In an interview with Digital Trends, the writers of On the Count of Three discuss collaborating with comedian Jerrod Carmichael and blending comedy and drama.
On the Count of Three isn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill buddy movie. The lead protagonists, Val and Kevin, are both committed to killing themselves in 24 hours, and want to settle old conflicts that led them to their fatal decision. Yet what sounds like a serious drama is also one of the best comedies of the year, and that’s largely due to the great screenplay by Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch. In a conversation with Digital Trends, both writers talk about collaborating with star Jerrod Carmichael, how they approached blending comedy with drama, and what they want viewers to get out of the film. Digital Trends: How did On the Count of Three come about? Ari Katcher: I was working on The Carmichael Show with Jerrod. Ryan and I were writing some things on the side, and we had an idea for a movie with Jerrod in mind. We ran it by him, he liked it, and we just wrote it. We started showing it around to people and seeing who liked it. How long did it take to write the screenplay? Ryan Welch: It was a pretty long process of writing it, putting it down, rewriting it, putting it down again. We were working on the script even as we were shooting the film. I don’t know if you had it at all, how much we were actually working on it, but. Katcher: I’m trying to think of how long the initial draft took to write. I actually have no recollection of how long that took. That time period was kind of a blur. Can you describe your collaboration process with Jerrod? How did it differ from how you work with him on The Carmichael Show? Katcher: For the film, the process was pretty different than working on the show. The Carmichael Show was based on real conversations that he’d have with his parents. A lot of times when we’d be writing scripts, we’d actually just call his parents way too late in the night and just be like, “Hey, mom, I had a gun in high school. What do you think about that?” And then we’d get her reaction so that we could put it in the show.
