Nick Stoller on Crafting Comedy Gold | Don't Kill the Messenger | Kevin Goetz & Screendollars

there's a little known part of Hollywood that most people are not aware of known as the audience test preview the recently released book audience ly reveals this for the first time our podcast series Don't Kill the Messenger brings this book to life taking a peek behind the curtain and now join author and entertainment research expert Kevin getts I call this podcast Don't Kill the Messenger largely because I sometimes have to deliver information that clients don't like to hear today's guest has been on the receiving end of this in the past but thankfully over the years he's heard far more positive feedback from me but through it all he's understood that I am just the conduit and The Interpreter of information and filmmakers can take what they want from it Nick Stoler is the nicest guy he started as a screenwriter and today is also a producer and one of the most commercially successful directors of his generation over the years he's worked on Films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall Get Him to the Greek Neighbors The Muppets Zoolander 2 and Dora the lost city of gold he also works in television and has created two shows just this past year Goosebumps and platonic Nick thanks so much for joining me thank you for having me I'm very flattered will Glu was here and I said to him yeah it's funny we talk about how wonderful a comedy Direct director you were but you're really not that funny that went over really no actually he he loved it you are very funny but you're very dry mhm you let things happen to you is that something you've always sort of like as a person my instinct is always to like make jokes I don't know why I don't know if that's just to cut the tension or whatever I'm just it's just something that I've always done but I'm really bad at remembering jokes I literally can't remember any jokes if you were to say tell a joke I wouldn't I wouldn't be able to tell but yet you seem to write them well so you can then I guess you're drawing upon things that you do remember in some respect right yeah I feel like most of my comedy just comes from human behavior it's more than being joke driven or that's the way I think about it at least like it it and it tends to be the biggest laughs I mean as you know from all all the research you've done when something relatable happens to a character more than when someone says a joke so I want to unpack that a little because we're doing research on you before this interview and discovered that you were born in England mhm you were born in London yes I was born in England my parents are American they lived there from 1970 to 1980 and so my brother and I were born there and then we moved to Miami in 1980 so I was 4 years old when we why Miami my dad is from Miami and their parents my grandparents lived in Miami and so I think they've wanted to move to Miami this is going to sound really strange but Miami doesn't seem like a funny place it's it's New York's a funny place can is funny you know but Miami is not how Miami is pretty funny I I love Miami is beautiful how did you get formed as the guy you are today Growing Up in Southern Florida there's something about growing up just not in New York or LA or a big city and Miami is now a much bigger city than it was when I was growing up that gives not an outsider perspective but I just when I got to New York I was more like wide-eyed and Amazed by all that when I got to La I was more you know and so you have a bit more even though obviously it's a major city you have a bit more of an outsider I I feel like I had a slightly Outsider perspective and it's also a very specific place it's very very diverse was the first time you left really going to Harvard no I went to boarding school ohsh in New Hampshire yeah why did you go to boarding school you know I don't know did your brother go too my brother went too it just seemed interesting and my parents were like you should take a look at this and so we looked at it and it looked like fun and it's the four years of my life where I I'm Jewish where I wasn't surrounded by Jews what was the name of the school St Paul's School so it's Episcopal School High School is that high school yeah and I started a satire magazine there I was always into comedy and and then you worked at Harvard Lampoon didn't you yeah then went to Harvard and did the Lampoon which you didn't start no no no that's been around forever I think that was like in the time of Thomas Jefferson or something but going back to New Hampshire what's it like for a kid I guess you're like 14 yeah to be sent to New Hampshire are you excited by that or you terrified you know I had loved Camp so I'd gone to sleep away camp and I thought it would be like sleep away camp and it was not and so I got there and I didn't really like it and it took me about two years to kind of like it and your parents kind of said no you committed to this my parents were like give it a year and I gave it a year and I was like I'm not someone who gives up and I felt like I need to keep working at this until I beat it what did it teach you it taught me how to fit in with people who aren't aren't exactly like me you know I would like say a joke to a bunch of waspy people and they would not get it at allz like we're literally from different cultures so I think like there was an element of just like learning to fit in it was tough it was like a tough four years you know but I think I learned how to be I don't know comfortable in my own skin I think that's a really cool phrase where you get to really discover yourself in high school I found a group of like-minded friends who were all into comedy and by the time I graduated I kind of knew I wanted to do comedy right but we started the Saturn magazine I found my friends and then I got to college that was really you know I really wanted the Lampo wait okay talk to me about that process so you're kind of a funny guy you thought funny yeah and you were able to though translate that to the page which a lot of people can't do did you like writing is that your kind of you consider yourself a writer more than anything at the at your core at my core yeah I became I always was obsessed with comedy and comedy writing who are your icons it started with weirdly cuz cuz I'm from Florida with this writer Dave Barry who's a syndicated columnist I don't know if you even know like he's yeah he's just like and I basically found one of his books read it it was like the