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

my character would do that,"

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

what scene comes through,

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...

and my people skills were not

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.

I think there is more

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."

Men don't worry about that.

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.

The first people in...

you know, if all the showrunners

are white guys,

if all the executives are white guys,

and the first brigade

of whoever the minority are,

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.

Whatever people might think

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.

I think attending Comic-Con

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

than being talked about,

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?

I think that David Lynch

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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