Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit trace their love for writing back to childhood. Hernandez recalls writing a Star Wars short story in fourth grade, inspired by Timothy Zahn’s novels, such as the Thrawn trilogy. “I remember that moment as the first time that I really thought, I really enjoy doing this. I like doing this. I think I can do this,” he shares. “And that bug never really quit. It never really left me.”
Similarly, Samit grew up in a family of writers. “My mom’s a writer. My dad has written some things. So there’s always been writing in my world,” he explains. “And I always saw it as a thing that people do to express themselves. And yeah, when I was a kid, I loved writing stories and making up stories with my friends.”
Their partnership began at Brown University, where they discovered a shared taste in pop culture. “We started as best friends, just hanging out in college talking about movies and TV and just pop culture that we love,” Samit recalls. “We just had this bond where we had basically the same taste, everything he liked I liked, everything I liked he liked. We didn’t really ever disagree on anything.”
Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez. Photo by Vivien Killilea/ Getty Images for IMDb
This synchronicity laid the foundation for their future collaboration. Hernandez adds, “We were making each other’s writing better. We were making each other’s creative choices better. There are things that he’s really, really good at that I’m not good at, at all.”
The Struggle and Hustle
Post-college, the duo faced years of struggle and hustle. They focused initially on writing feature film specs, churning out script after script. Samit recalls, “Every time we finished a spec, we just said the next day, alright, what’s next? We just started writing another one and another one and another one.”
During this period, they juggled side gigs to stay afloat. Samit worked as an SAT tutor, while Hernandez helped kids with after-school programs. “It was one of those processes where, at first you’re writing for nobody, there’s no one to read it,” Samit explains. “You start to get a few [opportunities], and we eventually found a small agent that was wanting to take us on – but still there were no jobs.”
Their first taste of success came when they optioned a script to a producer. However, like many projects in Hollywood, it fell apart. Undeterred, they shifted their focus to television, a medium they both loved. The path wasn’t easy. They met on several dream jobs, including 30 Rock, The Office, Parks and Rec, and Community, but didn’t land any of them. Hernandez reflects, “At the time, it was very distressing. And it felt at times like, ‘Do we just not have what it takes to kind of get over the hump of this?”’
Their breakthrough finally came with NBC’s 1600 Penn, their first staff writing job. Samit recalls the excitement, “We were staff writers on an NBC show. And that was really huge and exciting. We definitely felt in some ways like we made it, you know, we did it. We did the thing that we were seeking to do for so many years.”
However, the show was canceled, as was their next project, Super Fun Night. The duo found themselves without a staffing job for two years.
The Pokémon Breakthrough
The turning point in their careers came unexpectedly with Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. They were invited for a one-day roundtable to pitch ideas, with no expectation of landing the writing job. Hernandez recounts, “We were brought in for what was supposed to be a one day round table just to pitch ideas. We had no expectation of being the writers of this movie.”
Their enthusiasm and ideas impressed the producers, leading to an offer to write the script. “Later in the day, after we were leaving that meeting, we got a call asking us to, to come on and actually write the thing, which was shocking because truly we had no expectation of anything like that occurring,” Samit shares.
This opportunity changed everything for them. Hernandez notes, “I think of all the big turning point moments that I’m talking about thus far, that was for sure the biggest where suddenly we went from these guys that had written on a few canceled TV shows to suddenly, wait a second, you guys have never written a produced movie before – and it’s this giant Pokémon movie.”
The success of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu opened doors in both live-action and animation. It led to projects like Addam’s Family 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Mutant Mayhem, and eventually, Lego Star Wars. The duo emphasizes the importance of being proactive in changing industry perceptions about their capabilities.
Their work on The Tick, for instance, helped showcase their ability to write genre content. Hernandez explains, “We knew that that was our personal taste. But professionally, sometimes it’s really helpful to have that thing on the resume to have that thing on IMDb that is a shorthand for, well, do they write genre?”
The Lego Star Wars Journey
Their involvement with Lego Star Wars began with a one-day punch-up for the Lego Star Wars holiday special. Their enthusiasm and expertise in both Star Wars and Lego impressed the executives, leading to an opportunity to create something special for the 25th anniversary of the Lego Star Wars partnership.
Ackbar Troopers and Darth Rey (voiced by Helen Sadler) Photo by Disney+/ Lucasfilm Ltd
This project allowed them to bring long-held ideas to life. Samit shares, “We would joke around about how fun it would be to see a Star Wars story about a couple of scruffy looking nerf herders. It was just a pet idea… fast forward to, we now have this opportunity.” Hernandez adds, “I think when you’re able to come in with that, it’s not to say this is what we have to do. There is a balance there. You just need to have a strong opinion.”
Lessons Learned
Reflecting on their journey, Hernandez and Samit emphasize the importance of taking every opportunity, even if it seems small. “Always take the meeting,” they advise. Samit elaborates, “There’s no downside to taking a meeting. Sometimes we look back, as I said, looking at the sort of stepping stones of our career, some of the meetings that we’ve had, those people come back around years later.”
They also stress the value of bringing strong opinions and ideas to the table, while maintaining a collaborative spirit. Samit notes, “A lot of people don’t really quite grasp just how collaborative a medium like film and TV are. When you’re writing a screenplay for TV or for movies, that’s not the finished document.”
Their story is a testament to the power of persistence, collaboration, and seizing opportunities. From writing Star Wars fan fiction to creating official Lego Star Wars content, Hernandez and Samit’s journey showcases the unpredictable, yet rewarding, path of a screenwriting career.
As Samit adds, “You have to be open to that process and people want to see that you’re a good collaborator.” This openness to collaboration, combined with their passion and persistence, has been the key to their success in the competitive world of screenwriting.
Hernandez adds, “You can actually kind of put on a little display of what you’re about and who you are. And 9 times out of 10, you get an email after the fact that’s like, ‘Hey, you guys really helped us out today. We’d love to talk to you more about this.’”
This interview has been condensed. Listen to the full audio version here.
[More: Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit On Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]
