As soon as we moved into our new home in the summer of 2004, the first thing I did was set up an office in the basement, plug in my computer, and, once again, start writing. I thought a lot about what exactly I wanted to write. I knew I had a chance, an opportunity, that very few writers ever got, and I was determined to make the most of it. After so many years of being compensated to lend my skills to tell other people’s stories, I put great consideration into what was the first story I wanted to tell.
When we were working on Hyperion, and usually when we were directed by the network to do something that ran counter to common sense, Bernie Lechowick often said to me, “Every TV show, like every family, needs a historian.” I took that to mean that remembering where you came from helps you know not only how you got where you are, but where to go next. This thinking led me to believe that the best story I had to tell was the one that I had been living.
During the time I have been writing this book, the television industry has seen some significant changes. Between 2004 and 2006, great writer-driven series were not only developed and made, but they were promoted and watched. When I pitched pilots during the 2001–2002 season, family shows, soaps, serialized character dramas of any kind were absolutely of no interest to the networks. As of this writing, entirely serialized shows like 24 and Lost are among the strongest programming on television, mainly because of the excellent writing. And series like Grey’s Anatomy—which is run by Shonda Rhimes, an African American woman—are at the top of the Neilsens not so much because of their franchise, but because of their complex characters and well-constructed storytelling. There are several recent shows where this is the case. Veronica Mars, Big Love, Entourage, Studio 60—all great writer-driven TV, as good as anything that I was watching in 1988. Although comedies are still struggling to reinvent themselves, many have, including Scrubs, The Office, and My Name Is Earl.
Despite the rebirth of quality television, reality still looks like it is a fairly entrenched genre. American Idol is a phenomenon, pulling in 33-shares. That’s more than forty million viewers, which in today’s highly segmented viewing environment is nearly unfathomable. At a 2005 TV press tour, Amy Sherman-Palladino, creator of Gilmore Girls—another show that gives me hope—described American Idol as “like Nazis marching through Poland. You gotta let them go and get out of the way.”
As of this writing, the Writers Guild is engaged in a major and contentious battle to represent reality television writers. The WGA estimates that currently there are as many as twenty-five hundred nonunion writers, and many women and minorities, working in reality television. One of the factors that plays into this historic organization drive is that the strike war drums are once again beating. Louder and louder each day as this book goes to print, in fact. The primary issue is how to compensate writers for digital downloads, Internet video on demand, and other new and emerging technologies. Just as it was back in the thirties when writers realized they needed a real union, the early sixties when TV came into the picture, and the eighties when home video threatened to change the business, the industry is again facing uncertain and unprecedented times. Just how digital delivery will change the business is uncertain, though most think its effects on revenue streams, both established and developing, will be profound. The central issue is what formula the studios will use to pay writers when their work is viewed on iPods, cell phones, and the Web. The studios are currently using contracts that predate these new technologies. The writers want new pay formulas with higher rates. Once again, the studios seem to be dragging their feet while the WGA is holding its ground. The more the WGA demands a new formula, the more the studios threaten to program additional reality shows. Organizing reality writers is one way to offset this threat. The other issue that’s on the table is writers’ growing frustration with compensation for DVDs, which is based on old formulas developed when DVDs were expensive to produce. The current WGA contract expires in October 2007.
On September 17, 2006, the WB closed up shop. And on September 18, the CW network, composed of programming from the WB and UPN, launched. My last season on Dawson’s, 2001–2002, was the peak of success for the WB. After that time, it struggled to create and launch new shows. From 2003 to 2005 only the modestly successful One Tree Hill survived. Part of this was due to its aging audience, and part of it to the almost predictable result of putting branding ahead of good writing, something the WB did not do when it first took on Buffy and Dawson’s, before there was a brand. Jointly owned by CBS Corp. and TimeWarner, precisely how this will affect diversity on television remains to be seen, but early indications based on the network’s 2006–2007 fall schedule are not especially promising.
Another notable change has been ICM’s acquisition of the Broder-Webb-Chervin-Silbermann Agency for about $70 million. This only underscores the continuing significance and value of television, especially quality scripted television, in the overall entertainment industry. Although there are a handful of small competent players, Rothman-Brecher is the last major literary boutique in television.
As of this writing, Sony is back in the TV business. There are those who say that Sony’s decision to fold Columbia TriStar was a bit of a ruse, nothing more than a short-term cleaning of the house. There are others who say it was the inevitable outcome of management’s misunderstanding of the business, the company’s missed opportunity to overcome foreign ownership hurdles and buy CBS or merge with NBC years ago when it had a chance. There is another school of thought that the corporation’s senior management in Tokyo had just had enough of how its TV business was being run and simply wanted to purge the whole mess out of its system for good. Whatever its true reason for closing shop in 2001, as of this writing Sony has prudently produced a few excellent shows, such as Rescue Me and Huff.