funniest thing in the world to me and he was from Miami and from Florida write about Florida and WR right for the Miami Herald and I started to like those funny Floridians funny Floridians exactly I started to rip off his writing style and just writing my own Dave bares art end meeting him I sent him a letter and said do you need someone to intern for you and he replied very nicely no I don't like a 14-year-old intern for me but thank you for the offer did you meet him as an adult I went to a book signing when I was a kid I haven't met him yeah oh who else who else who are some of your other early inluences mon python you know basically every kind of thing that keeps you a virgin till late in life my influences all say it live I was obsessed with say it live but I was always obsessed with writing it I didn't want to act in anything I was obsessed with the writers like there's this famous writer named Doug Kenny who was on the Lampoon and wrote for sign life I always knew who the writers Were Somehow I figured that out I don't know how and you were wanting to say write for Saturday live I was want to write for Saturday live and my dream was to write and direct movies but that seemed I just would had no idea how that would work so my goal was to hopefully write for TV what does your brother do he is he writ he's in politics he writes he runs a think tank that's all about antitrust um and so he was actually during the strikes he lives in Washington he lives in DC but during the strikes there was a lot of people reaching out to him from The Guild an wow how cool is that now so you go to Harvard what study English greatest major I'm sorry yeah no I mean really I and in my company that's one of the best Majors you can have yeah yeah I think because it serves you in life in anything really yeah and there's almost a joke about English Majors I learned because they figure it's not a specific enough major and I find it a very specific major when I was in college I wish that Harvard had a more robust film program and in retrospect I'm glad I did English and that there wasn't that robust film program they kind of have a film program but it's not like UFC or whatever because I got to I read all these books I still am a big reader and you really are focused on essay writing and writing a screenplay isn't that dissimilar to writing an essay in terms of being very focused on a certain it has to be very very focused now when you got out of uh Harvard what was your first gig I worked at an advertising firm called young and rubicam was my we've heard of it in New York in New York yeah wow and you were a copywriter yeah I wanted to just prove that I could get a job like and get paid no better training for a writer than to turn out copy especially if you're working on like some of those local campaigns oh yeah like my husband Neil worked for campel methun and Asher Gould and he would have to turn out the Kroger's copyri it made him a great writer yeah so I started as an unpaid intern in the summer and then it turned into a job because I sold some ads and the thing it taught me is I just don't believe in writer block they would just kind of give you a thing like at the time there was this Sony Ericson cell phone it's the most boring thing in the world it is a phone that's all it is and they would give it they gave it to me they were like come up with 10 print ads and you just have to do it and it is the most boring thing in the world to have to come and I just but I was so excited to get to write for a living did they like your work there they did yeah they liked my work and what happened I basically the first year you don't get paid a lot but if you prove yourself the second year you're salary jumps a lot and I was like I've got to quit before the golden handcuffs come on and I was also spending that year flying to all the TV shows in New York you knew that you knew that about yeah I was like got you intuitively had a sense that I didn't want to go on this track yeah I wanted to write for TV and hopefully write and direct mov what you do about it so I applied to all the TV shows in New York at the time it was like Letterman s live Conan O'Brien nothing happened how do you apply for those shows seriously I mean I was very lucky because of the Harvard Lampoon there's a real Network a Comedy Network and so I would apply through friends there's a legitimate network but it didn't work out and I moved mov to LA in 99 after kind of applying to stuff there and then I got very very lucky so this is right after young and rubikant that was went right to La yeah I went right to La oh got it because you weren't having success getting a job in your in what you wanted to do in New York you're saying let me try my hand at La kind of my situation in a way similar New York yeah same thing and then it's just a small pool in New York entertainment so what did you do as soon as you got here well when I got here I got very lucky I got a job writing for a show it was an Austin Powers animated series for HBO it never happened basically a friend of mine this post release of the Mike Myers movie yeah this is right before the second one but after the first one so at the time it's hard to believe this but Austin Powers was the most popular thing in the world so my friend who's a big TV writer who was writing for live at the time Mike sh recommended me to his former stand live office mate to be a writer on this Austin power show and they hired me as a staff writer which was a crazy stroke of good luck they ended up deciding not to do to the show but I got an agent during those 10 weeks of the show his office mate Mike McCullers is the one who hired me and where was the agent it was at UTA UT is that where you still are to yeah I'm still there with the same agents yeah that's insane how many years are you with the same agents 24 years wow yeah and yeah they're really good agents I really goes back to my opening about your being a good guy I mean there's good guy loyalty it's all sort of synonymous to me that now it's cool so you get your first Big Break where I consider getting on that show and getting an agent kind of my first big break though even though it didn't happen it was like you and then my second Big Break was Jud appow hired me for his show Undeclared well I was trying to throw you that bait but that was my other that was my second huge break and he was hiring basically just from UTA how did he find you he just said to UT send me your youngest writers younger or funniest I think young and funny you