Robert Carlock AB ’95 came to Harvard with a love of television and left intending to make a career in it. “I blame The Lampoon. Seeing some of my older friends go on to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE… and see my other friends go into banking and think, [SNL] seems like more fun!” Robert laughs. Friend and fellow TV writer David Mandel AB '92 recommended Robert to an agent friend at WME at a time when they happened to be really searching for young talent. “I had a real agent, pretty quickly. Which I think was huge for me at that stage in my career, and they continue, of course, to be great.” Robert feels incredibly lucky to have had someone to read his material, and he reaffirms that it’s crucial to be not only doing the writing, but also showing it to people, getting feedback, and continuing to improve. This led to a writing role on THE DANA CARVEY SHOW, a primetime ABC sketch show, where Robert’s office mates were Jon Glazer (“who comedy nerds might know,” he says) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, which was an incredible learning experience. He then landed at SNL, and that’s really where his career kicked off and launched into what it’s become today. A longtime collaborator of Tina Fey, Robert was a showrunner for 30 ROCK, and  then the two co-created UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT. 

A day in his life can look fairly different, depending on the stage of production. “The best day is the day you wrap,” Robert says, grinning. “Writing is a pain in the ass, right? I think the best part of writing is when you're done and happy with it, except then you have to show it to other people, and they're gonna have opinions. It's personal and painful and vulnerable, no matter what.” And the process of getting from script to shoot is long. Writers move from pitching, to outlining on a dry erase board, to getting notes, and then writing, and then getting more notes, and then rewriting, and then a table read. “At each step, you’re learning things,” Robert states. And there are so many different components to be balancing as a script gets written. Sometimes, a script will get all the way to set and not be just quite right, because of a tonal flaw or missing subtext that’s not translating as well as expected through the actors’ performances, and then writers have to troubleshoot live to see how the issue can be solved. 

That problem-solving is part of what makes a good showrunner. Robert notes, “You're constantly trying to put yourself in the shoes of people who do a job that you don't do: a location scout or a set designer, and trying to understand… their limitations, so that you aren't asking for the wrong thing.” Maybe the scene is set on a sunny day, but that makes it harder for a DP. Maybe the costume needs to be special ordered, and the rewrite can’t be shot until it gets shipped back from LA. To move the scenes around, the AD has to get involved. Being able to manage all of this is a key characteristic of a strong showrunner. “You see a lot of writers, talented writers, people who should be running their own shows, but who just want to be doing the stuff on the page. And unfortunately, it's not a novel, it doesn't go to a printing press. It gets put on a rocket ship, and there's all this other stuff that you have to do!” Robert explains. The job doesn’t stop at the end of the page.  

In the qualities he looks for in collaborators, commitment to the project is high on the list. “And what that means is more than just a time commitment,” Robert explains. “It's bringing your life into the room. Being willing to share, and being willing to have us use that bad date, or that relationship with a parent, or whatever it is…You want that openness, because that's just such a huge part of the creative process, and then on top of, like, in order for that person to have a life worth sharing, you just want curiosity and a broad range of interest. And the hardest thing to solve for in an interview is, are they actually funny?”

Robert is also quite proud of the relationships he’s built with his colleagues over the years. His new show THE FALL AND RISE OF REGGIE DINKINS with Tracy Morgan, Dan Radcliffe, and Erica Alexander premiered on February 23rd. “The fact that we've worked with Tracy and Dan in the past, Bobby Moynihan is in it, my frequent collaborators Sam Means and Meredith Gardino, Tina's producing, our set designer from 330 ROCK is working on it. That these people still want to work with me, I'm very proud of… that we are able to get these really talented people to come back… I try to build relationships.”

Those relationships have to extend beyond the creative side of things. “I think there's a tendency from writers, if only defensively, to be dismissive of the 'suits', so-called,” Robert explains. But writers have to be willing to take notes from all sides, from “suits” and from test audiences, because it’s important that not only the joke is funny, but the scene works as a whole. “The joke is funny. But maybe the scene is flawed. Maybe… the joke doesn't land for them, because they're not getting the subtext stuff that we try to make text, that we try to make a performance… so let's not just get mad and throw the baby out with the bathwater when we get notes. I disagree with this note on its face, but is it actually getting at something that I'm missing?” Those types of notes can come from even the least expected place, but TV is inherently collaborative, and that’s why it’s essential for writers to be open and willing to accept notes for the sake of improving the final product. 

Another piece of advice Robert got early on that he has always valued came from his friend, David Mandel. “He said to me once, early, ‘Just do more than the other people. Be present,’ and I can't remember if he gave that exact piece of practical advice, or if this is something that I just took from it as a natural outgrowth.” Robert continues, "It probably feels obvious to most, especially most Harvard students, I would think, but… I've said this to other younger writers directly, and some of them don't take this advice. If I see your script covered in notes and pitches, I’m like, this person cares about this thing that I care about, cares about their job…if you see someone doing that, they go to the next level.”

When Robert was working on SNL, he recalls, he used to take a hard copy of the week’s script with all of the sketches, and write pitches. He would list 10 joke pitches on a page, and then when he was in the room during the rewrites, he could pitch on them in the moment. The key was being prepared; even if none of his pitches got into the show, that type of effort is recognized and rewarded. Robert adds, “The more funny advice that I once got, and this is from Steve Martin, was, ‘Have money when you're old’.”

And speaking of funny, Robert has this answer to the question of what makes something funny: “They say that comedy equals tragedy plus time. And you can solve what… Distance over rate is time, so comedy is… Tragedy plus distance over rate? That sounds right.”