From film student to showrunner: SU alum Michael Jonathan Smith on writing for ‘Cobra Kai,’ developing ‘Twisted Metal’

SU alum Michael Jonathan Smith shared his memories from film school and his early years in Los Angeles before joining the Cobra Kai writer's room and being named showrunner for "Twisted Metal."

After graduating from Syracuse University, Michael Jonathan Smith followed the path of many of his fellow film students: move to Los Angeles and hustle for production assistant gigs that involve fielding phone calls and setting schedules.

But it was a writer’s room position on Cobra Kai, the Netflix show based on the Karate Kid film series, that would define his career.

Smith started off as a staff writer for the first season of the series, which released on YouTube Red. By season four, he was a co-executive producer.

Smith was promoted in the industry once again when it was announced in February that he would be the showrunner for the TV comedy “Twisted Metal” on Peacock.

‘Twisted Metal’ will star Anthony Mackie. The show, which comes from Sony Pictures TV, PlayStation Productions and Universal Television, will be a comedic half-hour based on the popular video game by the same name.

Smith has dreamt about becoming a showrunner ever since leaving Syracuse.

“It feels amazing,” Smith said. “You know, this has been my career goal. And now I get to do it for a video game I loved as a kid. Yeah, it’s a dream job.”

He shared his journey from film student to the writer’s room with Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

SU alum Michael Jonathan Smith shared his memories from film school and his early years in Los Angeles before joining the Cobra Kai writer's room and being named showrunner for "Twisted Metal."

A childhood full of movies

The Syracuse University alum felt a lot like Daniel LaRusso, the main character of ‘Karate Kid’, as a child.

Born in Boston, Mass., Smith’s family moved from place to place, first to Irvine, Calif. and then to Connecticut. (The main character in the ‘Karate Kid’ also moved a lot as a child before finding himself in the San Fernando Valley in the first film.)

Smith connected to movies from a young age: his parents were big movie lovers and showed him ‘Back to the Future’ early on. He grew up loving directors like Wes Anderson and Kevin Smith.

At William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Conn., Smith started creating things - doing theater, writing short plays, making a public-access TV show. Inspired by the movie Rushmore, Smith also adapted movies and comic book stories for the stage with his friends.

“We adapted Justice League, Maverick, and ended our run with a mashup play called Movie House about characters like Slimer, Kevin McAllister, and Neo living in a house together,” he said.

Still, he never thought his career path would include television. With his writing talents, he thought he’d maybe write books one day.

Then, he saw the movie ‘Memento’ by Christopher Nolan.

“I came out blown away at how creative it was,” Smith said. “I came out and was like, ‘I think I want to do that for my career. I want to do that with my life.”

Falling in love with film in Syracuse

Living in Connecticut, Smith started to look for film schools and chose Syracuse University when he found out he could make his own senior film.

“I heard everywhere else ‘Oh, you know, we all work together, we collaborate, someone gets to write it, someone gets to direct,’” Smith explained. “I was like ‘Well, that’s cool but I want to make my own thing.”

Smith chose the film track at SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, which counts PIXAR President Jim Morris among its alumni. The four-year program includes directing, writing and a focus on film criticism.

Smith bonded with his fellow students quickly. Classmates would act in his films, and he would return the favor for theirs. Smith really appreciated the hustle and the rush of filmmaking.

“The experience was awesome,” Smith said. “It was so much about running and gunning.”

In his senior year, Smith took a class at the Newhouse School of Public Communications called Crime, Comedy and Cutting Edge Television.

Smith credited the class for making him fall in love with TV.

“I just fell in love with it. It was that class,” Smith said. “Then, the more people I talked to… I was like ‘I think TV is actually where I want to go.”

Professor Todd Sodano remembered Smith making presentation about the canceled show ‘Firefly’.

“It was clear he had a passion for the material. It didn’t feel like it was an assignment to him,” remembered Sodano.

Film wasn’t the only thing he fell in love with at Syracuse University. Smith met his girlfriend, Shannon, while studying film. The pair became friends, chatting via AOL instant messenger while Smith worked the film cage (the place where students would rent out film equipment.) After graduation, the two drove to Los Angeles together, bringing their cat Milhouse with them at the back of the car, moved in together and later married.

Life in Los Angeles, where television is made

Smith knew where he wanted to be after graduation.

“I wanted to be in a writers’ room. I just wanted to learn how TV got made,” he explained. “I just always loved the idea of like a bunch of people in a room throwing out ideas and stuff like that.”

