Victorian filmmakers Sarah Shaw and Veronica Gleeson participated in Showrunner: TV Drama Series Exchange, organised by the global media consultancy MediaXchange in Los Angeles in March 2017. The Exchange is a schedule of meetings with showrunners, writers, producers, and network executives, aiming to take the skills of TV Drama Professionals to the next level and facilitate strong new connections across the worldwide television industry.
With a diverse background in production, Sarah is currently in production on Sunshine – a sports crime drama series to air on SBS this year. She’s also producing Eddie Martin’s feature documentary Have You Seen the Listers to premiere at MIFF 2017.
Seasoned writer/producer Veronica is currently the Head of Creative at Madman Production Company, where she oversees, develops and produces a slate of feature film, documentary and television projects.
Sarah and Veronica received support through Film Victoria’s Fiction Development program to attend the Exchange and shared their experience with us.
What were you aiming to gain from this experience? Did it match your expectations?
VG: It was an incredibly prescient opportunity to get my head around the American system, to meet and learn from artists and execs at the coalface. I was thrilled by the experience – it outstripped my expectations by a long shot. Showrunning makes sense of what had hitherto felt like my mongrel career – reconciling the vision and pragmatism in one demanding and exhilarating writing, developing and producing gig.
SS: It was an unparalleled opportunity to get direct access to US showrunners, writers, producers and network/cable executives to learn about the various US TV drama models from both a creative and managerial perspective – particulary the development process of multi-season shows. It's given me a much stronger understanding of the US network, cable and streaming models and the unique showrunner culture in protecting the creative vision of a show.
What are the key differences between US and Australian writers’ room and drama development processes?
VG: The American system runs on volume and appetite. There are hundreds of shows on air and thousands in development. They have year-round budget with all the incentives, parameters and hierarchies that accompany the system. By contrast Australia is a much smaller playing field. It can be challenging to even get inside a room, but small can be beautiful – indeed critical, for making a particular kind of show. And there’s a global horizon opening up for homebrewed television concepts that can tap a universal reach.
SS: Size! Most of the shows and showrunners we were exposed to were long running, multi-season shows. So having up to 15 heads in a writers room was often the norm. It was also interesting to learn how much content was created from existing IP (often owned by the studio) and the role of the studio in the US TV market.
In what way did this experience give momentum to the project that you travelled with?
VG: Being able to connect and have meaningful conversations with key decision makers on specific projects has enabled invaluable leaps. Creative ambition is heartily welcomed and that in itself is emboldening. It sharpens the focus, and further fuels the fire.
SS: Thanks to MediaXchange, we’re now continuing a project-specific dialogue following introductions made during the program.
Can you share a networking, meeting or experience from the program that stands out for you?
VG: We all learned something from everyone – not least from each other. Showrunner Craig Wright is an indelible genius. His advice was to stay outside of systems and preserve our idiosyncrasies – or as he put it, ‘not get sucked into the homogenizing vortex of conventional television’. Then he told us to go home. We all kind of hoped he meant that spiritually.
Were women well represented among the program participants?
VG: There were equal numbers of women and men participating in the showrunner program, along with plenty of female executives. There are still far fewer women running and directing shows. But when you hear what executives are hunting for, it’s hard not to hope for a seismic shift – and not just for women. Television doesn’t cut through if it doesn’t have something relevant, strong and compelling – something culturally and artistically noisy. There was broad acknowledgement that fostering a diversity of high calibre storytellers is just a good, intelligent move.
SS: As a female-strong group of participants, there was much discussion about the underrepresentation of the female voice. Lunch with showrunners Dawn York and Nicole Prestwich (Amazon’s Z: The Beginning of Everything) was a highlight in terms of an alternative perspective on the industry.