Talk:Adam McKay

Jim Breuer

I'm probably going to remove or severely shorten the anecdote about McKay being responsible for Breuer's departure from SNL. If anyone thinks it belongs on the Jim Breuer page, feel free to move it there. I don't think it is well-written, well-sourced, or all that relevant. But here it is:

McKay was claimed to have been the main reason Jim Breuer was cut from SNL. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show on June 7, 2010, Breuer told the story of a Godzilla sketch with Tracy Morgan that resulted, Breuer claimed, in McKay becoming jealous of his talent. McKay allegedly used his influence to try repeatedly to kill the Breuer/Morgan Godzilla sketch for the live show. Breuer said that he finally quit in disgust over McKay using his influence as head writer to attempt to get Breuer out the door.

If you think it should stay, say something here, soon, or it's likely to come out completely. Sjb0926 (talk) 21:11, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

I think it should probably go. Henrymrx (t·c) 04:47, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Done. Sjb0926 (talk) 03:33, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

References

External links modified

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Help with updating article

I work for Adam McKay, the film and television director. This article needs some updates and corrections. I am contacting you as per the instructions on Wikipedia’s “Contact Us” [1] page to request review of proposed corrections and updates. I’d like to request that independent editors review these proposals. Thank you.

1. In the introductory paragraph, please replace the first sentence:

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, comedian, and actor.

WITH:

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American film and television writer, director and producer.

Rationale: McKay is not primarily known as an actor or comedian, so I propose deleting these from the first sentence and focusing just on the aspects of his career for which is very well known, as is appropriate for the lead sentence of an article. WP: LEAD

2. In the introductory second paragraph, please replace the second sentence:

Venturing into more dramatic territory, he was nominated for several awards including the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay and two British Academy Film Awards, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, with co-writer Charles Randolph winning Best Adapted Screenplay at each respective ceremony. In 2018, McKay wrote, directed, and produced Vice, a biographical comedy-drama about former US vice president Dick Cheney, which earned him Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

WITH:

Venturing into more dramatic territory, he was nominated for several awards for The Big Short including the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay and two British Academy Film Awards - Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, with cowriter Charles Randolph. He and Randolph won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards, BAFTA and WGA Awards.

Rationale: Clarifies that these nominations were for “The Big Short,” fixes ambiguous run-on sentence, adds sources and citations missing from the main body of the text and adds the WGA Award, which is a significant award.

3. In the “Writing, acting, and producing” subsection, please add the following after paragraph 7, as a new paragraph:

In 2019, McKay launched a new production company, Hyperobject Industries, which has a first look overall TV deal with HBO and a first look feature deal at Paramount Pictures. Hyperobject Industries’ first TV project was an HBO pilot based on Jeff Pearlman’s non-fiction book ‘Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.’ McKay directed the pilot.

Rationale: Updates subsection with the formation of McKay’s new production company and related projects, all of which are important and recent developments in his career covered by the mainstream media.

4. In the “Personal Life” section, please remove the first paragraph:

In 1996, he married Shira Piven, who directed the 2014 feature film Welcome to Me starring Kristen Wiig. They have two children. His brother-in-law is actor Jeremy Piven.

AND REPLACE IT WITH:

In 1999, he married Shira Piven, a film and television director. They have two daughters, Lili Rose and Pearl. . His brother-in-law is actor Jeremy Piven.

Rationale: Corrects date of marriage to Shira Piven from 1996 to 1999; corrects spouse occupation and removes the one film credit; gives names of children; Adds sources for all updates and corrections.

I have other suggestions, but wanted to start with these. Thank you for your consideration. 20:31, 12 May 2020 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Losangeles48 (talk • contribs)

Added above template. Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 23:10, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Losangeles48 sorry for the delay, please wait while i review the request and the sources, please note that can take up to 1 hour. Trains2050 (talk) 15:39, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

Losangeles48  Done sorry for the delay caused but this edit has now been done. thank you for declaring a conflict of interest. many thanks Trains2050 (talk) 15:47, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

References

“Help with article updates/corrections”

@Trains2050: and other editors. As disclosed above, I work for Adam McKay, the film and television director. I am reaching out to independent Wikipedia editors to additional proposals for updates and corrections, as instructed on Wikipedia’s “Contact Us” [2] page.User: Trains2050 already familiarized themselves with the article for requests answered earlier this month, but I would be grateful for any independent editor who wished to help.