Sony, along with most of the other studios, finally figured out that great scripted TV shows don’t come from simply unloading the studio’s coffers, but from identifying talent and passion. Watching writers like Marc Cherry, who many had written off, just show up one day with a hit on his hands has been a powerful lesson for Hollywood. Although the development deal has seen a bit of a reemergence recently, these deals are only being made after careful consideration of a writer’s skills and interest in a project.
On the other hand, though there has been recognition of the importance of identifying talent and passion, empowering it is still another matter. The major conglomerates are still not only programming and promoting for ownership instead of quality, they are also still meddling. That’s their nature, I suppose. But I firmly believe that if things don’t change, these issues will ultimately prove to be the entertainment business’s Achilles’ heel.
Perhaps most promising, in 2004, the WGA and the entertainment companies agreed to create a Showrunner Training Program “to help promising writers develop effective showrunning skills.” The first program ran in 2006, and it was a great success.
Today, Delbert lives on a farm in the pastoral Pennsylvania countryside. He has been sober for sixteen years. My ex-girlfriend is married, lives in Malibu, and surfs pretty much every day. David Rosenthal is running Gilmore Girls. Though the vast majority of TV writers have very short careers in television, an extraordinary number of my colleagues continue to sit in story rooms, walk in the shadows on sets, and plug away in solitude at their computers, quietly shaping and influencing the culture of the world. Joe Dougherty, Anne Hamilton, Gina Fattore, Tom Kapinos, and Greg Berlanti are among them. You’ll probably see their names in your the living rooms sometime this week.
And finally, over the last couple years, I think I have truly figured out the balance between the writing and the living, the writing and the being a writer.
What TV has in store for me, I do not know. Television has always been a big part of me, and it always will be, not just because it was my first window on the world and not just because it has been my work for so long. When I think about TV—Kevin and Winnie’s first kiss at the end of The Wonder Years pilot, Mic
hael’s father planting the tree on thirtysomething, Cosby having the funeral for the fish, Roselyn falling down the elevator shaft in L.A Law, that crazed Santa running around China Beach, Jerry and George pitching “a show about nothing” to NBC, the final moment of Friends as the cast walks off into the sunset, and of course that kiss, that Pacey-Joey kiss at the end of #317—these moments take their place along with all the other moments of my life.
I still love TV as much as I did in 1988, probably even more, though I’ve learned a few things since then. As of this writing, I get up every morning at dawn and head downstairs to spend the day writing, but not before giving my wife and daughters a kiss. You see, one of the most important things I learned in Hollywood is that some things are worth more than a billion dollars.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
One of the amazing things about being a writer is all the people in your life who take care of you, personally and professionally.
First, thank you to Jim Levine for responding to my work and introducing me to his partner, my agent, Daniel Greenberg. Not only did Daniel hone the vision for this book from the start, but he has been a hardworking advocate in every stage of its creation. Thank you also to my TV agent, Dan Brecher, whose insights and help with this project were, once again, boundless. And to Jamie Wolf at Pelosi, Wolf, Effron & Spates, I appreciate you looking out for me. And to Steve Sidman at Greenberg Traurig, thank you for some of the finest counsel and comradeship a writer ever had.
I want to express my appreciation to everyone at Gotham, especially Bill Shinker, Lisa Johnson, Beth Parker, Amanda To-bier, and Hilary Terrell. And special acknowledgment must be paid to my editor, Lauren Marino, whose enthusiasm and steadfast direction have been nothing short of a beacon throughout this project.
Thank you to all the executives and colleagues who spoke with me at length while I researched this book. Thank you to my friends and colleagues who have read various drafts, especially Aaron Levy. And thank you to my teachers and mentors, especially Arthur Giron and Michael Piller, who I am sure is drinking the La Tache every day now.
Finally, I want to acknowledge my family: my parents, Joel and Elaine; my creative brothers, Mike and Scott; my lawyer-cousin Mark Stepakoff; and my beautiful, talented daughters, Sophie and Charlotte. They have all played a part in my work. And my deepest gratitude to you, Elizabeth, for your humor, unyielding faith, and creative partnership, and for living a life very few people understand. Hopefully, they will now understand more.
INDEX
A
ABC
Abrams, J.J.
