LOS ANGELES — Oil and water. Felix and Oscar. And now, Lee and Jason.

“He’s the yang to my yin,” Lee Aronsohn said of Jason Kyle.

What You Need To Know

  • Veteran TV writers Lee Aronsohn and Jason Kyle have launched Creators Writing Room, an online resource that offers classes and free Zoom sessions

  • Aronsohn co-created Two and a Half Men, while Kyle works in development at Gansa Gordon Productions

  • Among the resource's offerings is The Pitch, a live interactive Q&A series with writers and showrunners

A veteran TV writer and producer, Aronsohn co-created Two and a Half Men, with a resume spanning from The Love Boat to The Big Bang Theory.

Kyle, meanwhile, works in TV development with Gansa Gordon Productions.  He also acts and performs comedy.

“I’m very funny,” he deadpanned.

Their unlikely friendship seems based on mutual mockery. When asked what he likes about working with Kyle, Aronsohn stroked his beard, searching for an answer. Then it came to him.

“I love his whiteboard,” he said. “He’s got a great whiteboard.”

“That’s the best compliment he’s ever given me,” said Kyle.

This is all part of the act, and while they aren’t taking it on the road, they've instead taken it to web. The two have launched Creators Writing Room devoted not just to the art of making television, but to the business as well.

“Writing a script is a very, very different skill set than pitching your script or pitching your idea for a TV show,” said Kyle. “So this is where a lot of writers get hung up.”

With their insight and experience, Kyle and Aronsohn felt they something to offer, particularly to young writers. While they offer some paid classes, many of their resources are free.

Among the offerings are Zoom sessions like The Pitch, a live interactive Q&A series with writers and showrunners. There is also Co-Pilots, where Kyle and Aronsohn watch a pilot and break it down beat-by-beat.

They weren’t sure if anyone would listen, but people log in from all over the world, maxing out capacity at each session. Aronsohn's goal is to give viewers a realistic perspective of what writing a sitcom professionally entails.

“What the difference is between wanting to be a writer and actually being a writer,” he said.

While writers sign on for that kind of education, Kyle suspects they stay for the banter, or as he puts it, to hear Aronsohn make fun of him.

“And I’m fine with that,” he said with a smile.

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All kidding aside — and it’s not easy to get these guys to put kidding aside — their industry is changing, like everything else, and writers have had to adapt to pitching in a pandemic.

“We’re always talking about and using visual aids because everything happens now over Zoom,” Kyle said. “No one is pitching in person anymore. When it comes to studios and executives and writers getting back into a room, that’s not going to happen for a very long time.”

But whether writers are pitching virtually or in front of a live audience of studio execs, Kyle and Aronsohn want to help. For Aronsohn, after 40+ years in the business, this is a way of giving back.

“It gives me a reason to get out of bed,” he said. 

Plus, it gives him a chance to meet new people, which he said has been nice.

"As long as I don’t have to do it in person, because I’m really anti-social."