Gregory Bonsignore moved from NY to NJ to Massachusetts to Texas by age three, curating the oddest accent. He was a mostly out-of-work child actor, working in local theater and commercials, and he co-created an award-winning cable-access children's educational program. He studied Greek Drama in Athens, Renaissance Art in Florence and was trained in writing at the BBC-London before graduating with honors from NYU (‘05), where he wrote/directed a number of NYU short films and plays and was named one of Dramatics Magazine’s “8 to Watch.” While still an undergrad he was hand-selected by Thomas Schumacher, President of Disney on Broadway, as his creative development assistant – where he worked on international productions of The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid and re-wrote the book with David Henry Hwang for Tarzan. He then moved to Los Angeles, spending his days writing plays and pilots, and evenings working as Maitre Fromagger, hosting cheese courses at a leading cheese shop. He was the Playwright in Residence at the Library of Alexandria, researching, writing and holding developmental readings of his play “A Matter of Fact” about the destruction of the Ancient Library. On returning to the states, he became Script Coordinator for USA’s “In Plain Sight,” and has written for CBS's "Three Rivers," ABC's logic quiz show "Million Dollar Mind Game," and a freelance episode that ended up unintentionally being the series finale of Fox's "Lie to Me" with Tim Roth. He wrote The Grierson Awards for BBC-London (hosted by Esther Rantzen) and produced a number of Arts Programmes (all with extraneous “m”s & “e”s) for BBC2. Fox bought his TV pilot "Yearbook.” His pilot, “rare” about a family of cannibals who immigrates to America, was brought to HBO by Philip Seymour Hoffman & Emily Ziff's Cooperstown Productions, as part of their first-look deal. Recently, his pilot “As Seen on TV” was honored with a reading at the Rose D’Or Festival in Lucerne, Swizerland. He created a new stage attraction/ride and a new full-park stunt show for Universal Studios (Japan). He also co-wrote the film “Gay Chicken” [currently in development with Hayden/Schlossberg] with Jeff Marx (Avenue Q / Book of Mormon) & Jeff Witzke. Most recently he wrote & directed his 80’s cop show pilot “Squad 85,” executive produced by Justin Lin (Fast Five), premiering 11.13.12, as well as his directorial debut with “…or Die” a short film he wrote that is currently on the festival circuit.
Greg on...
The Process...I wake up at 7:30am, jog, masturbate, shower, make coffee, write... usually until 3-4pm, then I nap for half an hour like a Castilian, wake up and do a little research or read a friend's script. It usually has to be THAT meticulous or I sleep in, or spend hours looking for porn, or start FB messaging with friends how I should be writing... for hours. I can edit or research whenever, on a plane, in the back of a car, and structure my day in two parts because of that... but the writing part I have to catch like a wave in the morning...and if I putz around and miss the wave... and look around and it's like 10:30... it's hard to jump in -- and I end up watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, telling myself it's research for something.
SatisfactionThe "responding to things in the world." I don't know what I'd do if I had no outlet for that. Just walking around, seeing things that are funny or fucked up or amazing and not being able to celebrate or explore that... my Facebook would no doubt be even MORE obnoxious* (*impossible). I also like the way people talk -- the euphemisms, the disinterested rejoinders, moms' questions about "what you've been up to" like everything is being vetted for a Christmas family wrap-up email, how contagious certain soundbites are to use as conversational crutches if you haven't made your own mind up or have nothing really original to say and are just pulling from a grab bag of things you've heard somewhere before... and it's somewhat joyful to bring those back to life or show the workings behind Conversation. Also making friends laugh, like big laughs, like jokes that are just for them and maybe 9 other people around the world, or those I shouldn't be laughing/hands over mouth "oh my god" laughs. That's satisfying.
KnowingI was born in a trunk in the Princess Theatre, in Pocatello, Idaho... Eventual -yes. VIABLE remains to be seen. Up through high school I had performed, written, directed, produced... but when I got to college, for some reason, I thought I would have to really focus more if I was "serious," and writing seemed the thing I could do well that not a lot of other people could, so I thought I might be useful to the world (in that WWII, "I can land an airplane, boss!" kinda pitch-in way I pride myself in). Also, I wrote a spec of a Family Guy, yeeears ago, and I'd watch the show and think "Geez, it's not as good as that episode..." but then the next week, "Jesus, mine's a LOT better than that one." Or you turn around and see the terrible script you wrote five years ago and realize, you've really grown, and learned, and put in your Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours. And you're good. Not the best, not even your best yet... but AS good as people who work in this field.
The First TimeI wrote my 5th grade musical. Yeah, I was that kid. It was based on the Disney motion-picture Aladdin. Yuuup, didn't think it could get worse, didja? Wait for it. It was covered on the Nightly News in Houston, a major affiliate market -- so it was either an extraordinary production... or an extremely slow news day. As you might imagine, that was enough to get me beat up for all of 5th and much of 6th grade. So a mix honestly of encouraging and dispiriting messages. I mean it was so absurd to hear 12-year-olds try to clumsily make up successful playground chants based on Ashman/Menken tunes, that they'd often just give up and settle on a simple, "you wrote a play" [punch]. Then adults would tell me stories of Thomas Edison and Steven Spielberg and Michael Jordan getting punched. Adults in Texas didn't really know many playwrights. Since then I don't get beat up as much, but nor does my production of Aladdin get as widely produced in LORT B elementary schools.
AdviceI wish someone had walked over to the door, thrown it open and said "GET OUT!" ... ... "If you can imagine doing ANNNYTHING else in the world... Do it. GO! Now. ... ... Still here?... Good." I'm kidding, I think that trope is one of the most unhealthy and wide-spread pieces of "lemme tell this kid something" dissuasion when you absolutely don't need it. Because I was under the misunderstanding that everyone had great parents who told them if they set their mind to something they could succeed. I found out far too late that most did not. Most parents said "do what I do" or "be a doctor" or "you're not my kid, stop coming here after school, I'm trying to run a meth lab!" So, I wish more people heard that. But for myself personally, I would have loved to know... that things would actually all be all right -- that you'll write a small something, then a bigger something, then you'll be fucking POOR again (like using a can of condensed milk for two weeks in your coffee cause you can't afford milk), but never happier cause you don't have to work on that dumb tv show and you get to stay home writing, then you'd have some money - enough to get by, sometimes enough to go back to NY and see some shows and pick up the tab for dinner with friends... and the friends, jesus, the fact that you're surrounded by 1000 people doing the same thing -- working hard, trying... it's really wonderful. Do I still have my amazing rejected pilots in a drawer while I watch that horse shit on CBS every night, yeah! But I have a roof over my head and some leads, and a good man, and amazing hair, and some of the best people in the world on my cell phone who believe in me. I wish I would have known that.
Tune in to the premiere of Greg's 80s cop time travel show "Squad 85" and be sure to like the Facebook page for more updates.
