I was there! - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

marcsotkin · 10-26-2005, 11:05 PM

Hey, I just found this board. My name is Marc Sotkin and I produced 4 years of It's A Living - all the syndicated shows. I wrote 27 of them myself and was head writer on the rest. If you have any questions about the show, I love to talk about it. You can get me here or email me at marcsotkin@yahoo.com
It's great to see that there are people who care about the show. I also was exec producer on Golden Girls and Laverne & Shirley so I can answer questions about those shows as well.

Moonlight Lady · 10-27-2005, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcsotkin

Hey, I just found this board. My name is Marc Sotkin and I produced 4 years of It's A Living - all the syndicated shows. I wrote 27 of them myself and was head writer on the rest. If you have any questions about the show, I love to talk about it. You can get me here or email me at marcsotkin@yahoo.com
It's great to see that there are people who care about the show. I also was exec producer on Golden Girls and Laverne & Shirley so I can answer questions about those shows as well.

That is so awesome, Welcome to Sitcoms Online, I'm Katie.

I do have one question, what was it like working with the cast.
my favorite episodes were any that Richard Kline was on.

marcsotkin · 10-29-2005, 06:22 PM

The cast was great. It was a very relaxed set. Since the show was not on a network but first run syndication, there weren't any network execs giving their two cents or making people crazy. Also, we didn't shoot in front of an audience. Although that is more exciting, you feel like show night is opening night of a play, the cast is much more relaxed without that tension. Everyone loved each other. For me it was 4 wonderful years.
Marc

Moonlight Lady · 10-31-2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcsotkin

The cast was great. It was a very relaxed set. Since the show was not on a network but first run syndication, there weren't any network execs giving their two cents or making people crazy. Also, we didn't shoot in front of an audience. Although that is more exciting, you feel like show night is opening night of a play, the cast is much more relaxed without that tension. Everyone loved each other. For me it was 4 wonderful years.
Marc

Oh that's really neat.

Do you have any favorite episodes? If so, what are they?

marcsotkin · 11-18-2005, 10:12 PM

It's hard to pick a favorite - I wrote 27 scripts. I really liked writing episodes about Howard and Nancy. I also liked episodes where the character of Louie showed up. So if I had to chose it would be "The Nancy and Howard Show" where Nancy finally gets Howard in bed and "The Amy and Louie Show" where Amy dates Louie which drives Sonny crazy. I also loved doing the episodes when Danny Thomas guested. I grew up watching his show Make Room For Daddy and I loved writing for him.
Marc

Moonlight Lady · 11-22-2005, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcsotkin

It's hard to pick a favorite - I wrote 27 scripts. I really liked writing episodes about Howard and Nancy. I also liked episodes where the character of Louie showed up. So if I had to chose it would be "The Nancy and Howard Show" where Nancy finally gets Howard in bed and "The Amy and Louie Show" where Amy dates Louie which drives Sonny crazy. I also loved doing the episodes when Danny Thomas guested. I grew up watching his show Make Room For Daddy and I loved writing for him.
Marc

I remember watching A Very Special It's a Living where Jan went into labor.
That was an excellent episode. It was frightening when they had to do emergency surgery on her, but, Danny Thomas as an angel was great.

Nancy and Howard: I was happy that she finally got him. They were funny together.

Sonny was a fun character to watch. What a wonderful job Paul Kreppel did with his character.

marcsotkin · 11-28-2005, 06:57 PM

A Very Special IAL was a thrill for me because I also directed the episode. It was the last episode we shot. The reason it was entitled, "A Very Special IAL" is an in joke. We prided ourselves on never doing "A special" episode. Very often when sitcoms do a serious episode, you'll hear a promo like: "Tonight, on a very special According To Jim," as if there could possibly be such a thing. We rarely tackled serious subjects on IAL so this was an exception as well as being the end of our run.
Marc

ThomasE · 12-04-2005, 10:45 PM

Welcome to the boards, marcsotkin. I'm ThomasE the moderator for this board. This was one of my favorite shows growing up. Are you working on any other projects now?

marcsotkin · 12-05-2005, 03:45 PM

Thomas,
I'm not working on any TV projects at the moment. I'm working very hard to finish a novel by the end of the year.
Marc

ThomasE · 12-05-2005, 07:58 PM

Maybe you can help me out. Why did Ann Jillian leave "It's A Living" a year after it was resurrected? Also, for what reason was it decided to bill her as star when the show came back? I have wondered about these things for almost 15 years. LOL.

