Variety - June 06, 2022

36 Pages·2022·12.1 MB·English

Comedy
Series
QUINTA BRUNSON is lleeaaddiinngg
the network charge inttoo llaaffffeerrss
By Selome Haiilluu

6 ● VARIETY 06.06.2022
+
B I Z B U Z Z
Tapping Into Killer Instincts about her at some point in the
middle of the week, too.”
Erica Saleh, showrunner of
Whodunnits shake up the scene thanks to streaming and premium TV Peacock’s detention-set who-
dunnit “One of Us Is Lying,” credits
the recent “move toward shorter
seasons” for contributing to the
murder mystery boom. While pop-
By Ethan Shanfeld ular network series used to span
around 22 episodes per season,
Murder mystery is having a streaming has encouraged more
moment. focused and concise installments.
Maybe it’s because the pandemic “Eight to 10 episodes is enough to
has us glued to our couches, han- develop your characters and give
kering to solve puzzles. Maybe the audience plenty of twists and
it’s because the weekly epi- turns, but not so many that you
sode drops have overtaken the find yourself having to manufac-
once-dominant binge format. ture plot and red herrings just to
Maybe it’s because in 2019, “Knives make it to the end of the season,”
Out” grossed more than $300 Saleh says.
million at the global box office Ingelsby also points out that the
and Adam Sandler’s “Murder rise of premium streaming means
Mystery” broke Netflix’s opening Hollywood’s biggest actors and
weekend records. storytellers are drawn into the
The past few years alone saw the world of television.
rise of premium streaming mys- “You have this thing that peo-
teries “The Afterparty,” “Mare of ple have always wanted, but now
Easttown,” “Only Murders in the they’re getting to see it with Kate
u
Building,” “The Undoing” and he realized it would work better of the weekly model, with its finale Winslet or Nicole Kidman or Amy ul
H
“The Flight Attendant” — as well as a series so audiences “could scoring 4 million viewers over the Adams. It’s putting a fresh coat of n/
or
as genre subverters “Murderville” spend more time with each weekend — a series high — and paint on an old genre.” nh
e
and “The White Lotus.” character and get deeper inside setting an HBO Max record for Perhaps addressing the ele- nk
a
While the reason why this genre of their heads.” It just so happened the most-watched episode of an phant in the room, “Only Murders g Bl
is dominating our television sets that the show coincided with the original series during its first 24 in the Building” co-creator John Crai
and Twitter feeds is perhaps a resurgence of weekly episode hours of availability. Hoffman points to the pandemic e)
g
a
mystery in itself, showrunners of drops, replacing the once-dom- “Because there was a week for increasing viewership and fos- p
the season’s top shows attribute inant binge format. between each episode, the antici- tering a “communal experience” This
their successes to the golden era “The binge model squelches pation and word-of-mouth would around TV. ki; (
of streaming, the rise of premium conversation rather than fos- build, and by the fifth episode, we “As isolating as it was, we were erals
television and — according to ters it, while the weekly model felt, ‘Wow, this really has caught connecting in ways through our op
D
“The Afterparty” creator Chris encourages people to guess and on,’” creator Brad Ingelsby says media,” he says. “God knows we an
D
Miller — the “timeless human talk about clues and debate with of the series, which took home were also a little bit bored. So by
desire to find answers to import- each other, because everyone’s in four Emmys last year. “The weekly Selena Gomez, anything that sparked interest ph
a
ant questions.” the same place,” he says. model also allows you to spend Martin Short and for ourselves at home and created ogr
Miller originally intended “The It can also lead to a snowball more time with the characters. Steve Martin discussion … I think that intensi- hot
Adeftceardpea argtoy,,” t ofi brset a c monocveiei,v uendt ial eEfafsettcotw inn” vwiaesw ae mrsahjoirp b. e“nMeafirceia oryf YMoaur sep, eanndd o hvoerp seefvuellny w yeoeuk st hwiinthk lMBeuuairdldd Heinrugslu .i”n’s t “hOen ly fiinevdo tlhveadt n ina tau groalo idn cylainrna.t”i o n to get Cover) P
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06.06.2022 VARIETY ● 9
Lawrence Plants Deep Roots
Writers nurtured by ‘Ted Lasso’ creator talk about lessons learned
By Joe Otterson
lot of my stuff, I’m really into that
kind of mentorship role. So, to
have young people around, I find
it mutually inspiring, hopefully.
What do you think it is that
makes a good showrunner?
Well, I just want to say something
first, and you can use this or not
use it. I love the notion of this
family tree thing, but I do find the
premise a little flawed. ... It’s not
like you’re taking young people
by the hand and going, “I’m gonna
make you a showrunner and you
a showrunner for the fun of it.” If
you stay around long enough, the
good thing is getting to point to
hyper-talented young men and
women that cross your path at
one point or another, and then
say, “Hey, I’m going to pretend I had
something to do with your career.”
I hear you, but that’s not the
premise. It’s more about discov-
ering interesting connections
between successful people that
es you didn’t know existed.
g
ma What was it like the first time my shit. I was like, “That’s fucking I’ll tell you my favorite one. You’ll
P I you walked into a writers’ room Marty McFly reading shit I wrote!” have to dig deep and I have very lit-
SA/A on your own show? tle responsibility for it. But Jorma
U
a Unbelievably surreal because, Does any of this still feel sur- [Taccone] and Andy Samberg were
p
or/Si for me, it wasn’t so much about real at this point in your career? PAs on “Spin City.”
