If
you’ve ever wondered how your favorite television
shows came to fruition, then Steven Priggé’s new book,
Created By...: Inside the Minds of TV's Top Show Creators
($14.95 Silman James Press, 2005), will be of particular
interest. Besides being one of the few books to profile
TV writers, Created By is also a stand-out because
of its inclusion of those who less typically rise to positions
of great influence in the entertainment industry—women,
people of color, and out gays and lesbians.
Alongside
the creators of mainstream hits like Alias, That
70’s Show, and Frasier, Priggé interviews some
famous gay and lesbian television writers, as well as
straight writers who have created some of the more memorable
queer television moments.
Writers
of queer interest profiled in the book include Alan Ball,
out creator of the gay and lesbian-inclusive Six
Feet Under (who also won an Academy Award for
writing American Beauty); The
L Word creator and out lesbian Ilene Chaiken;
the straight-but-not-narrow Joss Whedon, who brought together
two of the first teenage lesbian lovebirds—Willow and
Tara—in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer; out writer Max Mutchnick, who
created Will and Grace with his straight writing
partner David Kohan, and Tom Fontana, creator of gay-inclusive
HBO prison drama Oz.
Created
By was borne of Priggé’s own “professional curiosity”
(after working on the show Spin City, he wanted
to get a job as a television writer), as well as his love
of television. He wanted to know how individuals came
up with the ideas to create his favorite shows. In doing
so, he asks all the contributors a range of both personal
professional questions about their early writing careers,
favorite programs, how they landed their first television
writing jobs, navigating network politics, creating an
original program and how to make it last.
His
unique structural approach to the interview (in each chapter
he asks all of the writers the same question and then
lists their answers to it together) offers the reader
a rare opportunity to compare the way in which a variety
of great creative minds tackle the same obstacles and
issues.
Most
of the writers have in common an early call to
write—be it plays, films, poetry or songs—and a combined
love of both literature and television. In fact, it’s
fascinating to read about their influences and then search
for evidence of them in their own work. Writer Alan Ball
recalls being heavily influenced by both the work of gay
playwright Tennessee Williams (gothic family melodrama
ala Six Feet Under), while Max Mutchnick recalls
his love of The Odd Couple (featuring a sparring
non-married couple not unlike his own Will and Grace).
In
his chapter “Breaking In,” each of the writers tells of
the combination of luck and skill that landed them their
first jobs in the entertainment industry. Some were spotted
while acting in their own works, while others came in
through the back door via their executive work. Ilene
Chaiken’s first television gig was working as an agent
trainee for Aaron Spelling. She was promoted to a Development
Executive position, and then went on to work for Quincy
Jones before burning out on the “business” side of the
business. A talent scout saw Alan Ball’s original play
about a group of southern bridesmaids, which eventually
led to Ball being offered a writing position for Grace
Under Fire.
Once
in the door, the journey of conceiving, pitching,
and creating an original program is unpredictable at best.
For some writers, film and politics play an integral role
in the creation of their original programs. The Attica
Prison riots, for example, made a deep impression on Oz
creator Tom Fontana, inspiring him to write a show that
about what really happens in prison while standard police
dramas ended with the sentencing of the criminal.
Others
were inspired by seeing what wasn't there, as Joss Whedon
explains:
