When I concocted the whole idea for this documentary, I told one person…my niece, Sophia. Her response was, “I want in.”
As I’ve never been one to say no to Sophia even when she eight and asked me if I would ride the Ferris wheel with her at the fair. I hate heights, but as a dutiful aunt, I said yes. To this day, my mom and sister laugh at the picture of that ride with Sophia smiling and me holding on for dear life.
So when Sophia said she wanted to participate I said, “Sure.”
I knew Sophia shared my love for the project. There’s no one in this world that she loves more than her Pop-Pop and she wanted to tell his story. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was her gung-ho, “let’s get this done” attitude.
There were times when I doubted if I could make it all happen. Something would come up and I’d be discouraged. A quick call to Sophia would change that. She would simply say, “Aunt Linda, you have to do this.” That was all I needed to push the fears aside and get back to business.
Sophia brings so much more to this project. She has new, fresh ideas that my old brain could not fathom. Seeing her take a task and run with it is amazing. Seeing her run in a direction that I never would have gone is even more wonderful. As an aunt, I’m proud. As a co-producer, I’m relieved to have someone in my corner getting things done.
I remember at one of the early ROUND TABLE Conventions, Ed Simmons—one of our faculty members and the Head Writer on The Carol Burnett Show—said that the perfect writing staff is made up of half seasoned, hardened writers and half newbies that are just cutting their writing teeth.
He said, “The old guys are jaded and tired, they’ve seen and done it all and they know what won’t work. The young guys and gals are enthused and naïve enough to think they can do anything.” He went on to explain, “Together, they balance each other out.”
Sophia adds that balance to this project. I’m so glad that she’s my partner in crime. And who knows maybe when Comedy Writing Guru is finished, we’ll celebrate by taking another Ferris Wheel ride. Only this time it will be the High Roller in Vegas…you know, the one that is equipped with a bar!
