Interview with ‘Shifting Gears’ and ‘Deli Boys’ Showrunner Michelle Nader

Show business. It has its ups and plenty of its downs. Nobody said it was easy. You have to have a strong work ethic, tenacity, and strong voice. A thick skin doesn’t hurt too – but what matters at the end of the day is how you communicate with your team, the creatives surrounding you, and how you listen to their input. Just a few of the important factors that go hand in hand with being a strong leader, especially a showrunner. Nobody knows this better than showrunner powerhouse Michelle Nader (2 Broke Girls, Dollface).

A quick glance at Michelle Nader’s credits and current shows, you surely want to ask her, “Do you ever sleep?” And Michelle’s answer is simply, “I feel so lucky.” Especially at a time when the industry is ever changing and work is increasingly scarce - even for the heavy hitters. “I know that the business is going through a tumultuous time, and I really wish that we could have when I first started. There were so many shows out, and there was so much opportunity, and I think it will come back.” And maybe she’s right. Maybe it will come back. And her hand in helping it come back is shepherding new voices when the opportunity presents itself, like with the creator behind Deli Boys which premieres today on Hulu; and in a way, keeping the multi-cam format alive, like with her network show Shifting Gears, which is currently airing on ABC.

Michelle Nader sat down with Script to discuss her current projects, including the multi-camera show Shifting Gears and a new series, Deli Boys, which she found compelling due to its novelistic script and universal themes. And how she finds immense joy in supporting new creators and mentoring writers, emphasizing the importance of listening and adapting. Additionally, she talks about her background in comedy, highlights the challenges of sitcoms, describes them as akin to poetry in their rhythm and difficulty, and so much more. 

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: As a showrunner, what initially attracts you to a project?

Michelle Nader: I have experience now...I've been doing it for a long time. My niche has become this kind of like coming in to showrun a show for a new creator, a new voice or if a show needs to replace someone. And that is really what I like doing a lot now. I like supporting someone else's vision and actualizing it and illustrating and dramatizing it, because they can't. And I didn't get that, I was just sort of struggling when I started, I was, usually with my partner, the only women in the room. So that was really hard, and no one mentored me. And I really like being able to cultivate another writer and another voice, because that's really what we should be doing, because there aren't a lot of jobs. And I think if I can help get somebody on their feet, that would be helpful to the business in general, right?

Sadie: Yes! What was it about comedy and finding your voice within the TV comedy space specifically?

Michelle: I grew up around a lot of funny people. I'm half Lebanese and half Italian - I grew up with my Lebanese uncles, and they were very witty and funny. They would make the joke about you if you didn't make the joke. So, it was either be the joke, or make it right? And I kind of learned that really fast. I was like, OK they're gonna come for me, and I'm gonna have an answer, and I'll get respect so I won't be the butt of the joke, and then let my other cousins take that. [laughs] And so I think comedy was always a natural voice for me. And I grew up, like a lot of comedians and a lot of people that wind up in comedy with a terrible childhood and a traumatic background, and so we just tend to try to make things lighter and funnier. No matter what I did, it always had a comic bend to it. I started off as a journalist, and then I did documentaries, and ultimately, they were kind of too straightforward.

Sadie: Deli Boys, how did you initially come on board and what attracted you to that material and creator Abdullah [Saeed]?

Michelle: It's been one of those magical kind of unions. I love Abdullah as a person now, but I loved the script. They had done the pilot already, but I didn't see that. They sent me the script because they were looking for a showrunner for the season. And I read the script, and I was like, 'This guy is so talented. This is a great writer.' This isn't just like a TV show. It was novelistic, and the characters, the descriptions, the humanity of it. I just was like, 'This is special.' And the subject matter of these two pampered boys in Philadelphia, which is where I'm from, and the way he described Philadelphia, because Philadelphia is a weird, very weird place.

When I met Abdullah, he's like family to me now - I'm Lebanese, he's Pakistani - I understood it on that level too, I mean, I'm not Pakistani, obviously, but he describes the humanity of it in a way that I got in terms of a person, but then people see you in a different way. Obviously, it's a Pakistani family, but any family can relate to this.

Sadie: And you came in after the pilot was shot for Shifting Gears?

Michelle: When I found out about the show...it was divine timing or divine intervention, I don't know, because the Scully's left the show and they needed a showrunner, and they came to me, and I was not sure I could do it...because it's hard [laughs] and I wanted to know that I could do it great. And so it took me a minute to figure out. I can deal with the show, because they're dealing with father-daughter relationship and daddy issues and being a single mom and all of these things, I can relate to. And then the grief of losing your mother, and him losing his wife, all that stuff, all those themes, kind of resonated with me.

I really think that sitcoms are the highest degree of difficulty and get the least amount of respect. I don't know how to say, but if you do it, you'll see how hard it is. It's just really hard because you have to write in a certain way that feels, this is going to sound pretentious, but it's like more of a poem than a narrative piece. And you got to get the language right. And people don't know how to do it anymore, because nobody does it anymore, and you don't get to stay on shows anymore for long periods of time. It's 10 weeks, 20 weeks and goodbye. No one's learning anything.

Sadie: What’s been the biggest learning curve you've had on your writing and showrunning journey?

Michelle: People have asked me, what do you think is your skill? And I go, ‘I don't think I know anything ever.’ [laughs] But what I do is that I listen a lot. I listen to the way people talk, and I listen to people's concerns and notes, and I listen to actors, I listen to writers. I make my own decision at the end. I do definitely think you have to have a sense of what you think is right and go with your instinct. But I do think that any kind of a creative person, you have your ear to the ground and know what is happening and don't think you know the answer. Just entertain that you don't know something, and then something great will emerge. That to me is what I think about writing. Sometimes when I can't think of something, I just wait a minute.

I think it's all so random - success and failure, it's all the same. [laughs] But what you have to do is continue to work. You just have to keep on going, if this is what you want to do. I never gave up in that like, I've had ups and downs over these years. You're hot in the business, you're cold in the business, the business is cold completely - give it up. But I can't do anything else, this is all I can do. [laughs]