jujubee (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jujubee) wrote,@ 2007-10-17 00:51:00 |
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My interview with Rob Thomas
So, I'm taking this class this semester called writing for TV, and we have to do interviews. We were told that it needs to be someone that has something to do with media and it's more fun if you get someone famous. So I emailedspectralbovine (thank you again, by the way) to see if he could find out if Rob Thomas was at all willing. And he was.
How did you get your start in TV? I know you started in young adult fiction, so how did that transition into TV?
That is an extraordinarily strange story. When I was writing my first novel, Rat Saw God, I was working for Channel 1, which is an LA based news show that is beamed directly into high school classrooms across the country. And one of my jobs for Channel 1 was to run what was called “Student Produced Week” where we would fly in 15 students from across the country to take over the show for a week. One of my duties was to solicit and then sort through audition tapes from kids. Of the 2000 entries or so that we got that year, only one of them came directly to me, like, to Rob Thomas. And it was from the then president of CBS Television, Jeff Sagansky, recommending his niece for a position. I didn’t actually pick who made it in, I just sort of weeded down the 2000 tapes into the final hundred, but this particular niece of Jeff Sagansky did get a position on the show. So a year later after I’d finished my first novel and Simon and Schuster had bought it, I sent a letter to Jeff Sagansky saying, “Hey, you may remember writing me about your niece. Gosh, she was great, we loved having her. Would you mind taking a look at this young adult novel I wrote.” Actually, that’s not even what I wrote. What I wrote was, “I’m interested in writing for television. Can you pass along this manuscript to any shows you guys have involving teen characters?” And I really didn’t, you know... Even at the time, though I knew nothing about the TV business, I assumed this was a hundred to one shot he ever even saw it. I just sort of figured it would get thrown in some pile of unsolicited material. And then a year later I heard from him, sort of out of the blue, and he said that he had read my novel and asked me if I had written any screenplays. I was, first of all, in shock that I had gotten the call, then very embarrassed that I had never written a screenplay, though I was asking to pass along my manuscript to television shows. He said two things at that time. One, that he had just done Legends of the Fall with Ed Zwick, which is one of the executive producers of My So Called Life, and that if their show got picked back up that he would recommend me for it, which would have been great, so I spent that year praying that My So Called Life got a second season, which it did not. And then he said, “If you do write a screenplay, let me see it.” And, so, probably a year after that, I’d written a romantic comedy screenplay for a guy who’s a USC film school graduate, living in Austin, where I was writing my books, and he read my first novel and asked me to write this screenplay for $1000 for a movie that he was going to try to make for $100,000. And he needed very few characters and very few locations. And I wrote this romantic comedy called Fortune Cookie and when I finished it, even though I had already sold it, I sent it to Jeff Sagansky, and this time I heard from him in about two days. And he said come up to New York and pitch me romantic comedy ideas for television. And so I flew to New York and pitched several ideas, one of which was Cupid and in the meantime, he passed my screenplay to the producers of Dawson’s Creek and I ended up being the first person they hired on that show. So that’s the crazy way I got my first job in television.
Basically, it was: You used whatever connections you’ve got.
Yeah, so, that was barely a connection. But, yeah, I used a connection I didn’t have.
But, basically, you’re telling me that the only way you can really get into TV is if you have some -- if you can make up some sort of connection.
Oh, no. I’m not telling you that at all. I mean, there’s a much more normal route to go. I would say that my story is the exception to the rule rather than the rule. The more likely scenario is the come out here and initially try to hook on with a show as an unpaid intern and then try to get a position as a production assistant. Try to get onto a writer’s desk, either serving as a showrunner’s assistant or a writer’s assistant on a show. And doing that you get a lot of... You get a lot of things. You get a lot of experience, see how scripts are done, see how the business works. And you meet a lot of writers who are willing to read your work and pass along to your agent and stuff -- Ah, pass along to their agents. I would say that’s the more usual way of getting a job in television writing. I mean, and then there are people who come and just, you know, write really good spec scripts and start sending them to agents until they get an agent who will represent them.
