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Interview with Meredith Kadlec

Meredith Kadlec, Vice President of Development for gay TV channel here!, talks to us about the series she’s developing, the trends she’s seeing in gay and lesbian movies, and why she thinks there are so few good lesbian scripts out there.

AfterEllen.com: What were you hired to do at here!? Meredith Kadlec:Originally my time was split between looking for finished content for us to buy from film festivals, and managing the onslaught of material we were receiving as word got out that we were looking for original material.

Now I’m really just focused on development, from finding things to dealing with what comes in. I have two readers that work for me, as well as my assistant, but there’s enough work for us to double our size.

AE: What are you looking for? MK: In the acquisitions, we’re obviously looking for great films, which can come in all shapes and sizes. In development, we’re looking to fill in gaps: we have a lot of films about the coming-out process, and we’re trying to add to that and explore different territory.

Initially we were looking for scripts that could be shot sooner than later, that didn’t need a lot of development. But that’s shifting a little, now that we have a lot of content we can use now. Now we’re willing to be a little more patient with projects that contain good ideas, but maybe need a little more work.

AE: What kinds of scripts are you getting? MK: We’re getting a lot of scripts from established screenwriters who have that one gay script sitting on their shelf that they sent around town even a few years ago and got the response “We love it, brilliantly written, we’ll never make it.” Now those things are being dusted off and sent to us, which I love.

It’s interesting to be serving an audience that’s constantly in a state of flux. I remember the days when people used to line up around the block to see Jeffrey, but it’s really hard to get people out to see those films now because there are so many more images of gays on TV, like Queer as Folk and Will and Grace.

AE: What kinds of lesbian projects are you seeing? MK: I’m having a harder time finding the kind of lesbian material we’re looking for. I’m not sure why that is, but my counterparts at other companies who are looking for gay material say they have the exact same experience.

There are many scripts I have on my shelves that were pitched to me as lesbian romantic comedies, and they’re really talky. A lot of lesbians have told me they’re really over that. Finding something different is really difficult. If I had something like Bound, it would have been made already-it’s such a great script, and although it’s low-budget, it’s so well done you can’t tell. Something like that would be great.

A lot of the projects we’re looking at have that sort of noir, thriller feeling, where you have a lesbian or gay detective or cop, dealing with a crime to solve or insurmountable obstacles. I have found a few things like this, but there aren’t very many that truly feel different.

AE: Why do you think these kinds of projects aren’t being created? MK: I have a theory that the perception, in studios, that lesbians won’t come out to the theater to watch movies makes it harder to get lesbian movies made than gay male ones. I think it’s taking awhile for people to catch up with the idea that venues like here! and LOGO are out there and interested in this kind of material. So I think when a writer is thinking about their career, the last thing they’re going to write is a lesbian film that has no perceived hope of being sold to a studio. But we’ve found through our pay-per-view channel that this isn’t true: lesbians do watch movies and do support them, they will just do it at home, through pay-per-view and other channels.

I also think a lot of the people who are writing lesbian scripts happen to be lesbians who feel like they have a story to tell, but aren’t necessarily a writer first, and are still learning the craft of writing. So you don’t have a lot of established writers choosing to write lesbian scripts.

I have one TV show we’re developing called The Complex-the name might change-but I’ve only received a few other lesbian series-and one is a very integrated cast that includes lesbians. I don’t see a lot of people writing lesbian series. (laughing) Of course, now that I say that, I’ll probably be inundated with them!

AE: Which TV shows do you think have done a particularly good job with gay characters? MK: Six Feet Under. They’ve brought dimension to their characters, and the writing is so good that we don’t think of it as a gay show, or a funeral show…the gay storylines blend seamlessly with the straight ones, and it all becomes one story, which I love. That would certainly be something I aspire to, but it’s very hard to do.

