Tribute to Stephen Cannell

"I'm really not as smart as you guys think I am," Stephen J. Cannell said as he took the stage after sitting in the audience listening to two panels of colleagues and friends tell him how great he is in the tribute the Writers Guild put on for him on Thursday March 30, 2006 at the Writers Guild Theater. "In my head, I'm still the stupidest kid in the third grade who's never going to get out." Apparently, he failed third grade three times due to learning difficulties from his then undiagnosed dyslexia. Listening to him talk about overcoming such problems to create many of the shows I loved growing up into the writer I am now is inspiring. And if that isn't enough for one lifetime, he is the author of several books that have been a pure joy to read. In fact, I can say that Stephen J. Cannell and Michael Connelly are my two favorite novel writers and I've read every book both men have written.

So it was with great pleasure that I got to work this event and meet this man whose work I admire and would like to emulate. I did the press check-in which was great fun to do for this prestigious event. It was also an interesting experience. The panels were made up of many well-known celebrities who had worked with Stephen -- like Tom Selleck, Jeff Goldblum, and Michael Chikilis, to name a few. Hence, their pre-show reception in the lobby-makeshift green room was like a who's who of television and a coveted place to be for many people. Thus, it was interesting the number of people who came in claiming to be press and claiming to be subbing for someone on my list. No problem, I'm sure this happens a lot, except these days you have to be even more careful than you used to be. And I know from experience that people often claim to work for publications they don't or don't anymore, just to get the wider access into an event a press pass allows.

The amazing thing is when I'd ask them if they had an ID from the publication they were representing, most of them couldn't produce one. The only one who did present me with a business card was a guy from Variety whom Ken Droz, the event's public relations person, knew personally anyway. Still, he handed me his card without any fuss or argument, even though by then, Ken had come up to say hi to him, and I was no longer asking. Most of those who came without ID or business cards got in anyway, but Ken did talk to them at length before clearing them. Ken at least would know more who's who on that end of the business.

I wasn't doing the VIP check in, but since that was happening right next to me, a couple of people gave their names to me. One was Shane Conrad, who was there with his Dad, Robert Conrad, although they arrived separately. I told him that I remembered that ski rangers series he had starred in. He smiled and said it was really his Dad's series, pointing him out, because his Dad had executive-produced it.

Stephen Cannell also stopped by my podium, caught my eye and smiled at me. Like I said, I wasn't doing VIP check in, but it was great that press checkin came first and VIP entrance to the pre-party was right next to me because I got to chat with him for a moment. He's a very friendly and nice man. When I told him how much I liked his various series and his books -- that I've read them all -- he was all smiles and happy to hear what I had to say. He even put his arm around me and kept it there the whole time we talked, which of course, wasn't very long because he was the guest of honor at the pre-show VIP reception. I also told him that I used to work for his Cannell distribution arm when it was TeleVentures, under Pat Kenney, which was when I first moved to LA.

The M.C. for the evening was Leonard Hill who seems to have known Cannell from Universal. He told a story that Cannell drove a gold Mercedes (in the old days at least on Universal - not sure if he still drives it). The car's license plates were supposed to read: 'What If', but because of Stephen's dyslexia, he actually applied for and got 'Wahd If'. Then he impressed us with how much Cannell wrote -- over 40 different TV series, over 1500 hours of TV, and over 450 individual scripts as writer. (Sigh! That really puts me to shame. I'm not even sure I can imagine writing that much.)

The First Panel was The Early Years at Universal when Stephen was a writer for hire. The first show he wrote for was Dragnet and his hiring appears to be one of those fluke situations which happen so often in Hollywood -- they needed someone who could write a good script in a weekend. Stephen was recommended by Roy Huggins who had been his teacher and knew he could do it.

The person on stage who apparently knew Stephen the longest was Chuck Bowman (w/d/p, Greatest American Hero) - He met Stephen at KTLA in 1963 when Cannell was a gofer (now called 'PAs') for two female producers of a Game show called 7 Keys. Stephen was known as the 'rich kid from South Pasadena' because he grew up in a fairly well-off family -- the family business being furniture. Stephen had no family connections in showbiz.

