'Hacks' Co-Creator Jen Statsky on Getting Her Big Break on 'Parks and Rec'

Statsky's entry into scripted comedy was much smoother than the career machinations that happen on "Hacks": She was picked out of the crowd on Twitter by her future mentor, Michael Schur.

Hacks is undeniably about work and the subtle machinations of mentorship and power—the student can become the teacher, and the dominating force, at any time, especially in a Hollywood relationship. Jen Statsky, the co-creator of Hacks, did not base the tumultuous relationship between lead characters Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a longtime comedian, and her young writer, Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), on her own breakthrough experience in the business.

Instead, she got her first big break on Parks and Recreation through benevolent, and, in fact, quite generous, means thanks to that show’s co-creator, Mike Schur. I recently talked to her about this for my upcoming book Parks & Rec. As the series’ fourth season wraps up, I’m sharing a portion of our discussion below.

JKA: You got the job at Parks and Rec through Twitter, is that right?

JS: Yeah, I had been writing out in New York at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I was a monologue writer there, and that was my first full-time paid writing job. It was a great training ground—you have to write a bunch of jokes every day by a very early time in the morning to tape at 5 p.m.

I was such a Mary Tyler Moore Show fan. I grew up watching Nick at Night, loving TV sitcoms. I knew I always wanted to write for sitcoms. And so while I was on Fallon, my favorite show in the world was Parks and Rec. That was my number-one show, that and 30 Rock behind it.

Mike Schur and I followed each other [on Twitter]. And we just had a natural rapport on Twitter, sometimes joking back and forth, back when Twitter wasn't a hellscape.

Mike says that there was a tweet about Mitt Romney's wife and throw pillows that I tweeted that really made him think that he liked my comedy and my style of writing. So when I left Fallon, I came out to L.A. and it was still the staffing-season model back in 2013. They were gearing up for season 6, and they were looking at people, and I heard that they wanted to meet.

JKA: It seems like he was out there recruiting on Twitter at least those last couple seasons.

JS: Yeah, [fellow writer] Megan Amram and I, he found us both through Twitter. And I think that's a testament to Mike and what Twitter used to be. It really democratized the process of comedy writing, because it allowed people who were just funny to have their jokes seen on the internet in the same way making sketch videos now does.

[Schur] believes a good idea can come from anywhere and anyone. And he knows that a good comedy writer and comedy mind can come from anywhere—and it doesn't need to come from the same three agencies who are going to send you scripts from people. That’s, as a showrunner now, how I hire—it's perfectly valid to read scripts from agents that you get sent, but at the same time, those are people who are already in the pipeline. You always want to be conscious of trying to find people who are outside of the system, because there are really wonderful, unique voices out there.

JKA: How old were you then?

JS: I was about 27. I was so scared to start that job. Parks and Rec was my favorite show. I remember before I got the interview, rewatching the entire series and just being like, this show is so smart and funny and good, and oh my god.

And then when I started the room in season 6, it was a really big learning curve for me. Because the people in that room were so smart, so funny, so good. It was very obvious to me that the product on the screen was a direct tie to how good and smart and funny everyone in that room was. It was my first narrative-TV half-hour job. I went through it that year in terms of trying to fit in and find my place and not freak myself out. Because I was honestly just such a fan of Mike and everyone on the staff.

Jen Statsky

JKA: Yeah. It's hard for me to imagine what it would be like joining something like that in the last two seasons. I mean, I know you didn't know it was the last two seasons, but it was far along.

JS: Yeah, far, far along. Acclaimed, really—to me, just very important as a writer and a comedian at that point. This is insane, but we used to play this game called Sporcle at lunch, an online game, but it's basically just trivia, and I remember being like, I'm not smart enough. I don't know all the countries.

I was like, agh, I'm writing for Parks and Rec, I need to learn the countries. But it was eventually a really good lesson that I now talk to younger writers and comedians about—I needed to trust that I was there because of my own voice and because of what Mike saw. I needed to just find my own lane. And credit to Mike because sometimes that takes a little bit, and some showrunners aren't as patient.

JKA: How did you make that transition from Fallon to this in terms of now, instead of a million jokes by 11 a.m., you have to write stories?

JS: It was personally exciting in one way, because I had left Fallon on my own volition. And so I was so excited to get to tell stories, and talk about them, especially with characters like Leslie that I loved.

Especially when you're a monologue writer, you're so siloed. You go to your computer, you bang out your jokes, you come together for an afternoon meeting to talk about them and go through them, but that's kind of it. And then you go back to your computer and write more.

A writer's room is just an eight hour-plus-long meeting; you're just sitting in a room with people for so long. I don’t think I realized that at the time. I was like, oh, this is such a different job.

Story is something I think you do get better at as you progress in your TV career. And I think Mike has talked about that, that when you hire a staff writer, they just need to be funny and they just need to have a voice and something specific. Then the story stuff you can learn and get better at. But it was more that I wasn't prepared for how it was just one long daily conversation, and learning to listen and pick your spots where you talked.

JKA: It's weird how much I haven't really thought about this—that it is an eight-hour long meeting. My equivalent was, I worked at Entertainment Weekly, and I was like, oh my god, these people know so much. And it was so hard to get in there and pitch.

JS: That was the thing. I would have days where I would drive home and I'd be like, did I talk today? And it doesn't count if I said, like, can you pass me the salt or whatever. [laughs] Even now, when we do our Hacks writers’ room on Zoom, it's like a Zoom from 10 to 5. And that's why, honestly, I think such close friendships are born out of writers’ rooms is that incredible amount of time you're spending with these people.

Like what you’re reading? Subscribe or upgrade to support our work!

---

Other Interviews You Might Enjoy