Q&A with Susan Silver
Photo courtesy of SCAD
Written by Emilie Kefalas
If anyone knows you can’t fake funny, it is writer Susan Silver. Lucky for her, she has a sharp ear for comedic timing.
In addition to writing episodes for “The Bob Newhart Show” and “The Partridge Family,” Silver is most notably recognized and remembered for writing five episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” On Tuesday, Feb. 16, District staff writer Emilie Kefalas interviewed Silver about her life in L.A. and New York and how she learned to stay positive in a tough business. The following is an edited version of their conversation.
Emilie Kefalas (District staff writer): Did you ever have a mentor when you were out in L.A., besides Garry Marshall?
Susan Silver: I didn’t, and that was a part of the problem. Aside from Garry being a really nice guy and great guy, he encouraged young writers in a way that most other people didn’t, and it is so important. I hope women are more helpful to other women, but as I said there were only two women in the business before me. You kind of figured it out on your own, and Garry was there for a while. The rest of the time it was like jump in and learn how to swim. You put your toe in, and you figure it out.
EK: How did you keep from getting discouraged?
SS: In the beginning, I think you don’t know what you don’t know, so you don’t know what the rules are, and you just kind of do what’s required. When I was on the “Mort Sahl Show,” I knew nothing about a talk show, I knew nothing about anything, and I just kept seeing people being fired. I was the last person there. I was last woman standing, and I did the job. I do think when you’re young you have more guts, and you’re less fearful in a way. You’re just gonna try it, so you assume you can do it. Later you find out the truth.
EK: What is the truth?
SS: The truth is life is hard, and you better enjoy yourself, and you better be doing something you like, because it’s gonna be hard anyway, so you might as well do it.
EK: Would you recommend aspiring dramatic writers move out to L.A. first?
SS: It isn’t so much a problem now, because there’s TV in a lot of places, and you still can do your videos and get them out there, but really, if you want to be in show business, you should be in L.A. or New York, and primarily L.A. I moved to New York at sort of the height of my career and I had to move back to L.A., because there wasn’t much work, and I was flying back and forth. If you want to be in television you should be where television is.
EK: You said you first studied journalism at Northwestern before you moved out to UCLA. Did you find your journalism skills helped you later on in L.A.?
SS: I knew I wanted to write, and Northwestern was such a great school. About the first year, I learned I didn’t want to be a journalist because I didn’t want to deal with the facts. I wanted to do more creative stuff, but as I said my parents wouldn’t let me get too far from Wisconsin, so I went to Northwestern first. I knew I wanted to get into UCLA. I was fortunate my uncle lived out there. They let me live with him. Again, you really want to be where the action is, and I always knew I wanted to be in show biz.
EK: Your work on “Mary Tyler Moore” has really been your calling card.
SS: It’s kind of scary and wonderful that you can live on a credit that’s forty years old. It’s, like, unbelievable. And even when I go to things with really important people and other lines of work, the minute you say, “Mary Tyler Moore,” it’s like, “Oh my god.”
EK: Is writing for television an easy format to try even if you are not a dramatic writer?
SS: The interesting thing is in my day even in school they really didn’t show you the format. Now, all you have to do is go on the internet. You’re really living in a lucky age, and you can just try it on your own.