Tanya Cannell (daughter, director) confirmed her dad was supposed to join his dad in the furniture business. She went on to tell us a more personal view of her Dad: that he would pitch stories to the kids when they were driving in the car somewhere. He would kind of test his story ideas out on them and they grew up with an intimate knowledge of the art of storytelling. (Which sounds to me to be an incredible, enviable learning opportunity.)

Kent McCord (actor, Adam-12) creditted getting the role in Adam-12 to Cannell because he appeared on Dragnet in a brilliant script the young Stephen wrote. He was one of those who later lobbied Jack Webb on behalf of getting Stephen to write on Adam-12. Jack Webb had a saying, "When 6 people tell you you're drunk, lie down." Taking his own advice, Webb hired Stephen who ended up writing 12 of the 24 episodes as Story Editor.

Jo Swerling, (producer, The Commish) talked about how famous the Cannell end credit logo of typing at the typewriter and ripping out the page to have it float away was around the world -- that people referred to him as 'the paper guy'. Leonard Hill then countered with a story about how Stephen on a trip to France was recognized and called 'script guy' there. The two of them couldn't understand the French, but they could hear 'script guy' clearly. Cannell also always talks about how he runs his rough drafts of his books by Jo Swerling for his feedback.

Charles Floyd Johnson (producer, The Rockford Files, Ba Ba Blacksheep, NCIS) described SC as magnanimous, practical and a mentor. He started out as the production coordinator and, then became a producer on Rockford Files. He called Stephen, "The Man for All Seasons."

Frank Lupo (writer/producer, The A-Team) told a story that when he was a young writer at Universal (claiming to be about ten years younger than Stephen), he used to take early morning walks. One day, he noticed that Cannell always arrived early… so he started walking nearby. Eventually Stephen asked him if he wanted coffee. He went into Stephen's office and Stephen put two scoops of freeze-dried coffee in a paper cup, two scoops of sugar, and two scoops of powered cream… then he held it under the hot water, and gave him that sludge to drink. The audience laughed and Tanya offered up that her dad still drank it that way. Ugh!

But Frank said he came over every morning to have that coffee because Stephen would talk about writing and he learned a lot about writing. That Stephen was generous that way and loved to impart knowledge and teach his writing passion, to anyone serious about listening. Okay, given that kind of opportunity, I'd drink the sludge as well.

The second panel was called The Studio Years - which were the years that Stephen had his own studio, Cannell Studios. The second clip of the evening reprised these shows. Jeff Goldblum (actor, Tenspeed and Brownshoe) talked about how Stephen had real joy in making creative work a constant part of his life -- that the real reward to him was the creativity itself. Described Stephen as having that child-like wonder at life necessary for writing but was also ethical, disciplined, courteous, kind, generous, and committed.

Stephanie Kramer (actress, Hunter) said that if she had to sum Stephen up in one word, it is 'supportive'… Then she sang a song about how she felt about him, which was very appreciative and grateful. Except the last line was the zinger, 'you made me work with Fred'. This got chuckles out of the audience members who knew the story of how Fred Dryer got very jealous of his co-star's popularity and got her fired. Apparently, he is one of the argumentative, throw-your-weight-around types in the business.

Later, when Stephen was up, he was asked about working with Fred Dryer. He said some fairly nice things about him, and then at the end, just in case someone believed him, he gave a shrugging gesture, which said 'whew, got out of that one.' This brought more chuckles from a knowing audience.

Michael Chiklis (actor, The Commish) said that while he was doing a Wiseguy, Stephen Kronish had liked him so much in the role that he showed him a script he wrote… The Commish… Kronish really thought Michael was right for The Commish, except there was a little problem… the role was written about a 40-year old police captain and Chiklis was 26 at the time. They brought it to Cannell, who got behind the idea. Then all three of them pushed for it. It didn't happen for a few years, and not until they switched networks, but both Stephens hung in there, with the steadfast idea of Chiklis in the role. He credits that role for the birth of Vic Mackey on The Shield. He feels there would have been no Mackey on The Shield today, if it weren't for Cannell getting him the lead on The Commish.

