Showrunner Transcript: Bill Lawrence & Kevin Biegel (“Cougar Town”)
In conjunction with the annual broadcast network upfronts, New York magazine is running a series called “Showrunner Transcripts.” We will feature one each day for two weeks on GITS. What’s a showrunner? For a primer, you can go here to Wikipedia. The short answer: “The person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television series.” It’s more than just managing a series. Someone has to guarantee to a network they can deliver 12, 22, or however many episodes for which the series is contracted. That’s the bottom line of a showrunner’s reality.
Today: Bill Lawrence & Kevin Biegel (“Cougar Town”).
Do you have a showrunner philosophy?
Kevin Biegel: Listen to people. Listen to yourself at the end of the day, but listen to people a lot. Also, you can’t do all the work, so surround yourself with people you trust; if this is your show then everything is ultimately your call, but the more faith you have in people who have proven to be capable, the more sane you get to be.
Bill Lawrence: The biggest one of mine is: You have to lean into the turn. On every creative aspect, you have to lean into what’s working. One of the things I’m proud of is my ability to change directions if something’s not working. As writers, we write these characters, and we imagine how they’re going to talk and what they look like. I used to search and search for that actor or actress who’s exactly what’s in my head. But you have to realize you have to cast whoever’s super talented and super funny, and then the character has to become at least partially theirs. Sarah Chalke’s character was just an absolute bitch on Scrubs. That’s funny — but it’s not Sarah Chalke. Some showrunners would fire Sarah Chalke and then go off to find someone who can play that part in their head. But I think that, more often than not, if you find someone who’s funny and can turn a joke, you take it. If something’s working, you lean into it. You don’t fight it.
What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned, and from who?
BL: I essentially got to go to showrunning camp with Gary David Goldberg. When we created Spin City together, I got something that a lot of young writers don’t get anymore. He taught me how to talk to actors and how to run a writers’ room and edit. It wasn’t one specific thing. It was the fact that someone took the time to show me how to do things. These days people are just sort of thrown to the wolves. I’m lucky and blessed because someone as successful as Gary taught me how.
The only thing since then is: The micromanagers in this business fall apart quickly. If you got into it to be a writer, stay a writer. Empower other people to do their jobs. There are plenty of other talented people out here: I’m surrounded by good editors, music directors, directors of photography. There was a while there where I didn’t have much of a life because I tried to do all that stuff. But now I get to check in when I want and stay a comedy writer. With showrunning, the more successful you get, the more you’re pulled away from the writing. And the writing is what’s most important to me.
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