1. In the “Early life” first paragraph, please revise the second, third and fourth sentences:

DELETE:

He graduated from Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn State and Temple University. McKay dropped out from the university a semester-and-a-half before he was set to earn his bachelor's degree. He described it as "settling with an imaginary degree".

REPLACE WITH:

He graduated from Great Valley High School in Malvern, and attended Penn State and Temple University, where he studied literature. McKay dropped out in 1990, 18 credits short of graduating to pursue a career as a comedian. He described it as settling with an “imaginary degree.” McKay sold his comic-book collection for $800, bought a used Chrysler and moved to Chicago. He enrolled in classes with improv teacher Del Close, whose past students include Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert.

Rationale: Updates with sources/citations for high school, colleges attended and subject studied. Adds sentence detailing specific credits he lacked for graduation before dropping out. Corrects imaginary degree sentence with exact quote from McKay as cited in reference. Adds some additional details about this early period of his life, sourced to a New York Times Magazine profile of McKay.

2. In the “Early Life” section:

a) Please add missing citations (there are none in the article) to the following, the second paragraph (the text is unchanged):

He is one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy group and a former performer at Chicago's Improv Olympic, where he was a member of the improv group, The Family, whose members included Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Neil Flynn, Miles Stroth, and Ali Farahnakian, as well as Child's Play Touring Theatre. While a member of the mainstage cast at Second City, he wrote and performed in that company's landmark revue, Pinata Full of Bees. In several politically charged sketches, McKay played characters like Noam Chomsky as a substitute kindergarten teacher, and a hapless personnel manager trying to inform a corporate vice president (Scott Adsit) of some disastrous IQ test results without losing his own job. The latter performance was excerpted in Second City's 40th anniversary compilation.

Rationale: Providing missing citations for specific sources for theater credits and performances already mentioned in the biography.

b) Please add this as the new last sentence to this paragraph:

In another, they convinced the audience that President Clinton had just been assassinated, wheeled a TV on stage only to turn their backs on the audience and become engrossed in watching football bloopers.

Rationale: Provides detail illustrating this aspect of his career.

c) Please move this entire paragraph in “Early Life” - as described above, including the content from a) and b) - to become the first paragraph in the “‘Career”’ section.

Rationale: This content is about his Career, not his early life and education.

3. In the “Career Section”, please create a new subsection called “Early Days in Comedy”. This subsection should come before “Writing, acting, and producing”

Rationale: Language is more specific description of this section of the biography. More subsections will be proposed for different phases of McKay’s career.

4. Please update the first paragraph in the new “Early Days in Comedy” section (currently, “Writing, acting, and producing” section.)

Replace:

McKay originally auditioned for Saturday Night Live to be an onscreen performer, but did not make the cut. However, the scripts he submitted earned him a job as a writer from 1995 to 2001, including two seasons as head writer. He also directed a number of short films for the show, including the original SNL Digital Shorts. McKay encouraged his Second City friend Tina Fey to submit some of her scripts to Saturday Night Live, and she later succeeded him as head writer. Though McKay was never an actual SNL cast member, he did make several on-camera appearances over the years and had a recurring role as an obnoxious audience member "Keith" who would often shout insults at the celebrity hosts during their opening monologue.

WITH:

McKay originally auditioned for Saturday Night Live to be an onscreen performer, but did not make the cut. However, the scripts he submitted earned him a job as a writer in 1995, and within a year McKay became head writer at age 28. He also directed a number of short films for the show, including the original SNL Digital Shorts. McKay encouraged his Second City friend Tina Fey to submit some of her scripts to Saturday Night Live, and she later succeeded him as head writer. Though McKay was never an actual SNL cast member, he did make several on-camera appearances over the years and had a recurring role as an obnoxious audience member "Keith" who would often shout insults at the celebrity hosts during their opening monologue.

Rationale: Updating with specifics of SNL hiring and age at promotion to head writer, as well as adding citations for career trajectory and milestones. The current paragraph has no citations. These have been added.

5. In the current “Career” section, please update the current second paragraph:

Shortly after leaving SNL, McKay teamed up with comedian Will Ferrell to write the comedy films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Step Brothers (2008), and The Other Guys (2010), all of which he also directed, produced and made cameo appearances in as an actor. In 2007, the duo launched the user-submitted comedy video site Funny or Die. A video on the site, titled The Landlord features both him and his young daughter, Pearl, whom Ferrell and his wife bait to say curse words. Pearl also starred in a second video titled Good Cop, Baby Cop. Ferrell and McKay co-produce the HBO series Eastbound & Down.