David Greenwalt (w/d/p, The Commish) described Stephen as having good attitude and good conscience and that contributed to everyone wanting to work with him. He reminisced about John McNamara bringing in Profit to them: Cannell liked and fought for it, saying "It's like watching a Cobra."

Mitzi Kapture (actress, Silk Stalkings) said he taught her that the most important thing was to speak from the heart.

Don Michael Paul (w/d/actor, Silk Stalkings, Hat Squad) came wearing a purple shirt because Stephen loves purple. He's a close friend of Stephen. Stephen was his best man at his wedding. A gem he shared with us was that Stephen taught him: when writing a character, make the words specific. Don said that he had little post-its to himself scattered about with various tips for himself. Stephen came in and saw the one that said, "Never kill a bad guy with one bullet." Later, when Stephen was signing a poster for Don, he wrote, "Never kill a bad guy with one bullet or one word. It takes at least one clip and a quarter page of dialogue." (I love this line. Sounds like sound writing advice to me.)

Richard Christian Matheson (writer, Hardcastle & McCormick) said that Stephen told him to not kill the bad guys, drop a house on them. And also to keep the viewer interested, do the next most interesting thing. Mentioned Stephen has a private jet.

When the second panel was done, they showed a third clip short. This was about his horror and thriller independent films and his books. I didn't even know he did independent films, but then I wouldn't go watch horror or thriller films anyway. The books, of course, I know very well.

Stephen then got up on stage to say a few words… to his friends who had honored him… he was obviously touched -- the highlights of his talk:

He's really not as smart as they think he is. In his head, he's still the stupidest kid in the third grade (failed it three times) who's never going to get out. He always tries to hire people who are better than he is so that he's constantly moving forward in his own writing and improving. He always thinks the scripts of the people he hires are so much better than his own.

Roy Huggins was his teacher, his mentor and his hero. However, more than that, Stephen feels his Dad is his greatest hero, his best friend, and the man whom he most wants to be like.

In response to the actors saying that Cannell's door was always open and how supportive he was, Stephen talked about how it is easy to be one of those writers who becomes antagonistic towards actors who don't say the words as scripted. For himself, he takes the position that actors give him the greatest gifts… and that it's more than just the fact that a star on a show can get a writer he doesn't work well with kicked off the show. Stephen truly believes that because actors give him the greatest gifts, he's thus in the business to give the actor the opportunity to do that for him. The actor can't do it for him, if he doesn't listen, and that's why his door is always open.

He credits Kent McCord with teaching him this. Stephen told this story: Apparently, early on, when Stephen was on Dragnet, and having the know-it-all hubris of youth, he wasn't happy when Kent changed a line in his script to make it more real for him. Stephen was furious and they got into a screaming match on set, because Stephen was determined to have him do it over. In fact, he sent a note down to the director point blank stating to have the actor do the lines as written. And he went down to the set to make sure it got done the way he wanted. Kent was unhappy but he gave it his best shot. But no matter how he tried, it didn't work… Take after take was the same, and Stephen learned something valuable: Kent couldn't make the words work because he didn't believe the words he was saying -- Stephen could see that in his eyes -- and that's why Kent changed them in the first place. Hence, Kent taught Stephen that he'd better come up with an answer if an actor doesn't believe in something. If an actor has a problem, he better get in business and solve it. Because it always shows up on the screen.

Commenting on the good attitude his friends harped on about, Stephen feels that you get the best from people when you expect you're gonna get the best, not when your expecting them to disappoint you. Negative energy brings negative results.

He also said he has always believed and still believes in the three-act structure. Even writes his novels that way… The first act sets up the problem. The top of the second act complicates the problem. In the rest of the second act, the antagonist as well as the protagonist needs to be in constant motion (something writers tend to forget). The end of act two sees the destruction of the hero's plan. Act three of course is the resolution.