When he arrived in Los Angeles, Smith started as a production assistant on Jimmy Kimmel Live, watching and learning how the Kimmel team created sketches for characters like Uncle Frank.

Moving on and up, Smith landed what he considered his first “real job”: an office production assistant at The Tom Werner’s Company Good Humor TV.

While his day-to-day was fielding phone calls and making schedules, Smith was also attending pitch meetings.

“I learned a lot about how to pitch from them and how to make it entertaining,” he said.

Smith was watching how TV got made and was taking it all in. He wrote his first television script for ‘Chozen,’ an animated comedy about a gay white rapper fresh out of prison.

But it was a web series about Lovecraftian blood cults that caught the attention of New York Comedy Film Festival and talent agent Daniel Vang.

“He saw it and said, ‘This was like, the funniest thing I’ve seen. I want to represent you,’” Smith explained. “And he is my manager to this day.”

The pair shopped a show for Disney XD before a script Smith wrote about serial killers found the right eyes at Sony.

But while developing the script, Sony officials wanted Smith to get a job as a staff writer, so they submitted him for a position on a new show planned for YouTube Premium.

“So they were like, ‘There’s a show coming out. It’s based on ‘The Karate Kid’. It’s called ‘Cobra Kai,’” he said.

After meeting with “Cobra Kai” creators Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg, Smith became a staff writer on a show based on the movies he grew up on.

More to learn

Smith’s first meeting with Cobra Kai’s producers was held in Will Smith’s office.

He hit it off with the team and joined the first season of the show, which debuted on the nascent YouTube Premium. His first job was ‘Lord of the board,’ pitching his own ideas but also managing the ideas from other writers.

Cobra Kai features 80s movie stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka as they reprise their roles of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. The show is a nostalgic phenomenon for fans who grew up with Karate Kids films as it rehashes and ties up old storylines from the movies, and the show also features original villains like John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith).

But Cobra Kai is also a big hit among the new generations because it tells the story of teenagers now training to be the next Karate Kids, or in this case the next Cobra Kai kids.

Smith was called in to write the eighth episode, ‘Molting,’ where a grown-up Johnny Lawrence - the “antagonist turned protagonist” of the series - explains ‘The Karate Kid’ from his point of view.

It was Smith’s first experience having his scenes rewritten and even bumped to other episodes. He still was learning along the way how television worked.

For season two, Smith moved up the chain of command in the writer’s room, advancing from staff writer to story editor, and then to supervising producer for season three.

At the same time, other changes were happening. The show moved from YouTube Premium to Netflix before season 3 came out. And then the pandemic hit, giving audiences time to binge watch the pervious seasons on the streaming service.

“The transition at Netflix was just insane,” he said. “It was just like an incredible experience to just get texts from friends I went to college with being like, ‘Oh my God, I watch Cobra Kai, this is amazing.’

“I mean, look… [the pandemic] was a hard time for everybody,” said Smith. “I was very happy to feel like that show brought some joy to people at that time.”

Smith, now co-executive producer, said season four was written virtually in Zoom rooms instead of writer’s rooms because of the pandemic.

“It’s not just about the rivalry [between main characters Danny LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence],” he said. “We’re delving into new things and fleshing these characters out in new ways and re-contextualizing so much of their past and future.”

The fifth season will drop in September on Netflix.

“It rules,” Smith teased. “I really can’t say more about it. I’m super proud of the episodes I wrote. I’m super proud of the way the season goes. I think it’s a different season than season four, but in the best way.”

Running the show

On the day his new role as showrunner was announced, Smith tweeted, “If you see me driving around with a clown mask and my hair on fire, this is probably why.”

As head writer and executive producer for “Twisted Metal,” Smith is in charge of the whole show, the big boss who controls the vision and storytelling - just like Vince Gilligan was for “Breaking Bad” and Shonda Rhimes was for “Scandal.”

Smith will also be working with an Avenger: Anthony Mackie, or Falcon from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will play John Doe, a character who cannot stop talking.

Doe will be driving around like mad man fighting enemies on the open road with the help of his truck and his friend, a deranged clown.

The show draws its inspiration from the video game source material, but also has its own original viewpoint thanks to “Deadpool” writers Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernik.

“I think writing the show is a blast, because it’s dark. It’s funny, it’s got action, and it’s got heart,” Smith said. “The story of the game is the demolition derby. But the characters are what people love.”

His former Newhouse professor was very excited to hear about Smith’s new role in the film industry.

“This couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy,” said Sodano, who now teaches media and communication at St. John Fisher College in Rochester. “He should have his own show.”

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