ThomasE · 12-05-2005, 08:19 PM

One more question Marc. I noticed some similarities between Golden Girls and It's A Living. I know you wrote for Golden Girls also. I was watching an episode of Golden Girls and realized that there a line that was used from It's Living. It is the line when Amy tell Dot and Cassie that she did not need a man. She just needed something waiting for her at night. Someone to catch a bone when she throw it and to lick her face. Cassie comes in with, "you can get a man to do that." Blanche and Rose have the same conversation. Was that your idea to use that line again on The Golden Girls?

I also noticed that The Golden Girls did a murder mystery episode just like one It's a Living. Sonny was the suspect on It's A Living and Blanche was the victim on The Golden Girls.

Moonlight Lady · 12-06-2005, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcsotkin

A Very Special IAL was a thrill for me because I also directed the episode. It was the last episode we shot. The reason it was entitled, "A Very Special IAL" is an in joke. We prided ourselves on never doing "A special" episode. Very often when sitcoms do a serious episode, you'll hear a promo like: "Tonight, on a very special According To Jim," as if there could possibly be such a thing. We rarely tackled serious subjects on IAL so this was an exception as well as being the end of our run.
Marc

Well, you did a great job, everyone involved with the show did.

I have a question. Richard Kline was great as Richie Gray, I'm curious to know, why was he chosen to play this recurring character?

marcsotkin · 12-07-2005, 03:46 PM

Lets see if I can answer all of these questions.
1. Ann Jillian was the "hotest" career-wise when the show came back and so got the staring credit. Because her career was going so well she wanted to leave the show to pursue other opportunities. However, during the year she contracted cancer. I've never worked with anyone braver or stronger. She never complained, never missed a show, this while going through Chemo. At the end of the year it was a combination of her health and other ambitions that led her to leave.
2. Okay, I'm busted. Yes occasionally I steal from myself. But only from myself. Not often, but once in a while. Tom Whedon worked with me both on IAL and Golden Girls. He loved writing mysteries as well as musicals. Same writer-both shows - there's going to be similarities. Tom, by the way, is father of Joss Whedon - Toy Story - Buffy and on and on.
3. Richard Klein, to our delite, was available when we cast the part of Ritchie. He was a pleasure to work with, the cast loved him, he could hit a joke, so we had him back often.

Moonlight Lady · 12-08-2005, 12:04 PM

That's so cool. I've heard alot of really nice things about him.

Whatever happened to Marian Mercer, Richard Stahl and Paul Kreppel? Are they still in the business?

Sterling Holobyte · 12-08-2005, 12:32 PM

Hi Marc,
mind if I ask a technical question? What kind of scriptwriting software did you use, and is there a certain kind that is preferred in Hollywood now?

Btw, welcome to the boards!

10-26-2005, 11:05 PM	#1
marcsotkin Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 24	I was there! Hey, I just found this board. My name is Marc Sotkin and I produced 4 years of It's A Living - all the syndicated shows. I wrote 27 of them myself and was head writer on the rest. If you have any questions about the show, I love to talk about it. You can get me here or email me at marcsotkin@yahoo.com It's great to see that there are people who care about the show. I also was exec producer on Golden Girls and Laverne & Shirley so I can answer questions about those shows as well.
	__________________ Marc Sotkin Exec. Producer Golden Girls & Laverne & Shirley

12-08-2005, 12:32 PM	#15
Sterling Holobyte Harper House Senior Member Join Date: Nov 07, 2002 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,896	Hi Marc, mind if I ask a technical question? What kind of scriptwriting software did you use, and is there a certain kind that is preferred in Hollywood now? Btw, welcome to the boards!
	__________________ "Let it go. Forget about it. Try smiling." -Michael Harris WPIV studio producer/shoe salesman/grocery store employee/Ex-sanitarium patient/Stephanie's boyfriend-then husband --------------------------------------------------- My 2nd First Blog:http://saturdaymorningfunnies.wordpress.com/

