Chippewa comic makes TV pilot with Rick Springfield

SEWICKLEY – Dan Rosenberg brings comedy writing skills and the perseverance of a Beaver County-bred Gen X-er; Rick Springfield offers acting experience, pop-culture fame, and a glorious mane of hair.

It's a combination that's produced a television pilot that could lead to a full-time series on a streaming TV platform.

But they seek your help.

Rosenberg, a Chippewa Township native and standup comedian, has sought constructive criticism for his pilot episode of "It's a Lot" by screening the Springfield-starring comedy for audiences in Los Angeles, Boise, Idaho, and the Seattle area, where Rosenberg dwells.

He scheduled one final test screening for Sunday at the Lindsay Theater & Cultural Center in Sewickley.

Everyone reserving a free seat at The Lindsay for that 2 p.m. gathering can point their smartphone at the screen to access a QR code where they can fill out a questionnaire. For those preferring the old-fashioned method, there will be printed-out paper questionnaires, too.

After a brief introduction will come the 22-minute screening and an eight-minute bloopers reel with former "General Hospital" star/"Jessie's Girl" chart-topper Springfield dropping a barrage of F-bombs (all bleeped out). Then Rosenberg will invite theatergoers to answer questions about "It's a Lot."

Like what did they enjoy the most? The least? Does it remind them of any other shows? And who's their favorite or least favorite character?

Springfield plays a famous rocker who's bankrupt due to six divorces; Rosenberg plays his son, who sells used cars at Lenny’s Super Mega Autoplex.

Rosenberg loosely based one of the pilot's supporting characters on his Beaver County bestie Eric Schiemer, a successful wedding deejay and videography/photography manager at Geneva College.

It was Schiemer who tagged along for support when Rosenberg launched his standup comedy career at a weekday open mic night at the former Funnybone comedy club in Station Square. Before that, Rosenberg had been courting a career as a high school head basketball coach, serving as a student-manager for the Blackhawk High School boys' team, then landing his first coaching job at age 17 as an assistant at Quigley Catholic High School in Economy.

In 1991, at the age of 20, he became the youngest head boys coach in the WPIAL when filling in for one year for an ailing coach at Avonworth High School. He kept interviewing for full-time head coaching jobs, but after a bunch of near-misses moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy. Homesick and spooked by an earthquake, Rosenberg returned to Blackhawk and served as an assistant coach from 1995-97, which included a boys' state championship triumph.

The dream of a standup comedy/comedy writing career whisked him away again. Like a bouncing basketball, he went from Orlando in 1997 to New Orleans in 1999 and back to L.A. in 2000, before relocating to Bainbridge Island, Washington, in 2009. His wife, Beckey Anderson, is a Realtor there, and in 2013, Rosenberg became the boys' basketball coach at nearby North Kitsap High School, across Puget Sound from Seattle.

"I coached there for two seasons. It was too much of a time commitment to try to make it the program I wanted it to be (though) we did win the league title my second year," he said.

Through the years and relocations, he took bills-paying jobs, like working at a car dealership, and ultimately becoming the chief executive officer for CashforCars.com.

In 2016, a friend helping him move stuff out of storage space found a script Rosenberg had written for a TV pilot starring famed rocker Springfield. That friend, Hollywood visual effects creator Richard Malzahn, urged Rosenberg to shop around the script he had conceived years earlier after attending an early 2000s Springfield concert in L.A. and seeing so many female fans rushing the stage and cheering wildly.

"He was in his 50s and old enough to be my dad, and I thought: 'Wait a minute, that's a sitcom idea,'" Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg didn't own any scriptwriting software at that point ― he typed out his script on a word processor and printed it out ― and tried using his entertainment industry contacts, but attempts to draw interest from TV producers failed.

Rosenberg even found a clever way to meet with Springfield by attending another of the rocker's concerts, in Tacoma, Washington, in 2012, and purchasing a guitar at the merch table, which scored him backstage access to get it autographed.