You mentioned Cupid. What’s the remake going to be like?
Ah, it will be a lot like the original. I’m not... Ah, I mean, I’ll completely rewrite the pilot. But the premise will be the same. The idea will be the same. The reason they want me to redo it is because they, the network, likes how the show works. The idea that this guy is... claims to be the banished god Cupid, sent to earth to relearn his craft, would be really the cornerstone of the new show as well. And the actors will change and the scenes and stories will change, but the way the show is set up will look quite a bit like the original.
Will it still be set it Chicago?
Doubtful. I mean, one of the things that we... A primary reason I want to set it in LA, or at least film it in LA, is, uh, is it’s more difficult to get top name guest stars to go anywhere if it’s not LA. And it’s a show that could really do well with guest stars if we keep it here.
Do you have any ideas about casting this time around?
I don’t.
Yeah, it’s early.
Yeah, it is. It’s really early. All they’ve done right now is just order a pilot script, so, you know, over the last decade I’ve learned not to put too much emotional investment in any pilot script order. You know, it will just break your heart.
And what about your other pilot?
The other pilot is a remake of a New Zealand show called Outrageous Fortune which is sort of about a family of lower middle class criminal. It plays as a pretty funny family drama. It’s, uh... In the first episode, the dad gets sent away for five years and the mom decides the family is going to try to go straight. And that proves to be a pretty difficult mission for this family. The thing that I’m really excited about is it’s gonna have the best role for a 50-year-old actress written this year. For one thing there’s so few, but this is really phenomenal role, so hopefully we can attract a big star for that.
Yeah, that’d be great.
Yeah.
And are you thinking of anyone in particular?
Oh, you know, Rene Russo, Ellen Barkin, Susan Sarandon, any of these people would be high on my list.
Ok, so shifting gears a bit, everyone right now is talking about the potential writer’s strike. Do you think it’s going to happen and how do you think it would affect TV this season?
I think it will happen, and I’m not sure anyone knows how it will affect TV. It depends on how long the strike lasts. You know, if the strike is a couple of weeks, no one will even feel it. If it’s three months it means, look for a lot of repeat and reality on television.
Do you think that there’s any way that they would allow it to go that long?
Um... Yeah, I mean, we are far far far apart on the issues. It could be pretty contentious.
And what exactly are the issues? I know it has stuff to do with the online rights and stuff.
Yeah, you know, their -- the studios’ current position is that writers would not receive any residuals for any new media, ala iTunes and downloadable content. And they want to rollback our already miniscule DVD residuals. And then there are other issues like bringing reality under the Writers Guild tent, which, strange as it sounds is actually good for writers because people are certainly writing reality shows and constructing stories on those and yet they get paid so much less than we do, which makes those shows cheaper and it also makes it easy for networks to overwork and underpay those people.
Ok, so now let’s move on to Veronica Mars.
Sure.
So what’s the latest on the movie?
Um, there is no latest, really. You know, the truth is I... I probably regret mentioning that I would like to write a feature screenplay. Not so much because I’ve lost any desire to do it or any energy in that direction, but I get asked continually and it always makes me feel bad that I’m not working on it, but I’m not working on it because right now I have to sort of take paid jobs. And I hope to find the time, and, you know, more importantly, I mean I would find the time, it’s finding someone interested in bankrolling a Veronica Mars movie. That would really spur me into action.
So is it the same story on the comic?
Ah, yeah.
So if the movie doesn’t happen, do you hope that you can work with the rest of the cast at some point in time again?
