Brian Koppelman: “Go Do the Thing.”

Brian Koppelman (a fellow Van Halen fan) is the co-creator of the hit Showtime series Billions, one of my favorite shows. This week, the cast and crew of Billions is back at work on a new season and Brian had some words of encouragement for all creators:

“This is the call sheet for the pilot of Billions. Note the date we started: Jan 19, 2015. Fifteen months before, I really thought my career might be over. Or radically smaller. Because in October of 2013 a (bad) movie we wrote bombed and we were fired from an HBO show we were hired to run. Our agents at the time told us we were basically un-hirable. Or that the demand for our services had shrunk. I remember walking New York City in a lost daze. It was a dark time...I believed the agents that there might never be another opportunity. And then, somehow, David and I remembered we were writers. That no agent or executive could stop us from the work itself. So, along with Andrew, we wrote the pilot to Billions, on spec, without a deal. I’ve detailed that experience before but just know this: doing it felt like rebirth. And a regaining of power and self determination. Right now, I’m on my way to set for the first day of shooting season four. Never let them tell you you’re dead. You’re not. You’re alive. And you have way more control than you think. Go do the thing. Love.”