My Story

Welcome to the spankin’ new Bruce Ferber website, your premium resource for Bruce Ferber breaking news. Despite the glut of outlets already covering the subject, Ferber thought it might be nice to add a personal touch, and who are we to argue with a dude who writes about himself in the third person and first-person plural in the same sentence? WARNING: For those with heart issues or high blood pressure -- sharp turn ahead to first-person singular.

Hi, guys. Welcome to my cozy little corner of the worldwide web. Like many writers, I’m not especially comfortable with the self-promotion part of the job, but it is cool to be able to talk about my latest work, as well some of the things I’ve done in the past. I started out writing for TV, now I mostly write novels. While they’re completely different forms, there’s an axiom in tennis that aptly describes the relationship: Playing doubles improves your singles and playing singles can make you better at doubles. It also helps if there’s one you don’t suck at.

My first job in TV was writing for Bosom Buddies starring Tom Hanks and the late Peter Scolari. It was a magical introduction to the business, but as with many such beginnings, future experiences proved less enchanting. I’d find myself churning out scripts for shows that weren’t very good or working for people whose definition of “writing room” was “living hell.” There were highlights along the way: penning scripts for the talented cast of Coach; executive producing and running Home Improvement with the hilarious Tim Allen; executive producing and running Sabrina, The Teenage Witch with Melissa Joan Hart and a talking cat. Awards and nominations materialized in the process, but the most gratifying part was getting paid to be in a room with other funny people and making audiences laugh. 

That writing books would turn out to be even more gratifying was the greatest surprise of all. On paper it made sense, because I now had the freedom to tell whatever stories I wanted without having to address creative notes from individuals better suited to manning a car rental counter. Still, when one is accustomed to working with a team of writers, what happens when there’s no longer a team? 

For me, what happened was Elevating Overman, a deep dive into mid-life awakening, and a chance to discover my voice in prose. Readers seemed to like it, one of whom was the great Jason Alexander, who wound up voicing the audiobook and signing on for a potential TV series. The next novel was Cascade Falls, a meditation on the promise of the American Dream, and the fallout that occurs when the dream comes up short. The stylistic approach was a departure from Overman, employing a more realistic technique to dissect the challenge of preserving a marriage when the provider feels he has failed. For the following book, I decided to try something I’d never done before – editing a non-fiction anthology about the film and television world where I got my start. The Way We Work: On the Job in Hollywood gave me the opportunity to collect stories from people in nearly every aspect of the entertainment world, and their experiences turned out to be fascinating. Critics called the finished product a primer for anyone considering a career in film and television. I think the book’s best quality is its honesty. The reader can come away either inspired to join up or conclude “not for me.”

All of which brings us to the present... I have a new novel coming in June, 2022. It’s called I Buried Paul, and it melds two of my favorite topics – music, and the search for creative fulfillment. Plus, there are Beatles, so what could be bad? I’ll be taking advantage of this spankin’ new site to post news about the rollout, book events and other related activities as we get closer to pub date. I’m excited to share this with you, as I am really sick of re-reading the thing to myself. Meanwhile, feel free to take a look at the blog for my latest ramblings and let me know what you think.

Now, it’s leap-of-faith time — where I ask you to throw caution to the wind and hit that nifty “Subscribe” button below. As an incentive, I PROMISE not to overload the site with the kind of online self-indulgence that makes you want to throw up. Because if you’re nauseous, chances are I got that way writing it.

Thanks for reading — I look forward to connecting with you in the days ahead.

Unhumblebraggingly yours,

Bruce