Oh, yeah, I would love to, you know particularly if Cupid goes to TV, I’m sure you’d see most of the Veronica Mars regulars appear at some point on that show. And if the New Zealand show goes, I’m sure you’ll see Francis Capra pretty early. [Laughs] I think I could find space for him in that show. Um, but, uh, yeah, no, I love those guys. In fact I just bumped into... I just saw a couple of them a couple of nights ago. Jason Dohring and Ryan Hansen were at the premiere of a movie that our Veronica Mars director of photography shot, so, I got to see them the other night. And then Ryan was in a TV pilot that we filmed here at my house with sorta my own cash this summer, that we’re going to start kicking out in the next couple weeks, that I’m really really excited about.
What’s that one?
Uh, it’s called Party Down. It’s a half hour comedy really kind of... How do I want to put it. Uh, kinda of sad isn’t quite the word. It’s a comedy with a lot of pathos in it. And it’s, uh, it’s about cater waiters in Los Angeles. If The Office is a show about people who have given themselves over completely to the rat race, this is a show about people who have descended off the rat race well into their mid-thirties, past the point that perhaps they should have joined it. So people who came out to make it as writers, actors, musicians, comedians, and find themselves in their mid-thirties still holding down temp jobs, you know, waiting for their big break. So the notion is each episode is a different catered event where they are working. And there are several Veronica Mars people in Party Down. Ken Marino, who played Vinnie Van Lowe is one of the leads in it. And, uh, and Jane Lynch, from all, who is in all those Christopher Guest movies who played Mrs. Donaldson, the student council sponsor in an episode in season one, is in it. And then Adam Scott, who played the teacher who... Veronica’s favorite teacher who had the affair with the student, is really kind of the lead in it. And then James Jordan who played Lucky and then Tim Foil is in it. Enrico is not... uh, Rico Colantoni, whose not-- wouldn’t be a regular in the series, but has a huge guest starring role in which he does full on nudity [laughter] is in it. And Paula Marshall plays his wife in it. So, yeah, we had quite a few Veronica Mars people in it. It’s really, I’m really proud of that, so I have high hopes that we sell it, you know, ideally, you know Showtime would be great, HBO would be great.
So it’s mostly a Showtime and HBO type show?
It is, though, uh, we’ve cut down a little three minute trailer that makes it look a little brighter than the actual show that we may show to ABC, NBC. I mean certainly if somebody asked us if we’d be interested in the slot between 30 Rock and The Office, I’m sure we could modify our vision a little bit. [Giggles]
With season three, the show changed in a lot of ways. One of the things that I really noticed was that a lot of the secondary characters weren’t getting as much play. Was that just scheduling issues, or... What was that about?
No, I don’t think it was scheduling issues, I think, just owed to different directions we wanted to go. I guess we’d have to get into specifics.
Well, like Wallace. Wallace had only like two or three episodes where he really played a big part.
Yeah. It wasn’t... It was less a mindset about going away from Wallace and it... I dunno. We became very fond of writing for Tina Majorino, and sort of that friendship started to occupy equal footing with Wallace over the course of the season. And then Francis was ill for a good part of the season, so we didn’t get to use him as much as we would have otherwise. In fact he got... A couple of episodes suffered because he had to be written out last minute. But you know, I don’t think... While I think certain non-Veronica characters got less play, I mean I think it... How do I want to put this? Veronica Mars was sort of designed, you know... How do I want to put this? The initial design was for a one year show really. You know, I populated the series with the people who would play a major role in the mystery of season one. And then it creates this odd dynamic as you go into new seasons of how do you... It gets silly if you keep wrapping up your series regulars in a huge murder mystery. Like, how many times can, you know, Logan still be a suspect in said crime. And so I keep the same cast going into season two, but I have a new mystery so I can’t attach everyone to it or I think it will look silly if the same six people are all wrapped up in the mystery, and so you do have new characters come in, both season two and season three, who do take some of their space away from them.
I read in an interview you gave with Kristin from E! that the network got much more involved in season three and started changing things. Other than taking away the season long mystery, what were certain... Anything in particular that they came in and just said, “This has to go”?