AE: How do you compete against shows like that, or other gay shows like Queer as Folk? MK: Create really great shows. Gay cinema has finally gotten to the point where it’s being held to the same standards as mainstream movies and TV shows. It’s not enough anymore simply to have gay characters; people have been satisfied a lot on that front, and now they want more: they want shows that are just good stories, in which characters are even just incidentally gay. Although I think there will always be a place for coming-out stories.

I remember when Ellen came out and some people were criticizing the show, saying “I get it! You’re gay!” and I just thought that kind of complacency by people who previously would have been shocked by it was the best possible response.

AE: You’re focusing on scripted series, not unscripted ones. What’s the thinking behind that? MK: One of the first things we ask ourselves when putting something into development is “Would someone pay for this? Is this something that a viewer would look at and say ‘I can get this somewhere else for free’?” For now, at least, reality shows are something viewers can get elsewhere for free. We also did an informal survey online, and the top two answers were original scripted series and movies, with reality shows farther down the list.

AE: Tell me a little about Dante’s Cove. MK: The lesbian characters are a bit secondary, but they’re pretty integrated into the cast. We actually found out a few days into the shooting that one of the actresses on the show, Jill Bennett, is an out lesbian, but she happens to be playing one of the only straight characters on the show.

AE: Are more gay and lesbian actors auditioning for gay roles? MK: I’ve heard from casting directors across the board that actors who are gay or lesbian in real life are less inclined to play gay characters. I remember something Paul [Colichman, here!’s CEO] said once: he was recounting his meeting with an actor whose career had suffered because he’d come out, and Paul said, “We want this to be the kind of place where you get something because you’ve been out, instead of losing something.” I love that, I think that’s really important. That should absolutely be part of what we’re doing.

AE: In general, do actors seem to feel more comfortable playing gay characters? MK: Women seem to be more comfortable playing gay characters than men, but there have definitely been some interesting moments, where people get here and suddenly realize it’s a gay character and get hesitant, and I want to say “Watch Monster!” There are two successful straight women who played lesbian characters and won an Oscar!

Once I told a writer we wanted to have two characters become romantically involved, and she said, “I thought we weren’t putting any salacious material in this film.” After a long pause, I said, “How is it when it’s a straight couple, it’s romantic, and when it’s a gay couple, it’s salacious?” And she was like, “Oh, right.” And this is from someone who is not really homophobic.

I was talking to a director who was having that problem of his actors not wanting to get intimate in a scene, and I said, “Just tell them you’re not asking them to do anything you wouldn’t have a straight couple do.” There’s a lot of learning that goes on, dealing with uncomfortable situations that go on on-set. Sometimes sets can become microcosms of society where people have different outlooks on gay issues. But we want this to be a place that characters who are in love with each other can have sex, hold hands, kiss—all the things straight characters do.

AE: Do you think you’re able to do that because you don’t have to appease advertisers? MK: I think it’s because that’s the obvious opportunity standing in front of us. We want to give our audiences the images they’re hungry for.

AE: How diverse is here!’s programming? MK: We want this to be a place that’s also inclusive of transgendered and bisexual people. I hate that there is a prejudice against bisexual people within the gay community, because I feel like, if we can’t be tolerant and accepting of bisexual men and women, who will? We should be the last people to discriminate, considering what we go through ourselves.

There is a real absence of bisexual characters in the material I’m getting, though, and a lack of integration of gay men and lesbians in the same script. Usually it’s all guys, or only lesbians, sometimes with straight people, but rarely with two gay and lesbian leads together.

AE: What’s success for you? Where would you like to see here! in three years? MK: Success would be not only that we’re still here, but that we’ve done some good work that’s gotten some critical notice. That there has been a show, movie or breakout character that spoke to a level of quality that means we’re not only providing good entertainment, but going a step beyond. It’s like the way people found The Shield. They found it, and I’d like people to find the same thing here, regardless of sexual orientation.

To have the kind of reputation that HBO enjoys is of course everyone’s pinnacle of success; I know it’s taken them decades to achieve, and I don’t mean to imply we could do that in three years, but it’s certainly something to aspire to.

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