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:
The concept for Ilene Chaiken’s drama lesbian-focused drama was also borne out of a desire to tell a story that hadn’t been told yet, and The L Word received an uncommon early green light shortly after an early draft of the pilot was handed in.“I came up with the idea for Buffy largely due to my fascination with horror movies where the girl always gets killed. I identify with female victims who have been mugged. Most of my work is in gender studies, so I am interested in subjects on women and particularly women as heroes. I wasn’t seeing them in television. So I wanted to take the victim character and turn it on its ear. I wanted to give her some fun.”
Like Buffy, Will and Grace was a new twist on an old formula. Says co-creator Dave Cohen:
“The reason we came up with Will & Grace was because we were always talking about love stories. One thing I learned from working for Sydney Pollack is that his movies were usually about love stories, and that love stories sell…but a love story is only as good as the obstacles that keep them apart…In a television series, they have to be apart all the time to keep the audience interested. Max and I thought, ‘What is the real obstacle to keeping them apart?’ We eventually came up with the idea that they will never get together because Will is gay.”
But Cohen and Mutchnick had to contend with an almost unimaginable roadblock?all four of the actors who ended up playing the principal characters in the award-winning comedy originally said “no” to joining the cast. Others, like Alan Ball, were giving incredible creative freedom to fully explore their vision. Ball, who had never before directed, was permitted (by a group of very nervous HBO executives) to direct the pilot episode of Six Feet Under.
Ball was motivated to write the pilot for Six Feet Under “partially as a way of having something to balance out the other cancelled show and partially as just a pre-emptive strike before I got sucked back into what I term ‘network development hell’.”
When Priggé explores the marketing of their programs with the creators, the reader gets an immediate understanding of how the creative and business worlds collide in the television industry. Mutchnick tells him that when Will and Grace was originally promoted, absolutely nothing was said of the fact that Will or Jack was gay. Marketed instead as a show about “best friends,” the program was placed in a Monday night slot along with other female-friendly programs (nicknamed “Must-SHE TV”). It wasn’t until the third year of the show’s run, by which time it had amassed both commercial and critical success, that Will and Grace was moved to a coveted Thursday night slot. As a result, there was never much controversy surrounding the show.
In the case of The L Word, Showtime was challenged to concurrently (and successfully) market the program to both gay and straight viewers. “The questions were two-fold,” explains Chaiken. “How do we market the show to a gay and lesbian audience? How do we broaden the market, because that is how the show will ultimately live or die.” Chaiken was ultimately happy with the results, and felt very included in the marketing process.
It’s no surprise that many of the writers profiled in Created By have found the world of cable television to be more risk-taking and ultimately more rewarding than working for the conventional networks. Alan Ball tells Priggé point blank, “My advice for someone who wants to write for TV is to stay away from the mainstream networks.” The recent blossoming of GLBT content on television has been led and maintained by Showtime and HBO, and gay television networks like Logo and Here are made possible only through the existence of cable television.
If the book lacks anything, it’s details about some of the more intriguing anecdotes recounted by the writers, like this one by Chaiken about the cast’s involvement in the writing process:
“One actress said to me, ‘Do you know what I really want next season? I want to have a tender love scene with someone.’ Her character just sleeps with everyone and goes from one conquest to another. I didn’t pay it much attention when she said it, but when I started thinking about stories, it just stayed with me. I then realized that it is the story for her character this year.”
It’s doubtful that programs like Oz, The L Word, and Will and Grace became hits without a few treacherous battles along the way, and it would have been interesting to hear about more of those. And with some actors, directors, and writers still reluctant to come out in Hollywood, those who have created or contributed to gay and lesbian-themed shows probably have more than a few hair-raising stories to relate.
But in an industry so deeply mired in “relationships,” perhaps it’s no surprise that these creators might remain tight-lipped about some of the more scandalous aspects of bringing their shows to life. (There is, after all, a chapter in Created By entitled “Who You Know Vs. What You Know.”)
Nevertheless, Priggé’s book is a compelling read for television lovers and for all types of writers, particularly those who someday hope to create their own television empires.
