Area 51

Josh Smooha was born in Los Angeles, California, but he wasn’t one of the cool people who stayed here. No. His parents decided to move to a place EVEN COOLER: Flagler Beach, Florida; the forgotten swamp of America.

What’s not to love about a place where you can get attacked at any moment? Maybe by a “Florida Man” on bath salts or a “Florida Man” who throws alligators as weapons, Josh developed all his important life skills in Florida: reading, writing, and constant vigilance.

Most of high school was spent jamming on his saxophone in his ska band, Kings Street, or updating his LiveJournal with all the details of his woeful teen life. Both ska and LiveJournal are no longer things, but Josh is still happy to tell you details of his woeful teen life: like the time he get got arrested for egging a house when he was actually just trying to recreate the training scene from Nacho Libre.

Growing up in a small town is a bit isolating; especially when you are raised as a Sephardic Jew in a conservative state where the only Jew anyone knows is Jesus, so Josh turned to movies and entertainment to fill his time. He attended film school at Florida State University and joined a fraternity, which seems like an oxymoron given what you know about him so far. The plan to attend film school and become the “auteur” with the next great psychological thriller changed when Josh's mother prematurely passed away from pancreatic cancer. Through heartbreak and depression, he turned to sitcoms like Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle, and 30 Rock, which turned out to be his saving grace. The escapism and laughter from binging comedies unlocked Josh’s true passion: writing television and making others laugh. The shorter page counts were just an added bonus.

After moving back to Los Angeles, his first job in the industry was on Mad Men where he made sure Matthew Weiner’s morning eggs were burnt to his exact specifications. Controlled burns on breakfast foods are hard to accomplish. Afterwards, he worked as an EP assistant and writer's assistant on comedies such as Silicon Valley, Insecure, Mike Judge's Tales from the Tour Bus, and Singularity. His most recent film, Cootie Contagion, was a Student Emmy winner and Student Academy Award finalist, and his writing work has been featured in competitions including NYTVF, Austin Film Festival, the Final Draft Big Break contest, The Page Awards, and more.

Josh is currently working as a writer’s assistant on an upcoming CBS comedy pilot and reluctantly acting as “the dad” of his writers’ group, all while keeping one eye on his open Final Draft document and the other ever on the lookout for “Florida Man.”
Like he said, constant vigilance.