know but because the show was about college he wanted I me I was really CL that's why that's why and I was obsessed with his tone and I was obsessed with Freaks and GE fre and Geeks yeah I Lov Freaks and Geeks and I remember interviewing with him and he wanted us to pitch a bunch of ideas so I just wrote down a bunch of stuff that had happened to me in college and pitched him this stuff and he I remember him being like laughing really hard do one for me like what would you say in a pitch like that I mean the funniest one was there my college roommate and I both had I just want to say it's like my grandmother darling sings know ex I don't want to say I I'm going to be upset sing well just like yeah well this was just like you don't want me to sing I'm bet yeah my collegey and I both had long-distance girlfriends at the time and in freshman year and I remember us talking about them and then I ended up having a sleepover in his bedroom like I slept on the floor and he slept in his bed and he put on his prom song which was the serer song Always I want to be with you that song and then we both just lay there and cried it's like so lame when I remember I was like it was so funny that is funny yeah it's really funny and I was like I totally see Jud yeah it's in jud's what else did you pit him any any other that was the one that I remember that I was like I this is exact this would be in freaks oh my Lord and so he said you're hired there then he hired yeah did he did he tell you right there he didn't but I I had a good feeling after the meeting you know and then he hired me that was an amazing experience how the stay on that show was on for just season but then you ended up working with Jud on several movies yeah so then it ended and I was trying to get another job and he told me we write the screenplay with me and we wrote a script for Adam Sandler that didn't it was fun to write but didn't happen but it went well and then we wrote Fun with Dick and Jane together and that happened that was with and that's where I think I met you yeah that would have I think I met you on Fun with Dick and Jane okay what did you direct first forgetting s Marshall and how did that come to be so Jason seagull and I became friends on Undeclared I would say that our artistic interests are similar in that we are really into romance we're really into like men and women and you just romance in general you know like and what those conflicts are those conflicts are I was say but men and men too like anything any romance is is what you know like I would say like that is the artistic project of my life and what I'm interested in what I like to watch and I think it's true of him as well and so he had written for gainst Marshall and he told me about it and by that point I'd written some screenplays and was kind of making my way at making a name as a screenwriter and Jud had just done four-year-old virgin and I think knocked up with starting I don't know he had leverage and I said to Jud if I help Jason kind of guide him through the writing process will you support me as a director and Jud said sure and just kind of went from there and he produced it he produced it I remember that and then did you then move into Get Him to the Greek then yeah then I did Get Him to the Greek because I Jo I work on that with you as well yeah they both had really good and then we started our relationship I know exactly did you work on Sarah Marshall I did did not I don't think yeah it's funny because I think I've done every single movie that Jud has ever been involved with except that one yeah I think that was a really fascinating testing process wait maybe I did do that maybe it's knocked up I'm talking about but anyway yeah tell me about the screening process on Forgetting Sarah Marshall that was a huge learning experience for me because my early cut of it was Jason's character he's depressed and so I thought it would be very funny for him to always be crying all the time and like like that just made me laugh and what I learned is the audience hates that they hate someone who's sad but they love someone who's pretending to be happy and it was like a huge difference wow that that that's interesting for our listeners here that's a good that's a good good note and so and so someone who's in denial is the funniest thing in the world and it also you root for that person cuz you're like they're trying their hardest whereas someone who's just sad you're like you're not trying but when some someone's trying and they're like looking at you I mean Jason has the best most expressive eyes his eyes are sad but he's smiling It's the funniest thing in the world and so that was a huge learning experience and it's honestly something I've taken to everything I've done since then because most characters are in denial well you have a great ability to find the funny in a way that's almost easier than what I'm about to say which is finding the heart every one of your movies has some Center of heartfelt something right it's about something wouldn't you say yeah yeah and so does Jud by the way Jud has the same kind of thing it's funny we were had some interview during Bros and we they were like why do you work together and Jud was like I mean we have the same tone it's like literally I don't you know like he and I share the same tone and I think that the core of any good comedy and I think Will Gluck might have said this to you too is that it's a drama no he didn't say that oh he didn't say okay okay I'm just joking I think he might have said it but it's they're dramas there everything and it's tone it's the tone that you bring and I see the world comedically but the core of everyone of my movies is dramatic it has to be Jud was kind enough to add a segment to my real when I'm being honored for this American Cinema Tech award yeah he's in bed on the video and he's got a pillow and he looks like he just woke up and it is the funniest thing it is so real and so like you you really feel he's just making it up he's going along which of course he is to some degree but he knows exactly where the ending is see and I find that so genius and I love jud's process when we test movies and it's very very similar to yours which is I'm going to try a lot of stuff I'm going to get most of the value of the screening in listening to the audience tell me about that and how you depend on the audience in in a lot of ways yeah I mean it's hearing the laughs certainly so feeling and feeling the laughs but it's also it's like a feeling of where they're engaged