Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Illes.
Robert, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
First of all, I’m first generation American, the child of immigrants. My dad was Hungarian, having immigrated to the USA in 1931 with his mother and brother. They joined relatives in the farming community of Porterville, California in the San Joaquin Valley. He enlisted in the Air Force at the beginning of World War II, and was assigned to England. There he met my mother, and they were married. They moved to the Los Angeles area after the War. And so I was born in suburban Los Angeles, attended LA public schools and the University of Southern California, where I majored in journalism and telecommunications. I worked for one day as a reporter at the Daily Trojan, then got very much involved in the USC owned radio station, KUSC-FM (30,000 watts, heard up and down the Southern California coast). I eventually had a comedy show with a fellow student, Jim Stein. We wrote and produced sketches, had in studio and on the phone guests (Harry Shearer, Steve Allen, Regis Philbin, Joey Bishop). But mostly it was banter between us and live and imaginary characters. We tried to get into the radio business at the time (early ’70’s), but at the time radio was pretty much more music, less talk (later changed by Howard Stern). Meanwhile, back at USC, we enrolled in a TV writing class, and the guest lecturer, Digby Wolfe, was a TV producer involved in Laugh-In’s creation, and was contemporaneously producing at show for NBC – a special for Tennessee Ernie Ford. Wolfe said he could hire “student writers” on the show, and made it a contest. We submitted a monologue for Ford. I think perhaps one other student submitted something. Christmas break came, and we heard nothing. So I got up the nerve to call Digby – and he said the words “You’re hired”, which of course changed our lives. Indeed in early January, we started work on the special as two novice writers. But soon we were seeing how a show gets developed and produced, hobnobbing with guest stars Danny Thomas, Diahann Carroll, the Smothers Brothers – and of course Ford. We met a young William Morris Agent named Mike Ovitz. After a year of hoping to get another job, we were finally hired onto a Bill Cosby variety show for CBS, also produced/head written by Digby Wolfe and the legend, George Schlatter. Cosby took a liking to us as, at Wolfe’s suggestion, we went from trying to write sketches to writing Cosby monologues. Later in 1973, after Cosby was cancelled, we worked on a Lily Tomlin Special which would garner us Emmy awards as part of the writing staff, then a John Denver special. We were ensconced! We tried our hand at writing sitcoms (a couple of episodes of Sanford&Son), and then we created our own, called “Joe & Sons” for CBS, starring Richard Castellano. It didn’t last very long. So we meandered from show to show, creating relationships with certain producers – and even Steve Allen among others. We won another Emmy award in 1978 for writing on the Carol Burnett Show. In 1979 we got our first “producer” title working on a show called “Flo” for CBS, a spin-off of “Alice”. Our first executive producer (i.e., “show runner”) task for the show “Silver Spoons”, starring Ricky Schroder, and then thereafter for several series and pilots. Meanwhile, we created individual corporations – mine was Worldwide Illes. It is really one man company – me. Stein and I split up after 25 years of partnership in the mid 90’s. After a year of producing “Sister, Sister” for the WB network, I went on to create another show “Good Behavior”, starring Sherman Hemsley of Jefferson’s fame for the UPN network at Paramount. Fast forwarding to, 2006 I produced (and wrote!) my first “reality show”, also featuring Hemsley, for TVLand. Since then, I’ve written four books – three for kids – in various stages of publication (one available on Amazon now is called “Kufa Kupona or Give it Your All”). I’ve also completed a graphic novel, “I, Alien”. I’m working on an autobiography “Funny is Money” which is currently being edited. It is the story of my experiences, a “tell all”, and a “how to” book in many ways. I’m also developing a web series (sign of the times!) called “Surfer Dick”, about a surfer/slacker private detective. I occasionally give guest lectures at comedy writing classes at UC Northridge.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Looking back, it has been relatively smooth, compared to many others, but of course there have been struggles and insecurities in the early going, and then, oddly enough, in later years. Certainly at the beginning, when I had little or no network of TV associates and a young family, it was a challenge to find work, after our initial “big break” writing on the Tennessee Ernie Ford Special for NBC in January of 1971. I did some odd jobs (driving a delivery van for the Bank of Beverly Hills, etc.) But in early 1972, I was hired with my then partner to work on the series “The New Bill Cosby Show”, at first as “researchers”. So once hired, it was a struggle to do the “on the job training”, learning to be a professional comedy writer. But this evolved quickly. Sometimes the hours were long, and this didn’t sit well with my first wife. Note, I said “first wife”. This led to divorce after 10 years of marriage, and I remarried an old high school crush, and an actor herself. That’s been tumultuous but we have hung on – the long hours and constant striving for success -or just plain work – can be a strain. Stein and I hung on too, working regularly, winning 2 Emmys and nominated for 2 others… but after some 23 years of regular work, things dried up. So we were met with financial issues, already exacerbated by some devastating Writers Guild strikes (1981, 1988), so went our separate ways. But I experienced a resurgence in the mid to late 1990’s and 00’s.Then, there was a distinct slowdown in employment, as “ageism” issues. The Writers Guild successfully sued networks, studios and agencies in a huge class action.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Worldwide Illes Productions story. Tell us more about the business.
Again not a business/company in the usual sense. My main and only commodity is me and my expertise. I’m known as an Emmy winning comedy writer and producer. My long experience, quality work and easy going nature has set me apart. I’m an odd success story since I was actually raised in suburban Los Angeles, but had no family or friends actually in the entertainment business. It was a bit of accident or “dumb luck”, the “luck” aided by my work on the high school newspaper (where I developed confidence as a writer – and knew that was something I could do well) and work on the KUSC show over three years. And thereafter, developing relationships with assorted producers and production companies, I was able to work continuously for essentially 40 years, with some breaks due to strikes and thin work prospects, having all manner of experiences and meeting all manner of incredible people. Worldwide Illes is a useful entity as it can hit the ground running if an independent production is required.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
That’s always a good one. “Luck favors the prepared mind” I think was said by Louis Pasteur. Good Luck, depending on one’s definition, has certainly played a large role in my career. As has on occasion, Bad luck. But many such events are self-generated. In the beginning, luck is all there is – I fortuitously chose USC, went led me to KUSC, and there meeting Stein to do our radio show. Stein told me about the TV writing class, which had the guest lecturer, Digby Wolfe, who was actively producing a show for which he was willing to hire students. That is all luck, true, but we had been honing our writing chops, and had the desire. I also had the good fortune to be working in the TV industry when it was much smaller, a bit simpler, and met key people at the right time (the William Morris agents, Bob Einstein and George Schlatter who’d be a future employers, etc.) Bad luck might also be called bad judgment, as we might’ve made a left turn instead of a right at certain moments. But generally we were buffeted by the flow. There was some bad luck when Carol Burnett decided in her 11th year (and my first there) to retire from the show… same with Johnny Carson retiring abruptly, and NBC, in reaction cancelling shows produced by his company (including “Amen”, upon which I was working). Bad luck! There were a few other such incidents, which often opened up other opportunities. But mostly the luck has been good – being raised in the right city at the right time.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1021 12th Street Suite 205 Santa Monica, CA 90403
- Website: www.bitsville.org, www.bobbygoode.blogspot.com
- Phone: 3103871535
- Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
- Instagram: Mr. Robert Illes
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