Ryan Lehr and the Stack of Dead Nic Cage Scripts

Little Black Book is the official media partner of the Dead Ad Society, the hungryman-founded award show that resurrects killed ideas.

Launched in 2024, this revival of hibernating concepts sees entered scripts being performed live by an improv group at the awards show. This year it will take place on September 18th at The Mint in Los Angeles after kicking off in New York City last year. A panel of judges crowns a winner, which is then brought to life by hungryman and a collection of companies – including Work Editorial, Sonic Union, ARC, Synapse and the Screen Actors Guild – that support the show with funding, time and resources. Last year's winning script was recently launched as a finished production for KUL MOCKS, a non-alcoholic beverage brand.

“We called it an anti-award show,” says Caleb Dewart, managing partner of hungryman. “It’s supposed to be wild. The scripts were performed live - a glorified table read. It was messy, imperfect, and that was the point. That’s the heart of it.”

Entries for this year’s show are open until August 15th, 2025 at 4pm PDT.

Little Black Book is catching up with this year’s jurors for honest conversations about the ideas that got away – the ones that died, came back, and the ones that stayed dead.

Ryan Lehr, in the saddle today, cut his teeth in LA working at the Comedy Store and is revelling in the opportunity for live judging.

​​​Check out previous entries to the interview series here.

LBB> Let's start with the obvious question: Is there an idea you’re still emotionally attached to, even years later?

Ryan> Anyone who knows me, or has worked with me is probably aware of my stacks of dead Nic Cage scripts.

LBB> What did the death of it teach you about the business? Or about yourself?

Ryan> Unfortunately, it has taught me the hard truth that clients don’t like Nic Cage nearly as much as I do.

LBB> What do you look for in a dead ad that makes you say, ‘This deserves to live’?

Ryan> Probably the same thing I look for in any piece of creative I’m evaluating: that it’s an original and unexpected idea with a relatable human truth or insight baked into its core.

LBB> How are you feeling about judging scripts in real time, in front of a live audience?

Ryan> I look forward to it. My first job in LA was at the Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd. I worked there for almost two years answering the phones and running the door, then began doing stand-up at the time as well. Being up on stage, feeding off of and playing to the energy of a crowd taught me a lot about the craft of storytelling, comic timing, and how to present work in a dynamic way. I’ve always said presenting to a boardroom full of MBAs and CMOs is much easier than playing to a handful of buzzed people at the Giggle Hut in Van Nuys at 1am.

LBB> How will you approach judging a script that’s being performed live? Do you think the crowd will sway you?

Ryan> We’ll see. Potentially. Also, I know myself and some of the other jury members are willing to take bribes. Just kidding, this isn’t Cannes. What? We are allowed to joke about that right? Or is it too soon?

LBB> Dead Ad Society is part award show, part séance. What’s your mindset heading into the room?

Ryan> I’m just excited to be a part of this incredible jury the society has put together and resurrect something great. I want to unearth a hidden gem, bring a zombie idea back to life and let it eat some brains.

LBB> What’s the most ridiculous reason an idea of yours was killed?

Ryan> Maybe some lawyers thought the idea of Nic Cage stealing the secret recipe of Dr Pepper was too close to the plot of one of his hit films. I say it was homage! Copyright laws are ridiculous, amirite?

LBB> What’s your theory on why great ideas often don’t survive the process?

Ryan> Great ideas usually have some element of ‘never been done before’ or maybe include something of a provocative nature. And those ideas are the most difficult to sell up the ladder. The world we live in is often very risk averse, and there’s a million ways along that journey for ideas to get compromised, watered down or just straight killed in a conference room somewhere.

LBB> Outside of this award show, have you ever seen a killed idea come back to life and succeed later?

Ryan> Well sometimes with long running campaigns like Fansville for Dr Pepper, which is heading into our 8th year, we’ll have a script that for one reason or another we don’t make when we first pitch it. Maybe it’s a timing or schedule thing. But we keep the idea in the pipeline, maybe we make an adjustment or two to the narrative, and somehow we are able to revive it another year. In fact, we have one of those this year that we just shot and are super excited about. But it definitely helps to have consistency with a campaign to allow for the timing to work out that way.

LBB> Have you ever been the one to kill an idea - and regretted it?

Ryan> I’ve killed lots and lots of ideas. But no regrets.

LBB> If you had to hold a funeral for a dead idea, what song would play?

Ryan> To make it as a creative you have to be comfortable living amongst the ghosts in the idea graveyard. You can’t get too emotional about it, so fire up ‘No More Tears’ by Ozzy Osbourne. RIP.