Adam Herz ’91 is a writer and producer best known for the American Pie movies, set in the fictional “East Great Falls.” He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two boys.
You can only have one: Rose’s caramel corn, an ice cream cone from Jersey Junction, or a Yesterdog. Which do you choose?
Yesterdog. One Ultra, one Tim, a stack of napkins, and a side of embarrassment for missing the tip target. Rose’s caramel corn today is great, but I’d need Bub Rose’s original recipe from the original place--the stuff that stuck to your teeth like epoxy.
What was your path from East Grand Rapids to where you are now in life?
EGR to U of M to Los Angeles. I worked as a production assistant for a year on low-budget tv shows, during
which I got lucky and landed a literary manager who liked some sample tv scripts I’d written. He helped me write and sell the screenplay that became American Pie.
Once that movie became a hit, everything was a whirlwind for quite a few years. I worked my butt off on various screenwriting gigs, wrote and produced the Pie sequels, and started my own production company. It was surreal. Every day, the Universal Studios tour tram--the thing I’d once ridden while fantasizing that I worked in one of the old-school Hollywood bungalows it drove past--was suddenly driving past my little bungalow. I got to meet and work with many of my heroes. I knew my head would explode if I thought about it too much, so I just stayed focused on the work.
The early success I was fortunate to have allowed me to shift gears once I was married and had kids. I slowed way down. I’ve been able to take years off at times to watch my kids grow up and pursue hobbies and passion projects.
What specific thing did you learn in East that has enabled you to be successful?
Good midwest values, perseverance, and the value of friendship. Also, there was this program called SAGE in elementary school--“Skills for Academic Growth and Enrichment”--that taught me things I still think about.
In a sense, I owe my entire career and adult life to EGR and the people I grew up with. The Pie movies wouldn’t have existed otherwise--I have no clue what I would’ve written had I grown up in some other random place, or if I’d even be a writer--every English teacher I had at East encouraged me to keep writing and to find my own voice.
What were you like in school?
Smart but not driven, unless I really enjoyed what I was working on. Socially I was attention-seeking, impulsive, unfiltered, a bit of a class clown. I did a lot of theater in high school. School itself felt like a distraction to endure while trying to be with my friends and goof off. Not all the time, but enough that I got in disciplinary trouble every now and then.
Did you have a favorite teacher or class?
Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. Graham, and Mr. Froysland, all English. Mr. Norman, Latin. Mrs. Pantlind, speech. Mrs. Knack, creative writing. Miss Bergeon, trig. Mr Jenkins, physics. Mr. Radakovich, history/social studies. Mrs. Kemp, SAGE. Miss VanHaren, 4th grade. Mrs. Brown, kindergarten.
If you had to choose one moment in one location to serve as the signature moment of your East school experience, what would it be?
Ooof. I have tons. Spring musicals. Skipping 1st hour to write the essay I forgot was due 2nd hour--multiple times. Open campus lunches in middle and high school. Lots of classic moments with friends. Using the debate room copy machine to duplicate homework that you didn’t have to hand in, only answer from in class (regularly). There was a group of us that pulled off some pretty crazy stuff, some of which I can’t even mention here.
As far as a particular moment, in retrospect: I wrote the humor column for the first Vision with Robert Fleetwood (‘91). We got called into the principal’s office (Pat Cwayna) for publishing masturbation jokes. “Guys, come on. You know you can’t write that stuff. No more, okay?” Months later, at the honors assembly at the end of the year, Mrs. Ford (I think it was her?) announced that we’d won a MIPA award for our column--a state “excellence in journalism” thing. Mr. Cwayna thought it was a prank. “This is a joke, right guys? It’s a joke on me?” I was already on my career path.
What do you know now that you wish you’d known then?
Self-awareness. Patience. How to listen to other people and really hear them. I wish I’d known how much I’d miss it all when it was gone.
Do you stay in touch with many people from East Grand Rapids?
Yes. Firstly, Chris Stevenson (’91) has been in LA about as long as I have, and we hang out all the time. Then there’s a group of friends I stay in touch with outside of that, and we try to get together when we can. I still have amazing friends back in East and the GR area. I love going back there, hanging out, and just absorbing it all.
The class of ’91 was small (135 students). So even for the kids you didn’t know well, we all knew each other to some degree. That’s kept us all in better touch. Then, I think for some of us, Pie added a kind of layer on top--like it was a record of our collective experience. Not plotwise, but the first movie in particular was full of recognizable elements. Not just “East Great Falls” and the overall look (the art department toured East to know what to approximate, and my yearbooks were treated like bibles), but especially the characters, moments, and “if you know you know” Easter eggs.
What advice do you have for young East alums who are just starting out?
Fiction has to make sense--the world doesn’t. Accept that there’s plenty of stuff that will piss you off. Let it go.
Learn how to present yourself well: often it’s not what you say, but how you say it. Being good in a room can matter more than the info you’re conveying. Turn data into story.
Who else would you like us to have a virtual cup of coffee with?
My brother Scott. He’ll have more practical advice, and I’m pretty sure he did the whole EGR thing better than I did.
Bonus question: What are you glad we didn’t ask you about?
Stifler’s Mom.