Someone asked Cannell to answer the piece of advice about writing Tom Selleck said always confused him. His explanation: In act three, there's generally a lot of exposition for things that need to be explained in order for the episode to be understood. This exposition gets boring. You can minimize it best if you start laying off the third act exposition by taking it and turning it into supposition in act two. (Meaning have a character pose the question, what if this happens, etc.) The audience will accept it easier that way.

Cannell also talked about how he writes… that he writes every single day, seven days a week, because if he didn't, then he'd feel like he was wasting too much time trying to get back in the groove. He likes to write about ten pages in a chapter so he can write a chapter a day. Or an act a day in a TV script. Then he gives the chapter to his secretary who then has to decipher his dyslexic work and make it read right. The next day, he makes his changes to that chapter and writes the next chapter. The day after that he makes his changes to those two chapters and writes a third. When he's juggling five chapters in all, then he retires the first one as completed.

I loved hearing this, because this is how I write and this was probably the first time I've heard anyone admit to writing like I do, which is constantly rewriting as I go, so that I always have the whole layout in my head as I write more. Most writers say they just write a vomit draft -- start on page one and don't stop until they finish the draft, then go back and see what they've got and rewrite then.

After the panels were over, I got to speak one-on-one with him again. This is when we took the above photo together. Another woman had asked him for a photo first and he agreed. So then I asked him and he said sure and put his arm around me while Vince shot the photo. It was at this time that I told him The Plan was my favorite of his books. "Ah, the first one", he said. We talked briefly about that book, how it was a departure from his usual stuff because of the political stuff. He mentioned who it was that was very helpful to him because that was a bit outside what he usually wrote… but the name slipped past me.

After that, we had a lovely reception in the lobby for everyone who came to the event. I had a good time, but the best part of the evening for me was over with. Cannell and his people did attend the reception but I had had more than my fair share of time talking with a man I admire. In fact, I often used him to answer that question for prospective employers here in the business when they would ask: What do you want to be doing in five years? I'd answer, I want to be Stephen J. Cannell. Because he's done everything I want to do... write scripts, have my own TV shows, own my own studio, and be a best-selling author. The actor bit -- well, I always figured I could do without, but it looks like I'll be having my film acting debut shortly, so more on that when that comes to fruition.

The only person I regret not getting to speak with was Kim LeMasters because he didn't stay long at the reception. He talked to a few of his friends and then split. I was waiting to find a time when he was free, but I wasn't able to connect with him. I wanted to share with him that he and I spoke several times about Houston Knights when I was just an audience member in Chicago who liked the show and was trying to express that love to the network so they would keep the show on the air and he was either the VP or President of CBS at that time. How did I get to talk to him, you ask? Well, the first time, I'm not sure because I started by calling my local station to express my love for the show and got transferred. He used to tell me tidbits about the show so I suspect that either the show was his baby and that's why people transferred me to him or he loved it as much as I did and they knew it. Often when I'd see his name in the trades over the years, I'd think warmly of him, but I've never got to meet him face to face. And I still haven't.

An Evening with Lawrence Kasdan

Yesterday evening I worked an interesting event. The Writers Guild Foundation is currently putting on a two day tribute, March 18 and 19, to Lawrence Kasdan and his films. Although they are running several of his films over this weekend, last night's reception and Q&A with Kasdan revolved around the movie Grand Canyon.

I remember seeing that superb film years ago and how tough it was to watch the violence in that movie, especially because it was so real for anyone who lived in an urban environment and could face the scenarios he depicted. And yet, watching the movie now... while I was rivetted to it for what it was saying all through the movie, I was also aware that the movie was no longer tough to watch... that there really didn't seem to be that much violence or that the violence wasn't that bad. How sad it is violence has become so much a part of our life and entertainment that there is a degree of numbness to it... that this is tame compared to what we are used to.

When I mentioned this to Lawrence Kasdan, he nodded. He indicated that that is a common response he gets today... people reacted strongly to it years ago and now feel it isn't so bad. We agreed on the desensitization of the public that has happened since this movie was first screened. He also mentioned that today, the strongest audience reaction comes when Kevin Kline cuts his finger cooking.

