There are plenty of books, DVD's and other filmed documentaries about the goings-on backstage that occur in the process of making television, good, bad or indifferent. SHOWRUNNERS: THE ART OF RUNNING A TV SHOW quite simply deserves the ten out of ten IMDb rating I've bestowed it with, because nothing else I've seen has been as thorough - or as thoroughly entertaining - as this Irish- based production on the subject.
Director Des Doyle and his crew have pulled out all the stops, and as a result, been granted a rare audience with all of the people that the most rabid of us fans would love to have five minutes with, (and you get considerably more time than that here easily). J.J. Abrams (ALIAS, LOST), Joss Whedon, (BUFFY, ANGEL, FIREFLY), Ron Moore (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), Hart Hanson, (BONES, BACKSTROM), Terence Winter (BOARDWALK EMPIRE, THE SOPRANOS), Janet Tamayo (RIZZOLI AND ISLES), Jane Espenson, (BUFFY, HUSBANDS)...and that's hardly a complete list. Everyone who appears offers some revealing aspect of what goes on behind the creation and administration of a show, telling us more than we ever knew - or even cared to know, in some cases.
We get an examination of what makes someone tick, who has to be ready to answer a billion questions, put out about as many bonfires as they crop up on a daily basis; wrangle story ideas, script changes, notes from the network, from show directors and even from the actors themselves...it's the 'BEST and the WORST job you can have', to paraphrase one subject's summation of what it's like.
I have always had an appreciation and admiration for what showrunners do...But this film only strengthens and deepens that feeling. Especially since I could never imagine doing it myself!
Director Des Doyle and his crew have pulled out all the stops, and as a result, been granted a rare audience with all of the people that the most rabid of us fans would love to have five minutes with, (and you get considerably more time than that here easily). J.J. Abrams (ALIAS, LOST), Joss Whedon, (BUFFY, ANGEL, FIREFLY), Ron Moore (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA), Hart Hanson, (BONES, BACKSTROM), Terence Winter (BOARDWALK EMPIRE, THE SOPRANOS), Janet Tamayo (RIZZOLI AND ISLES), Jane Espenson, (BUFFY, HUSBANDS)...and that's hardly a complete list. Everyone who appears offers some revealing aspect of what goes on behind the creation and administration of a show, telling us more than we ever knew - or even cared to know, in some cases.
We get an examination of what makes someone tick, who has to be ready to answer a billion questions, put out about as many bonfires as they crop up on a daily basis; wrangle story ideas, script changes, notes from the network, from show directors and even from the actors themselves...it's the 'BEST and the WORST job you can have', to paraphrase one subject's summation of what it's like.
I have always had an appreciation and admiration for what showrunners do...But this film only strengthens and deepens that feeling. Especially since I could never imagine doing it myself!