SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE

Laura and Chet have spent ten years trying to make it as songwriters.  Now, Laura has a baby on the way and feels herself sliding into "contentment" while Chet has failed to find his footing in the gay community and longs to move out of Laura's garage.  After meeting younger, hipper, more successful writers at a networking event, they realize the time is now or never to make their dreams come true.  That is, if they can manage to adapt their sound to the modern world.  Following every piece of advice that's sent their way, they're determined to finally become the one thing they've never been: successful people.

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Artie on "Successful People": "My co-creator Theresa Ryan and I had tossed the idea around for a while.  We didn't want to make yet another show about struggling actors, but we knew we wanted to write about the struggle to succeed at something that seems unattainable.  We are both musical people and the plight of the songwriter seemed to be unsung, pun intended.  Using the music industry as a backdrop makes some of our themes even more prevalent.  The characters of Laura and Chet aren't old, per se, but pop music is focused on teenagers.  To them, the best music was the music they grew up with.  So the problem is not just "time is running out"; it problem is, when the opportunities finally arise, will they even know how to be relevant?  That's what we wanted to explore.  Plus, everyone loves to tell someone else what they should be doing with their lives, so we thought having a bunch of 'successful people' telling these desperate characters what to do would provide a lot of comedic adventures for them.  It would also allow us to put our slightly-jaded world perspective onto this gallery of guest stars.  After all, our original title for the series was 'Successful People Are Assholes'."

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Co-created by Artie O'Daly & Theresa Ryan.