ChomPics Guest Post - Delmonte Bent, "Pressed" Episode 1 Co-Head Writer

Delmonte Bent
Jan 21, 2015
3 min read

Hey Jeff! I'm glad you're reading this.

That was a complete shot in the dark, but I hope that anyone reading this named Jeff had a hoot and a half. To anyone else reading this not named Jeff, hey, what’s up? If you're just joining me, let me catch you up. I am a human vessel just like you. We're all on this little thing called Earth. We all have a purpose here, but it takes a little time to find it out. Now reader, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "What is this? I clicked on her to read about Pressed, not the musings of a pseudo-philosophical fool. Wait a minute, did he just misspell here earlier? What a dummy. He didn't even take the time to spell check." But let me explain. I'm currently typing this post on a little website called writtenkitten.net. Here is how it works: Every time I type one hundred words, I get a picture of a cat. It's a pretty simple incentive system. Ergo, this post may get a tad tangential.

Here is a quick bio for those interested:

I do improv with Theatre Strike Force
I do sketch comedy with Generation
I write for Pressed

I have other interests and stuff, but we can talk about that another time. Let’s talk about Pressed! The idea for Pressed was born out of a quiet session sitting alone and thinking while the Big Lewboski played on mute in the background. I was chilling, watching the Dude talk to Mr. Lebowski and thinking about how my student debt was probably increasing by the second( Side note: Did you know Dr. Dre made $20 a second last year?! That’s ridiculous). This lead to me daydreaming about multiple “get rich quick” schemes I could enact to pull myself out of my financial hole. One idea that came to mind was that of a restaurant. Nowadays, weird or niche restaurants are very hip. Restaurants that only serve one type of food or restaurants that are in wild locations/have absurd concepts. (There is a restaurant on the West Coast that operates completely in the dark). Thus, the idea for Pressed was formed. Grilled cheese is quick and effective and a college student’s only property is their home. The show is all about independence and the problems that arise when personal and business life intertwine.

I co-wrote the pilot for Pressed with this huge weiner named Rene Cibatta. It was a lot of fun. We had known of each other’s existence, but never really talked to each other. Writing this episode made us very good friends. She is my muse. She curses at me in public on the regular now and makes strangers very confused. Our senses of humor meshed really well and I think the product is the love child of our 2 minds. There are so many people putting time and energy into this project and it is wild. It all feels extremely legitimate. I remember being on set when we were shooting the pilot and thinking, "Man. There's a person lighting this shot, a person taking notes, a person holding a boom mic and a person operating a camera all for some weird poop joke Rene and I wrote. This is insane."

Some of my favorite moments of the whole process have been from the writing room. Like the 2+ hours we spent trying to think of a name for the show. Or, all the jokes and story lines that will never see the light of day but will live on in the minds of my fellow writers for all eternity (I actually don't know if that's true. Some of them could have bad memories and forget stuff as soon as they walk out of the room.). Being on the staff is such a fun experience. It is essentially a test-run of what I hope my job as a TV writer will be. Well, that’s it. Here is a song I listened to a bunch while writing this. It is completely unrelated, but it’s still a good song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Xr3soljrY Peace Out, Delmonte Bent, Esq. Twitter: @delbent Tumblr: delbent.tumblr.com Instagram: @delbent