During the Q&A, Kasdan had some interesting things to say to us screenwriters. In response to a question that suggested patterns between various scripts of his, he said that it is often said the screenwriters write one long movie throughout their careers. That they write their one story over and over again. Kasdan felt there was a lot of truth in that... that once you hit upon your story -- the one that resonates with you -- the one that works for you -- you can spend the rest of your time telling that story in many different ways.

He also said that he is very character driven -- that he sees and develops the character first and then has to find the plot/action for him. That he wishes he could write the other way around -- lay out the plot/action first and then find the character to fit in -- but he just can't do it that way. That he tries but he's no good at it. (Which is something that I like to hear, because the character stuff is more important to me, and I'm far more likely to develop the character and character moments first than the plot/action.)

A couple of people disagreed with him, citing how tightly plotted his Body Heat was, but I find it interesting that that is how he sees himself. He cited the example of Raiders of the Lost Ark -- where he felt that Lucas and Kaufman brought him in to provide the character moments. That between Lucas and Kaufman, they had figured out all the action points they wanted between themselves. So that when Kasdan, Lucas, and Kaufman got together, it was to discuss character.

Kasdan also suggested that these movies would be hard to make today -- in today's corporationalizing of the movie industry. "Does he have to fly?" Kasdan said in sample dialogue with studio execs today. "It would be much cheaper if he didn't fly." This brought a big laugh out of the audience because those scenarios with studio execs were very real to the audience, having gone through similar scenarios and protests on their own projects. "You want to close down a whole concourse at LAX for a dream sequence where she does what?" That scenario also garnered laughter.

All in all a wonderful evening spent listening to an extraordinary writer talk about his craft and watching a superb film.

Script Coordinator - what is it?

Often when I tell someone I'm a script coordinator, I get asked, what is that? Even people who work in the industry often confuse script coordinator with script supervisor and my easiest answer to that is: the script supervisor works on the set with the director, the script coordinator works in the writers' office with the writers.

The script supervisor was once called the continuity girl, and I suppose that the title changed when the world went pc. But that's partially what a script supervisor does: maintain the continuity of everything on the set and on the actors from take to take and scene to scene if necessary. Like if the star has his sleeves up in the master, and down in his coverage, when the post people go to cut the two together they won't match. There are famous glitches of scene mismatches -- the one that comes quickest to mind is in the Original Star Trek series: Kirk goes into the turbolift in one color uniform (gold, I think) and comes out onto the bridge in another (green, I think -- or the colors may be reversed, can't remember exactly). A newer one that comes to mind is in Stargate where when Daniel takes off his flak vest outside the temple, his jacket slips down with it and you see he has a short-sleeved black T-shirt on, yet when he walks into the temple and takes off the jacket inside, he's suddenly in a long-sleeved black T-shirt.

The script supervisor also times the scene as it's shot, and makes various notes for the post production department, like which takes the director wants to be printed. I'm sure there is a lot more to the job but I've never been a script supervisor and have only watched them at work.

The script coordinator, on the other hand, is the queen or king of those colored script pages. He or she takes the script once the writer is done with it and goes over it with a fine-toothed comb, looking for inconsistencies, typos, spelling errors, unintentional grammatical mistakes, and formatting snafus. A fine-toothed comb that works at break-neck speed because once the hungry monster called the production machine gets wind of a new script in the offing, it wants it... uh, right now, if not yesterday.

If it's just the writer's first draft, you do the above proofing, then print it up and distribute to the writing staff and executive producers. They read it, give the writer notes who rewrites the script if necessary, and you go through the whole process again. This version will go to the showrunner, who in general, will give it his polish. This way, the characters will maintain a consistent speech pattern, banter pattern, and personality, over the season, even though the individual scripts are written by many different writers, not all of whom are on staff. Otherwise, the characters would sound and act differently every week.

