Leading writers of the top shows on television — from “Hacks” to “Severance” to “The Pitt” — gathered to share insights into their craft, discuss challenges and reveal how they learned from their casts to drop their egos at TheWrap’s inaugural Showrunners and Creators of Emmy Season Breakfast, an invite-only event at The Maybourne Beverly Hills on Wednesday.
Held in conjunction with the company’s launch of its first annual Showrunners and Creators List celebrating 30 of today’s top TV creatives, the event’s centerpiece was a panel discussion with 18 showrunners in attendance as each reflected on early career missteps and successes, what’s next for their acclaimed, Emmys-contending work and what it’s like to attract some of the most in-demand Hollywood talent — from Colin Farrell on “The Penguin” to Sterling K. Brown on “Paradise” to Kathy Bates on “Matlock” — to bring their words to life.
Led by moderator Steve Pond, TheWrap’s Executive Editor for Awards, panelists agreed that their casts ultimately shape the final product. Being a showrunner means being nimble and willing to shift on a dime, they said, and many regularly lean on their actors to create a shared vision. “Abbott Elementary” co-showrunner Patrick Schumacker recalled “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking” mastermind Bill Lawrence gave him advice he still abides by: Write to your cast and be “ego-less” about everything.
“They’re going to bring some stuff that maybe you didn’t expect, and roll with that and really lean into who they are as performers, even if it doesn’t match up with your original vision,” Schumacker said.
“Severance” creator and executive producer Dan Erickson could relate — Zach Cherry’s audition for the Apple TV+ series did just that. Erickson said when the comedian read for Dylan, one of Lumon’s severed employees whose innie sardonically gets through the work day while his outtie manages family tensions at home, he completely changed how he perceived the character he created.
“I initially envisioned him as this really kind of twitchy, almost like cocaine energy kind of guy who’s all over the place,” the creator said. “And then this guy Zach Cherry comes in, who is the most even-keel human being mathematically that could exist, and hearing the stream of consciousness dialogue coming out of his mouth was suddenly the funniest thing I’d ever heard in my life.”
“The Penguin” showrunner Lauren LeFranc said she never pictured Farrell for Oz Cobb when writing the Gotham-set DC Comics limited series, but because of the unexpected pathos he brought to the role, it freed her up as a writer to delve into the mobster’s complexities. She also remembered Cristin Milioti reading her words as Sofia Falcone aloud for the first time in her audition as “thrilling.”
“You just also want to up your game, and you want to do right by that actor,” LeFranc reflected. “When you have an actor like that, come in ready to play and ready to dig in emotionally. It just makes you want to write more and more for them.”
“Hacks” creator Lucia Aniello agreed that when you are given a cast that delivers the way hers does, it lessens the load for the showrunner. She teased of the upcoming Season 4 finale of “Hacks,” which won the Best Comedy Series Emmy last year, that she scrapped almost all the dialogue and jokes in one emotional sequence with Jean Smart, letting her Deborah Vance show, not tell.
“What she can do with so little did so much more than any words we could have ever written,” Aniello said of Emmy winner Smart.
Wednesday’s panel at TheWrap’s Showrunners and Creators of Emmy Season Breakfast also featured a few writers’ room reunions: Jen Statsky of “Hacks” and Eric Ledgin of “St. Denis Medical” wrote together for Jimmy Fallon when the host led “Late Night,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” head Yahlin Chang and R. Scott Gemmill of “The Pitt” wrote together on “ER.”
If one thing united all the showrunners at the Maybourne that morning, it was that rising through the ranks and becoming a showrunner does not happen overnight. Each of the 18 panelists shared their stories of breaking into the industry, from Marinis finding a 20-year home on “Grey’s Anatomy,” where she started as a writer’s assistant, to”Abbott Elementary” co-showrunners Halpern and Schumacker’s several failed pilots, series and screenplays before scoring with Quinta Brunson’s workplace comedy.
Participating panelists included:
- Aniello, Statsky and Paul W. Downs (“Hacks,” HBO Max);
- Neil Druckmann (“The Last of Us,” HBO Max); Erickson (“Severance,” Apple TV+);
- Dan Fogelman (“Paradise,” Hulu);
- Gemmill (“The Pitt,” CBS);
- Chang and Eric Tuchman (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” Hulu);
- Jennie Snyder Urman (“Matlock,” CBS);
- Ledgin and Justin Spitzer (“St. Denis Medical,” NBC);
- LeFranc (“The Penguin,” HBO Max);
- Meg Marinis (“Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC);
- Paul William Davies (“The Residence,” Netflix); and
- Schumacker and Justin Halpern (“Abbott Elementary,” ABC).
And while many look ahead to breaking new seasons around the bend — Marinis’ “Grey’s Anatomy” and Snyder Urman’s “Matlock” just started their writers’ rooms this week for seasons 22 and 2, respectively — one history-making streaming series, Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” is eyeing its end on May 27.
Watch the full panel in the video above.
Chang hinted that she’s already working on her next project — and she’s mining similar thematic territory.
“I’m really interested in authoritarian regimes, so things that we are developing now really are about that,” she said. “We’re in a very fragile moment, and I think we all need to decide whether or not we want to continue to live in a democracy and do something about it, which is sort of the message of the [final] season.”
TheWrap’s Showrunners and Creators of Emmy Season Breakfast was presented in partnership with Threads, our official social media partner, our studio partner Warner Bros. Television Group and Diageo, our spirits partner.
