or I was
14:59
raised north X but but I don't know that
15:01
he said but my father in Brooklyn knows
15:04
yet ish just call your father
15:06
so they're in they're in the trailer and
15:09
herb is standing extra gene Wilder and
15:12
he calls his parents in Orthodox
15:14
Brooklyn and his mother answers the
15:18
phone he says hi uh violence's herb she
15:20
says how come you never call and he is
15:24
calling you now I work well you know you
15:28
could call more you know that's correct
15:30
and stuff yeah then so so she guilts him
15:32
and finally he gets his father on the
15:34
phone
15:34
and because he's the one who he needs to
15:37
talk to the father of course asked him
15:39
why he doesn't call him more and this
15:40
goes on and on and then he says dad I'm
15:44
working on a movie and I'm here with the
15:46
star Gene Wilder and the father says who
15:50
excuse don't go and see wouldn't know
15:53
who anybody is so but the funny part is
15:56
that he's standing next to Gene Wilder
15:58
herb is and he doesn't want to embarrass
16:00
the star by learning the star no other
16:03
father doesn't know who he is so he's in
16:06
this really awkward position right so
16:09
and the story is great it gets even
16:12
better from there I don't know so don't
16:14
give it away but will we find out how to
16:15
how to do that in Yiddish in the book
16:19
we'll find out what happened let's put
16:22
it ok we'll find out what happened guys
16:23
you heard it here first you need to go I
16:25
I'm gonna have that's the first story
16:27
that I'm going to open up for sure so so
16:30
that's hysterical any other story stick
16:33
out you know one of the things that you
16:35
talk about is that there was this bug
16:37
that some of the contributors refer to
16:39
that and they do there seems to be a
16:40
common denominator what is that bug well
16:43
it's interesting that you say that
16:45
there's another story that is written by
16:47
a woman who later became an agent and
16:51
she's somebody who went to NYU with me
16:54
and her first job was when she was a
16:58
student at NYU she got asked to work on
17:00
the movie Mean Streets
17:01
that Marty Scorsese was directing in New
17:04
York and they had some shoot you know I
17:07
guess it was the last bit of shooting
17:09
they had to do and they wanted that they
17:11
needed to do it cheap and they pulled
17:12
some students in who didn't know what
17:15
they were doing but but they were
17:17
excited to work on a movie and you know
17:19
they figured it out as they went along
17:20
and she got hired to be the script
17:23
supervisor and it's all about that story
17:27
is all about how when she worked with
17:28
Marty this guy's command of cinema and
17:32
his knowledge were what inspired her to
17:35
that she had to be in this business so
17:39
Wow Wow so it's the bug it's so that
17:43
that was the bug a lot of people have
17:45
the bug but it comes from different
17:46
places
17:48
it seems to be a common denominator
17:49
that's something they get a bug up there
17:51
you know what and they have to really
17:54
have and you really have to want to do
17:55
it badly because it's really hard to to
17:59
be successful at it so what's your next
18:04
next what are you gonna do after this
18:06
I got another novel yet are you already
18:10
working on it the first draft is about
18:13
done actually and so I'm I'm going
18:16
through it because you know in
18:17
publishing there's a long lead time
18:19
between when you hand in the book to
18:23
when it actually comes out so a lot of
18:25
time on your hands and you got to think
18:27
about what am I going to do now and so I
18:30
actually I wrote a couple of TV pilots
18:32
and finally I'd started on the novel and
18:35
so that's what I'm really into right now
18:38
the novel so the book launched yesterday
18:41
it's in the bookstore as people can go
18:42
right now to the super boomer lifestyle
18:44
and you can actually pick up the book
18:45
there I know you have a big launch party
18:47
on on Sunday I believe it's a Sunday
18:50
Sunday and then I have I have a book
18:54
event in Brentwood and in Los Angeles
18:57
Diezel books on the 21st and on the 27th
19:01
I'm doing this really fun thing there's
19:03
a theater called the Hayward Theatre on
19:06
your downtown and there's a group called
19:09
dynasty typewriter which took over the
19:11
Hayward theatre and they have tons of
19:13
comedy shows are fantastic and they
19:15
asked me if I would do a book event
19:18
during the day that day so I have 5
19:22
contributors from the book some of whom
19:24
are gonna read their pieces so I'm gonna
19:27
interview and then I have 2 guest stars
19:30
