Bennett - Showrunners: the art of running a TV show: the official companion to the documentary

CONTENTS

SHOWRUNNERS
Print edition ISBN: 9781783293575
E-book edition ISBN: 9781783297122

Published by Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

First edition: September 2014
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Copyright 2014 Black Sheep Productions.
All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

The views and opinions expressed in this book are not necessarily those of the publisher or makers of the documentary film, and the publisher and documentary makers accept no responsibility for inaccuracies or omissions, and the publisher and documentary makers specifically disclaim any liability, loss, or risk, whether personal, financial, or otherwise, that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the contents of this book.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

By Hart Hanson (Showrunner of Bones, The Finder, Backstrom)

O ne summer morning, a couple of years ago, I came to work on the Fox lot to find that a documentary crew was waiting to interview me for a film called Showrunners. I had no memory of agreeing to do any such thing (I still dont) but that is not odd for me. I agree to do things all the timeespecially things that will happen more than two weeks in the futurebecause I know that day will never come.

But in this case the day had come and it was today. My intention was to blow them off. I had a rewrite to do on a Bones script, I was trying to get another Fox series called The Finder up and running, there was a sound mix, casting, and some sort of kerfuffle on set to do with how realistic a dead body lookedall in all a typical morning on a TV show for a showrunner and I hadnt even had my coffee.

The mistake I made was to speak to the documentary film crew in person and look the director, Des Doyle, in the eyes. Des has warm and intelligent eyes. Then he told me about his film, told me how hard he was working to make that film, and he convinced me that he was actually fascinated by the process of making American TV. (Did I mention that Des and his crew are Irish? Like James Joyce Irish? Historically, these people survived a potato famine and the Troubles, so how the hell was I going to deny them because I hadnt had my coffee?)

I suspect all the other showrunners that Des Doyle spoke with fell into the same warm pit and decided to cooperate even though they too lacked the time and/or inclination.

Des convinced me that if I told him the truth about showrunning then the other showrunners might do the same thing. That was intriguing to me because when it comes down to it, running an American TV show is like sex no matter how much you ask around or how many courses you attend theres no real preparation for the real thing. And when it finally happens for real you know in your heart that youre doing it in a maladroit manner. Tragically, even years later, you may continue to believe that other people possess some secret knowledge which allows them to perform at a much higher level than you do. (Not just me. Other people too. Ask around.)

Another similarity between sex and showrunning (I have done both. Yes I have.) is that when you actually do see someone else doing it, its likely to be accidental and traumatic such as catching your Uncle Buzzy in the tool shed with the lady who cleans his teeth. (Not just me. Other people too. Ask around.)

I know what youre thinking, What about porn? Let me tell you, porn isnt necessarily a useful learning tool because porn results in self-loathing (I am not equipped like that) and inappropriate moves that have no place in real life (what the hell did you do that for?)

Well, thanks to Des Doyle and his committed group of Irish documentarian filmmakers, you dont have to pick up your showrunning knowledge from the street or Uncle Buzzy. What theyve done is make a delightful, suitable-for-work, non-pornographic film called Showrunners. This book is the official companion to that film.

Showrunners tend to be an interesting group of people even if you arent in the TV businessprobably because they are forced to live in two worlds: the creative and the managerial. They must think equally with the left and right hemispheres of their brains. The technical term for this is schizophrenia. Some are witty, some are cranky, some semi-catatonic. Most, but not all, have terrible posture. Some are ineffably cool with tattoos while others are inescapably dorkysome are both at the same time. And now you can see them for yourself, in the film, and in this book.

Would you like to take a look behind closed doors? To get an inkling of something that is usually private? That is not porn? Well, if its between this and Uncle Buzzy, then I heartily recommend the book and the movie. You may never watch TV the same way again.

Hart Hanson, Los Angeles, May 2014

By Des Doyle (Writer & Director of Showrunners)

I f youve just picked up this book in a store, or are reading the sample pages online, the rule of publishing states I need a killer opening line to grab your attention so heres my attemptIt all started with Spocks brain!

Yes, this book and the documentary film from whose loins it springs both happened as a result of me watching the Spocks Brain episode of the original Star Trek series when I was about four years old. Its my earliest memory of watching a TV show and I think I found it rather scary (as many Trek fans do, albeit for other reasons) but it made me want to watch more of that show.

In my early childhood and teenage years growing up in Dublin, Ireland, the TV networks we mainly had access toRTE (the Irish national broadcaster) and the BBC and ITV in the UKwere showing a huge amount of imported American TV drama and comedy series. I was reared on re-runs of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, The A-Team, Knight Rider (hmm, havent these all been rebooted?) and long-lost classics such as The Man From Atlantis and Automan (someone please reboot them!).

These shows, all starring impossibly beautiful people and filmed in eternal, effervescent sunlight (it rains a lot in Ireland) with amazing special FX and stunts, made an indelible imprint on me. They were recognisably, profoundly different to the kinds of shows that either RTE, the BBC, or ITV were making at the time, partly due to the budgets involved but also the degree of ambition and imagination employed.

Later in life, my love for TV and film led me to studying film production and entering the business of filmmaking professionally, primarily as part of the camera department because that was the one part of the process that was essential to everything. You can make a film without anything except a cameraand being behind a camera meant you were always there at the moment of birth, where all the directors ideas, the words on the page, and the actors input melded into something newsomething that had never existed before that moment, which was then immortalised.

After 12 years of working on all kinds of film, TV, and music projects with directors as diverse as Jim Sheridan, Barry Levinson, and Rob Bowman (yes, I asked him about