[HN Gopher] The Eleven Laws of Showrunning [pdf] ___________________________________________________________________ The Eleven Laws of Showrunning [pdf] Author : luu Score : 139 points Date : 2023-02-20 11:32 UTC (11 hours ago) (HTM) web link (okbjgm.weebly.com) (TXT) w3m dump (okbjgm.weebly.com) | qazxcvbnmlp wrote: | "For many, the undeniable triumph that is pitching a series idea, | having a pilot ordered, successfully producing it, and then | having it ordered to series is nothing less than a validation: | not only their voice and talent, but also of their Way of Doing | Things. This often translates to an intractable adherence to the | notion that "my creative process" is so of the essence to success | that all other concerns must be made subordinate lest the | delicate alchemy that made success possible be snuffed" | | Also seen in other fields as "I raised money for my company, so | you will do this my way" doesn't matter if the way is good. | KerryJones wrote: | I have almost no interest in showrunning but I enjoy the slightly | biting writing style: | | "So you finally have the Brass Ring... and guess what? It won't | make that you never found a publisher for your first novel any | less painful, and it won't make your daddy finally love you, or | your spouse more sexually compliant, or your kids less disdainful | of your bad puns and clumsy attempts to make them understand that | you really DID like and understand that last Sky Ferreira album." | reillyse wrote: | I got to number 5 but I'm guessing brevity never features? | tdoggette wrote: | It's not until the Third Law that the author names a show of his: | The Middleman (2008) on ABC Family, a one-and-done cult classic | comedy show. That show's quality lends strong credence to the | expertise backing up his second and third laws. That show really | knew what it was, and every decision top to bottom worked to | convey the show's very particular tone and style. | | It must have been a real trick to communicate that effectively-- | The Middleman was like "X-Files meets Doctor Who, but less | serious than either, and with a sense of ironic detachment, but | not so much detachment that we can't tell stories about emotions, | and also everyone talks like they're in a comedy sketch making | fun of the dialogue in Buffy the Vampire Slayer." | ajkjk wrote: | This is so good. | jasmer wrote: | It's amazing that in an industry with so much money they don't | have accepted norms of professionalism baked in. | | Even for startups. | | It's almost like VC land should have the rule, 'once the cheque | is >$1M, you do this required 2-week long training' hopefully jam | packed with essential goodies. | | Most of our time in school is academically oriented, nothing in | particular applied. | | I find that very odd. | andrewflnr wrote: | It's a young industry, as these things go. Just about a | century, I think? And that's counting generously, not taking | into account growing faster in headcount and budget than it can | learn (sound familiar?). A lot of the serious "professions", | I'm thinking of e.g. accounting, engineering, or medicine, have | histories that go back several centuries, with rules written in | blood. | zug_zug wrote: | I love this. | | "You can also [motivate] by instilling fear - of job insecurity, | of the loss of political capital in the show's hierarchy, or | simply the harsh judgment of a capricious father figure. You have | the power to be either an enabler of your employees's creativity, | or make them the enablers of your whims." | | It's refreshing when I find a piece that doesn't reduce the | workplace to naive fix-all tropes like "assume positive intent." | Of course the film industry just had "me too," so perhaps the | lesson is particularly clear there, but it's not like quid-pro- | quo doesn't happen in software. | Animats wrote: | That's been around for years. There are two versions. This is the | longer, tougher version. | | The interesting thing about the culture is that 1) US practice is | that TV showrunners are writers, and 2) that all the writing for | the season isn't done before starting production. Movies are not | usually made that way. The script is usually set before | production gets a green light. | crazygringo wrote: | > _1) US practice is that TV showrunners are writers_ | | Is that different in any other countries? I'm having a hard | time imagining what other background a showrunner would come | from. E.g. the directing skillset is somewhat related but | ultimately very different. | | > _2) that all the writing for the season isn 't done before | starting production._ | | Well you certainly can't do that for a 22-episode season, | especially as writers very much adapt in real time to what's | "working" in the show. It's quite common for a character | intended only for a single episode to turn out to be | unexpectedly extremely charistmatic and quickly turn into a | main character, because of the actor's performance. | | But for an hourlong 8-episode prestige drama for HBO, it's not | uncommon for all of the writing to be done ahead of time. Or at | the very least, the entire story is "broken" (outlined) in | detail, even if the dialog isn't written out. | ghaff wrote: | >E.g. the directing skillset is somewhat related but | ultimately very different. | | Certainly. That's why the showrunner mostly doesn't direct | episodes and film directors mostly didn't write the script | (though they probably influenced it). | | The difference is that films can go through