{"id":37648,"date":"2023-11-02T15:48:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T19:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=37648"},"modified":"2023-11-02T16:19:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T20:19:05","slug":"com-alum-is-killing-it-with-only-murders-in-the-building","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/com-alum-is-killing-it-with-only-murders-in-the-building\/","title":{"rendered":"COM Alum Is Killing It With Only Murders in the Building"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin bu-blocks-block-editorial-leadin is-style-default has-media has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin on the set of Only Murders in the Building.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-636x358.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-992x558.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1984x1116.jpg 1984w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1628x916.jpg 1628w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1366x768.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-1280x720.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-turbovsky-banner-854x480.jpg 854w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Rob Turbovsky (\u201908) is a writer and coexecutive producer for Hulu\u2019s hit show <em>Only Murders in the Building<\/em>, which stars (left to right) Selena Gomez, Martin Short, and Steve Martin. Photo by Patrick Harbron\/Hulu<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCOM Alum Is Killing It With Only Murders in the Building\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Rob Turbovsky (&#8217;08), a writer and coexecutive producer on the hit Hulu series, discusses his writing process, the writer\u2019s strike, and partying with Bill Murray<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-categories\">\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/alumni\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlumni\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/film-television\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFilm &amp; TV\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">November 2, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/authors\/mara-sassoon\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMara Sassoon\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div style=\"display:none;\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-inner js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t<h4>Share<\/h4>\n\t\t<p class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-title\">COM Alum Is Killing It With Only Murders in the Building<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-link\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/com-alum-is-killing-it-with-only-murders-in-the-building\/\" readonly>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<label>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Copy URL:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Copy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/label>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Soon after episode 5 of the second season of <em>Only Murders in the Building <\/em>was released, Rob Turbovsky began receiving text messages from friends and family members. Turbovsky (\u201908) and his writing partner, Matteo Borghese, are writers and coexecutive producers on the hit Hulu series, which stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as an unlikely trio of murder mystery podcasters and amateur investigators. Those familiar with Turbovsky\u2019s quirky interests and style of humor sensed his hand in a particular exchange in the episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s this scene where Steve and Marty\u2019s characters are talking about the difference between memory and perception\u2014whether you remember something or you think you\u2019ve remembered something\u2014and then it devolves into them arguing about the Iran-Contra hearings and trying to explain to Selena Gomez\u2019s character what Iran-Contra was, and then it\u2019s just them listing obscure political names from 1987,\u201d says Turbovsky. \u201cNegroponte, Noriega, Hasenfus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"636\" height=\"633\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky-636x633.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky-636x633.jpeg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky-768x764.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky-100x100.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/Courtesy-of-Rob-Turbovsky.jpeg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><figcaption>Courtesy of Rob Turbovsky. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>He was delighted that those close to him could pick up on his comedic touch. \u201cI kind of can&#8217;t believe that we\u2019re getting Steve Martin and Martin Short to say these lines,\u201d he says. \u201cWe wrote the longest possible version of it, where it goes on and on with all these different names, and they were so game to do it and find their own rhythms. They bring such an enormous amount to the scenes in their performances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turbovsky, who<strong> <\/strong>honed his comedic chops in college, doing stand-up at The Comedy Studio in Somerville, has come a long way from his days as a runner-up in BU\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2008\/after-college-comedy\/\">Funniest Student Competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At COM, Turbovsky took a lot of film studies and film criticism classes in addition to classes about writing for TV and film. He wrote for <em>The Daily Free Press<\/em> and was the paper\u2019s film section editor. He thought he might want to be a film critic one day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After graduating, Turbovsky spent a year in Boston figuring out his next steps while writing for <em>DigBoston<\/em><em> <\/em>(then known as the<em> <\/em><em>Weekly Dig<\/em>), an alternative newspaper. But he realized he wanted to work <em>in<\/em><em> <\/em>film and television, so he moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California\u2019s screenwriting MFA program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was at USC that he met Borghese. \u201cWe recognized that we had similar senses of humor. A year or so after graduating, he asked me if I would like to write something with him.