No, I think... The network didn’t bully us into doing anything we didn’t want to do. I can’t remember what I told Kristin specifically. We did get new creative execs on our show in season three who were much more involved. Um, they were much more involved in the macro of the show, whereas previous administrations had been a little more intent on the micro. But, you know, we were never in that three year run, we were never in the situation where I was having to go into battle on a weekly basis to get the show on that I wanted to do. In season three, you know, it felt like people were watching us more closely, but it wasn’t like I was losing creative battles to the network.
This might just be the bitter fan in me, but do you feel like the network could’ve done more promotion and stuff like that to get more viewers aware of the show?
Well, yeah, absolutely. If I have a complaint about the network it’s that, because creatively they treated me and the show very well, you know, particularly, you know, a show that was not getting the ratings they would’ve liked. Generally in those situations they try to fix the show. And they really didn’t ever try to fix our show. So, um, yeah, any complaints I would’ve had had to do with marketing and promotion, though I felt as though we were in the same boat as most of their shows. I mean, certainly in season three, you know, the only things that got pressed were Top Model and, uh, Gilmore Girls. Everything else they did sort of, you know, it wasn’t like Smallville was getting more than we were or Supernatural or whatever, so I didn’t think we were being singled out for, you know, lack of promotional dollars, but they just decided their strategy would be to promote the network and promote their two biggest shows and then everyone else kinda had to fend for themselves. Certainly I would’ve loved more promotion. The other thing that’s tough is I felt like Veronica Mars is a show for people who weren’t otherwise watching the CW, so they could do all the promotion they wanted on their network and it wasn’t really reaching our audience.
Though they could’ve put something on maybe CBS or something like that?
Yeah.
If you had been able to keep doing the show how would you have ended it and were you satisfied with the ending it got?
Um, you know, I don’t know how I would’ve ended it. I guess because the... I honestly don’t know. I do know this. I honestly would’ve preferred... You know, the notion of going... taking Veronica to the FBI and jumping forward in time was a desperation move on part. Because I knew we were dead in the water as is. So I was trying to pitch the network a show they already wanted me to do with other characters. And, they love Kristen and really wanted to keep her on the network. And, so, my first preference would’ve been to come back and have Veronica season four be her sophomore year at Hearst. And we felt like we had set up some really interesting story telling for season four. She was going to go and take that FBI internship then have a big case follow her home from the East coast. Logan was going to get entangled in that Russian mob kid’s family in a pretty big way. And we were really, the whole writing staff was pretty psyched for where we were taking it for next year. So it was... we were all, I mean we were bummed on a whole lot of levels but one of them was that we were really excited about where season four was going.
Speaking of Logan, I am a shipper, but not one of the militant ones. I didn’t think the show lived and died according to their relationship. But how is it as a showrunner to know that there was such a huge fanbase that really did feel that way?
You know, it was tough in the sense that I always felt like I was damned if I do and damned if I don’t. The thing about the two of them, you know, the thing we picked up on in season one, because... Whatever their status was romantically, I knew we had to play them on screen together, because they’re just so good. I mean, you know, Keith and Veronica and Logan and Veronica were my favorite moments of the show and I liked the show when they were, when Veronica and Logan were not together... I liked the two of them when they weren’t together and I liked the two of them when they were together. So, I just wanted to play a rocky road for them. It was tough sometimes because I would have the feeling that, and this went across the board for Veronica, but the people wanted her issues sorted out and fixed now. Which is not something I wanted to do midway through season three. I couldn’t give Veronica a happy healthy relationship. You know, what’s she going to do, get married? It was the fodder for interesting drama for me, and sort of the same thing was true of her personality. The desire to warm her up that I didn’t want to go to. So, you know, it got to point where largely I felt whatever choice I made I was going to disappoint a portion of the fanbase and it was just go with the one that entertained me the most.
And then he had a meeting so we had to go. It was a very pleasant experience despite the fact that I'm pretty sure I was completely horrible. And that I now have to figure out how to get 1:30 out of this for class. I don't think I can fit a single answer into 1:30.