a multi-year | development process with things hopefully largely nailed down | before production starts--because that's when the bills | really start mounting fast. | | TV, on the other hand, historically had a lot more writing | and production values were often a lot lower. So writing was | important (and had to happen relatively quickly) while a | solid journeyman director was probably fine. Certainly their | name was mostly not a draw for audiences. | | (Obviously something like Rings of Power is a lot different | from a season of Law and Order.) | wpietri wrote: | Wow, I have worked for this boss for sure: | | > In the 1980's, the members of the Berlin Symphony told joke | about their notoriously imperious conductor, Herbert Von Karajan. | It went like this: The maestro gets into a taxi. The driver asks | "Where to?" "It doesn't matter," Von Karajan declaims, "I'm | needed EVERYWHERE!" | xbar wrote: | In this quote, there is truth: | | "The simple answer is that "simple" doesn't necessarily mean | "easy". In my experience, the simplest decisions are often the | hardest because they demand a painful concession to an unpleasant | truth. " | ChuckMcM wrote: | From the article: | | _The dark side of the drive to prove one 's primacy of vision | (colloquially better known as "I'LL SHOW YOU FATHER THAT YOU WERE | WRONG TO NOT LOVE ME!") is that inefficient and self-indulgent - | and more often than not abusive - senior management is endemic to | the television industry. As cable, streaming, and Internet | services adopt the television production model to generate | content, the problem only gets worse._ | | For me, this was one of the surprises from Netflix, Amazon, and | Apple jumping into funding series production. The observations | the author makes are anecdotally confirmed by the various "leaks" | in the industry (and yes, this biases the view because people | often don't complain about a good thing, I know), and yet rarely | is the content produced by the studios working for these new | entrants much different than the content produced "en masse" so | to speak. | | When this started, I expected more "Love Death Robots" kinds of | things and less "Game of Thrones wannabes" kinds of things. I'm | really curious how it went on the team doing "The Peripheral" (a | show that I really liked), vs "Carnival Row" which seems to be | "Jane Austen + Steampunk + Fairys" and, again for me at least, | not particularly compelling. | | As a result I've always wondered if studios did "retros" or look | backs to understand how the product evolved, and if the people | paying them ever tried to evaluate their process as a means of | managing their investments. | | I doubt I'll ever know, but I will remain curious about these | things. | ghaff wrote: | Cable TV also mostly evolved into more channels of more or less | the same thing. | | Streaming (outside of YouTube/TikTok/etc.) has done mostly the | same thing--albeit with something of a bias towards prestige | drama and away from slot filling procedurals. But there's less | strikingly original and good stuff than one might like. And | even the anthologies have been a mixed bag. | TchoBeer wrote: | not totally related, but I read this initially as "the elven laws | of shadowrunning" | 6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: | Lots of parallels with silicon valley corporate life in here. | This one in particular rings true to me: | | > So, once they have a show on the air, even the most inept of | managers - or the most sociopathic of abusers - muddle through | and keep their show on the air on something resembling time and | on budget: usually by the sweat of a lot of talented individuals | who are then denied credit for their toil at the altar of the | "visionary auteur"'s brilliance. | | As I keep reading, this document is great advice for any manager | or project lead, and very well written. | jobu wrote: | It's really a treatise on good leadership and management from | the perspective of a showrunner. | | There are a bunch of great quotes, but this bit from 4th Law | (Make decisions early and often) really hit home for me: | | > _But you know what "nice people" and "good bosses" actually | do? They rip off the Band-Aid early, make the case for their | decision, hear out any remaining arguments to a reasonable | degree, then shut down the discussion and send everyone off to | get on with their work._ | | Even worse than making the wrong decision is not making a | decision at all, that's true in any leadership position. | lylejantzi3rd wrote: | Out of curiosity: Has anybody ever heard of an engineering | manager making the transition to showrunning? | jasmer wrote: | Mike Judge is almost that. | crazygringo wrote: | It's not a lateral move. Aside from the management aspect, it's | an entirely different skill set. | | If you're an engineering manager who wants to become a | showrunner, the process would basically be: | | 1) Take a bunch of screenwriting classes until you know you're | reliably good at nuts-and-bolts screenwriting, which is far, | far harder than you might ever guess. Writing a single | compelling scene is hard enough, writing a good TV pilot is | shockingly difficult. Time: ~3 years full time, but realize | there's a 95+% chance you'll quit as you realize you ultimately | don't have the writing chops or discover you simply don't enjoy | it after all. | | 2) Write a few pilot scripts and use them as a portfolio to get | hired in a writer's room on a TV show. Time: 2-3 years because | it's