ME:  Maiya, you’ve written for sitcoms, sketch shows, and now a talk show.  How do the writers rooms, and their writing processes, work differently on these different types of shows?

MAIYA:  When you’re on a sitcom, the show is usually the point of view of the executive producer.  [They want different writers with different voices], but it is definitely a point of view everyone has to match.  So you write in room full of people, where everyone pitches, [and the show] has everyone’s voices, but [it mostly] has the voice of the show. 

On a show like “MadTV,” they want to have everyone’s sensibility in the sketches.  Some people like politics, some people like gross-out humor, some people like silliness.  [And since] they want the show to have many different points of view… they prefer people write alone, or with one other person, so they have [different sketches] to choose from. 

There was rarely a room on “MadTV,” but sometimes—if there was a guest or a sketch that no one pitched, but was assigned—they would assign it to three people.  “You people peel off and write this sketch”… but it was rare anything was worked on by the whole staff.  We had twelve people on staff, and that’s a lot of voices for [a single] sketch, but not for a sitcom.  In fact, I can’t remember one time we [all worked] on something.  When the show was being shot, people might suggest a joke to throw in, but that was the only time other people might work on your sketch, if people were watching and something just popped into their head.

On a show like “The Wanda Sykes Show,” where there’s one person’s point of view—and since none of us is Wanda—she’s the only one with her point of view.  But we try to match it as much as possible.  We don’t write together because they want volume.  Rather than having seven people come up with ten jokes, they want seven people to come up with seventy jokes in the same amount of time.

ME:  The WGA recently released a report saying there was “little if any” improvement in employment for diversity and minority writers.  But it seems like every studio has a diversity writers program, agents say they’re all looking for diversity writers, and every show wants diversity writers and minorities.   So is Hollywood a better place for minority writers, including women?  Is it harder, easier, or the same for diverse writers to find a job?

MAIYA:  It’s a complicated question because there are many things at work. 

No, it is not good for minorities, despite the fact of diversity programs. 

Diversity programs bring people in, and attract brand new writers, and put them on shows at the lowest level of writer, but a lot of times these people don’t graduate to higher levels.  [In theory, these] diversity programs are trying to get more minorities [hired, so they eventually get to] positions of leadership and executive producer positions.  [But since these low-level writers don’t always graduate, they almost never get to those higher levels.]

The secondary problem, and the reason that’s an issue, is that minorities get pigeon-holed in Hollywood, especially in sitcoms.

As a minority writer, I work mainly on black shows; only once have I worked on a show with no black actors.  I went to Harvard, majored in history and literature, and I always thought my sensibility would be a show like “Frasier.”  But I always end up on hip-hop shows, where I have to do a lot of research.  But that doesn’t matter, because I’m black… and that’s a black show. 

I’ve made a good career writing for black shows, but black shows have become “ghetto-ized.”  In the 1970’s, you didn’t have two nights of black shows.  [All the black shows were] just on FOX, which was a lesser network.  Then they were on the WB… and then on UPN and the CW, which were even lesser networks than FOX.  As networks start up, they start up with black shows.  But as they get a bit of success, they drop those shows because they’re so specific.

Nowadays, it’s difficult to find a black show on television.  I can only speak from the perspective of a black writer, but—from the point of view of a black writer—when there are fewer black shows, there are fewer black writers working.

ME:  What advice would you have for young minority writers trying to break in?

MAIYA:  My advice, if you’re just starting out:  Write for hour-long shows, which seem to be a little more color-blind.  They have black actors without being black shows, so your resume will have a richness to it and you won’t get pigeon-holed.  If you have a sense of humor, there are some funny hour-long shows.  So even though sitcoms are coming back, unless you want to be pigeon-holed, write for hour-long shows first.

Monday, November 23, 2009 9:38:50 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [2]

I’m writing this while sitting in the office of our Co-Executive Producer, Rick Qualliotine—the only person at The Wanda Sykes Show who has actually PAINTED HIS OFFICE… making this easiest the coolest office in the place (one wall is a bright warm orange-yellow). 

