Daily Inspiration: Meet Adam Small

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Small.

Hi Adam, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born into a Hollywood family. My great Uncle ran MGM after Louis B. Mayer, he was Dore Schary and my father was an talent agent for all my years growing up. I was a funny kid who craved attention and that led me into comedy.

I made my first movie when I was eleven, called “Scenes We’d Like You To see”, based on the Mad Magazine comic segment with the same name. My dad shot it with me on his 8mm camera and edited it with me. So I was writing and directing way back in 1971.. As I grew up I switched to video and would produce sketches and music videos on home equipment and that really was my 10,000 hours of working on my craft.

By the time my career took hold I had over 12 hours of comedy material on video. Most of it not great, but there was some really funny stuff in there and I definitely learned how to craft a sketch and edit it.It was at this time that I took an acting class, Playhouse West in Burbank and studied the Sanford Meisner acting technique for 5 years. This changed everything and turned me into a true writer.

In 1987 I was in an improv group and one of the actors in it was doing a late night stage play starring Bryan Cranston called the Steven Weed Show. I was invited to join and I wrote sketches for the show and co-starred in it. After taking the show to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland I became writing partners with the Director of the show.

3 years later his buddy from college, David Alan Grier, was in a TV show called “In Living Color” and he asked us if we wanted to pitch sketches to Kennan Ivory Wayans. Of course I wanted to and was ready for my lucky break. We wrote for that show for 2 years and co-created a bunch of characters for the show, including Fire Marshall Bill with Jim Carrey.

From there we wrote a few Paulie Shore movies and then moved on to create Mad TV and the rest is history!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s never smooth. You have to deal with a ton of rejection and just keep moving. I have co-created at least 12 network shows that got on the air and co-written 4 feature films that were produced. I’ve been incredibly lucky, but with that comes the down side..I have created and pitched at least 60 projects that never saw the light of day. You have to have tough skin and not take it personally. Well, you take it personally for a few days and then need to move on!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I began my film making career in 1984 when I co-directed the critically acclaimed documentary ANOTHER STATE OF MIND, a searing look at the punk rock scene. The Daily News proclaimed, “Rock and film don’t mix, with several notable exceptions… The Beatles’ HARD DAYS NIGHT, Bob Dylan’s DON’T LOOK BACK, The Bands’ LAST WALTZ, and now ANOTHER STATE OF MIND.” Nice review!

Then I joined the writing staff of Fox’s IN LIVING COLOR. In addition to coming up with some of the shows’ premier characters (including Fire Marshal Bill), I co-wrote two of the four original sketches in the landmark Superbowl Half-time Special and directed many of the sketches shot on location.

After co-writing SON-IN-LAW and IN THE ARMY NOW for Paulie Shore I returned to TV, to co-executive produce, and co-write the pilot for the Fox television series HOUSE OF BUGGIN’ starring John Leguizamo.

In 1995, I joined up with Quincy Jones and David Salzman to co-create and executive produce MAD TV which ran for fourteen seasons on Fox. I then teamed up with Will Vinton Studios to co-create and executive produce the stop motion animated series GARY & MIKE for UPN.

Next, I co-created; executive produced and co-directed THE JAMIE KENNEDY EXPERIMENT, for the WB and also co-wrote and produced the feature film MALIBU’S MOST WANTED starring Jamie Kennedy as Brad Gluckman, one of his standout characters from the Jamie Kennedy Experiment.

I then partnered with stand-up comedy stars Jeff Foxworthy, Larry The Cable Guy and Bill Engvall to co-create the sketch series BLUE COLLAR TV for the WB Network.

I also executive produced two network series, NBC’s THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE, and THE NEXT BEST THING for ABC and co-created THE CHOCOLATE NEWS with David Alan Grier for Comedy Central.

I also co-wrote the hidden camera feature film, BAD GRANDPA, starring Johnny Knoxville in 2014,

But I’m most proud of the show I co-created called WALK THE PRANK with Trevor Moore. The hybrid scripted and hidden camera comedy show ran for three seasons on Disney XD. I also co-created with Moore, JUST ROLL WITH IT. The multi cam sit-com taped in front of a live studio audience for the Disney Channel.

My latest project has me working again with Bryan Cranston for a show he created called TIGHTROPE!

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’ve definitely been lucky but to get lucky you also have to be prepared and be willing to work your ass off. I’m a very hard worker because a lot of my self esteem is tied to my work.