Now at NYC's Maysles Cinema: Des Doyle's SHOWRUNNERS: The Art of Running a TV Show

We've heard the word bandied about a lot lately, where network and cable TV series are concerned, but what exactly is a Show-runner? According to SHOWRUNNERS: THE ART OF RUNNING A TV SHOW (written and directed by Des Doyle, shown below), which defines the term upfront before the movie begins, the word -- which is a relatively newly-coined one -- offers "an industry term describing the person and/or persons responsible for overseeing all areas of writing and production on a television series and ensuring that each episode is delivered on time and on budget for both the studio that produces the show and the network that airs it." OK: Fair enough.

What this has come to mean for the industry, however, seems to be that, for TV series, this showrunner (often doubling as the major writer) has taken the power place at the head of the table. (We almost never think of the director of these TV series because that director is likely to change, maybe several times, within the course of a series, even within a single season of a series. What a director has historically been seen to represent for a movie, the showrunner now represent for the TV series. Further, as TV series grow ever more talked-about and popular with both mainstream audiences and our cultural gatekeepers, the showrunner is very likely to eventually eclipse everyone else regarding the power place, both critically and economically, in Hollywood's and the media's hierarchy.

Sure, this day may be aways away, but it does appear to be coming. Which makes the debut of Mr Doyle's quite interesting film worth noting and the film itself worth seeing and thinking about. In it has been collected quite a number of "showrunners." How these were chosen is not addressed. Only two of them, Janet Tomaro, and Jane Espenson, are women, and I dearly wish the film had included Theresa Rebeck, showrunner (for a time) on the ill-fated series, Smash. I think Ms Rebeck might have had some smart and telling stuff to add. What's here, however, provides plenty of fodder to give the faithful a pretty good idea of what goes into being a showrunner. As one of this chosen group explains, "You know that you’re doing something right if just about everyone connected with the show is annoyed with you."

Among the chosen, Matthew Carnahan (above, of House of Lies and Dirt) gets a lot of screen time, and he proves worth it, as he is smart and funny and seeming pretty honest. He turns out to have been a protégée of  Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. "They didn’t want any of their protégées moving to Hollywood and working out of TV. But of course nearly all of us did." Also along for the ride is actor Anthony LaPaglia, who has some funny things to say about actors reacting to these writers/producers (and vice versa).

While many of the shows mentioned or described -- such as Bones -- sound like soap operas, you'll realize once again why, for all their "pushing the envelope," it's often the tried and true that brings home the bacon. Popular showrunner Joss Whedon explains why he will protect “moments’ at all costs but give up a good “move” in a heartbeat: “A move is ‘Oh my god, it was his evil twin!’ which gives you nothing. A moment is that something relatable that all of us have gone through and that you can mine in regard to the evil twin: that’s your moment.”

And if the film is mostly talking heads, at least they’re saying some interesting stuff. Early on, Ronald D. Moore (above, and a staple from the days of Star Trek: The Next Generation up through the current Outlander) realized that he had killed off his lifelong hero (from Star Trek), while Ms Tamaro talks about how she went from a job with ABC News to being a scriptwriter.

Along the way we get some funny gems:  “More serial killers have been caught in a single season of TV that ever actually roamed the streets.” As to helpful hints, there are a number of these offered: "Choose your battles carefully: Is this the hill you want to die on?" is one of the smartest. "The single thing that makes TV show take so long to get done is … meetings!" And here's Mr. Carnahan on Dirt: "The pilot and first season were great." The second season? "I’ve never seen it and I don’t want to.” We even get a Les Moonves story, but come on now, he can't really be that dumb...?!

There's an interesting discussion of Cable vs Network and where you want to work and why. Is there actually more freedom on cable? "Well, you've really got to take this on a case by case basis," notes one fellow. Managing is so important to showrunning that some showrunners split the duties into two jobs. "Writing and managing take such different skills," explains one fellow. "Sometimes it doesn't pay to try to do both yourself." Concerning contemporary shows vs period stories: "With period tales, you have to realize things like 'Every actor and every extra will need a special haircut.' There are all kinds of stuff you don’t usually think about."

