Brian Koppelman, Coffee, and Tom Petty
A question to a former A&R guy and accomplished writer yields a great response
Brian Koppelman is best known perhaps as the co-creator of Billions, the Showtime drama starring Damien Lewis, Maggie Siff, and Paul Giamatti. He also wrote Ocean’s 13 and Rounders, produced The Illusionist, and was co-creator of the series Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.
Koppelman’s life has been immersed in music. He started managing local Long Island bands as a teenager and for a local nightclub. Through these contacts, he helped arrange Eddie Murphy’s first record deal. As a student at Tufts University, he discovered Tracy Chapman and was executive producer on her first album. He was later an A&R representative for Elektra Records and EMI Records, among others.
As a writer, he has described — on his podcast “The Moment” — how he spends as much time contemplating and selecting music for his productions as anything. Tom Petty is one of his favorites, and Petty’s songs can be found sprinkled throughout his movies and shows.
For a recent podcast episode, he solicited questions from the audience in the AMA (ask me anything) format, with his daughter Anna facilitating.
A member of Petty Larceny submitted a question both anonymously and a little facetiously, not expecting a reply. However, Koppelman not only replied, but absolutely crushed it with a fantastic answer that references a story we’ve shared before.
Enjoy the clip below — it’s good to the last drop:
WooHoo!