WITH

Shortly after leaving SNL, McKay teamed up with comedian Will Ferrell to form Gary Sanchez Productions and write the comedy films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Step Brothers (2008), and The Other Guys (2010), all of which he also directed, produced and made cameo appearances in as an actor. In 2007, the duo launched the user-submitted comedy video site Funny or Die. A video on the site, titled The Landlord features both him and his young daughter, Pearl, whom Ferrell and his wife bait to say curse words. Pearl also starred in a second video titled Good Cop, Baby Cop. Ferrell and McKay co-produce the HBO series Eastbound & Down.

Rationale: Specificies formation of the entity with Will Ferrell and adds missing citations.

6. In the current “Career” section, third paragraph, please update:

McKay was one of the writers for the film The Campaign (2012), and produced the film Daddy's Home (2015), the latter of which reunited The Other Guys stars Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and was directed by Sean Anders. McKay wrote the screenplay for and directed The Big Short (2015), the film adaptation of Michael Lewis's book about the 2006–10 financial crisis, and the build-up of the financial and credit bubble; the film starred Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Melissa Leo, Marisa Tomei, and Byron Mann. He rewrote the script for the Marvel Studios feature film Ant-Man, directed by Peyton Reed. McKay also worked with Reed, Paul Rudd, Gabriel Ferrari & Andrew Barrer on Ant-Man and the Wasp to flesh out the story.

WITH:

McKay was one of the writers for the film The Campaign (2012), and produced the film Daddy's Home (2015), the latter of which reunited The Other Guys stars Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, and was directed by Sean Anders. McKay wrote the screenplay for and directed The Big Short (2015), the film adaptation of Michael Lewis's book about the financial and subprime mortgage crisis, and the build-up of the financial and credit bubble; the film starred Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Melissa Leo, Marisa Tomei, and Byron Mann. He rewrote the script for the Marvel Studios feature film Ant-Man, directed by Peyton Reed.. McKay also worked with Reed, Paul Rudd, Gabriel Ferrari & Andrew Barrer on Ant-Man and the Wasp to flesh out the story.

Rationale: Adds sourcing for everything (now completely missing) and corrects the subject of The Big Short/Micheal Lewis’s book.

7. In the current “Career” subsection after paragraph 5, please add this as a new paragraph:

In April 2019, McKay and Ferrell announced that they were separating as producing partners but would continue producing all projects currently in development or in production at Gary Sanchez Productions.

Rationale: McKay and Ferrell’s separation as producing partners is an important aspect of McKay’s career. Includes citation for this event.

8. In the “Career” section, after the paragraph that begins:

Ferrell and McKay co-produce the HBO series Eastbound & Down.”

PLEASE ADD: a new subsection titled “Funny or Die”.

Rationale: Forming Funny or Die is an important aspect of McKay’s career and biography. Sub-sections provide better reading experience in this long section.

9. In the second paragraph of the current “Career” subsection, please move the second, third and fourth sentences below to the proposed “Funny or Die” subsection (these sentences will be the new first paragraph of the proposed subsection “Funny or Die”):

In 2007, the duo launched the user-submitted comedy video site Funny or Die. A video on the site, titled The Landlord features both him and his young daughter, Pearl, whom Ferrell and his wife bait to say curse words. Pearl also starred in a second video titled Good Cop, Baby Cop.

Rationale: This paragraph is specific to “Funny or Die” and the content created by McKay for the video site.

Thank you for your consideration. 03:20, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

References

Reviewed requested edits.

Information was properly cited and with neutral language.