Mike Kelley of Revenge says some smart things (some of it funny and knowingly hypocritical) about ratings and how and if one should even pay attention to them. Interestingly, this job, while too good to quit, is also too hard to do. "Almost all showrunners stop in their 50s," we're told. "It’s just too much." On that subject, Josh Whedon (below) talks about having to run three shows simultaneously. Actor Jason O’Mara (Terra Nova, The Good Wife) explains his theory about the actor being the guardian of the character, and one of the showrunners gives a smart timeline for how, eventually, the actor finally controls the character.

Race and color comes to the fore with Ali Le Roi (Are We There Yet?), who admits, "Sure the white suits think I’m going to bring in the colored audience. But really, I would just like a shot at bringing in 'the audience'." here comes the importance of ComicCon (for some shows), how smart content is now appearing on The Web, and -- oh, yes --  failures, too, as J.J. Abrams and others confront their own. "Even showrunners on the successful shows," one points out, "sometimes leave -- or are asked to....
Paging Ms Rebeck!

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show -- an Ireland/USA co-production running 90 minutes -- after a successful run and return engagement at L.A.'s Arena Cinema has now opened in New York City this past Thursday and will continue through this coming Wednesday, April 29, at the Maysles Cinema. Click the link above for further information and then click on the particular date you want to procure tickets. (Note: If you can't get to the Maysles, the movie is now available via Netflix streaming.)

Hilarion Banks & Scott Fivelson's "industry" melodrama, 3 HOLES AND A SMOKING GUN

Having just recently viewed Maps to the Stars, the knock-out Hollywood satire/ melodrama/black comedy from David Cronenberg and Bruce Wagner, it is probably a bit unfair to compare it in any way to the film that opens this week, 3 HOLES AND A SMOKING GUN. And yet this little melodramatic, would-be black-comic look at screenwriting strivers here in New York City who are bent on taking credit for the creation of what, from the sound of everyone's reactions to it, must be the greatest screenplay ever written (something called, with no great originality, Hijack), is so full of supposed inside-the-industry knowledge, back-stabbing and thievery that comparisons can't be helped.

Written by a fellow named Scott Fivelson and directed by someone else called Hilarion Banks (shown above), this movie is so ridiculously bad in terms of plotting and believability, that it is little wonder its copyright date of 2012 would indicate a certain period of sitting on the shelf, waiting to be released. It is difficult to believe that anyone who viewed the final cut would not have immediately suggested, "Leave it there."  I am not so much knocking the work of Mr. Banks -- which is perfectly standard and OK -- as that of Mr. Fivelson, who has packed his story full of details that seem mostly wrong.

Consider the scene in which a man has been poisoned and sits coughing and dying in his car, in what is certainly one of the "extended death" scenes of all time. A passer-by appears to notice this -- from quite a distance away, at night, and with the car's windows rolled up -- and motions as though he might come and help. Yeah, right.

Or consider the scene in which we meet the actual writer of this great screenplay, who has typed it on an old Remington and neglected to make even a single copy of his script. In this day and age. Yeah, right again. (The actor at left, above, is probably the film's most noted performer, Joaquim de Almeida, who has a small role at the proprietor of a junk shop.)

The movie jumps back and forth in time, to no avail at all, because soon nothing seems remotely real. Nor is it funny or interesting or unusual enough to warrant our attention. The plot concerns a has-been screenwriter, Bobby (James Wilder, above), who now teaches a course in that art here in NYC, and what look initially like his star student, Jack (sexy, cute but so-so acting newcomer Zuher Kahn, below), who soon proves to be an even sleazier sort than his creepy teacher.

The men, it turns out, have shared the love of another student, Sailor (Rebecca Mae Palmer, below), not that this matters one whit -- except to pave the way for another corpse or two.

The film's funniest scene, though again totally unbelievable, concerns a mugger (the very good Rudolf Martin, below), who wants to make off with Jack's valuables but who instead stays to chat.