and where they're not and also honestly the focus group ends up being really helpful too at the end which is why I'm always like please Kevin please please we run the focus group because I think if 16 people all say something about your movie like negative then that means your movie has a problem in that area you know and so and if one person says it you probably don't have yeah exactly but you have to have the thick skin to be able to say all right cuz everyone's got an opinion let's face it but that's exactly what I always tell filmmakers and it's what I look for the commonalities right and by the way sometimes they could be saying different things but the same note in some way because it may be a tonal note yeah but they're saying it like differently sometimes they'll try to propose a solution it's usually not the solution that they're proposing but the problem they're pointing out is if a majority of people say it it is there and you shouldn't ignore it so you listen to the audience and tell me what you're listening for and how you decide on what joke to maybe end up going with and I don't think the answer is simply whoever's laughing louder at that moment I mean if there's jokes that get massive laughs I'll keep them but I cut jokes and this has just happened there's a joke in the most recent movie that we just that just tested this the will for re with movie called called cordially invited I'm very excited about it that kind of hurt the character and it's one of my favorite jokes I've ever written but it kind of hurt the character and so I cut it I just cut it and I mean jokes are free it's the story that you want to make sure is working wow that's a big note for everyone to hear who is a filmmaker listening here don't get too precious and don't get too married to something that may not be good for the overall Arc of the character or the overall movie itself yeah and I don't run into it that much but whenever a writer is like no but that joke's funny I'm like no no no you never hold on to jokes and I used to I mean when you start you're kind of I'll have a funny joke and I'll end up shaping scenes around this joke and it doesn't work you it's all about the story everything is about the story well that's what elevates you among so many others when we come back we're going to talk about some of the more recent projects and also more about cordially invited we'll be back in a moment get a glimpse into a secret part of Hollywood that few are aware of and that filmmakers rarely talk about in the new book Audiology by Kevin gats each chapter is filled with neverbe revealed inside stories and interviews from famous Studio Chiefs directors producers and movie stars bringing the Art and Science of Audiology into Focus Audiology how movie goers shaped the films we love from tiller press at and Shuster available now we're back with Nick Stoler Nick I have to ask you about Bros because you know we worked on Bros together I love that movie I loved it from the beginning it was such a movie I felt that unfortunately didn't do great at the box office but was really a terrific movie and I believe got pretty high Rotten Tomato scores from critics yeah you know so how does a straight guy in a clearly right down Unapologetic gay romantic comedy get that gig I actually proposed it so I worked with Billy ikner who I think is just so funny such a comic genius guy really funny guy yeah really funny guy I first worked with my neighbors too and then I cast him in a big part in friends from college and I learned on that that he really had great acting chops in addition to being really funny and I had been interested in the idea of like a romantic comedy about two men for a while but obviously I'm straight I couldn't do that myself and something that so you bring on J Jud appat exactly I know well and well Billy also straight that's a hysterical line though first I went to Billy I didn't start with Jud so I I went to Billy and I said would you be interested in doing this with me and he and I share a tone you know we both wanted to be really funny and very authentic and heartfelt and honest which is what I've tried to achieve with all the movies I've done and the way I thought about it honestly is a comedy vehicle for Billy ier not as like a gay romantic comedy if that makes sense I thought of it the way I think of Sarah Marshall as a comedy vehicle for Jason seagull or neighbors as a comedy vehicle for Seth and Zack Efron and so that was really and so it was really about getting Billy's point of view on the page so like you go to the sex scenes though and I'm just going to say there was a very very funny truth in those scenes yeah and did you think of it as a SE sex scene that you might have as a straight guy or did Billy sort of really dictate what was happening there I mean Billy dictated it because they were his experiences you know or push push not his not his experien Don't Kill the Messenger the truth I wouldn't say his experien is a pushed version of them of um and obviously it was that whole movie I mean I need to tell you is all about masculinity and all this other stuff you know and so there was also a bit of a parody of masculinity in this can we just say I have a major man crush on Luke oh my God I ended up casting him in platonic right after did yeah the show that my wife and I created together he is such a ter terrific guy he's he plays all these straight guys on these Hallmark movies and I would look at him when we would see some of those movies on television and I'd say he's really handsome he's really and then to find out he was gay I was like you just feel like a sense of yes join the team you know yeah he's very handsome he's the nicest guy too like the sweetest guy and so funny and yeah I'm platonic he's playing a straight guy he plays Rose's husband who is let's talk about another comedic genius oh my God she's a genius yeah I mean like seriously she's like Peter sers in like like I I think cuz she can she can do these we characters like the character she didn't get the you know or and she can also play like like Seth's wife and neighbors and in platonic she's just yeah in spy she's so funny like but like she what is it about her you know what is she's so damn pretty she's just you know what I'm saying but so you you might dismiss the fact that she could be so funny she's so funny and self-deprecating she doesn't mind being self-deprecating she's very yeah she doesn't care she'll just go hard for the joke she doesn't how about damages oh yeah she's great she