After the showrunner does his polish, it usually goes to studio execs and network execs for their input. In a heavy special effects series, the script may even go to department heads for their input (like, are you nuts, we don't have the budget for that? or my favorite: you know that army of centaurs that descends on the town square? You can have three centaurs.). Usually just for everyone's convenience, the script coordinator numbers the scenes at this point so when the execs call with their notes, they can refer to them by scenes (rather than half-way down the page). At this point, the showrunner makes whatever changes the execs want and then he clears it for shooting or production draft. At that point, the script coordinator locks down the script... the pages and scenes are locked... and sends the script wide, to all the crew and all the cast, the director, producers, studio execs, network execs, post production, casting, publicity, clearances, and anyone else who has a legitimate need for a script.

And this is where the fun begins. There are still changes to be made. Scenes and dialogue modified, deleted, or added depending on actor input, director input, location problems, money concerns, etc. However, once the scene numbers are locked, they can not be used for any other scenes than as already designated. You can modify or delete a scene and you can add others, but you can't use it for another scene.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? It isn't rocket science, so anyone with a good grasp of English and a dictionary and who can use a script program to write and who can press the button for 'lock scenes' should be able to do this, right? Or at least every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and Sally and Sarah thinks so. But there are a lot of unwritten or unspecified rules that have to be abided by in order to have a script stay in the shape it can be most effectively used by all concerned. In other words, to keep it in a form that has everyone on the same page and not transfering all their notes for scenes already shot just because a page might get long or short or talking about lines that aren't on the same page in everyone's hands.

So if you don't yet know the 50% rule or what to number an added scene that comes before A1 or 1A with scene 1 deleted or what to number an added scene between 2 and 5 when 3 & 4 have been deleted, or what to number a scene that comes between 15A and 15B or between A20 and 21, or how to move a scene from one part of the script to another, then you aren't quite ready to be script coordinator. And those helpful writers who number a scene to be nice to you when they make a change? -- chances are they are wrong, unless they are writers who have come up through the ranks of assistants and script coordinators themselves. Because, frankly AB scenes and pages are revisions made during production and the writer doesn't really care to learn what number they should be because the writer is off writing the next script to feed the machine.

Script coordinating is not hard, but it can be complicated, and in a way, you only learn by doing, as there are no classes to teach you the many ins and outs. And yet, because the script coordinator works closely with the writers, you can learn from those who are successfully doing the writing, and you might be able to talk them into letting you do a script. Hence, it's a coveted position that draws a lot of wannabe writers to it. Plus, it's the one assistant-like job where you don't have to get the boss coffee or lunch.

So coveted, in fact, that once at a networking group, a budding writer who had never worked in the industry yet, asked for people's help in getting on a show as writers assistant or script coordinator. Afterwards, I spoke to her, suggesting she try to become a writers assistant first and her answer to me was, 'but script coordinators make more money.' To which I responded, 'That's because they have to know more.' She looked at me unbelievingly, so I started asking her the questions I outlined above.

I don't know if she took me seriously or not, but that is my suggestion for anyone who wants to become a script coordinator -- become a writers assistant first, or even a writers PA if the show has one. There is no class for teaching the ins and outs of doing it, it's more like on the job training. But the catch 22 is that you can't do it wrong... ever, for the consequences can be costly on set, and you can really get beat on. You have to come in knowing what you are doing.

But as a writers assistant, you are in a position to volunteer to help the script coordinator out, if assisting the sc isn't already part of your job and to ask a lot of questions. Trust me, I've never known a script coordinator to not welcome the help to get a script out and willing to teach you anything you need to know in order to help more effectively. Because I've never known a production office worth its salt to not know exactly when a writer is done with a script and to start badgering the script coordinator the minute the disk is placed in her hands -- sometimes even before. They can't badger the writers because the writers will tell them what to do with themselves, but us little people can be badgered. And your choices are: whine that you haven't opened the script yet and seen what changes you have to work on, or lie and say fifteen minutes when you hand it to them an hour later -- try telling them the truth, ha-ha. Etc., etc. If you don't want to be stressed out watching the clock from the moment the script gets in your hands, you welcome the helper who can do the cast and set pages or revisions to them, or check to see if all the AB pages printed out, or a dozen other tiny things that can go wrong and can not be allowed to go wrong. Sometimes, that production office starts calling you even before the writer is done with his part of the script, and you're under the gun before you even get the script.