Well, the location shots are fine, as is the "look" of the film. Otherwise, 3 Holes and a Smoking Gun is little more than an inadequate time-waster.

The movie opens on cable VOD this Friday, March 20, via Comcast, Cox, Dish Network, and Verizon, and from Shaw on Tuesday, March 24. It will also be available for digital streaming on March 24 via Amazon Instant Video, Google, iTunes, Vudu and X-Box. A theatrical premiere will follow in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3 on Friday, March 27. 

In LOITERING WITH INTENT, Michael Godere, Ivan Martin and Adam Rapp create a funny, boisterous world of movies, love and life

A sweet little goof of a film -- filled with all the details of screenwriting, romance, PTSD, family, friends, pets and a weekend in the country -- LOITERING WITH INTENT also sports one of the best titles in a long while, the appropriateness of which becomes all the clearer by movie's end. The product of its writing duo (who co-star), Michael Godere and Ivan Martin, and its director Adam Rapp, LWI (as we'll now call it) also makes room for some very popular and better known inde-pendent actors like Marisa Tomei, Sam Rockwell, Brian Geraghty and Natasha Lyonne. Though these last four alone would make the movie a must-see, LWI turns out to be smart, short, fast-moving fun all on its own.

When two actors (Martin and Godere, above, left and right) whose careers are on "stall" run into to an old friend (Lyonne, below) who knows a producer who has some money to spend on a new independent film, the pair tell her about their screenplay (as yet non-existent) which she says sounds so good that's it's a shoo-in to get that production money. So can you give it to me, please?

Suddenly our boys have to come up with the real screenplay and so they run off to a friend's country house to actually write the thing. (The "writing process," for this pair, is pretty hilarious.) There, they're confronted with everything from lack of creativity to unexpected guests.

The first of these includes Gigi (played by Ms Tomei, above), an old flame of Martin's, and her friend, Ava (played by Isabelle McNally, below), both of whom arouse our boys' libidos while seeming to want to engage in more than mere chat.

Soon another pair arrives -- brothers Wayne and Devon (played by Rockwell, below, and Geraghty), the former of whom has his own vital agenda to conclude. Mr. Rockwell, a past master of low-key, often off-key humor, here plays it mostly serious. Ex-military and suffering from that PTSD, he is, as ever, terrific and keeps us and the movie on our toes, while still becoming part of the excellent ensemble at work here.

Mr. Geraghty (below), on the other hand, is pure goofy joy. What a nimble and versatile young actor this guy is! He imbues Devon -- who has just been given his own "reality" show via Jerry Bruckheimer -- with such a nutty blend of blond, surf-boy machismo coupled to comically fearful homophobia that his every outburst is a high-energy, low-IQ delight.

The fine cast dances around (and often into) each other with skill and smarts. It's a constant pleasure to see them interact, and director Rapp, shown below, has the good sense to simply get out of the way and let his actors loose to frolic.

The whole movie has the look and feel of terrific improvisation, though the script is too often too good to have relied only on that.

How it all turns out has the feel of a nice rom-com, in which the right people do finally connect. In terms of our heroes' goal of screenwriting, even this comes to something a bit different than we might have expected, while remaining every bit as appropriate and entertaining.

Loitering With Intent -- from The Orchard and running a mere 76 minutes  -- opens this Friday, January 16, in New York City at the AMC Empire 25, and in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Music Hall 3.  Elsewhere?  Yes, and the theaters, cities and dates are listed below.

January 16 - Sundance Cinema (Seattle, WA) 

January 16 - Sundance Cinema (Houston, TX) 

January 16 - Cinema Detroit (Detroit, MI) 

January 16 - Shaker Square Cinemas (Cleveland, OH) 

January 16 - Carmike Sundial (St. Petersburg, FL) 

January 23 - Roxie Theater (San Francisco, CA) 

January 30 - Plaza Theatre (Atlanta, GA) 

February 6 - Harkins Shea (Phoenix, AZ)

You can also watch the film digitally 

via iTunes or Amazon Instant Video.  