plays a fully dram not a funny bone in that character's body I don't think but she is so good she came in to read for gender the Greek I all I knew was damages and I was like what is Rose burn doing here like I literally because he'd only done serious stuff and then we had read a lot of people for that part and I remember she read and it was like this is the funniest person I've ever read like she was so funny I mean my theory I have a weird theory about her which is that she's kind of a like low energy person playing High energy characters I think there's something about she's not low low energy is the wrong you know what I mean she's not she's not she's very dry she's onet she's very quiet I mean she's hilarious and awesome she does not need to be the center of attention and because there's also an intellect to her you don't believe her is a stupid it's like when Robin Williams would play who's very high energy would play a quieter character well to me that was the only time I liked him really to be honest play the opposite I liked Robin when he I mean Goodwill Hunting For example when he didn't wink at the audience and he was just sort of being he's a juliard trained actor well you feel a vibrating intensity there that is exciting you know is there a particular Talent you've work with who's just an exceptional comedic gifted artist other than Rose I mean Rose is because Rose is also physically I mean I've just been very lucky physically what you physical comedian yeah no she's an incredible physical comedian you might want to finish stat sorry she's yeah no she was in the show physical no she's a physically gifted comedian she's so funny as a physical um I mean I've just been really really lucky I everyone want names names of people I mean I'll just end up going down my IMD pages I mean Jason seagull is what is it about Jason because I agree I actually think Jason is a very underrated actor he's such yeah have I mean he's a really terrific actor did you see the end of the tour you must it's incredible performance incredible performance he just is his he'll do some weird little piece of behavior and the audience will explode they think it's so funny and then Seth who's a comic genius and like Seth Seth so Seth's thing is he's just a joke delivery he can just land joke after joke and he's a really good actor too he's like super warm he yeah but he he has the ability to deliver jokes that are that are completely natural another good actor and an amazing actor and very warm and also doesn't well go for is an amazing physical comedian but he's very natural he's Supernatural saying jokes which is very hard to about Zach Zach is like insanely charismatic and really committed I mean everyone has their own process but until that point was more used to the way comedians approach stuff and he's more he's not a comedian he's an actor but his intensity made that part so funny and I remember screening the movie and the audience just like died laughing at his intensity like when he tells Seth and Rose when when they call the cops in him that he's disappointed in them it's one of the funniest he's so funny and he's not even trying to I mean he knows it's I think he knows it's funny but he's not trying to be funny he's just he's invested in the character like work with who you hav't work with comedically I'm obsessed with like Ryan Gosling I think he's so funny he's and and in his dramatic stuff Drive is one of my favorite movies of all time oh God I worked on that movie but also what Lars and the Real Girl oh so funny yeah I mean like there's something about his and his choices of material always been impeccable oh yeah like part of being a star I think is selecting obviously it's a huge part of it it's a huge part of it right you also I mean I'll say my on my bucket list of actors was Will Ferell and REE Witherspoon and to get to work with them was insane oh let's segue there because I'm going to I should just say I was like pretty Star Struck and excited to work with Okay so I can't really talk about movies before they come out but I think you can I will just say that it is hysterical and it also has great heart there's a scene actually in this amazing romp where I cried you want to talk about how you got involved in that project and how you found that balance I mean my goal for almost all my movies is to make people cry more than laugh like I know that sound you want to tell the scene I'm referring to is it the mother yeah there's a scene between Rees and her mother played by played by Celia Weston the great C Celia Weston is just she's one of those actors who you've seen in so many things don't necessarily know her name yeah unless you're in the industry right but she delivers this posos that is just so insane yeah yeah she's so good in it like Ree and her mom have a pretty not a great relationship and she plays kind of a scary mom and not the nicest she doesn't seem that nice and it's all about peeling back those layers what is the movie about it's about a double book destination wedding so there's two weddings that both book the same place on the same weekend and so Will's daughter is getting married and ree's sister is getting married but what is the movie about about no I mean you answered the question that's what what I'm trying to get at is what's going on with you as a filmmaker cuz that's just the plot that's the plot yeah the emotional the emotional getting at it's about being honest with your family that's really what it's about it's also about getting older you know a bit I'm 47 I think it's about both those things you said there was a line you said that will said that you ended up taking out because it hurt the character how so to me the exciting part of this movie is bringing will frell and REE Witherspoon and putting them in we all know they're going get together as an audience right I mean but also they have the movies they've done are slightly different I would just to paint in Broad brush like her can be a bit more grounded and his are a bit more comedic or whatever and so to bring them into the same movie but I was just like it's my tone so I'm trying to do my tone to I think bringing them to the same reality level is all and they're both excellent actors and can pull it off so it's the choices I'm making as a director and he had a joke kind of late in the movie kind of right where he has this moment he has a scene with his daughter where they're making up and he had a joke that is one of my favorite jokes that he said but I think it hurt but then