going to take a while to write and take a while to get | hired, at least on a show that is even somewhat similar to the | type of show you ultimately want to showrun | | 3) Work for that TV show and then a couple others to build up | actual experience, and don't just hang out inside the writer's | room. Use the opportunity to get deeply familiar with all | aspects of production. Time: 5 years | | 4) Now with your knowledge of the industry, write 2-3 excellent | pilot scripts you think actually line up with what studios are | looking to produce commercially. Shop them around until you a | studio funds you. Showrun a pilot. Time: 3-5 years | | 5) Your pilot doesn't get picked up because it's too similar to | another show that premiered on another network last month and | doesn't have great ratings. This has nothing whatsoever to do | with the quality of your own show. Repeat step 4, maybe more | than once. Time: 3 years | | 6) This time your pilot gets picked up. Congrats, you're a | showrunner! Total time: 18-ish years?? | | So obviously it's better if you quit your engineering manager | job at age 22 or 25. But age doesn't really matter in | showrunning except for your own energy level. Being 50 or 60 | and running a show is pretty normal. So even if you want to | make the move at 40, it's totally doable, if you have the | writing talent. | | Now of course yes there are a few genius/lucky types that made | a hit YouTube series on their iPhone and got their own show a | year later (e.g. _Broad City_ ). But that's not usually how it | works, unless you've really truly got something _incredibly_ | fresh and relevant to say. If you _know_ you 've got lightning | in a bottle, then the above timeline doesn't apply. | walterbell wrote: | Documentary director rather than TV showrunner, Charles | Ferguson was the founder of Vermeer which created FrontPage, | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ferguson_(filmmaker) | | He also wrote one of the best startup failure-and-recovery | books, _" High Stakes, No Prisoners"_, | https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2719001 | sogen wrote: | In The Offer, the tv series deals about The Godfather, and the | main guy jumping from tech to show running. | CyberDildonics wrote: | I don't think people with no knowledge of entertainment | productions typically "transition" into the highest position | orchestrating the use of many millions of dollars and hundreds | of people. | CalChris wrote: | No, Hollywood attracts talent broadly. You'll still serve an | apprenticeship, reading scripts, ..., but my anecdote is | walking across the parking lot on the way to a meeting at | Paramount and seeing a US Naval Academy license plate frame. | CyberDildonics wrote: | No, I don't think transitioning to an entry level position | is the same as 'transitioning' to the highest possible | position. | | That's like someone asking if they can 'transition' to | being the CEO of a nationally known company. | tough wrote: | If the millions are yours you can certainly do as you wish | with them tho. | dylan604 wrote: | the old adage in show business was to never spend your own | money. with the plethora of streaming options, that has | been turned on its head. look at all of the shows where the | lead talent is also an executive producer (the ones that | write the checks). | rtsil wrote: | Most of these are either vanity credits, or just a way | for the star to participate in the profits beyond salary | and royalties. | yamtaddle wrote: | I assume this is why everydamnthing has like 20 producers | now. | dylan604 wrote: | Or you have a project that as an actor you really want to | perform a certain role so you show your commitment by | putting up some money to get the project rolling. One of | the common ways for financing media projects is where | someone is willing to match someone else's contribution. | The slimey parts come in when the original funding that | is matched is guaranteed to be paid back first before | others are paid, but that's not unique to the film | industry | klodolph wrote: | Writes the checks [?] spending your own money. | | The executive producer is in some senses a liaison | between the people providing the money and the people | spending the money. | | I may be mixing this up. I know that "producer" and | "executive producer" are somewhat different roles | depending on whether you're doing TV or film. | CalChris wrote: | Studio = Yale Investment Office, limited partner | Producer = VC, general partner leading a funding | Writer = Startup CTO, founder Director = Startup | CEO | | It's a little different because studios greenlight and | producers generally don't. But there are a lot more | startups than movies or tv shows. Well, maybe studios | don't greenlight development deals (seed startups). | dylan604 wrote: | Depending on the studio, they can be much more than a | limited partner. They can be providing the facilities to | office out of for pre-production and development, the | actual production work using their soundstages and other | properties, and to do post-production. | gamblor956 wrote: | No, sorry, you have it all wrong. | | Investors = Investors | | Studio = VC, etc. | | Executive Producer = CEO, COO, CLO, anybody with | decision-making power | | Lead Writer = lead designer, i.e., the Johnny Ives | | Writer = designer | | Director = project manager or product manager | | Producer = the weird old guy who let you use their house | during your ramen phase, that investor who thinks he | cofounded your startup because he gave you a bunch of | money, the salesperson who landed the really big client | and was given the recognition for it | dylan604 wrote: | Wow, I think this is probably one of those things trying | to be funny but just isn't. Maybe you're just totally | misguided on what a producer does, which may be the joke | you're trying to make that nobody knows what a producer | does. | | The producer would be closer to the president of the | board while the director would be the CEO. The producer | and director work closely to get the project off the | ground, with the director have say on who is hired for | the key roles (the lead person for each craft). These | keys then can staff out around them and the director | rarely interferes unless there's just something personal | going on. | | Who the creator/founder equivalent is really differs | between projects. Sometimes, the producer has the idea | and staffs around it. Sometimes, the director has the | idea and also acts as a producer or just staffs the | producer out to someone. Sometimes, it's the studio's | idea and staffs everything out. | [deleted] | swatcoder wrote: | Nah, I don't know _specific_ examples that satisfy the OP 's | original question, but writing for entertainment (and | showrunning as a management-level tier of that track) is just | a career transition like any other. | | People who've had one professional career and been grinding | on their writing on the side absolutely make the leap and | move their way up. Often, their break comes from writing from | their expertise. If you dig through shows about medicine, | law, policing, etc etc, you'll often find several writers who | were worked in those fields. | | Not every writer was a barista until they made their break. | Some of them were indeed lawyers and engineers. | CyberDildonics wrote: | This sounds like you are talking about people transitioning | to being a writer, not a show runner. | | That's like someone saying "has anyone transitioned to | running cartoon network?" and someone else saying "people | have transitioned to being an animator, which is almost the | same thing". | swatcoder wrote: | No, there are _many_ showrunners. It's essentially just a | management-like writing position for any of the thousands | of scripted programs that produced each year. | | It's an achievement to be proud of, just like being a | partner at a law firm or an mid-high position at a high- | profile FAANG, but it's not as rarified as you seem to | think. | CyberDildonics wrote: | No, it can't be a middle management position if you're | the one in charge of the entire project. | | Also no, people don't transition from middle management | in one industry to the top position of another industry. | swatcoder wrote: | They're not in charge of the project any more than any | other project/product manager. | | Somebody else is still making final go and stop decisions | on their projects, setting their budget, demanding stupid | details, etc. They're just in charge of wrangling _some_ | of the creative and production processes and get to take | credit for the overall creative vision of the project (or | blame their execs /peers/staff if they're unhappy with | it). Literally the same as in any other industry. | | I don't know why I keep replying, but any reasonably | social 40+ adult who had lived in SoCal personally knows | showrunners as well as people in most other roles in the | industry. Some have even held some of those roles! This | isn't some made up basement-dwelled bs that I'm sharing | with you; this is actual ground knowledge. | CyberDildonics wrote: | You might be confusing a 'runner' on a show, which is an | entry level production position with 'show runner' which | would be the person in charge of the entire show. | gamblor956 wrote: | I don't think you understand what a showrunner is. | | The showrunner _is_ in charge of the stop-and-go | decisions, the details, spending the budget allocated by | the studio. They hire the key crewmembers (DOP, lead | writer if not the showrunner, casting director, etc. who | then build out the cast and crew. They are as in charge | of production as they choose to be: some showrunners | micromanage, while others let their crew have a | relatively free hand to do their jobs. | | Of course the studio (usually) has final approval; | they're paying for the show. But that doesn't mean the | showrunner isn't the boss. It just means that...like | every CEO...they still answer to the person with the | piggy bank. | | Also, showrunners aren't as common as you seem to think | they are. You might be mixing up showrunners with | producers? Producers are as common as weeds. Frequently, | writers and cast members are given producing | responsibilities and credits for an episode or two, as | are many investors, and generally anyone who handles a | task that is in any way related to production and has the | leverage to demand some sort of credit. | ghaff wrote: | Very few people don't operate under constraints. Even an | executive producer (= showrunner) who owns their own | production company needs to sell their projects to | clients though there are presumably more options these | days and people supplying money do expect some say in the | final product most of the time. | | But that's true of Oscar winning directors and senior | partners at architectural firms. It's even true of the | studio boss if he's had a string of flops. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-02-20 23:00 UTC)