Alumni Spotlight - Bobby Bowman (MFA Playwright)

 

Bobby Bowman.

I am the Executive Producer on NBC's "My Name is Earl." I run the writers' room there, managing 16 writers who's cumulative payroll cost is "holy-sh#t-that's-a-lot-of-writer-money-why-isn't-TV-better-that-this."
When I was at UCSD I had planned to be a playwright and movement teacher. Back then I never thought for a minute that I would live in LA or work in TV. Just as I never expected my waist would have the exact same circumference as H.R. Puff N' Stuff's. It's wild how life sometimes exceeds your dreams.
This is my daughter Isabella and I picketing Paramount Studios. I also have a son, Dean, age 4, but he was pro management and would not walk the line.
I also wrote on Family Guy and the show Yes Dear. In fact a lot of the same writers wrote on both shows. And on My Name is Earl. It's a fine line between hip and not hip.
This is my wife on her way back from emptying the trash. We met at NYU where she was a modern dancer. Now she has to wear cocktail dresses and heals at all times, because she is the wife of a big time Hollywood muckety-muck and that's just how it is here, I'm sorry.
On the right is my beloved beagle, Sparky, next to the anti-labor management stooge.

 

I am 44. I just signed a new three-year "overall deal" with 20th Century Fox. Yay. Before being a TV writer I had failed as a classical actor, dancer, choreographer, acting teacher, private investigator, mime, bread-truck driver, stand-up comedian, hat wholesaler, movement teacher, and playwright. Actually I was was pretty decent at teaching movement. If you were doing a type of theatre that demanded near-constant full-body gestures based on primitive iconology and rage. And who doesn't like that?

And I wrote plays. Eventually, (after my 367th script rejection to be exact) my wife said "no more f##king plays will be written in this house." So I started writing tv specs of existing shows. I wrote a LOT of them and studied the form for three years in and out of grad school. I moved to L.A. at 34. I entered script contests. And did very well.

I think this website is intended to encourage you to attend UCSD. I hope it will also encourage you to fail and fail and fail at a ton of stuff in your life. At least that's what worked for me.

Attached is a rough draft of a speech I gave to the captive audience of UCSD graduates this year. I punched it up a lot in the car plus made a few good ad libs so if it reads sucky, well, it was better live. And stop being a hater anyway.

Click HERE to download the speech.