Writers Boot Camp Founder, Jeffrey Gordon (JG), during a 2024 Alumni Speaker Event, spoke with Matt Nix, who was a Writers Boot Camp Professional Member in (YEAR) and went on to be a showrunner, Executive Producer, and writer. Matt’s credits include Burn Notice, Turner & Hooch, and The Good Guys.

One of the hardest working creators in Hollywood, JG inquired about Matt’s ability to pitch so successfully—

MN: “I learned, basically, if I don’t feel like I’m doing you a favor by pitching this thing, if I don’t love it …if I don’t have that feeling I don’t do it. I need to go in like I can’t wait to tell you this thing, it’s going to solve all your problems.”

When pressed on the key to success—

MN: “If there’s one recommendation I have, it’s that no one is working.  People are fucking lazy.  No one is working.  They’re sitting in front of their screen, they’re on their phone, they’re fucking around.  They’re looking at messages, they’re doing research they should’ve done before. Only write.  You do that, an hour a day, you are more productive than every professional writer I know.”

Despite his many successes, Matt shared the truth of his rejections along the way as well.

JG: “How do you not get cynical?”

MN: “I just write more things.”

Writers Boot Camp has supported 12,000 writers and filmmakers over the past 36 years—and our alumni have nearly 1000 success stories.  They have won Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes—even the Tony.  Our alumni have a few hundred movie and TV credits, including many show runners, some of whom wrote their first scripts in JG’s living room back in the day. Our alumni also have hundreds of books published—books and novels are much easier once you practice the compression required for movies and television.