So, I'm taking this class this semester called writing for TV, and we have to do interviews. We were told that it needs to be someone that has something to do with media and it's more fun if you get someone famous. So I emailed
spectralbovine (thank you again, by the way) to see if he could find out if Rob Thomas was at all willing. And he was. How did you get your start in TV? I know you started in young adult fiction, so how did that transition into TV?
That is an extraordinarily strange story. When I was writing my first novel, Rat Saw God, I was working for Channel 1, which is an LA based news show that is beamed directly into high school classrooms across the country. And one of my jobs for Channel 1 was to run what was called “Student Produced Week” where we would fly in 15 students from across the country to take over the show for a week. One of my duties was to solicit and then sort through audition tapes from kids. Of the 2000 entries or so that we got that year, only one of them came directly to me, like, to Rob Thomas. And it was from the then president of CBS Television, Jeff Sagansky, recommending his niece for a position. I didn’t actually pick who made it in, I just sort of weeded down the 2000 tapes into the final hundred, but this particular niece of Jeff Sagansky did get a position on the show. So a year later after I’d finished my first novel and Simon and Schuster had bought it, I sent a letter to Jeff Sagansky saying, “Hey, you may remember writing me about your niece. Gosh, she was great, we loved having her. Would you mind taking a look at this young adult novel I wrote.” Actually, that’s not even what I wrote. What I wrote was, “I’m interested in writing for television. Can you pass along this manuscript to any shows you guys have involving teen characters?” And I really didn’t, you know... Even at the time, though I knew nothing about the TV business, I assumed this was a hundred to one shot he ever even saw it. I just sort of figured it would get thrown in some pile of unsolicited material. And then a year later I heard from him, sort of out of the blue, and he said that he had read my novel and asked me if I had written any screenplays. I was, first of all, in shock that I had gotten the call, then very embarrassed that I had never written a screenplay, though I was asking to pass along my manuscript to television shows. He said two things at that time. One, that he had just done Legends of the Fall with Ed Zwick, which is one of the executive producers of My So Called Life, and that if their show got picked back up that he would recommend me for it, which would have been great, so I spent that year praying that My So Called Life got a second season, which it did not. And then he said, “If you do write a screenplay, let me see it.” And, so, probably a year after that, I’d written a romantic comedy screenplay for a guy who’s a USC film school graduate, living in Austin, where I was writing my books, and he read my first novel and asked me to write this screenplay for $1000 for a movie that he was going to try to make for $100,000. And he needed very few characters and very few locations. And I wrote this romantic comedy called Fortune Cookie and when I finished it, even though I had already sold it, I sent it to Jeff Sagansky, and this time I heard from him in about two days. And he said come up to New York and pitch me romantic comedy ideas for television. And so I flew to New York and pitched several ideas, one of which was Cupid and in the meantime, he passed my screenplay to the producers of Dawson’s Creek and I ended up being the first person they hired on that show. So that’s the crazy way I got my first job in television.
Basically, it was: You used whatever connections you’ve got.
Yeah, so, that was barely a connection. But, yeah, I used a connection I didn’t have.
But, basically, you’re telling me that the only way you can really get into TV is if you have some -- if you can make up some sort of connection.
Oh, no. I’m not telling you that at all. I mean, there’s a much more normal route to go. I would say that my story is the exception to the rule rather than the rule. The more likely scenario is the come out here and initially try to hook on with a show as an unpaid intern and then try to get a position as a production assistant. Try to get onto a writer’s desk, either serving as a showrunner’s assistant or a writer’s assistant on a show. And doing that you get a lot of... You get a lot of things. You get a lot of experience, see how scripts are done, see how the business works. And you meet a lot of writers who are willing to read your work and pass along to your agent and stuff -- Ah, pass along to their agents. I would say that’s the more usual way of getting a job in television writing. I mean, and then there are people who come and just, you know, write really good spec scripts and start sending them to agents until they get an agent who will represent them.
