Smiling Friends Gives Me Hope

    Hello! I'm a little tired while I'm writing this, but I did want to make a quick post about my recent interest in Smiling Friends. Or rather, my interest in Zach Hadel and the content he's put out (i.e. OneyPlays compilations). I half-stumbled across his corner of the Internet a week or two ago, and I found myself to share a sense of humor with him, so I've been on a streak consuming a lot of what he's put out there.

    I was listening to The Create Unknown Podcast episode he was on recently and really appreciated his commentary and insight on the production of Smiling Friends, since it gave me a better understanding of the sort of background processes that go behind getting a show pitched, written, and produced. A lot of his advice resonated with me, especially his words on failure and writing with a partner.

    It's a little daunting for me to believe that one day, I would ideally be in a similar position where I'm working on a show with friends (I'm looking at you Wade), but somehow listening to Zach's commentary made me chill out a little. He seems like a normal, funny guy that navigated his way to success through relatively achievable means. And I guess that's comforting for me, since I didn't really do much in high school or extracurriculars to progress my foothold in the entertainment industry.

    Now that I've finished NOW SPELL, my sights have been set on a new horizon: further developing the story and characters for Dollars to Donuts, the limited series I hope to one day write and get produced for streaming. And while I've had help from Wade with writing short films, I don't really know anyone with the experience in television writing to ask for help from. So that's why I've appreciated Zach's insight and story in producing Smiling Friends. Hopefully there's room for me up there!