I wrote this script thirty years ago when I was still young and had aspirations of being a writer. The first draft was about 20 pages shorter and didn't include the funeral sequence (the flashback began with Frank's scene on p. 28). What next? I had no idea. I didn't go to film school—I didn't know anyone who went to film school. I didn't have money. So I bought the Writer's Market book and sent out printed copies, unsolicited. After seeing an article in The Star Ledger, I paid a story consultant (he had worked with Kevin Smith on Clerks) to read it and made some minor changes. He liked it, so I was encouraged to submit it in screenplay writing contests over the next few years where the grand prize was representation by an agent. It did pretty good in some of those contests (twice a quarter finalist and once a semi-finalist) but didn't win. I even entered it in the Project Greenlight contest ten years later (it got shot down by one reviewer in the first round). Then it got buried in the sock drawer for the last 20 years.
When Tom Scharpling sent me an early copy of Grown Ups 3 to read, I sent him and Jason Gore and Pat Byrne a copy of this script in return. They liked it! The Best Show has been very good to me over the past 15 years. It's given me a creative outlet that I never saw coming. For those of you who have supported me over the last few years, accept this as a token of my gratitude. I hope you enjoy it.