You mentioned Cupid. What’s the remake going to be like?
Ah, it will be a lot like the original. I’m not... Ah, I mean, I’ll completely rewrite the pilot. But the premise will be the same. The idea will be the same. The reason they want me to redo it is because they, the network, likes how the show works. The idea that this guy is... claims to be the banished god Cupid, sent to earth to relearn his craft, would be really the cornerstone of the new show as well. And the actors will change and the scenes and stories will change, but the way the show is set up will look quite a bit like the original.
Will it still be set it Chicago?
Doubtful. I mean, one of the things that we... A primary reason I want to set it in LA, or at least film it in LA, is, uh, is it’s more difficult to get top name guest stars to go anywhere if it’s not LA. And it’s a show that could really do well with guest stars if we keep it here.
Do you have any ideas about casting this time around?
I don’t.
Yeah, it’s early.
Yeah, it is. It’s really early. All they’ve done right now is just order a pilot script, so, you know, over the last decade I’ve learned not to put too much emotional investment in any pilot script order. You know, it will just break your heart.
And what about your other pilot?
The other pilot is a remake of a New Zealand show called Outrageous Fortune which is sort of about a family of lower middle class criminal. It plays as a pretty funny family drama. It’s, uh... In the first episode, the dad gets sent away for five years and the mom decides the family is going to try to go straight. And that proves to be a pretty difficult mission for this family. The thing that I’m really excited about is it’s gonna have the best role for a 50-year-old actress written this year. For one thing there’s so few, but this is really phenomenal role, so hopefully we can attract a big star for that.
Yeah, that’d be great.
Yeah.
And are you thinking of anyone in particular?
Oh, you know, Rene Russo, Ellen Barkin, Susan Sarandon, any of these people would be high on my list.
Ok, so shifting gears a bit, everyone right now is talking about the potential writer’s strike. Do you think it’s going to happen and how do you think it would affect TV this season?
I think it will happen, and I’m not sure anyone knows how it will affect TV. It depends on how long the strike lasts. You know, if the strike is a couple of weeks, no one will even feel it. If it’s three months it means, look for a lot of repeat and reality on television.
Do you think that there’s any way that they would allow it to go that long?
Um... Yeah, I mean, we are far far far apart on the issues. It could be pretty contentious.
And what exactly are the issues? I know it has stuff to do with the online rights and stuff.
Yeah, you know, their -- the studios’ current position is that writers would not receive any residuals for any new media, ala iTunes and downloadable content. And they want to rollback our already miniscule DVD residuals. And then there are other issues like bringing reality under the Writers Guild tent, which, strange as it sounds is actually good for writers because people are certainly writing reality shows and constructing stories on those and yet they get paid so much less than we do, which makes those shows cheaper and it also makes it easy for networks to overwork and underpay those people.
Ok, so now let’s move on to Veronica Mars.
Sure.
So what’s the latest on the movie?
Um, there is no latest, really. You know, the truth is I... I probably regret mentioning that I would like to write a feature screenplay. Not so much because I’ve lost any desire to do it or any energy in that direction, but I get asked continually and it always makes me feel bad that I’m not working on it, but I’m not working on it because right now I have to sort of take paid jobs. And I hope to find the time, and, you know, more importantly, I mean I would find the time, it’s finding someone interested in bankrolling a Veronica Mars movie. That would really spur me into action.
So is it the same story on the comic?
Ah, yeah.
So if the movie doesn’t happen, do you hope that you can work with the rest of the cast at some point in time again?