\u201d So, they wrote a movie script. \u201cI don\u2019t know that it ended up being that good of a script, but the process was easy and enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since graduating from USC in 2011, Turbovsky and Borghese have worked on shows including <em>Silicon Valley<\/em>, <em>It\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia<\/em>, and <em>Lady Dynamite<\/em>. They\u2019ve also been called in to contribute to scripts for films such as the 2016 <em>Ghostbusters<\/em> and <em>Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse<\/em>. Their work on <em>Ghostbusters<\/em> brought Turbovsky back to Boston, where parts of the production were filmed (including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2015\/ghostbusters-haunts-the-bu-castle\/\">at the BU Castle<\/a>). The whole experience felt very full circle\u2014and a little surreal, he says. \u201cI remember walking through the Boston Common with Paul [Feig, the film\u2019s director] and going to a party at a producer\u2019s apartment on Newbury Street. We left the party with Bill Murray. Seeing him walk away down Newbury was so strange.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>On Writing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The most recent season of <em>Only Murders<\/em>, which premiered on August 8, 2023, finds Oliver (Short), Charles (Martin) and Mabel (Gomez) trying to solve the murder of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), the lead in Oliver\u2019s Broadway musical. The show\u2019s writing process is very collaborative, Turbovsky says. First, showrunner John Hoffman, who created the show with Steve Martin, will present some big picture ideas for the season, such as character relationships or themes he wants to explore. \u201cWith the latest season, I think it was this thought of wouldn\u2019t it be fun to do something on Broadway, to do a musical and see the Martin Short character, who is of that world, return to it?\u201d Turbovsky and Borghese are part of a team of 10\u201312 writers who will then discuss further ideas for the season. Sometimes, they\u2019ll bring in stories from their own experiences to help inspire plot points or jokes, Turbovsky says. And they\u2019ll conduct a lot of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-teal-background-right\"><p>There\u2019s a recognition that a lot of the issues are so existential, and that if they aren\u2019t resolved, a lot of people are not going to be able to make a living as writers.<\/p><cite>Rob Turbovsky<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor the first season, when we were very much focused on the building, I think John asked us to share either weird confrontations or fights we\u2019ve had with neighbors over the years, or any kind of mystery that existed in our lives\u2014questions that we had wanted answers to for a long time but never received,\u201d he says. \u201cWith research for this latest season, part of it was what is some Broadway theater lore that\u2019s worth exploring? Who are people in this world who we can draw from?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the writers discuss research and personal experiences, a season starts to take shape and is divided into 10 episodes. \u201cWe usually get a better sense of the early episodes first and then, at some point, figure out who the killer is and why.\u201d The episodes start to take rough shape, and then they are each assigned to different writers or writing pairs, like Turbovsky and Borghese, who take what was discussed and create outlines for their plots. Afterwards, the group of writers gather again, and Hoffman, along with the show\u2019s other executive producers Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal, will weigh in. Next up? The writers for each episode come up with a script that gets feedback and, sometimes, a series of rewrites. Martin and Short also weigh in on the scripts. \u201cIt just sort of gets refined more and more as you get closer to production.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides the Iran-Contra scene from season 2, Turbovsky says another scene he penned with Borghese for season 1 stands out. \u201cThere was a monologue that Marty gives about the podcast fans. I remember watching the dailies [the unedited footage from that day\u2019s filming], and he just could not get through it without making everyone laugh. They just couldn\u2019t get through a take. I must have watched that 100 times, seeing them break up over it. It was such a cool moment in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>A New Season<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the show\u2019s typical fashion, season 3 of <em>Only Murders<\/em><em> <\/em>ended with an epic cliffhanger that will be explored in the next season. Like so many Hollywood writers, Turbovsky spent much of 2023 on strike. Back in mid-September, when COM first spoke with him, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike was still in full swing. The WGA was just about to restart their negotiations with film studios that would ultimately end with an agreement and an end to the strike. At the time, Turbovsky lamented the pause on work\u2014the strike had halted writing for the fourth season\u2014but was inspired by the unity of his fellow writers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a recognition that a lot of the issues are so existential, and that if they aren\u2019t resolved, a lot of people are not going to be able to make a living as writers,\u201d he had said. \u201cI think because of that, people seem to be sticking together much more on every level, from newer writers to show runners.\u201d He recalled one time when he was on the picket line at Fox and saw Matt Groening, creator of <em>The Simpsons<\/em><em> <\/em>and <em>Futurama<\/em>. \u201cThat gives you a sense of the kind of solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end-of-article\">Now that the strike has ended, he is eager to get back to work with Borghese on <em>Only Murders<\/em>. \u201cThe agreement we got was worth the fight, but the costs were obviously enormous. We\u2019ll see how the industry is going to change because of it\u2014there\u2019s still a lot of uncertainty and, of course, we are still out there in support of SAG, who deserve&nbsp;a fair deal too,\u201d he says. (The Screen Actors Guild has been on strike since July 14, 2023.) \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to have&nbsp;a show to go back to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soon after episode 5 of the second season of Only Murders in the Building was released, Rob Turbovsky began receiving&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":37672,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[962,9],"tags":[1606,164],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/37648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/37648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37709,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/37648\/revisions\/37709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37648"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=37648"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=37648"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=37648"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=37648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}