like literally 3 minutes later he is in a car with Reese Witherspoon and saying I like I like you and they kiss and stuff not to you know ruin it um and uh and that joke kind of just made the audience be like but but I don't know if she should be with him right I don't say this obviously to give anything away and that won't but it illustrates the sophistication that one has to have when looking at the whole the total yeah and often because you have a star there's an inclination to not want to cut there's often for a young filmmaker not like yourself to favor a particular actor in a role because they're enamored with them and they think everything they do is spectacular and I often say I find myself saying to filmmakers you're not helping this actor you're not helping that character by keeping that we've got it the audience is ahead of you yeah yeah do you know can you speak to that has that been prevalent other movies as well that notion yeah I mean I'm pretty harsh in terms of cutting stuff down i' my joke is that I've put my kids in little roles in my movies and cut them out of all of them you know so like literally well that's just plain that's just that's just plain bad I know and what does your wife say about that I wouldn't come home I'm just like I'm sorry it makes the movie worse I don't know what to tell you it's you know but it's always story it's a are they in they're not in this they're not in this one they they were in school they were in platonic so they're they're in the TV show but yeah I think it's all story driven so it's all what the story demands what was harder about this is that joke got a big laugh so you have to it's not that it didn't like if a joke doesn't get a laugh it's itut go away this got a big laugh well so I'll say often everyone loves that scene it's one of the best likee scenes on the questionnaire yeah and I say yes but it doesn't belong in this movie oh that's interesting it is a great scene and it works yeah but you're hurting by having that scene or at least placed in that part part of the movie is sending audiences here when you don't want to go here wow has that happen that actually has never happened to me one of the top five scenes and then that's interesting I said use it for the DVD extras you know because it's just not serving the overall and that's what we're trying to do I just did an interview this morning for the ankler and one of the things that we talked about was how the Cadence has shifted in a movie intended to debut on a streaming service as opposed to a movie that is theatrically made to Premiere as a theatrical movie that you have to grab the audience much quicker in a streaming situation you can actually lose 10 20 more percent of your audience if you don't grab them within the first 10 minutes yeah have you since this movie was made for Amazon were you mindful of that did you think of that you know already who's bought your material what do you do with that information I think I natur want to grab people from the beginning of and I think all my movies kind of do it I think kind of grab you from the beginning I also have had the experience of having to re-shoot the beginning of a movie or re-shoot and so it's made me a more disciplined writer where did you have to do that I had to re-shoot stuff at the beginning of Get Him to the Greek to launch that movie correctly how did it open and how what did you have to add and by the way re-shoot are amazing I love them it's not they're the greatest thing in the world so this isn't like oh I'm mad I had to do re shoots I love doing re-shoot but anything that could help the picture I always think that re-shoot should be part of the budget cuz you know 90% of your re-shoot go into the movie and we definitely agree but I did want to ask you what was the initial opening and then what did you add to help was it a clarification issue something I become more and more intrigued by his point of view in movies which character point of view and so in that movie I started the movie showing Russell at this big party with Rose Burn who was his wife and Rose dumping him and then him falling off the wagon starting to drink and then it cut and then it went to the credits and then we went to Jonah Hill's character and it just was bad it just wasn't a good way to start the movie it felt better to start in the point of view of Jonah and have this celebrity and meet the celebrity through Jonah and so what we ended up doing is shooting some stuff all actually on video cameras to create a kind of news Montage to show Russell's character falling apart so we start with this African Child music video this terrible music song that he wrote and I remember this I remember this exactly and then it becomes a media Montage so the audience is in the perspective of Jonah Hill's character they don't know that or of seeing a celebrity through media and so then when you finally meet Russell he's like that character you're leaning forward because it's like meeting a celebrity you know it's you see you know your whole life you see Marlon Brando in TV on movies or whatever and then you get to meet him it's a very different experience did audiences tell you that I don't remember exactly but you know you ask the question what parts were slow the beginning you know well the beginning is often slow because you're setting characters and and setting the scene so to speak but in this particular case it was almost a tonal shift you wanted huh yeah point of view and the same thing happened on neighbors as well so it started with a whole sequence of them doing a bunch of stuff to get kicked out of their fraternity and then we cut to Seth and Rose and we ended up realizing the point of view is all Seth and Rose so we just started with Seth and Rose and then they see the Frat moving in next door and that was the first time we see Zach is through their eyes did I didn't write it no Andrew Cohen and BR no wrote that so you were invited to the party yeah so I've been friends with all those guys Seth and Evan and I remember Evan Goldberg called me up and said we have this movie for Zack Efron and Seth it's called Neighbors and I immediately understood what the movie was emotionally before I even read the script which was just like basically the two times I'd had existential crisis in my life was when I graduated from college and when I had my first child and it was the very similar feeling of my life not being my own being out of control and today right now talking to no and so I was was like oh I know exactly