…Instead of staying where he was, which, it turns out, was as a reality TV episode re-capper. Listen closely, future showrunners:
Writer and producer Stephen Falk has probably never wanted for inspirational material. His career has run the gamut of Hollywood experiences, from writing episode recaps of reality TV shows, to working on a successful show like “Weeds,” to having the rug pulled under him midway through filming his debut series, “Next Caller.”
Far be it for TVWriter™ to indulge in blind gossip, that wretched yet fascinating reportorial exercise in consequence-free (for the writer) character assassination. But this particular blind item is so fascinating, and the events it describes are so common, that we just can’t resist bringing it to your attention:
We have a warning for everyone in the television industry: Watch your backs, because someone may be looking to sabotage your TV show!
A couple of years ago, there were three people who worked at the same network: Showrunner 1 (SR1), Showrunner 2 (SR2) and a high-ranking Network Executive (NE).
Okay, the end of the year is coming. No doubt we’re all feeling a bit crunched for time. It’s just a seasonal thing.
Or is it?
Writers almost always are performing a juggling act, especially early on in their careers. You know, the day job. Unless you’re retired with lots of time to write or a millionaire with no money cares you probably have a day job right now or have perhaps recently had the good fortune and finally enough stability in your chosen field of writing to be able to put that behind you.
Maria Giese’s first movie was shown at Cannes in 1995. She hasn’t been paid to write or direct in good ole Hollywood since. In this amazing article, the woman who helped launch the ACLU’s Hollywood anti-gender discrimination campaign talks about how it all came about:
Twenty years ago I was a director, part of the Hollywood gold rush culture, chasing my dream. I pursued that dream relentlessly. By 2011, I had failed — utterly. A few months ago, my picture appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, then in Fortune with the headline: “Meet the Woman Who Started the EEOC Investigation Into Sexism in Hollywood.” How did it come to this?
When I enrolled in the graduate directing program at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television, thanks to Title IX, my class was 50 percent women and 50 percent men. Still, I should have seen trouble ahead: There was only one female directing professor, and men had directed almost 100 percent of the films we studied.
EDITOR’S NOTE: TVWriter™ just moved into Christmas Vacation mode, which means that we’re taking off weekends for the first time in years. But not entirely. Oh no, you don’t think for a minute that our BL, LB, would let us get away with posting nothing on Saturday or Sunday, do you? Nosirree!
So, for your delectation, one of our staple departments remains, um, staple, as in: