I met Damon Wayans in 1992, when I was a production assistant on the movie Major Payne. Everyday we played basketball on the set and got to know each other fairly well and he asked me what did I want to do with my career. I told him I wanted to be a writer, so he gave me an opportunity to write jokes for his stand up act and to work on his movies, including Celtic Pride and Bulletproof.
In 1995, I moved to Los Angeles and continued to work for Damon off and on. In 2000, he told me about a show he had in development with Don Reo, called My Wife & Kids. In season 2 he hired me as a punch up writer, where I contributed jokes to whatever material I could. It was there that he and Don Reo went about the task in helping me become a professional writer. It was a great education.
During this period of my life, I learned the type of commitment one needs to have to be successful as a writer long term. I improved my ability to work with others and my basic set of skills evolved as I began to become a producer as well as a writer.