10-29-2005, 06:22 PM	#3
marcsotkin Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 24	The cast was great. It was a very relaxed set. Since the show was not on a network but first run syndication, there weren't any network execs giving their two cents or making people crazy. Also, we didn't shoot in front of an audience. Although that is more exciting, you feel like show night is opening night of a play, the cast is much more relaxed without that tension. Everyone loved each other. For me it was 4 wonderful years. Marc

11-18-2005, 10:12 PM	#5
marcsotkin Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 24	It's hard to pick a favorite - I wrote 27 scripts. I really liked writing episodes about Howard and Nancy. I also liked episodes where the character of Louie showed up. So if I had to chose it would be "The Nancy and Howard Show" where Nancy finally gets Howard in bed and "The Amy and Louie Show" where Amy dates Louie which drives Sonny crazy. I also loved doing the episodes when Danny Thomas guested. I grew up watching his show Make Room For Daddy and I loved writing for him. Marc

11-28-2005, 06:57 PM	#7
marcsotkin Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 24	A Very Special IAL was a thrill for me because I also directed the episode. It was the last episode we shot. The reason it was entitled, "A Very Special IAL" is an in joke. We prided ourselves on never doing "A special" episode. Very often when sitcoms do a serious episode, you'll hear a promo like: "Tonight, on a very special According To Jim," as if there could possibly be such a thing. We rarely tackled serious subjects on IAL so this was an exception as well as being the end of our run. Marc

12-04-2005, 10:45 PM	#8
ThomasE Member Moderator Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2000 Location: New York, New York, U.S.A. Posts: 10,857	Welcome to the boards, marcsotkin. I'm ThomasE the moderator for this board. This was one of my favorite shows growing up. Are you working on any other projects now?

12-05-2005, 03:45 PM	#9
marcsotkin Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 24	Thomas, I'm not working on any TV projects at the moment. I'm working very hard to finish a novel by the end of the year. Marc

12-05-2005, 07:58 PM	#10
ThomasE Member Moderator Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2000 Location: New York, New York, U.S.A. Posts: 10,857	Maybe you can help me out. Why did Ann Jillian leave "It's A Living" a year after it was resurrected? Also, for what reason was it decided to bill her as star when the show came back? I have wondered about these things for almost 15 years. LOL.

12-05-2005, 08:19 PM	#11
ThomasE Member Moderator Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 04, 2000 Location: New York, New York, U.S.A. Posts: 10,857	One more question Marc. I noticed some similarities between Golden Girls and It's A Living. I know you wrote for Golden Girls also. I was watching an episode of Golden Girls and realized that there a line that was used from It's Living. It is the line when Amy tell Dot and Cassie that she did not need a man. She just needed something waiting for her at night. Someone to catch a bone when she throw it and to lick her face. Cassie comes in with, "you can get a man to do that." Blanche and Rose have the same conversation. Was that your idea to use that line again on The Golden Girls? I also noticed that The Golden Girls did a murder mystery episode just like one It's a Living. Sonny was the suspect on It's A Living and Blanche was the victim on The Golden Girls.

12-07-2005, 03:46 PM	#13
marcsotkin Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Oct 06, 2005 Posts: 24	Lets see if I can answer all of these questions. 1. Ann Jillian was the "hotest" career-wise when the show came back and so got the staring credit. Because her career was going so well she wanted to leave the show to pursue other opportunities. However, during the year she contracted cancer. I've never worked with anyone braver or stronger. She never complained, never missed a show, this while going through Chemo. At the end of the year it was a combination of her health and other ambitions that led her to leave. 2. Okay, I'm busted. Yes occasionally I steal from myself. But only from myself. Not often, but once in a while. Tom Whedon worked with me both on IAL and Golden Girls. He loved writing mysteries as well as musicals. Same writer-both shows - there's going to be similarities. Tom, by the way, is father of Joss Whedon - Toy Story - Buffy and on and on. 3. Richard Klein, to our delite, was available when we cast the part of Ritchie. He was a pleasure to work with, the cast loved him, he could hit a joke, so we had him back often.

12-08-2005, 12:04 PM	#14
Moonlight Lady Member Forum Star Join Date: Aug 18, 2002 Posts: 16,052	That's so cool. I've heard alot of really nice things about him. Whatever happened to Marian Mercer, Richard Stahl and Paul Kreppel? Are they still in the business?