Oh, yeah, I would love to, you know particularly if Cupid goes to TV, I’m sure you’d see most of the Veronica Mars regulars appear at some point on that show. And if the New Zealand show goes, I’m sure you’ll see Francis Capra pretty early. [Laughs] I think I could find space for him in that show. Um, but, uh, yeah, no, I love those guys. In fact I just bumped into... I just saw a couple of them a couple of nights ago. Jason Dohring and Ryan Hansen were at the premiere of a movie that our Veronica Mars director of photography shot, so, I got to see them the other night. And then Ryan was in a TV pilot that we filmed here at my house with sorta my own cash this summer, that we’re going to start kicking out in the next couple weeks, that I’m really really excited about.
What’s that one?
Uh, it’s called Party Down. It’s a half hour comedy really kind of... How do I want to put it. Uh, kinda of sad isn’t quite the word. It’s a comedy with a lot of pathos in it. And it’s, uh, it’s about cater waiters in Los Angeles. If The Office is a show about people who have given themselves over completely to the rat race, this is a show about people who have descended off the rat race well into their mid-thirties, past the point that perhaps they should have joined it. So people who came out to make it as writers, actors, musicians, comedians, and find themselves in their mid-thirties still holding down temp jobs, you know, waiting for their big break. So the notion is each episode is a different catered event where they are working. And there are several Veronica Mars people in Party Down. Ken Marino, who played Vinnie Van Lowe is one of the leads in it. And, uh, and Jane Lynch, from all, who is in all those Christopher Guest movies who played Mrs. Donaldson, the student council sponsor in an episode in season one, is in it. And then Adam Scott, who played the teacher who... Veronica’s favorite teacher who had the affair with the student, is really kind of the lead in it. And then James Jordan who played Lucky and then Tim Foil is in it. Enrico is not... uh, Rico Colantoni, whose not-- wouldn’t be a regular in the series, but has a huge guest starring role in which he does full on nudity [laughter] is in it. And Paula Marshall plays his wife in it. So, yeah, we had quite a few Veronica Mars people in it. It’s really, I’m really proud of that, so I have high hopes that we sell it, you know, ideally, you know Showtime would be great, HBO would be great.
So it’s mostly a Showtime and HBO type show?
It is, though, uh, we’ve cut down a little three minute trailer that makes it look a little brighter than the actual show that we may show to ABC, NBC. I mean certainly if somebody asked us if we’d be interested in the slot between 30 Rock and The Office, I’m sure we could modify our vision a little bit. [Giggles]
With season three, the show changed in a lot of ways. One of the things that I really noticed was that a lot of the secondary characters weren’t getting as much play. Was that just scheduling issues, or... What was that about?
No, I don’t think it was scheduling issues, I think, just owed to different directions we wanted to go. I guess we’d have to get into specifics.
Well, like Wallace. Wallace had only like two or three episodes where he really played a big part.
Yeah. It wasn’t... It was less a mindset about going away from Wallace and it... I dunno. We became very fond of writing for Tina Majorino, and sort of that friendship started to occupy equal footing with Wallace over the course of the season. And then Francis was ill for a good part of the season, so we didn’t get to use him as much as we would have otherwise. In fact he got... A couple of episodes suffered because he had to be written out last minute. But you know, I don’t think... While I think certain non-Veronica characters got less play, I mean I think it... How do I want to put this? Veronica Mars was sort of designed, you know... How do I want to put this? The initial design was for a one year show really. You know, I populated the series with the people who would play a major role in the mystery of season one. And then it creates this odd dynamic as you go into new seasons of how do you... It gets silly if you keep wrapping up your series regulars in a huge murder mystery. Like, how many times can, you know, Logan still be a suspect in said crime. And so I keep the same cast going into season two, but I have a new mystery so I can’t attach everyone to it or I think it will look silly if the same six people are all wrapped up in the mystery, and so you do have new characters come in, both season two and season three, who do take some of their space away from them.
I read in an interview you gave with Kristin from E! that the network got much more involved in season three and started changing things. Other than taking away the season long mystery, what were certain... Anything in particular that they came in and just said, “This has to go”?