Des Doyle's SHOWRUNNERS: The Art of Running a TV Show opens in L.A. at the Arena Cinema

We've heard the word bandied about a lot lately, where network and cable TV series are concerned, but what exactly is a Show-runner? According to SHOWRUNNERS: THE ART OF RUNNING A TV SHOW (written and directed by Des Doyle, shown below), which defines the term upfront before the movie begins, the word -- which is a relatively newly-coined one -- offers "an industry term describing the person and/or persons responsible for overseeing all areas of writing and production on a television series and ensuring that each episode is delivered on time and on budget for both the studio that produces the show and the network that airs it." OK: Fair enough.

What this has come to mean for the industry, however, seems to be that, for TV series, this showrunner (often doubling as the major writer) has taken the power place at the head of the table. (We almost never think of the director of these TV series because that director is likely to change, maybe several times, within the course of a series, even within a single season of a series. What a director has historically been seen to represent for a movie, the showrunner now represent for the TV series. Further, as TV series grow ever more talked-about and popular with both mainstream audiences and our cultural gatekeepers, the showrunner is very likely to eventually eclipse everyone else regarding the power place, both critically and economically, in Hollywood's and the media's hierarchy.

Sure, this day may be aways away, but it does appear to be coming. Which makes the debut of Mr Doyle's quite interesting film worth noting and the film itself worth seeing and thinking about. In it has been collected quite a number of "showrunners." How these were chosen is not addressed. Only two of them, Janet Tomaro, and Jane Espenson, are women, and I dearly wish the film had included Theresa Rebeck, showrunner (for a time) on the ill-fated series, Smash. I think Ms Rebeck might have had some smart and telling stuff to add. What's here, however, provides plenty of fodder to give the faithful a pretty good idea of what goes into being a showrunner. As one of this chosen group explains, "You know that you’re doing something right if just about everyone connected with the show is annoyed with you."

Among the chosen, Matthew Carnahan (above, of House of Lies and Dirt) gets a lot of screen time, and he proves worth it, as he is smart and funny and seeming pretty honest. He turns out to have been a protégée of  Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. "They didn’t want any of their protégées moving to Hollywood and working out of TV. But of course nearly all of us did." Also along for the ride is actor Anthony LaPaglia, who has some funny things to say about actors reacting to these writers/producers (and vice versa).

While many of the shows mentioned or described -- such as Bones -- sound like soap operas, you'll realize once again why, for all their "pushing the envelope," it's often the tried and true that brings home the bacon. Popular showrunner Josh Whedon explains why he will protect “moments’ at all costs but give up a good “move” in a heartbeat: “A move is ‘Oh my god, it was his evil twin!’ which gives you nothing. A moment is that something relatable that all of us have gone through and that you can mine in regard to the evil twin: that’s your moment.”

And if the film is mostly talking heads, at least they’re saying some interesting stuff. Early on, Ronald D. Moore (above, and a staple from the days of Star Trek: The Next Generation up through the current Outlander) realized that he had killed off his lifelong hero (from Star Trek), while Ms Tamaro talks about how she went from a job with ABC News to being a scriptwriter.

Along the way we get some funny gems:  “More serial killers have been caught in a single season of TV that ever actually roamed the streets.” As to helpful hints, there are a number of these offered: "Choose your battles carefully: Is this the hill you want to die on?" is one of the smartest. "The single thing that makes TV show take so long to get done is … meetings!" And here's Mr. Carnahan on Dirt: "The pilot and first season were great." The second season? "I’ve never seen it and I don’t want to.” We even get a Les Moonves story, but come on now, he can't really be that dumb...?!

There's an interesting discussion of Cable vs Network and where you want to work and why. Is there actually more freedom on cable? "Well, you've really got to take this on a case by case basis," notes one fellow. Managing is so important to showrunning that some showrunners split the duties into two jobs. "Writing and managing take such different skills," explains one fellow. "Sometimes it doesn't pay to try to do both yourself." Concerning contemporary shows vs period stories: "With period tales, you have to realize things like 'Every actor and every extra will need a special haircut.' There are all kinds of stuff you don’t usually think about."

