Exclusive FreshDV interview with Daniel Gurewitch
By Matt Jeppsen, Editor FreshDV

A Senior writer for College Humor TV, Daniel Gurewitch is actively involved in the screenwriting process for the site’s popular series of original online shorts. We caught up with Daniel recently to get a snapshot of how CHTV’s creative content comes to life.

Matt Jeppsen: Daniel, why don’t you give us a quick summary of how you came into this writing position at College Humor, and what your background is.

Daniel Gurewitch: I was a TV & Film major at Syracuse University, where I focused on screenwriting. I set out from college writing TV spec scripts with the distant hope of one day being paid to write comedy. CollegeHumor hired me as a receptionist, so instead of being a good receptionist, I started writing like crazy. My articles did well, the staff took notice, and they were kind enough to bring me on as an editorial assistant right around the time that CHTV was taking off. The other staff writers are hilarious, but they didn’t have a lot of screenwriting experience at the time, so that nudged me towards scripts. Also, Sam Reich (the director of CHTV) and I have similar comedy tastes and philosophies, so we’re a good team. I guess a lot of things clicked.

MJ: So do you feel that your Film/TV major from Syracuse really prepared you for the specifics of screenwriting in this role?

DG: Yeah, absolutely. Screenwriting classes and improv experience. It’s weird that my college education paid off so directly. I’d always thought it wasn’t supposed to work that way.

MJ: How extensive is the CollegeHumor staff right now?

DG: Well, the Connected Ventures office also includes Vimeo.com (a personal video sharing site), and BustedTees.com, which sells T-shirts. But at CollegeHumor, we have about a dozen people working on the comedy content (writers, editors, the production team) and then another 15 or so designing, developing and marketing the site.

MJ: So where is the company based?

DG: We have an office in Manhattan, right in Union Square.

MJ: Originally CollegeHumor was more of a viral link site, how did the original content come to be?

DG: Yeah, it started out that way. Then original articles came along, and for a long time that was the main creative focus. About a year and a half ago, the founders of the site saw the trend towards original online video and CHTV was born. We’ll still link to a good tricycle accident, though.

MJ: I recently saw one of the CHTV original shorts called “24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot - Jack Bauer saves the world with AOL 3.0.” I found it very nostalgic, a throwback to the beginnings of the internet as we know it today. I grew up in this world, so I found the writing and gags particularly poignant. Moments like when a character is searching for something and says “Lycos is dry, trying Encarta now.” Or when the file is too big to e-mail to “Jack Bauer”…how big? “Three floppies!” It’s funny because it was true…I remember those times vividly. It’s very good writing. What was the original impetus for this script?

DG: Well, I really wanted to do something about “24.� That show entertains the hell out of me – I like it because it’s good, and I like it because it’s bad. We threw around a lot of ideas, like 24: The Sitcom, 24: The Musical, all these random permutations – but it was missing a solid hook. We’re always looking for a way to reach large audiences, to have people sending our stuff to their friends, saying “oh man you’d love this, you’ll relate to this.� Eventually I found the 90s technology angle, and it was like, “of course that’s it.� “24� is completely dependent on current technology; the whole premise would collapse without it. The idea of Jack Bauer struggling to get to a phone booth just really made me laugh; everything grew out of that spark. When’s the last time you saw a phone booth? We actually had to rent one for the shoot.

MJ: It really resonates strong with me. The tear-off printer paper, modem ringing noises, it all cracks me up because I’ve been there. So once you all had nailed down a concept, how long did the actual screenwriting process take you?

DG: I wrote it and rewrote it over about four days, which is longer than usual. It was surprisingly difficult to create a narrative that could be tied together by all these elements of technology, yet still sort of make sense. I needed to find excuses for our heroes to use all these different things, and also move the story forward in real time. It was one of the more challenging projects I’ve worked on.

MJ: So has it given you a greater respect for the writers of 24?

DG: Oh man, definitely. I was talking about that a lot as I was writing it. I’d constantly get frustrated, because I’d have an idea for a joke but it wouldn’t work because it couldn’t happen in direct chronological order. And that’s just me writing my ridiculous four-minute 24 parody - I can’t imagine what these guys go through writing the actual show.

MJ: Once the script was completed, were you involved at all in the actual production process?

DG: Not really. The credit there is due to a lot of very talented people at CHTV. I talk to the director and make sure he understands the tone of the script, and then he and his team make it happen. Sam and I have a great working relationship. Outside of work, though, we hate each other.

MJ: Well there is definitely a good connection there, because I feel the short is very tight. The shooting and editing seem to mesh perfectly with the script, so I’m surprised to hear you weren’t involved in the production and post process.

DG: Well, thanks. We’ve been doing this for about a year now, so we’re starting to become a well-oiled machine.

MJ: What else is upcoming on the CHTV plate? Any cool projects on the horizon that we can look forward to?

DG: Oh, there’s a lot of stuff in the pipeline that I’m excited about. Our series “Street Fighter: The Later Years� is about to take a turn for the weird and wonderful. I’ve also written three songs, and I’m excited to see those produced as music videos, especially after the success of “Brohemian Rhapsody.� There’s another new series in the works, and some new episodes of “High Times Editorial Office.� I don’t want to tell you all our secrets. Just keep watching.

MJ: In the future, are you interested in continuing to write shorts, or would you like to transition to film screenplays at some point? Where do you see yourself going?

DG: I just really love writing comedy, so I’m grateful that I’m getting to do that at this point in my life. I’m learning all the time. I’d love to get involved with TV and film, and I flirt with writing projects on my own time, but we’ve got a really great thing going at CollegeHumor. I work with some of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and we’re writing and producing comedy that makes us laugh, with relative freedom. We don’t have a major media conglomerate breathing down our necks. And the internet is so immediate – to dream up a ridiculous idea, write it, then see it created and experience the response, all within a few weeks… it’s a very fulfilling thing.

MJ: You really are on the cutting edge of what this whole “New Media” thing is. This is what the industry at large is still trying to wrap their collective head around; this is what the WGA strike is all about. Media conglomerates don’t seem to fully understand how to use the internet yet, and you guys are really blazing the trail.

DG: If the internet wasn’t profitable, if people weren’t changing the ways they consume entertainment, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. CollegeHumor’s success is just more proof that the WGA is totally right to fight for their cause.

MJ: I’ve got one last question for you…did you have a Geocities page?

DG: Haha, no, I didn’t have one of those… but when I was in middle school, I did write an e-mail newsletter about video games. It was called “N-Force,â€? and it was all about the N64. Get a little nerdier. It featured many types of fonts, and sometimes even a JPEG. I’d go into AOL chat rooms and solicit people to become subscribers, and at one point I had over a thousand. Even when I was 12, I was figuring out ways to make a name for myself on the internet. Man, “N-Force.â€? There won’t be any girls reading this, right?

MJ: No guarantees on that one. Dan, it has been a pleasure speaking with you today, and I want to thank you for taking the time. How can FreshDV readers get in touch with you?

DG: I have a website, www.dangurewitch.com. It has my contact info, my CollegeHumor work, and a very emotional blog.

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot - Jack Bauer saves the world with AOL 3.0.
You can watch 24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot and the rest of CHTV’s original shorts at www.collegehumor.com/chtv.