We were lucky to catch up with Dan Ramm recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Before we talk about all of your success, let’s start with a story of failure. Can you open up about a time when you’ve failed?

I’ve been a writer/Producer for Television for nearly twenty years and during that time I’ve had some success and plenty of failures. It was during the summer of 2022 when COVID was still very much a concern that I was asked to pitch some ideas for a scripted drama to a network I had done some work for in the past. I presented three ideas and they selected one. I developed it a bit for them and they ultimately passed on the idea. The problem with that was they now owned that idea that I thought was pretty darn good. But one of the ideas they didn’t select I felt was better than all three. And had more potential for ongoing stories. Again because COVID had most of the industry shut down I began to wonder if I could write the story as a book. I had never written a book before and although I was an experienced writer, being an author was very foreign to me. I began to tinker with it, not telling anyone what I was attempting. Then early 2023 the writers strike came along and that lasted months. Which meant again no work was happening, but it gave me some free time work on the novel. Now the book is out and is doing so well that I have begun to write a second book picking up where this one left off. I had no idea that a series of what seemed liked failure and disappointment would send me in a direction I hadn’t expected and it’s been amazing.

Dan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was born in Kansas City Missouri and had a rather normal life. At the age of 19 I decided to move to Los Angeles, mostly for the mild climate. To this point I had been working in the construction field during the summers and after I was done with school. LA seemed like a magical place where it never snowed and anything was possible. So I packed up and drove to the promise land. I had a job offer with a contractor that I knew, but when I got to LA he said he couldn’t hire me. For a couple of days I contemplated driving back to KC, but as luck would have it I found a job as a chimney sweep. Yes you heard me, a chimney sweep. It paid well and it was actually easier than construction. I did that for about 4 years and then got back into the construction business for the next 15 years. Then a chance meeting with the actor Joe Mantegna changed the course of my life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My career is a combination of hard work, luck, and failure. Let me explain.

A chance meeting with the actor Joe Mantegna in 1999 changed my life. At the time I was in the home improvement business, and I had received a call from his wife, Arlene, to look at an issue at their home and give them an estimate for repairs. Once at the house, I saw a large photo of Joe on the wall and realized I was in “that actor’s” home. I had always been a fan of his work starting with Searching for Bobby Fischer and of course Godfather III, among many others, but Ratpack was far and away my favorite. Over the next year, Joe and I formed a bit of a friendship, somewhat based on our mutual love for Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and of course Sammy Davis Jr. Joe had completed the film The Ratpack not long before our meeting, and secretly I wondered what he would think of a screenplay I’d written years before we met on the life of Sammy Davis Jr. Something I wrote to see if I could.

Over the next two years Joe would call me for repairs on one of his properties, or even just hang out with him at a celebrity golf event, sometimes even finagling a spot for me on his team. On a drive back from the golf course in early 2000, I mentioned to Joe that I was selling my company. I had spent most of my life working very hard at something I didn’t love and I had decided that the time had come for me to reinvent myself. He was curious about my ambitions and, although at the time I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted something different. I explained that the sale of my company included a proviso that I stay on with the new owners for one year as an advisor and to help the transition.

In early 2001 Joe and I were talking, and he asked me about the sale of company. He knew that year was nearly up and wondered what I would do next. I still didn’t know. That’s when he said to me, “Well, look, I have a pilot for a series I’m doing and if it goes, why don’t you come work for me?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He went on to explain that he’d never really done television, but he wanted to be home more. He too was looking for a change. I said yes instantly. I didn’t even ask about salary; I didn’t care. This was the opportunity that I had hoped would someday present itself.

During the next couple years, I learned a lot by just watching how television filming was done and read as many scripts as I could get my hands on. There was a steady stream of scripts being submitting to him, so there was no shortage of material for me to read. Some were good, but most weren’t that great. But I learned what made a story work and what didn’t. That original series of his was short lived, but Joe wanted me to stay on, figuring it was only a matter of time before he’d be on another series of some kind.

After about three years of working with him, I got the courage to show Joe my Sammy Davis Jr. script. I could see the look in his eyes when I handed him the script. It was sort of an “Oh boy, here we go” kind of look. But after a few weeks he said to me, “Hey, that script is pretty good. Is writing something you want to do?” The question surprised me. Not only was it a question no one had ever asked me, it was one I’d never even asked myself. I timidly said, “Yes, I think so.” Another few weeks went by, and he gave me the script back with all of his notes in red about what was good and bad about the story and writing. And that was our relationship from then on. He always encouraged me and was never light in his criticism of my work. That was probably the best help of all. He would often say, “Anything creative is loaded with criticism and opinions. You have to really believe in what you write and yourself.”

The more I wrote the more I learned about writing and the more confident I became. I often had opinions about scripts submitted to him, things I thought could be improved and so forth, and many times my comments were validated by him and others. Joe continued to nurture that creative spirit inside me, pushing me to be better. In the following two decades I wrote three different TV series—two of which I created or co-created—did some guest writing on Criminal Minds and sold three Television pilots.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

An exciting thing about writing a book is the lack of constraints. In television writing you have to funnel all your ideas and creativity through several filters. How expensive would this be to produce? What location would we use for filming? Are there too many characters? And so on. That’s not even taking into consideration the networks input, which they always have. Will the network let me do this? Is it too violent or too sexy for primetime? Then of course each script you write for a show passes through many hands higher on the food chain that you. The idea of being free from all that was very exciting. With a novel I could paint whatever world I wanted with the goal of telling the story I wanted to tell. It would be a chance to really stretch as a writer and an artist.

When I began writing Long Branch, I was worried that I’d get to about page thirty or forty and run flat. But that never happened. Most days my enthusiasm helped the words pour out of me faster than my ability to type, and I fell more in love with the characters and the plot.

I based it in the fictional town of Long Branch, Georgia, but in truth it’s based on a little town called Hamilton, south of Atlanta. I had worked there a while back on a TV series I created. I went back and forth from Los Angeles to Hamilton many times over the course of a year. I was always excited to go there and would often imagine myself living in this idyllic small town. The people were friendly and kind, the scenery was beautiful, and most of all, it was peaceful. Far away from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. Even some of the characters in the book are loosely based on residents there.

Once the book was completed I, of course, handed it to my longtime friend and mentor, Joe, who loved it, gave me some notes, and once again encouraged me to forge ahead. I’m thrilled how well the book has been received. It’s received several awards and many notable people have given it amazing reviews. I think the thing I learned from this was to be careful what I label a failure, because it may be a success in disguise.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.DanRammBook.com
• Instagram: DanRammAuthor
• Linkedin: DanRamm
• Twitter: DanRammAuthor
• Youtube: @dannyramm1897