Mike Kelley of Revenge says some smart things (some of it funny and knowingly hypocritical) about ratings and how and if one should even pay attention to them. Interestingly, this job, while too good to quit, is also too hard to do. "Almost all showrunners stop in their 50s," we're told. "It’s just too much." On that subject, Josh Whedon (below) talks about having to run three shows simultaneously. Actor Jason O’Mara (Terra Nova, The Good Wife) explains his theory about the actor being the guardian of the character, and one of the showrunners gives a smart timeline for how, eventually, the actor finally controls the character.

Race and color comes to the fore with Ali Le Roi (Are We There Yet?), who admits, "Sure the white suits think I’m going to bring in the colored audience. But really, I would just like a shot at bringing in 'the audience.' The importance of ComicCon (for some shows), how smart content is now appearing on The Web, and -- oh, yes --  failures, too, as J.J. Abrams and others confront their own. "Even showrunners on the successful shows," one points out, "sometimes leave -- or are asked to....
Paging Ms Rebeck!

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show -- an Ireland/USA co-production running 90 minutes -- open tomorrow in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinema in Hollywood. Elsewhere? Who knows? But it will certainly make it to DVD and streaming eventually, we hope.

Streaming: Ian Roumain/Michael Schwartz's THAT GUY... WHO WAS IN THAT THING

For anyone interested in the profession of on-screen acting -- movies, TV, cable -- or in the industry in general, this recent documentary (from 2012) ought to be shoo-in viewing. THAT GUY... WHO WAS IN THAT THING (clever title!) documents the lives, professional and otherwise, of some 18 "character" actors ranging from the quite well-known (Oscar-nominated Bruce Davison, shown below, and Emmy-winning Zelko Ivanek) to oft-seen but not-so-oft remembered by name (Timothy Omundson and Wade Williams).

Among these, there is but one black actor (Rick Worthy, shown below) and -- hello -- no women whatsoever. Well, the filmmakers do interview briefly a female talent agent and casting director, along with a couple of male counterparts. Perhaps, even as I write this, they're working on the sequel, That Gal...Who was in That Thing. But don't bet on it. For whatever reason, the percentage of white males in this movie generally mirrors the views of powerful Hollywood suits a propos the place of blacks and women in the industry.

All this is not to say that this smart and entertaining little documentary, put together by first-time filmmakers Ian Roumain and Michael Schwartz, isn't quite interesting and often a lot of fun. It's both -- and more -- as it probes these guys for the skinny on their careers, hopes, dreams and disappointments -- and how they juggle all this to manage a decent income and maybe a family life.

Some are more forth-coming than others (Mr. Williams and Mr. Worthy seem the most talkative), but there is little we hear that isn't worth listening to as, one by one, these guys ring bell after bell about acting, friendship, jealousy and, yes, depression. Some of this might even give certain younger viewers second thoughts about entering the acting profession. Almost all the guys hate auditions (some things never change), but few of them seem willing to stop what they're doing and are happy to have -- or have had -- their career. (One of them, Stanley Kamel, shown above, has died since the film was completed.)

The devil, as they say, is in the details, and there are plenty of those here. We learn that Ivanek, above, is color blind, and that he also has an action figure made for one of his roles. And yes, most of these guys have appeared in one or another (or several) permutations of the Star Trek franchise -- which, for whatever you may think of it, has at least provided many actors with a lot of work

Craig Fairbrass (above), Xander Berkeley, Zach Grenier, Paul Guilfoyle, Robert Joy (below) -- they're all present and accounted for, and each has his own special post to fill and story to tell. One of these stories, repeated by several, is all about how pay for acting jobs is going way down, while what you are expected to do and the hours you must put in continue to rise.

One of the most interesting sections of the film is told us by that woman, talent agent Donna Massetti, who leads us through the maze of auditioning for a TV pilot, along with what happens (or doesn't) afterwards.

A real "learning experience" and a must-see if you want to discover what's behind some of the many male faces you've grown to know and love over the years, That Guy...Who Was in That Thing, running just 78 minutes, is available now via Netflix Streaming and perhaps elsewhere, too.