Rick started his career in theater, producing plays and stage shows, before moving on to television, where he has helped get shows like The Showbiz Show with David Spade, HGTV Summer Showdown, and now The Wanda Sykes Show, up on their feet.

So I’m asking Rick…

What are the biggest challenges when getting a new show up on its feet?

Here’s what Rick says, in his own words...

1)   NOT MENTALLY IMPLODING WHILE YOU WAIT FOR YOUR DEAL TO CLOSE.  Getting to the point where you actually start making something is a grueling, pressure-filled, and sometimes a financially difficult time.  Even if you’ve pitched and sold something, sometimes it will take a long while for there to be any money.  So frequently you’re waiting and waiting for a deal to close… and waiting for production to start… and waiting for any money to start coming.  So just getting to the point where you’re actually making something can be very stressful and difficult.

2)   You’d be amazed how frequently it turns out that what you’ve sold isn’t what the buyer wants.  So going back and forth trying to figure out what the show is, depending on the genre, can be very challenging.  What people frequently forget is that when they say “I sold my show, I sold my project,” that really means someone else owns it.  So when you start telling them what the show is and that’s not what they want it to be, there’s a very difficult back-and-forth… and what the show is and who’s gonna star in it and who’s gonna write it.  After you’ve sold it, it’s somebody else’s.  They need you to execute it, but it’s theirs.

3)   Staying on top of all the different pieces as it starts to move really fast.  It’s a huge elaborate, collaborative process.  I always go back to this David Mamet quote, which I’ll paraphrase: “Producing a play or directing a film is like running a marathon. Launching a television series is like running until your heart explodes.” 

When you make a TV show, you’re usually looking at making 13 or 22 episodes. Just doing the math, that’s either 7½ -11 or 13-22 hours of material that you have to imagine, write, perform, and edit.  It takes years to do that for a feature film, to produce that much material.  And we generally have about 30 weeks.  So that requires a huge team and lots of people writing simultaneously.  You must overlap your writing, your production, and post.  So as soon as those things start to overlap, you have to—as a showrunner—move in and out of those essential pieces.  That’s why, in television, directors take an episode or a couple episodes; then, the next week it moves on to the next director, whereas producers and writers stay on and generate all the material.  So if you’re a showrunner, you must have someone sitting in the [writers] room who you trust.  You have to have someone on the stage who you trust.  You have to have someone editing who you trust.  But you also have to be able to interface with all those people simultaneously, while dealing with the network, and all the usual challenges of managing people.

Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:22:18 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]

I’ve been a huge Wanda fan for years, so I was thrilled about the chance to work with her.  For me, Wanda’s at her best when she’s serving as the voice of the everyman, breaking down large social and political ideas into hilariously simple, digestible, no-bullshit bites and articulating thoughts and questions everyone’s thinking but is afraid to ask. 

This is my first time working on a network late-night talk show.  (I produced a late-night talk show pilot for E! a couple years ago, but this is a whole different ballgame…)

The show mixes traditional talk show elements, like the opening monologue, with dashes of “The Daily Show,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” and “Chelsea Lately.”  It’s got a bit of everything: one act makes fun of that week’s news and clips, another has Wanda and a panel of guests debating controversial social topics.

I work with the writers, putting together all the clip-based segments… finding the clips, developing sketches or jokes around them, etc.

So far it’s been a great time… a lot of hard work and late nights as we figure out how the show plays, what works/what doesn’t, which sketches fit with Wanda’s voice… but an incredible experience.  This writing staff has some of the most talented writers I’ve ever worked with… watching them brainstorm, pitch, and punch the jokes is an incredible education.

Anyway, over the next few weeks and months, I hope to be able to bring you first-hand reports from the world of production, as well as interviews and advice from the writers and staff.  And if you have questions, please email them in… and if I can’t answer them myself, I’m sure someone here can!

In the mean time, here’s one of my favorite Wanda stand-up bits…

Friday, November 06, 2009 4:55:10 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [1]