Interview with Lee Goldberg and Matt Witten, part I
This is part one of the interview I led with US television writers Lee Goldberg (Monk) and Matt Witten (House, MD) on Friday at the Hotel Franziskushöhe in Lohr am Main where they were teaching for the third so-called German Writers' Room, a workshop initiated by media consulting agency Media X-change and German production company Action Concept and its founder Hermann Joha. The two writers did kindly allow me to disturb them during their lunch hour in order to ask the following questions. Due to its large extent the interview will be published in thematically arranged portions over the next few days.
Lee Goldberg
I am innocent. I did not do it. I was nowhere near the scene of the crime...
Serienjunkies
For a crime fiction writer not a bad way to start an interview! As television scholars point out, one of the reasons for the success and quality of American television shows is this system of writer-producers, creator-executive producers that you have established. First, do you agree with that? And second, do you think - as we lack this system in Germany - that we should adopt this more kind of an auteur approach?`
Matt Witten
I definitely think that having a head writer and a writing staff that are in charge is very important for the consistency of the show. They work together on the show. They make sure that the shows have a uniform good consistency. They are supervising the directors. They make sure that the directors keep the way the show looks consistent, that they don't change the script. I think it's very important. And I think, it's a key element of our success. You Germans lack the system, you probably know better then I do, but from what I hear there really isn't a system where there is a writing staff and a head writer, and they meet, and also that the head writer is in charge of the director, and is in charge of production. As I understand, you don't have that system. Basically, in the United States in a movie the director is in charge, in TV the writer is in charge. And I think, yes, it would be very beneficial for German TV to go to that kind of model.
Lee Goldberg
ProSieben and Sat.1 are no longer to accept any shows that don't have a writers' room, that don't adopt the showrunners system, because they recognze that one of the reasons that German shows are tanking is not because the way they look, it's because the way they're written. They just can't compare to American shows. It's not that we are better writers. But we have a system in place, that in essence guarantees the consistency of the shows, and the strength of what we call the franchise, the unique brand of a series. That's why our shows also translate so well to other countries, because of this clear franchise, and this clear identity. And also, each one of our stories has what we call a four-act structure.
Whether it's House, MD or Martial Law or any other series. Talking to the students here, writers from German television shows, there is no structure like that in German television. More importantly, now you have not a showrunner who is guaranteeing the consistency of the scripts. You have a bunch of freelancers who are working on multiple shows. You don't even have a Director of Photography who is guaranteeing the look! On American TV we have a Director of Photography who is on every episode. The episodic director of the show works for the showrunner, the writer. A director can not change the look of the show, can not change the style, can not TOUCH the script!
They come in, shoot their episodes, they deliver their director's cut three days later, and they're gone! The problem as I see it here from talking to many network executives and writer-producers is that the directors are given outrageous amounts of control. And they come on the show and do whatever they damn please, so from week to week the show has no stylistic or narrative consistency. The key to American television is sure like the key to American hamburger restaurants: I know that if I go to this McDonald's right here in Lohr, it's gonna taste just like this McDonald's next to my house in California. Consistency! I know what I will get from McDonald's. House, MD is House, MD every week. You watch some of these German shows and you don't know what the hell you gonna get. Plus, [the US shows] have a strong voice, a strong point of view, and a distinct look.
There are so many cop shows on American TV with teams of young operatives, that I can't recognize. But after watching just a few minutes, I can tell from the way it looks, it's CSI: Miami. I can tell in an instant if I am watching an Law and Order show. Monk has a unique look. There is not enough distinctiveness [on German TV]. And a showrunner helps create that sense of distinction. So, a long answer to your question: Yes, the showrunner system is key to the success of American television shows.
Matt Witten (laughing)
The short answer...
Lee Goldberg
Yes, that's the short answer.
Serienjunkies
Indeed, there is this uniqueness about shows created by writer-producers like David Kelley, Aaron Sorkin, Joss Whedon...
Lee Goldberg
And you know what? There is the same distinction from shows created by people you can't name. Every show has a showrunner, they may not be as popular or well-known as David E. Kelley or Aaron Sorkin, but there are showrunners that Matt and I know, you never heard of, I see their name on a show, and I know what I am gonna get. Every showrunner has a distinct voice.
Serienjunkies
Did you see some of this unique vision in the German writers you have worked with the last week?
Lee Goldberg
Every writer has a unique voice and a unique point of view. So I have to say, yes, they have distinct voices, distinct point of views, distinct ways of telling stories. There is one person on my group, he can not handle ambiguity, always trying to make it more clear, always trying to resolve every mystery. I have another member of my group who prefers more ambiguity. So if they are running shows, they should be very different.
Serienjunkies
How did you two became involved with Action Concept?
Lee Goldberg
I was brought over here to teach by Media X-change which is an organisation run by Katrina Wood, which brings together professional television writers, producers, studio executives, network executives from the United States and their counterparts in Europe, so they can learn from one another. And I have been associated with the Media X-change in a casual way for twelve, fifteen years, something like that. And Action Concept came to Katrina and asked her to put together a showrunner training programme, a way to do a writers' room. And initially, she invited me and a very famous, acclaimed writer named William Finkelstein (L.A. Law, Law and Order, NYPD Blue), and he and I did this back in July, and it has turned out, I was just so enamoured of Action Concept and what they do, and I liked Hermann Joha so much, and luckily, he liked me as much as I liked him, and we decided to work together on some things. And I've become a non-exclusive development consultant to Action Concept.
But I'm still teaching. So, we did this again in October with Bryce Zabel (The Crow, Lois & Clark; President of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences). What is unique about this writer's room thing is although each one of us is teaching the same principles, we have different attitudes about how to do that. So the students really get very different points of view on the same essential principles. And it makes it a fresh new experience every time. Actually, I wanted Matt since the beginning, but he has been unavaiable, he has been on shows all the time. So we got lucky this time. Hermann recognizes for his company to succeed he's got to make this seismic shift in his company, and he is really paving the way, and he's hoping by bringing all these writers and our experience together he's training the next generation of writer-producers who will form the writers' room of his new shows.
In tomorrow's edition, Lee Goldberg and Matt Witten will discuss some differences between German and American TV shows.
Christian Junklewitz veröffentlichte diese Meldung am Montag, 5.Februar 2007 09.12 Uhr