Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Hannon and Deon Oliverio.
Hi Kelly and Deon, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Kelly: Aside from being the next Tara Lipinski, writing was always the one thing I wanted to do. I studied film and TV at Syracuse University, and although I knew virtually no one in the entertainment business, I packed up my ramen noodles and moved to Los Angeles right after graduation. I crashed at a friend’s apartment in Los Feliz for a month and worked a bizarre administrative day job for a chaotic reality producer. Thanks to incessant networking and a connection with another SU alum, I eventually landed a production job on the TV show “The Office.” While there, I moved up the ladder to Head Digital Writer and produced short scripts with the cast for NBC.com. I refer to it as my “comedy grad school” – it was an extraordinary, surreal, and demanding experience. I was eventually able to land a manager through spec scripts and my work on the show, and I’ve developed and written for several series since then.
Deon: Well, my initial dream was to be the 5th Golden Girl. Once I realized that was a little far-fetched, I aimed for the next best thing… a career in musical theatre. I went to The University at Buffalo, where I majored in musical theatre and dance. After graduating, we loaded up my mom’s Rav4 and made our way to the Big Apple. We forgot to bring a bed, so I slept on a lawn chair for my first three months until I landed my first gig. Since then, I’ve worked in regional theaters across the country and gradually moved into TV/Film where I was featured on the second season of “POSE,” as well as the feature film, “Chrissy Judy.”
Partnership:
Kelly: The pandemic changed everything so rapidly. The sitcom I was writing for was cancelled, and I suddenly went from 60-hour workweeks with 28-episode seasons to spiraling into overwhelming panic and binging “Schitt’s Creek” in bed all day. What got me out of bed was a DM from Deon with a pitch inspired by his life growing up in our hometown on the Allegany Indian Reservation in New York. Although Deon is newer to writing, his voice and style is so distinct, and I loved his series idea centered on him and his Native grandmother becoming roommates on the Rez. It was funny, poignant, and unlike any other pitch I’d ever heard. When someone comes to you with that, you listen, support, and amplify. We fleshed it out together during Covid lockdown and ended up optioning it to Sony Pictures. Although the project didn’t move forward with Sony, and we’re returning to market with it, an enduring partnership was born.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Kelly: It’s a really hard time to make art right now. We’re battling tech giants, A.I., and out-of-control capitalism. It feels impossible to get things to go to series, and even when they do, they’re sometimes being canned as tax write-offs, which is bonkers. So much of the industry is being driven by analytics rather than creative intent, and it can be hard to find a studio willing to take a chance on a new perspective.
I’ve always written female-led comedies, and when I first started out, I was often told, “This is so funny, but we don’t know what to do with it.” TV was (and essentially still is) an overwhelmingly male-dominated field, and the thought of a messy, vulnerable, dimensionalized woman leading a broad comedy was like, almost unimaginable in the 2000’s. Even now, it’s tough. I recently took out an animated superhero series, and the lead female character is not a classic, model-like example of beauty. In one of my pitches, a male exec genuinely asked me something along the lines of, “If she’s not attractive, why are we watching her?” There are so many gigantic problems in entertainment that erode your mental health and drive to keep going.
The most important things I’ve learned over the years are to A) go to therapy and B) stick to your strengths and write what you know. The scripts that break through the noise are always the ones that are truest to my experiences and closest to my soul. And there are still some really brilliant executives and managers out there (s/o to Michael Pelmont) who will champion that writing and do everything they can to try to bypass spreadsheets and biases.
Deon: It’s been a very interesting journey for me in the writers’ space. One thing I was sort of shocked by was how others had little to no touchstone for Native people, issues, culture, etc. Being of Native descent and from the reservation, you don’t realize that that way of life is so foreign to the rest of the world. What feels like another planet to someone is legit just another Tuesday for me. Kelly and I would pitch these projects that we loved, inspired by our everyday journeys, friends and experiences, and some execs just didn’t understand it. Their idea of a modern Native person or of Rez life was so sad. They found it hard to see comedy in that world, even when we would tell them that Natives are some of the funniest, most wise-cracking people you’ll ever meet. But it was such a refreshing experience pitching our most recent sitcom to the diverse team at Disney. They got it right away and were able to correlate certain aspects to their own experiences. They could see the universality while showcasing a specific community. It’s all about connecting with the people who get it and pushing through all the “nos” to get that one “yes.”
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Kelly: Deon and I are a television writing team specialized in comedies, light and dark, with dynamic characters driven to overcome all odds. We’ve been crafting half-hour series that center on rich, unexpected worlds. As Deon mentioned, we’re currently developing a family sitcom with Disney Branded Television inspired by our hometown. I think by nature of the way we grew up, we bring a very distinctive lens to the table, and our goal is to help build a more equitable and diverse industry.
Deon: I’m most proud of creating stories where underrepresented heroes are the centerpiece, as opposed to being in service to what I call “status quo” characters. For years, Native representation was either horrible stereotyping or the “wise man helping the white man.” Or with queer characters, it would always be the supporting character who existed purely to benefit the lead. It’s important to tell stories where women, LGBTQ+, and Native voices are FRONT AND CENTER.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Deon: Iced coffee.
Kelly: Sandwiches, mainly.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Kelly: https://www.instagram.com/hannagrams/?hl=en Deon: https://www.instagram.com/deono1iverio/?hl=en
- Twitter: Kelly: https://twitter.com/Hannerisms
Image Credits
Emily Croft
NSP Studio
