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Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show Page #9
asked some questions.
In television,
you're gonna have a long relationship
with the people
that you're in bed with.
And those relationships
need to function
or you won't have a show.
In the past, I've either called
or emailed a showrunner
and gone,
"Look, there's something here
"that I don't necessarily agree with.
"I'd love to talk to you about it.
"Is it something we'll just
live with for this episode,
"or is this something
that we'll have to live with
in the future?"
As an actor, you are
the guardian of your character.
So, you do have the authority
to be able to say,
"I don't think
or "I would love it
if my character did this."
Um, you can say what you want.
You are the guardian of your character.
But, you know, the showrunner has...
He's the boss.
He's the boss man,
and he has the ultimate say...
or she...
has the ultimate say
to decide whether your character
would do that,
regardless of what
the guardian thinks.
There's a tendency
in network television
because of the pressure
and the time crunch that you're under,
is that no matter
they just want you to do it.
Doesn't matter if it's
good or bad, just do it.
And I can't work that way.
So, it ended up that
I would stop production
for 30 minutes,
sometimes five or ten,
and we would sit down
and we would basically rewrite
the scene right there on the set.
My relationship with Hank
in the beginning
was very, very rocky.
He was 32 years old.
He was a baby and he'd
never done it before.
Consequently, you know,
he made all the mistakes
that you make when you're put
under that kind of pressure.
I know I drove him crazy,
because I would get a script...
particularly good at the time...
and I would walk in and I would go,
"This is sh*t.
This is... Why?!
This doesn't make any sense."
But, to his credit,
Hank wrote the best episodes
of the entire series
in his three years
that he worked on the show.
He came to me at one point
and he said,
"You know, I'm going to leave
at the end of this season,
and I'm going to do another show."
He said, "Quite honestly,
when I see your name
come up in my phone, I get the hives."
I loved him for his honesty.
And action.
Every week, we waltz into companies
just like this one and tell them
how to fix their sh*t.
Now, in the case of Galweather-Stearn
it has come to my attention
that there is
a sexual harassment element.
Sexual harassment?
Do tell, Obi-Wan.
Sexy, right?
Oh!
How's that sound, Jeannie?
Let's do this.
Cut. Good.
Good, good, good.
One adjustment.
Let's go again.
Which is, at the beginning...
Matt is interesting
because you don't get
a sense of who he is,
because his work is pervy.
He has a dark black soul.
He has got mud
running through his veins,
and I don't know where it comes from.
Because then,
when you interact with him,
he's so gentle
and he's so soft-spoken
and he's so kind,
but I think he's got
a lot of dark stuff inside him
that he gets out in his writing.
I like coming up with an idea
and then getting to direct that thing.
Some people really don't like that.
I mean, Tom Kapinos,
who does Californication,
I talk to him, and he's not
that interested in the directing part.
... does not work here,
I will not accept it.
Yeah, round f***ing two!
Please, go.
I think one of things women have
to do is step up and direct.
And all male showrunners
that I know of
eventually direct their own episodes.
And there are no questions asked.
You know, that guy's been
writing, so of course
he's gonna direct the season opener.
I have to step up and do that,
because I don't like it
that there is more scrutiny.
scrutiny on women.
I think it's much harder
for women in this business
than it was in news.
And I find myself doing that thing
I think that is
uniquely female, which is,
"They all think I'm a b*tch.
They all hate me."
I've worked for men,
they don't think...
They don't go home and be like stewing,
"Oh god, they think I'm an a**hole."
I do.
you know, if all the showrunners
are white guys,
if all the executives are white guys,
and the first brigade
is the first group of women...
of course Tina Fey is brilliant.
'Cause she has to be.
Of course Lena Dunham is brilliant.
She has to be.
about me one way or the other,
I'm good at this; I have to be.
The only problem, if there is a, uh,
gender or a racially-based component
to who gets let in the room,
it's the decision maker
believing somehow
that because you're a black guy
you can't work with Drew Carey,
because he's a white guy.
Do I wanna get the black audience?
Absolutely. But I'd just like
a shot at the audience, too.
is extremely important,
especially for a genre show
like Spartacus.
The first time we came here,
the response was fantastic,
and it really helped launch the show.
This is a little bit like
a rock concert for a showrunner.
Writers are out in the forefront now,
just like actors and directors.
People, more than ever, understand
how shows are created.
And you really need to
not only promote your show,
you need to represent your show.
Showrunners were
kind of invisible up until now,
up until we branded ourselves.
You know, the old adage is
there's only one thing worse
and that's not being talked about.
And so, yes.
Do I need a publicist? Yes.
Do I need to Twitter? Yes.
Do I need to brand myself? Yes.
Do I need to be known as J.T.
instead of Janet Tamaro?
Yes, I probably do.
I think that,
given the online fandom community,
that people now have a place to go to
to, sort of,
immerse themselves in the universe
of a show that they really like.
On a certain level,
you kind of require
the showrunner to be present
in that venue in some fashion.
Because the showrunner
ultimately is the one
who has the answers
to the questions that people have.
So, there's probably
a certain rise in celebrity
that goes along with the showrunner.
When I started out,
the idea of an internet community
was a very, very fresh idea.
And the fact that I was able
to wade into the middle of that,
and so were my writers,
and when I wanted to, my actors,
that was a new phenomenon.
And to be able to write
and have people recognize you,
and be able to speak to you about it,
is more than a writer usually gets.
I think the internet
had to exist in order to sort of
create the story of the showrunner.
Can you imagine if David Lynch
had an interest in
and access to the internet
when Twin Peaks came along?
absolutely would have been
communicating directly with his fans.
People would have known much more.
There would have been a greater
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"Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 Aug. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/showrunners:_the_art_of_running_a_tv_show_18064>.
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