what would connect these characters before I read it and then I read it and the script was really funny it didn't it had some of that didn't have other parts of it and brenon and Andre are super funny and we kind of developed it and then how has being a dad informed you as a filmmaker oh hugely and this is actually something else this is funny when I listen to Will's interview I always make movies that are like about what I just went through you know not Cally invited that's like about something that I'll probably go through in the future so like neighbors was about new Parenthood really at that point I had two kids but it was fresh in my mind or Sarah Marshall was about dating again at that point I was married and you know expecting a kid so I'm always like looking back and trying to find it's not autobiographical but the emotional experience of each movie is that in a way why you chose to do Dora for your daughter yeah I I you have three girls right as I said in the beginning and I don't mean to be flipping about it but it's like you know you see this adult comedy adult comedy adult comy Dora the Explorer yeah and Muppets yeah and Muppets but did you make that decision because you wanted to leave a legacy for your daughter is what I was kind of getting at but maybe maybe I'm over I'm overthinking it I was when I Dr something I have to emotionally really understand it the core with writing stuff I have to get it but it's more like do I think this is a funny idea or do I think the character is compelling and with Dora I had a take on it that made me laugh and then my good friend James bobin came on board and he had he had directed Muppets and uh Muppets Most Wanted and then he was interested in doing Dora and so I was really excited to get to work I just love working with him well it was actually a really fun movie I really enjoyed it there was a brightness to it but of course it's a property that's relegated to a primary target yeah so what is next in terms of Nick when I say that I mean television first of all you have two projects right now are you showrunning them so I have two shows so I co-created this show that's based on Goosebumps with Rob letter love love Goosebumps I worked on all the movies oh cool oh so you know Rob Letterman he directed the first movie yeah so yeah so Rob and I are old friends and we co-created it this TV show based on Goosebumps for Disney plus and the first season came out this past Halloween what did it do it did well I think it did well and we're basically on the fingers cross seemed to be hopefully we don't know but hopefully I can't say it officially I don't know but hopefully we will be and then platonic was a show I created with my wife we did we did a show who was your wife Franchesca delbanco she's a novelist and then we created a show called friends from college for Netflix that we did two seasons of and then we did the show platonic for Seth and Rose how did you meet her we met through France she went to Harvard we weren't the same year but we met through France a few years after college and she writes mostly you said novels she wrote a novel we write together I see so you created two shows with your wife one was friends from college and the other's platonic yeah how is it working with her it's great I love working with her how do you do it without killing each other it's funny people ask that we just kind of like sh sh a brain about this stuff if she doesn't like something then I'm like it's probably not good and if I don't like something then she's like it's probably not good and I also always say that I like care a lot and also don't care you know what I mean I totally know what you mean I care a ton about stuff and there's certain things that are laying in bed at night before you go to bed and and she'll come up with an idea or you'll come up with an idea because when Neil brings that stuff up I'm like you know what I I can't do this right now yeah I got to I can't talk business at all talking about that stuff at night is rough just because it turns your brain on and then it's hard to sleep that's literally the well that's the whole point I don't want usually we leave it we tend to leave work at work I think where is work well it will be wherever our office is downstairs yeah no when we have a TV show we'll go to an office building any of your girls have the superpower that you and your wife have you won't be surprised to hear that being funny is very prized in our house so they're all I'm happy to yeah we all make jokes yeah we're always making jokes and and ribbing each other and stuff and I think that's probably the most important that and being polite are probably the two things that are most which can be at odds with each other what are you most proud of I mean it's it's cliched but my family it's not cliche yeah my family I've had guests that say oh it's my career I'm joking I don't think we've ever had anyone say that they'd be kicked out on their ass I think sure I mean I that was a total leading question but let's talk career what are you most proud of in your career I think I feel very proud and lucky that I've gotten to make original comedies and and still am able to make them as the industry keeps changing and whatnot you know so I think like that to me is just like a huge blessing are you writing anything right now I'm finishing cordially invited so I'm really finishing I have an idea what my next thing will be but I haven't started really working on it yet are you a single focused kind of guy I don't have development I just do my one thing at a time yeah wow and do you need breaks after a movie generally or are you on to the next thing I'm usually on to the next Cadence is like slow yeah like post always ends up being a lot slower like production is intense you always need a vacation after that but post ends up you know if you're lucky not being super I think for visual effects movies that's not true how do you prepare before you go on set with Reese will first time first day first day of school you nervous oh yeah cuz they're like I'm I'm obsessed with both of them that's what I'm saying obsessed uh so what do you think about how are you preparing for that first day so rehearsals are super important to me and I always demand I always like we need a week of rehearsals it ends up being honestly probably two or 3 days of a few hours you know it's really just reading the script partially it's to meet actors I haven't met before and to get their Vibe which is most of the actors in this movie I didn't