![]() The Norman Lear episode, the lesson was about how writing cannot just reflect, but define the culture. I take advantage of that five-minute monologue that I get at the beginning of the show to teach a little lesson about writing and what writing means. It’s fun and fast-paced and it’s humorous and it’s a little bit raunchy and it’s also light-hearted and really entertaining, but what I always wanted to do was for it to also be instructive in some way. My desire, of course, is to make sure that there’s a narrative that can be seen through the whole show. The shows themselves are 27 minutes long, but we have three hours of material and a lot of great backstage stuff so we want to make sure that you can experience all of those things on different platforms as well as the show itself. It’s brand new and it’s a network that is dedicated to the arts in a way that Bravo used to be and also has a very big digital footprint. We originally wanted to do something mostly digital. As we were in the process of pitching this show and thinking about where it would fit, David came across Ovation, which to be frank, I had never heard of before, but which is in 50 million households. We wanted to maintain the hip factor of the show. I mean - standing room only popular. So many people outside of Los Angeles kept asking how they could watch it that we decided, let’s begin filming this and pitch it as an actual television show. We thought it would be a fun thing that our friends would come to, and it turned out to be enormously popular. ![]() First Wednesday of every month, we would have a writer of some note that we would interview along with a live band, and we charged 20 bucks a head. My producer, David Andreone, and I are fans of ‘Inside the Actors Studio,’ but we always thought, how cool would it be if you could do that show but with writers and in a nightclub with a live band and everybody was drunk? So we began by first doing it as a live show at the DBA in West Hollywood. How did you come up with the idea for the talk show? ![]() The first episode features legendary producer Norman Lear - who was so at ease during the conversation, he even stopped to take a call from his daughter. Just like Reza and his guests, sit down and make yourself comfortable, grab your favorite beverage, and settle in for captivating conversation and lessons in the craft from some of the very best.Reza Aslan is an accomplished religious scholar and author, who’s lent his professional insights as a producer to HBO’s “ The Leftovers” as well as ABC’s upcoming biblical drama “ Of Kings and Prophets.” Now he’s also taking a turn in front of the camera for a new talk show, “Rough Draft with Reza Aslan” for Ovation, interviewing famous writers about their work - along with a liberal dose of alcohol. If you lacked inspiration previously, you won’t now. Be sure to watch Rough Draft, and then get on with writing yourself. Also a scholar of religions, his articles and opinions are frequently seen in outlets such as The New York Times and Washington Post. ![]() His conversations on Rough Draft have a natural ebb and flow to them, and they come from the hearts of both participants.īorn in Iran, this professor and intellectual, who’s 43, is the best-selling author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, and of No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. I told him it made me slightly anxious to interview him-since he’s such a stellar interviewer himself. He’s been a producer for The Leftovers for HBO, Of Kings and Prophets for ABC and Believers for CNN. Rough Draft is a new outing for Reza, who’s no stranger to television. If you love to write, or you appreciate “things written,” you must watch his new fast-paced show on Ovation, Rough Draft with Reza Aslan, when it premieres Sunday, February 28, at 8:30 p.m. Such was the case with this interview with Reza Aslan. When you’re in the presence of remarkable intelligence, you know it. ![]()
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