It's not always this hectic -- there are the down times when the writers are writing and you are waiting. Then you get to do fun stuff like writing the bible or writing the synopses for the broadcasted episodes (because things can change in post, etc) or the paperwork, like writers payments, character payments, producer payments, and work notices and credit notices to the WGA. And you get to breathe then, maybe visit the set, play, or do your own thing.

But when you are under the gun, it's nice to have that help. I learned by asking a ton of questions when I was a writers assistant, and I've answered questions for anyone who has asked. And when someone is helping you, then...

William S. Paley Television Festival

Each year the Museum of Television and Radio in LA honors about a dozen shows in its William S. Paley Television Festival, named for the founder of CBS network. The idea is to honor the most innovative, creative, or groundbreaking shows of the year as well as some classics. In addition, there is a tribute to the body of work of an actor. This year it is Sally Field, but other years have included Carol Burnett, William Shatner, Angela Landsbury, and Garry Shandling.

This year's classic show is The Golden Girls, but past years have included M*A*S*H, MacGyver, and Star Trek. The new shows honored this year are Grey's Anatomy, Entourage, Everybody Loves Chris, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, Medium, My Name is Earl, House, Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother and Weeds. For an idea of shows honored other years, check out the Museum's website.

What's cool about these evenings is that for the most part, you have the entire major cast plus the executive producers, sometimes even a director all on one panel -- interacting with each other, in front of us. This is because it is considered an honor to be celebrated this way and people proud of their shows are delighted to have their hard work recognized and celebrated this way. The audience is made up partially of industry people who come, not only as fans of the show, but to get a feel for the players and for how the show is made. Sometimes you don't get the whole cast but those times are not because they don't want to come but because the show is in production and they are needed on set, or they are off with other obligations. As for the writers, sometimes you get all of them on stage and sometimes only the executive producer. But it's a rich evening of insights you never get any other way.

The audience is also made up of general public who come just because they love the show. Hence you get a mixture of questions, so that you aren't always hearing, 'how can I get a script to you'... or ... 'we love you, so-in-so'.

It's also neat to hear the excitement and enthusiasm of someone who has come to these events for years suddenly being on stage with their own show.

I had a similar experience when the show I worked on, Joan of Arcadia, was honored a couple of years ago. I wasn't one of those onstage, but I was just as excited. For this time, I got the chance to hang out in the green room... something I had never done before. I had seen others go into the roped off area for years as an audience member, but this was the first time I was allowed on the other side of the rope, with the rest of my workmates. It is something I'll never forget, or at least not until I get up there on stage with my own show.

Last night, I went to Entourage, the first of the three series I had earmarked for this year. I wanted to go to House, but the tickets were sold out before I could buy one. Tickets were only sold online this year and I was on the computer one minute after the 'box office' officially opened. Within the ten minutes it took me to navigate the unfamiliar site, House and Grey's Anatomy were gone. By the time I completed my purchase and went back to the list, Entourage was sold out. I must have gotten close to the last ticket, if not the last.

But this beats the old days when we had to go stand in line at the museum (and it would stretch around the block.) and invariably before you'd get to the front of the line, the show you want most to see would be sold out.

The Museum gives its Members (anyone can become a member, just like any museum) a head start of a week before the tickets go on sale for the general public. However, the most popular shows sell out within the hour of opening it to members, and they never get to the general public. For many years, I had someone who was a member pick up tickets for me. Last year I didn't have that, and so when I tried to buy tickets to Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal as general public, they were long gone. I made sure I had my membership for this one and still House was gone before I could buy it.

The Entourage participants were cast members -- Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Adrian Grenier, Debi Mazar, and Jeremy Piven -- director Stephen Levinson, and creator Doug Ellin. My favorite insight was to learn that Jeremy Piven's agent character, Ari, is based on his real life agent. This of course prompted a later audience question of how the real Ari feels about being immortalized this way. Doug explained that the real Ari was a big supporter in that he was instrumental in getting the show purchased by HBO, and that he had insisted his client Jeremy Piven play him, or he wouldn't let them use the name.