TanookiKoopa (talk) 18:13, 2 August 2020 (UTC)

@TanookiKoopa: Thank you for your review of the Request Edits. Since I have a conflict of interest, I'm not supposed to directly edit the article myself. Would you mind either implementing the requests you have approved or giving me explicit instructions to do this on your behalf, as the reviewer? Thanks! Losangeles48 (talk) 21:58, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

@TanookiKoopa:@Losangeles48:I can make some of these if you want. They might need a little clean up for style and clarity, but otherwise look good to go. --FeldBum (talk) 04:49, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

@FeldBum: That would be awesome. Thanks so much. Losangeles48 (talk) 22:07, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

No problem. I'll start on em tonight. --FeldBum (talk) 22:19, 30 September 2020 (UTC)

First two done. I rewrote slightly to limit edits. I don't see any indication from the cited NYT bio of his parents only holding those jobs when McKay was a "young child," so didn't include that clause. --FeldBum (talk) 13:00, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

@FeldBum: Just checking to see if you might have time to review the others. FYI, I have deleted the request edits for the first two items you already addressed in case another editor comes along. I don’t want them to think that the rest have already been reviewed. Many thanks.Losangeles48 (talk) 19:44, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the ping, Losangeles48. Just opened the Talk Page this morning to try to get a few more done. Been one of those weeks. Let me see if I can finish it off today. --FeldBum (talk) 20:03, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

@Feldbum: Thanks for taking on this review. Just wanted to gently follow up. Losangeles48 (talk) 02:57, 22 October 2020 (UTC)

Hey Losangeles48, done through 7 with some small tweaks for grammar, content and Wikipedia precedent. I'll do the last two now. --FeldBum (talk) 22:01, 25 October 2020 (UTC)

Hey Losangeles48, all done. --FeldBum (talk) 22:24, 25 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much @FeldBum. I have a few other updates I wonder if you might consider reviewing.

1. In the lead, please replace the last sentence that begins “For Vice (2018), a biographical film he wrote…”

WITH:

For Vice (2018), a biographical film he wrote and directed about former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, McKayreceived Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

Explanation: Revises sentence to include that McKay wrote and directed Vice, and added notable supporting source (previously missing from article).

2. In the “Podcasting” subsection, please add as the second sentence:

He produced “Broken: Jeffrey Epstein” and “Broken: Seeking Justice,” a podcast series that explores the Jeffrey Epstein case, in 2019 and 2020.

Explanation: Updates with two notable podcast series he produced about the Jeffrey Epstein case, with two high-quality supporting sources: The New York Times and Esquire.

Thank you for your consideration. Losangeles48 (talk) 00:16, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

“Help with Updates”

I work for Adam McKay, the film and television director, and have a couple more updates and corrections for the article. As I have a COI, I’d like to request that independent editors review these proposals. Thank you.

1. In the lead, please replace the last sentence that begins “For Vice (2018), a biographical film he wrote…”

WITH:

For Vice (2018), a biographical film he wrote and directed about former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, McKayreceived Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

Explanation: Revises sentence to include that McKay wrote and directed Vice, and added notable supporting source (previously missing from article).

2. In the “Podcasting” subsection, please add as the second sentence:

He produced “Broken: Jeffrey Epstein” and “Broken: Seeking Justice,” a podcast series that explores the Jeffrey Epstein case, in 2019 and 2020.

Explanation: Updates with two notable podcast series he produced about the Jeffrey Epstein case, with two high-quality supporting sources: The New York Times and Esquire.

Thank you for your consideration.Losangeles48 (talk) 00:15, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

References

These look fine. Made some small tweaks (tense, wording, pronouns) and added. --FeldBum (talk) 23:21, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Tagiing Losangeles48 --FeldBum (talk) 16:05, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

Clarification on time as head writer.

This is my first contribution to wikipedia ever so I apologize ahead of time if I'm doing this wrong. Unless there is something I'm missing I see some inconsistencies in this article with regards to McKay's time as a head writer on SNL: The second sentence of the article says McKay served as head writer for two seasons; Under "Writing, acting, and producing" sentence 2 states that within a year of 1995 (i.e. in 1996) McKay became head-writer and held that position until 2001. Not to repeat myself but unless I am missing something these two facts contradict each other. To clarify for myself I searched for the list of SNL headwriters by season. Assuming that the wikipedia article on that topic is correct, it looks like McKay was headwriter for 3 seasons. His first was season 22 starting in 1996 and his last was season 24 ending in 1999. (Typing it out I can see how it was mistaken for two seasons instead of 3). This also means that -- unless I am missing information -- the end of his tenure as head writer being 2001 should be updated to 1999.

Okthxbb (talk) 05:32, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

To add to article

Shouldn't we add a mention of McKay's new shark/climate change-themed film The Rising? 98.123.38.211 (talk) 00:00, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

Apparently, as of July 2024, he has just finished casting another climate change-themed film entitled 2°C. 98.123.38.211 (talk) 00:07, 22 July 2024 (UTC)