"Well, this is awkward," Springfield said when he spotted Rosenberg for the first time. "Usually, it's just women back here."

(That's the kind of line you could expect from Springfield's "It's a Lot" character.)

At that 2012 encounter, Rosenberg shared his TV pilot idea with Springfield, and explained how he hadn't succeeded in pitching it.

"Keep trying," Springfield told him encouragingly.

But Rosenberg pretty much gave up, until four years later when Malzahn urged him to try again.

Renewed with purpose in 2019, a year before turning 50, Rosenberg recalled a 2000 chance meeting at the Montreal Comedy Festival with comedy manager/producer Barry Katz, who went on to host the Industry Standard podcast that pledges an inspirational “all access pass” to the entertainment business.

"I kept in touch with him over the years, and reached out to him in August 2021 when I was still focusing on “sitcom while 50” as I was about to hit 51 and started to aggressively reach out to any industry contacts I had," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg pitched "It's a Lot" to Katz, who liked what he heard and agreed to help with the pilot. Katz's reputation secured Springfield's participation and the involvement of comedian Dean Edwards, a 2001-03 "Saturday Night Live" cast member.

"Having Barry Katz in our corner is huge. He's done this for 40 years," Rosenberg said.

Around that same time, Rosenberg got backstage to see Springfield again, hand-delivering a hard copy of the pilot and a thumb drive of the next nine rough draft episodes.

Springfield agreed to film a 35-minute pilot episode in Los Angeles.

"He was great," Rosenberg said. "He came up with jokes."

For his introductory scene, for instance, Rosenberg envisioned Springfield's character vainly sun tanning himself and putting strange fruits into a blender to make a frou-frou Hollywood smoothie.

"But then he came up with an idea and said, 'What if I do this instead ..."

You'll have to watch the pilot to see Springfield's improvised comedy idea.

After countless edits encouraged by Katz, and several test screenings, the original 35-minute script was trimmed to a tight 22 minutes. That gets the public test on March 12 at The Lindsay.

Sewickley theatergoers will be reminded the episode still needs a few sound and visual touchups, like digitally editing out any California palm trees that betray the show's Seattle setting, where Rosenberg's character sells cars.

The 52-year-old Rosenberg wanted a Pittsburgh area screening to gauge the length of the audience's laughs, which will help with the timing of the final edit that will be sent to TV producers who potentially could order more episodes.

Rosenberg had heard good things about the Lindsay, which hosts screen talks with local movie crew workers, like one last month with Steadicam operator Buzz Moyer who's worked for Steven Spielberg. This Thursday, the Lindsay hosts a screening of four short films by Beaver filmmaker Lydia Zagorski.

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Those attending the "It's a Lot" free screening (reservations are encouraged) can provide insight that could help the pilot get picked up by one of the numerous streaming sites craving content.

"We'd love if it got chosen by Netflix or Hulu or Amazon," Rosenberg said. "We've just got to shop it around."

His son Josh, a senior in high school, appears in the background of a few shots at the dealership.

And in an homage to his Beaver County roots, Rosenberg incorporated a character named Leah, inspired by "Ah! Leah!," the hit song by Donnie Iris, who was Rosenberg's first concert, at the Community College of Beaver County Golden Dome in 1981.

Rosenberg attended Blackhawk schools with Iris' daughter, Erin, and sent a copy of his pilot to the Beaver Valley's resident rock star in hopes of using "Ah! Leah!" in the episode.

"He said sure, let me take a look," Rosenberg said, aware that Iris has been busy preparing for his 80th birthday concert this Saturday at UPMC Events Center in Moon Township.

More:Rock with Donnie Iris as he celebrates the big 8-0

Imagine if "It's a Lot" got picked up for future episodes, and Rosenberg could find a cameo role for Iris alongside Springfield.

"This whole project was my dream for years and well over 75 people have been involved in one way or another to get this off the ground," Rosenberg said. "The biggest lesson I've learned is you can't do it alone, and it's never too late to start."

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Chippewa comic makes TV pilot with rocker/actor Rick Springfield