No, I think... The network didn’t bully us into doing anything we didn’t want to do. I can’t remember what I told Kristin specifically. We did get new creative execs on our show in season three who were much more involved. Um, they were much more involved in the macro of the show, whereas previous administrations had been a little more intent on the micro. But, you know, we were never in that three year run, we were never in the situation where I was having to go into battle on a weekly basis to get the show on that I wanted to do. In season three, you know, it felt like people were watching us more closely, but it wasn’t like I was losing creative battles to the network.
This might just be the bitter fan in me, but do you feel like the network could’ve done more promotion and stuff like that to get more viewers aware of the show?
Well, yeah, absolutely. If I have a complaint about the network it’s that, because creatively they treated me and the show very well, you know, particularly, you know, a show that was not getting the ratings they would’ve liked. Generally in those situations they try to fix the show. And they really didn’t ever try to fix our show. So, um, yeah, any complaints I would’ve had had to do with marketing and promotion, though I felt as though we were in the same boat as most of their shows. I mean, certainly in season three, you know, the only things that got pressed were Top Model and, uh, Gilmore Girls. Everything else they did sort of, you know, it wasn’t like Smallville was getting more than we were or Supernatural or whatever, so I didn’t think we were being singled out for, you know, lack of promotional dollars, but they just decided their strategy would be to promote the network and promote their two biggest shows and then everyone else kinda had to fend for themselves. Certainly I would’ve loved more promotion. The other thing that’s tough is I felt like Veronica Mars is a show for people who weren’t otherwise watching the CW, so they could do all the promotion they wanted on their network and it wasn’t really reaching our audience.
Though they could’ve put something on maybe CBS or something like that?
Yeah.
If you had been able to keep doing the show how would you have ended it and were you satisfied with the ending it got?
Um, you know, I don’t know how I would’ve ended it. I guess because the... I honestly don’t know. I do know this. I honestly would’ve preferred... You know, the notion of going... taking Veronica to the FBI and jumping forward in time was a desperation move on part. Because I knew we were dead in the water as is. So I was trying to pitch the network a show they already wanted me to do with other characters. And, they love Kristen and really wanted to keep her on the network. And, so, my first preference would’ve been to come back and have Veronica season four be her sophomore year at Hearst. And we felt like we had set up some really interesting story telling for season four. She was going to go and take that FBI internship then have a big case follow her home from the East coast. Logan was going to get entangled in that Russian mob kid’s family in a pretty big way. And we were really, the whole writing staff was pretty psyched for where we were taking it for next year. So it was... we were all, I mean we were bummed on a whole lot of levels but one of them was that we were really excited about where season four was going.
Speaking of Logan, I am a shipper, but not one of the militant ones. I didn’t think the show lived and died according to their relationship. But how is it as a showrunner to know that there was such a huge fanbase that really did feel that way?
You know, it was tough in the sense that I always felt like I was damned if I do and damned if I don’t. The thing about the two of them, you know, the thing we picked up on in season one, because... Whatever their status was romantically, I knew we had to play them on screen together, because they’re just so good. I mean, you know, Keith and Veronica and Logan and Veronica were my favorite moments of the show and I liked the show when they were, when Veronica and Logan were not together... I liked the two of them when they weren’t together and I liked the two of them when they were together. So, I just wanted to play a rocky road for them. It was tough sometimes because I would have the feeling that, and this went across the board for Veronica, but the people wanted her issues sorted out and fixed now. Which is not something I wanted to do midway through season three. I couldn’t give Veronica a happy healthy relationship. You know, what’s she going to do, get married? It was the fodder for interesting drama for me, and sort of the same thing was true of her personality. The desire to warm her up that I didn’t want to go to. So, you know, it got to point where largely I felt whatever choice I made I was going to disappoint a portion of the fanbase and it was just go with the one that entertained me the most.
And then he had a meeting so we had to go. It was a very pleasant experience despite the fact that I'm pretty sure I was completely horrible. And that I now have to figure out how to get 1:30 out of this for class. I don't think I can fit a single answer into 1:30.