Academy Awards
actors
Ader, Tammy
Adventures in the Screen Trade
(Goldman)
advertising
AFI
African Americans
agents
development deals and
downturn and
first meeting with
fortunes amassed by
literary boutiques vs. big
new breed of
packaging and
reality TV and
rise of
specs and
staffing season and
stealing from rival
training programs and
AGR (adjusted gross revenues)
Airwolf
ALF
Alice
Allen, Fred
Alliance of Motion Picture and
Television Producers
All in the Family
Ally McBeal
Almost Grown
Amen
American Dreams
American Eagle
American Idol
America’s Most Wanted
Anderson, Maxwell
Anderson, Pamela
Andy Griffith Show, The
Angel
animated films
Annie Hall
Anything But Love
Apprentice, The
Are You Hot?
Arnaz, Desi
Artists’ Manager Basic Agreement
(AMBA)
Artists Television Group (ATG)
Asimov, Isaac
Astrof, Jeff
A-Team, The
audience: decline of
demographics of
Austin, Steve
B
Bachelor, The
“back-end” deals
Back to the Future
Baio, Scott
Balcer, Rene
Ball, Lucille
“barter” rights
Baywatch
Beauty and the Beast
Being Bobby Brown
Bell, Warren
Bellisario, Donald
Benson
Berlanti, Greg
Berle, Milton
Berry, Matt
Bertelsmann
Betty White Show, The
Beverly Hillbillies, The
Beverly Hills
Bewitched
Big Brother
Big Love
B.J. and the Bear
blacklisting
Blinn, Bill
Bloom, J. Michael
Bochco, Steven
Bohem, Les
Boomer, Linwood
Borowitz, Andy
Boston Common
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boys Don’t Cry
Bozell, L. Brent
Bradley, Jeanie
Brady, John
Brady, Pam
Braga, Brannon
Brand, Joshua
branding
Breaking Bonaduce
“breaking story,”
Brecher, Dan
Bressler, Sandy
Brian Benben Show, The
Bridget Loves Bernie
Bright Lights, Big City
(McInerney)
Brillstein, Bernie
Brillstein-Grey
Brimley, Wilford
Broder, Bob
Broder, Kurland, Webb, Uffner
(BKWU)
Broder-Webb-Chervin-Silberman
Brooklyn Bridge
Brooks, James L.
Brother Bear
Brush, Bob
Buffalo Bill
Buffy
Burnett, Carol
Burnett, Mark
Burns, Allan
buzz
C
C:16
cable markets
Cagney & Lacey
Caesar, Sid
Cain, James M.
Candid Camera
Capital News
Captain Kangaroo
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Carol Burnett Show, The
Caroline in the City
Caron, Glenn Gordon
Carter, Chris
Carter, Judy
CBS
CBS/MTM Studios
CBSP (CBS Productions)
Chandler, Raymond
Chaplin, Charlie
character: arcs
-driven
story
charles, Glen and Les
Charles in Charge
Chase, Adam
Chase, David
Chayefsky, Paddy
Cheers
Cherry, Marc
Chervin, Ted
Chestnut, Morris
Chetwynd, Lionel
Chicago Hope
China Beach
CHiPs
City of Angels
CNN
Coach
coexecutive producers
Cold Feet
Cole, Lester
Cole, Paula
colleges and universities
Columbia TriStar Television
(CTTV)
shut down
Columbia TriStar Television
Distribution (CTTD)
comedy
conglomerates and consolidation
Contender, The
Conversations with My Agent
(Long)
Cop Rock
coproducer
Cosby, Bill
Cosby Show, The
Costner, Kevin
Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The
Cowan, Ron
Craft of the Screenwriter, The
(Brady)
Craig, Charlie
Crash Bandicoot
Crazy Like a Fox
Creative Artists Agency (CAA)
creative consultant
Crime Story
Cronkite, Walter
Cruise, Tom
Cupid
Cuts
CW network
Cybill
cycles
D
Daily Racing Form, The
Dalva (Harrison)
Daniel, Brittany
Daniels, Stan
Daniels, Susanne
Danson, Ted
David, Hadley
David, Larry
David, Marjorie
Davis, Hadley
Dawson’s Creek
Columbia TriStar
Dawson’s Creek (cont.)
shutdown and
executives and
favorite episodes of
final seasons of
hired for staff job on
Kiss and
path of, to Season Three
pitch and pilot for
premier of
producing, in Wilmington
product placement and
race and
revamped
staffing meeting for
syndication of
writing staff at
Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,
The
Deadwood
Dead Zone, The
Dear John
Denny, Reginald
deregulation
See also Financial Interest and
Syndication rules
Designing Women
Desilu
Desperate Housewives
development deals
Billion-Dollar Kiss Page 27