d the writing staff. It was the first I love it so much, but you start to
a
Mir time I saw Michael J. Fox do a cold take these things in stride. But I Really?
e B. read with other actors. You know, always tell other showrunners I don’t think I ever met them
e
anl when we were auditioning peo- there’s a huge value in always face to face. They had to be there
h
St ple, I was 25, and he was such an making sure that you have young through Gary [Goldberg]’s daugh-
ce: iconic film and TV guy. For me, I people on your show. They’re still ter Shana, who is a very successful
n
e
wr couldn’t even judge the acting. showing up to work and being comedy writer.
AppleTV+; La B“aTlisellod L Lcaaows-scrore”en aacntede, dcthr “eeCa cotoour-g ocafr r“e SaTctorouwrb nos,,””f Aspolnemd ae hutiedm iwteiaos snr eisnaodg k .w iAnintdhd. o HIt cheo ewur olpduenold’t- libnieksrep t,i hr“aiWnt gost.w uIt,f fma. aTkVe ss hyoouw r.”e Imt’se mso- BJBaanrreesdnto tNnd Gi acSonkul dHdseutinektii,ns , Twhhaat’ts d nou tyso. Buu tth tion cki rict leis b tahcakt,
o: “Spin City” and “Clone High” — even judge the people audition- You have to occasionally drink Mohammed star makes a good showrunner?
ass which means he’s worked with a ing on my own show because I just the blood of young writers. Also, in Bill Lawrence’s To be someone who creates
Ted L plethora of talent. stared at Mike, and I was losing as you can see thematically in a “Ted Lasso.” shows, you have to have a very
10 ● BIZ + BUZZ 06.06.2022
specific voice of your own, and seemingly not address some- of beauty of having to do it. Not to
what’s really interesting is some- thing and then magically fix go back to the theater metaphor,
times those people are super it. That was sort of my main but TV is kind of like being in a rep
strong [at] writing on your show, takeaway, at least on my script, company and you just have to do
but sometimes you can tell right because at the end of the year, it. And the only way to do that is
away, “Oh, that person has such you saw how totally chaotic to do it streamlined — to do it
a specific voice. Even though stuff was, and — on my end at once every seven or eight days
they’re great and useful here, least — I sort of felt desperation for 30-plus weeks a year.
they’re going to be much stron- all the time. He always brought it What I think is so great about
ger when they’re kind of creating together, which I guess is exactly his aesthetic in general is that it’s
and doing their own world.” what good showrunners do. a really great mix of comedy and
Beyond that, I hope that the pathos, but he’s always sincere
thing they glean working with What was the vibe like in the and never snarky, which is really
me the same thing I’ve gleaned writers’ room at that time? anomalous in this age of comedy. Prentice Penny is showrunner of
working from Gary: not to be a I think in good ways and bad, it was And I think that is what allows “Insecure,” formerly a co-producer
control freak, to empower other totally cloistered. We were in this all the pathos to work within the on “Scrubs.”
talented people to help you in the disgusting old building in Valley comedy, because it’s always com-
process, because anybody that Village where there were literally pletely sincere. That’s definitely What was it like when you
tries to do everything eventually rooms that still had soiled linens something that I’ve tried to rep- first joined the writing staff of
melts down. You should be col- and bloody sheets in them. And it licate in my work. “Scrubs?”
laborative and hopefully, create was creepy and weird, but none It was interesting because it was
a work environment that every- of the executives really wanted to You got your first onscreen writ- also at a time when “Scrubs” had
body feels kind of safe to have an come visit us. So there was a lot of ing credit on “Scrubs.” What did already had their finale and then
opinion, safe to say they like or creative and personal freedom in that mean to you? it got brought back for one more
don’t like something, and it just working in an abandoned hospi- It meant the world. I became an season when it’s like, a med school
feels like a safe place creatively. tal with no one else. I think it was a associate member of the Writ- year. So, Bill also had “Cougar
little more like theater camp than ers Guild, which I was incredibly Town.” I remember we were both
most writers’ rooms — again, in a proud of. It felt like getting called in the same building. We were at
really good way. up to the big leagues, or at least one end, “Cougar Town” was at the
getting a cup of coffee in the big other end. So, Bill would go back o
What lessons did you take leagues. It was amazing to feel and forth between those rooms. ecti
away from working with him? included and respected by peo- Watching Bill go back and forth Coll
I learned the value of efficiency ple like Bill and Matt Tarses and between rooms and managing erett
in TV. Narrative efficiency and all the incredible writers there at both shows was just really great Ev
C/
production efficiency and not in the time. It was exhilarating and to watch. Watching him pull it off B
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a mercenary sense but in the kind totally a confidence booster. successfully was pretty amazing. ell/
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Will Berson is the Oscar-nominated es;
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Black Messiah,” formerly a writers’ P I
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Bill on “Scrubs?” ers
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doing 26 episodes or something, hot
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and the show has Ri
I think part of Bill’s mad- spawned many ny:
cap genius is just being able to writing careers. Pen