people that I worked with in other
19:32
capacities Jason Alexander is going to
19:35
stop by and Lisa Donovan who work with
19:38
me on Sabrina and one of the stars are
19:40
clueless is this open is this open to
19:42
the public or this why am i doing
19:44
typewriter is open to the public the
19:46
launch party is not so the first one
19:48
though if you give me out to get the
19:50
information from you after the show and
19:51
I'm gonna put it in the comments for
19:53
those of you who happen to be in the
19:54
area and you want to go meet Bruce in
19:56
person I bet you're gonna be signing
19:58
books so you're gonna be signing books
19:58
oh yes oh yes so you know go
20:02
by a book and then go get the book or
20:04
you can get right there right there and
20:07
sign it and get to know him for those of
20:11
you and I'm sure it's everyone watching
20:12
the show that want to find out more
20:14
about Bruce you can first go visit his
20:16
website at that's Bruce Ferber dotnet
20:18
there's no calm there dotnet make sure
20:20
you do the dotnet you can follow Bruce
20:23
on on Instagram I love your Instagram a
20:26
handle
20:26
phurba Rama oh my god I could totally
20:29
love that and then also on Twitter
20:31
Bruce F so two different two different
20:35
things in there that's weird but hey
20:38
here's Bruce
20:40
so Bruce F yeah there you go um any
20:43
last-minute thoughts you'd like to share
20:45
with our audience in terms of following
20:49
their passion becoming the super boomer
20:51
that they're meant to be and and not
20:53
letting anyone tell them that they can't
20:55
do something any thoughts yeah I mean
20:58
you just you have to kind of deliver you
21:01
got to deliver something I mean the
21:03
other day I got something you know it
21:07
was an Instagram private message from
21:09
somebody new in high school and I got an
21:12
idea for a movie
21:13
who'd I talked to what do I do and you
21:15
know yeah who know who's out there who
21:17
go who I could pitch this to and I had a
21:19
step back and say listen nobody wants to
21:22
hear this from you and why why does
21:24
nobody want to hear it from you because
21:26
you haven't done the work yet and and so
21:30
when you're when you have an idea for a
21:32
movie
21:33
somehow someway even if you're not a
21:35
writer you got to get that movie written
21:37
right because if you've never done this
21:39
before
21:40
why is anyone going to pay you for
21:43
something that you haven't proven that
21:45
you know how to execute so no matter
21:47
what you do on this path if it can be
21:50
small it can be big don't expect it to
21:54
be coming to you you know especially in
21:57
this world I mean in this world you see
22:00
people now who want to be in the movie
22:02
business they're making their own
22:03
YouTube's it you know they're really
22:05
going above and beyond to show their
22:08
talent and that's what it takes these
22:11
days you know just don't just because
22:15
you feel like
22:16
I want to be in this path and I'm gonna
22:17
change you have to you have to put in
22:20
the work I so agree that is such great
22:23
great advice Bruce thank you I know how
22:26
busy you are you're on your you're now
22:28
on the book you know trail and you're
22:30
doing what you're doing and I really
22:31
want to thank you for coming on the show
22:34
again and for having a chance really to
22:37
catch up with you it's been quite a
22:38
while I want to thank you from the
22:40
bottom of my heart I'm gonna drop you
22:41
into the green room as I do my final
22:44
little goodbyes to everyone and again
22:46
thank you thank you thank you so it's
22:50
now time for the super boomer lifestyle
22:54
the super boomer moment and this is
22:56
where I actually talk about something
22:57
that struck a chord with me and actually
23:00
it was the very last thing that Bruce
23:01
said and that was to do the work you
23:05
have to do the work you can't just think
23:07
it's gonna come to you anybody that that
23:09
tells you that you dream it and it's
23:11
just going to show up that's not true
23:13
you have to do the work whatever it is
23:15
that even if you're passionate about it
23:17
you have to do the work so so important
23:19
great advice Bruce I want to thank
23:21
everyone for joining us today because we
23:23
know that you have a choice as to where
23:25
you spend your time you chose to spend
23:27
it with Bruce and I today and we are
23:29
very happy that you did that so make
23:31
sure you go out and give somebody an
23:33
awesome day and we'll see you next time
23:35
on the next episode of the super boomer
23:38
lifestyle show goodbye everyone
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