where do you usually do your readings in my hotel room is that weird no I'm joking and it's reading the script I've done some blocking but it really isn't blocking it's mainly reading the script reading the scenes and making sure it all makes sense there's no pressure because what you don't want to do is be on set and have the actor I'm very collaborative I want everyone's ideas but you don't want the actor to come on set and throw out the scene because then you're under the gun and then it's you know and I I've been very lucky I haven't had that happen really have you had a bad behavior though not really I mean I mean you're doing comedies mostly and I don't mean to sound flipping that comment it's just that people are there to have a good time and the actors really have to be of a certain energy consistently it's kind of tough right maintaining that yeah I describe Direct a little bit like hosting a party it looks like I'm relaxed I'm not relaxed but I try to make it relaxed for everyone but the rehearsal period is very important also for example in that movie we have some amazing comedians Rory Scoville lean Morgan these Great Southern Comedians and so I wrote what I thought they would say they are much funnier than brother and sister the brother and sister they're so funny Jimmy Tetro who's plays and mine is that her name lean Morgan no the bride oh well there's Geraldine viswanathan who's Will's daughter who's a genius she is just a genius and then Meredith funny I'll say to like Le or whoever Rory who whoever I'll be like what do you think this character would say or what would you actually say in a rehearsal there's no pressure there's no like time pressure and so people will just kind of Riff and we joke around about stuff when we discover stuff a lot of stuff because the characters that I write I want to adjust them for who I you let the actress play yeah oh yeah yeah so you'll leave the camera rolling we do improv but it's a lot of me being like now say this now say that and it's pretty focused on this and it has to be on story what I don't like is a feeling of riffin I don't I when watch movies don't come off that way they always seem situational they always come out of the character it feels like that that's very interesting yeah obviously my my favorite movies would be like Broadcast News or Terms of Endearment these movies that feel naturalistic but aren't riffy they they are written you know do you feel like because Rees and Will are both really good producers as well it may put more pressure on you it was just helpful cuz their notes were really smart ah so it wasn't and they also were very respectful so it was like the the whole thing it was like we were all adults in the room you know we're all around the same age and they were like very respectful they were like you the director but they were also like gave me really smart notes both of them I mean that really helped the movie a lot and and changed the movie a lot and they also gave them to me at the right time like as I was writing the movie when did it come out I don't know oh because because people need to see it it's just so beautiful and I love the music that you use oh yeah I was that's why I was going the interludes before coming on air yeah we talked about going to New York and you said I just saw merily we along and Sweeney Todd which is you said also and those are the exact two shows that I'm going to see when I go to New York in a couple of weeks tell me though why you like the theater so much and how you use theater music yeah I love musicals I love s time specifically A Little Night Music is maybe my favorite thing ever made like of anything like it's just it's so are we on the ground yeah it's just the most beautiful musical anyways I was working on this movie cordially invited about this it's a big wedding movie almost Shakespearean in its like mixups and stuff and I was in pre-production and I was going on a jog where I do most of my thinking and I suddenly realized that I had been inspired by Little Night Music to write this movie on some level and I was like wait I think the opening credits should be set to the Overture of A Little Night Music it was like it all kind of came to me I was like this is I didn't know that was it yeah that musical is very fam is but I don't think the Overture necessarily is and I wanted it to be like a tense kind of weird but also magical opening to kind of set the tone for the movie and I've never really done a credit sequence like that before cuz it's not something that's done usually people are blasting you into their movie as fast as possible I had this idea of how to shoot it and I work with this great DP John Garian and his wife who's my production designer Teresa garan and we started talking about it and kind of shot the sequence set to this over the Overture of little KN music so you had the music in advance how interesting is that it was so it's I'm I mean it's something that a lot of directors do that I don't tend to do and I'm going to do it from now on like really try to figure that out because it's just well again talking about hooking an audience if you're going to do main on Main in the beginning of the movie you want to be able to really grab them yeah and Advance The Narrative not just be over picture yeah it sets a tone too and I wasn't sure if the audience would be bored but when you watch now that we now you film the audience the audience is like sitting they're like into it and I also make a big choice to have operatic music throughout and the audience is into it which I was like they might hate this I don't know Nick Stoler we can talk forever you are such a talented filmmaker and hearing your perspective I think is really going to interest so many people who listen to this podcast thank you so much for joining me and I'm going to see you on the next one which is going to be soon yes yeah thanks see you soon Kevin to our listeners I hope you enjoyed our interview I encourage you to check out Nick's shows Goosebumps on Disney plus and platon on Apple Plus as well as his upcoming film you're cordially invited with Will Farrell and Reese Witherspoon please also check out my book Audiology at Amazon or through my website at Kevins 360.com you can also follow me on my social media at Kevin getts 360 next time on Don't Kill the Messenger I'll welcome actress producer and marketing strategist Colleen Camp until then I'm Kevin getts and to you our listeners I appreciate you being part of the movie making process your opinions matter