T.O. screenwriter credits swimming with success
By Michael Picarella
pic@theacorn.com

Gregory Poppen

"SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2" screenwriter Gregory Poppen, a Thousand Oaks resident, filled in as coach for a Thousand Oaks High School water polo tournament about three years ago. He couldn’t commit to a full-time coaching position then, but he found he enjoyed the experience so much that he kept showing up as coach at practices and has since squeezed the job into his very busy work schedule.

Poppen grew up in Thousand Oaks and attended TOHS. He was on the swimming team and the water polo team.

"My high school experience was really good as far as swimming and water polo," Poppen said. "In a sense, I’ve always credited being able to do what I’ve done in the entertainment industry with being a swimmer. As a swimmer, you learn delayed gratification." Poppen worked long and hard for his screenwriting success, just as a swimmer must do, he said.

Poppen attended CSUN and originally planned to major as a theater actor. But the reaction of his fellow students to a speculative TV sitcom he wrote for a general education class changed that plan.

"We had to write a 30-minute something-rather and everyone was writing these depressing, movie-of-the-week-type cancer stories," Poppen said. "I was about the only one who asked to write a comedy."

Poppen’s teleplay was cast and read aloud by his classmates.

"When we read it in class, everyone was laughing," Poppen said. "So I figured, maybe I can make a career out of screwing around." Poppen changed his major to TV and film.

Poppen is no stranger to comedy. He performed stand-up during college and still does it today, he said.

"Actually, I haven’t done it in a couple of years," Poppen admitted.

In life, the screenwriter uses comedy every day for practically any occasion.

"Are you going to keep out the news of my time in prison?" Poppen asked The Acorn before his interview.

The response: "No. The Acorn is a newspaper and must report the facts." Of course, Poppen was joking about spending time in jail, but

Poppen was busted at least once in the past for his sense of humor.

"I did an interview once and I was joking around (with the reporter), trying to keep it light, and when the article came out, it ended up being this anti-Hollywood article," he said. His jokes were taken seriously and printed. "I probably shouldn’t joke around like that too much," Poppen said.

Poppen got his start in the entertainment business the same way everyone with Hollywood connections gets started. Actually, he didn’t have any connections, so he "pounded the pavement" until he found an entry-level job with a company called Embassy Television in the TV syndication department. After a few corporate mergers, Poppen ended up at Sony doing the same job.

"I was essentially on the business side of the industry," Poppen said. "It was the exact opposite of what I wanted. So I would write during my lunch hour and at night."

After about two years in the TV syndication biz and sending unsolicited spec screenplays to writer agents, Poppen finally found representation and a production company optioned one of his scripts. He changed his job title to screenwriter.

  Since then, Poppen has had four of his scripts produced and he’s written shows and segments for TV, including the ESPY Awards for ESPN for the last three years. He’s doing this year’s ESPYs as well. Poppen also makes it a habit to participate in the alumni water polo games at TOHS.

According to many people, Poppen makes his presence known at the alumni games with a memorable annual comedic poem.

"It’s kind of an homage to being an alumni, and I talk about what it’s like to play water polo now that you’re older as opposed to when you’re younger," Poppen said. "I do it in the tone of a Baptist preacher."

In 2002, Poppen ran into someone who remembered him from his poem and asked if he’d help the troubled water polo program at the high school. Poppen said he’d be able to help during the coming weekend’s tournament only. The start date of his next project had been postponed and he’d have some time.

"By the end of the (tournament) weekend, everyone was calling me coach," Poppen said. "I felt bad because these kids were having a bad experience with something that I had a really good experience with. No one liked the program because the coaches left every year and the kids weren’t getting anything out of it that they should."

Poppen stayed on as coach that year. He didn’t accept a paycheck because he didn’t know if he’d have to leave to do his movie. The next school year, Poppen officially took the position as water polo coach—he took the paycheck. He also coached swimming. This year, Poppen coached both boys’ and girls’ water polo and swimming.

Poppen has missed a few days of coaching because of his screenwriting work. But he’s managed to work the two jobs into his schedule.

"It does indeed become stressful at times," Poppen said. "Usually I’m racing to a meeting in Hollywood, then racing back to practice and, often after practice, racing back to Hollywood or the West Side for a dinner meeting."

  The screenwriter/coach, who sometimes acts in his movies, is currently at work on episodes of TV’s "My Crazy Life" on channel E! He said he’s also got a couple of spec screenplay ideas in the works, including an upcoming project with Disney.

"Greg’s a good guy and I think he’ll have a sparking career," said "SuperBabies" director Bob Clark. "He wants to direct and that will come to him." Clark, who worked very closely with Jean Shepherd when making "A Christmas Story," said he hadn’t worked that closely with a writer again until he worked with Poppen. Clark enjoyed the collaboration, he said.