Of course, there had to be a guy in the audience who asked about why a show on HBO doesn't have more female nudity. Doug of course explained that wasn't what the show was about... it's about friendship. And I agree... at its core is a strong friendship cutting through all the crap and this is what keeps us watching it.

However, the guy's remark did raise my feminine hackles and I was going to make a followup comment. Except it was too close to the end and I didn't get called on. At the end, many people rushed the stage to talk to the cast. Sometimes the guys hang around and talk to people, sign a few autographs, even take a photo or two. And sometimes, they leave without interacting. This group interacted, but while the others rushed the actors, I went up to talk to Doug Ellin. I told him my comment... that if he conceded to the wishes of guys like that and had more female nudity, then he should know that his female audience was going to want more male nudity. Doug was nodding and almost finishing my sentence before me. He said that he was thinking of saying the exact same thing in his answer, but then changed his mind.

Jeremy Piven was mobbed, which was nice to see, even if it made it impossible to have a word with him. But like a real trooper, he stayed for quite a while and signed programs for those people who wanted them.

All in all, this evening, like all the Paley festival events I've attended over the years make it so worthwhile living in LA.

Beyond Words - WGA Foundation & HR event

Since this blog is a new venture for me, I'm going to include some things that happened before I started just because I think they are interesting. At the beginning of this month was one such event. I was lucky enough to work a program called Beyond Words which was a panel discussion between all the nominated writers for this year's Oscars and WGA awards. It was sponsored by the WGA Foundation & Hollywood Reporter. For those who don't know, the Hollywood Reporter is one of the two top industry daily newspapers and the WGA is the Writers Guild of America.

The panel guests were Paul Haggis (Crash), Diane Ossana (Brokeback Mountain), Jeffrey Caine (Constant Gardner), Judd Apatow (40-Year Old Virgin), Josh Olson (History of Violence), Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck), and Stephen Gaghan (Syriana). It was moderated by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds). Larry McMurtry, the co-writer of Brokeback Mountain, was supposed to be there, but he was sick with the flu.

After the panel, I went up to the stage and talked to Jeffrey Caine because I heard he also did "The Chief" series… Martin Shaw starred in that series and it was really good. He was very surprised that I ever heard of it, let alone saw it, and was pleased. He said, though, he was done with television… that in England they treat the TV writer far worse than the TV writer gets treated here, where the TV writer has so much more say and power. So he's only doing features now.

There's not a lot of time to talk to these people one-on-one after a panel and many people clamoring to get to them, so you usually have to choose who you most want to talk to, knowing that that might be the only person you can talk to. There was a reception later and sometimes they attend and sometimes you can talk to them there, but sometimes they need to call it a night because they might be shooting something the next day.

Paul Haggis had been very playful from the stage, so I was glad I got to talk to him. I told him that I had met him at the BAFTA Tea Party and he said he remembered me. If he didn't, well, he was quick-thinking and gracious about it. He asked me if I had had fun at the panel and I said yes. I then told him he was fun, but he was also very naughty. He laughed at that and said something about his mother in his head making him do it. The gist of his naughtiness: there was a girl signing for the deaf. One of the writers used a swear word, I believe Judd, something about an asshole in his comment about something. When Paul realized there was a signer, he just had to see how she would sign that. So he repeated the statement and watched her signed it. Although I can't tell you what all she signed, the ending was unmistakable -- she ended it with the fingers up in the air circled for asshole. Brought a big laugh. So then he interjected a few more just to see how she'd sign them.

Finally, when Josh called it an evening, Paul said he had to say one more thing. "Motherfucker…" he called out and looked to the signer. Like I said, naughty. He was being a naughty boy. Have to say, she was cool about it, just signed it like she did everything else.

When I repeated this story to a friend, he thought I was telling Paul that what he did was in poor taste, but Paul didn't react that way, nor did I mean it like that. It is kind of a British way of commenting on what he had done and I think he took it that way. At least it seemed like he was laughing with me. And he did tell me that his mother in his head told him to do it.

The evening ended with a reception full of sweets, which are no good for me. But I was naughty, too.