HBO’s Silicon Valley recently added a pretty big tech expert to its writers room. According to Bloomberg, former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has been working on the show in a consultant capacity recently: “I’m in the writers room, and it’s more consulting than writing,” he confirmed. “There’s plenty of writing talent in the room. I’m answering questions and describing how interactions would work between executives, VCs, employees, etc.” Silicon Valley creator Mike Judge explained that the writers use Costolo as a “sounding board” to make sure story lines are realistic: “He’s a funny guy. It’s just great to be able to be spinning stories, coming up with ideas, and just go, ‘Hey, Dick, would this ever happen?’”
While Bloomberg describes Costolo as a “onetime standup,” Judge said that he does have the uncommon comedy/tech background: “He did improv comedy in Chicago back in the day. Comedy and the tech world rarely cross paths,” he said, noting that the show will likely draw from Costolo’s real-life experiences for future story lines: “He does have great stories that I think I can say—like going to China, and he has to buy a separate phone to use and throw it away when he leaves because the minute your phone connects to a cell tower, it’s automatically hacked, and they can listen to it when it’s off.”
