Rockford Files (eBook)

Epiphanies in Show Business

Robert Greenblatt (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
432 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-6652-9 (ISBN)

This enlightening book about the television business and the Broadway stage tells the story of the creation of many hits during the last thirty years on platforms as wide-ranging as HBO, HBO Max, NBC, Fox, Showtime, CBS, and more. Be a fly on the wall during the casting of "e;The X-Files,"e; the creation of "e;The Sopranos,"e; the birth of "e;Beverly Hills, 90210,"e; the explosive launch of "e;The Voice,"e; the magic of "e;This Is Us,"e; or the debut of television's first new live musical in fifty years, "e;The Sound of Music Live!"e; which attracted nearly 20 million viewers, and so much more! Robert Greenblatt, a television executive who began his career in broadcast television at the Fox network in 1989 and rose in the ranks to the chairmanship of NBC and HBO, pulls back the curtain on the development and launch of countless global hits, including a departure to Broadway for the debut of "e;9 To 5 The Musical"e; with composer Dolly Parton. This is a fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of the creative process of shows that have delighted audiences the world over for three decades. Greenblatt's childhood and origin in rural Rockford, Illinois, is an inspired part of the journey too, proof that making it in the entertainment business - getting to the "e;big time"e; - is possible no matter where you come from. If you're interested in a career in Hollywood, or simply curious about how these successes were made, this is the book for you. Here's what readers are saying:"e;I loved your book. And I'm certainly glad to know you enjoyed the whole [9 to 5 The Musical] experience. The greatest part of it was that we got to know each other. Just wanted you to know it's a great read, and I was really honored that you spoke so highly of me."e;- Dolly Parton, composer of 9 to 5 The Musical"e;Bob has written a breezy, earnest, name-droppy stroll though the past 30 years of television, told via chapters on hits like Six Feet Under (he produced), Weeds (he greenlit), and The Voice (he oversaw), all written from the perspective of a small-town theare geek who ended up running a bunch of TV networks during transformational times. Greenblatt is kinda like the Where's Waldo of the Peak TV era."e;- Matt Belloni, Puck"e;Greenblatt's book is an invaluable compendium of anecdotes about his experiences in the TV trenches. He brings the dual perspective of a seasoned industryite who has worked as a top programming buyer for major networks as well as a producer of Emmy-winning series."e;- Cynthia Littleton, Variety"e;This should be required reading for every TV course in college and every trainee and intern hoping to break into the business. I love the Rockford network of theatre friends and professionals intersecting throughout your entire career. Loyalty is such a rare trait and you have shown it repeatedly."e;-Kevin Beggs, Chairman, Lionsgate Television"e;Your book is so wonderful! Your unique creative journey, unending optimism and fun memory is extraordinary. What a career you've had (so far!)."e;- Brian Roberts, Chairman, Comcast NBCUniversal"e;This book is smart, penetrating, honest and, as far as I can tell, remarkably accurate."e;- Dick Wolf, Producer"e;The X-Files stories, the Aaron Spelling stories, the 90210 development, those early days at Foxand also the high school stuff!!! It's all really fascinating, juicy without being bitchy. Definitely among the best books I've read about the TV industry!"e;- Jess Cagle, The Jess Cagle Show, Sirius Radio"e;You have had an amazing and productive career; it's rather mind-blowing to read all you have done and achieved and imagined. I was very lucky that our paths crossed."e;- Michael Hirst, creator of The Tudors and Vikings"e;Working with you has been a high point of my career, and I was thrilled to learn what being Bob Greenblatt felt like from the inside, during these eventful and triumphant years."e;- Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age

The X-Files

“I saw Elvis in a potato chip once.”

Let’s start a little out of sequence with The X-Files—one of the biggest hits and best epiphanies I ever had: Know when to get out of your own way. There were several signature series that helped put the Fox network on the map in the 1990s, but without the hat trick of The Simpsons, Beverly Hills, 90210, and The X-Files, there probably wouldn’t even be a fourth network today. Since I helped bring two of those to life, I want to jump ahead from Illinois during the Watergate era to Hollywood during the Clinton years.

The X Files premiered September 10, 1993 and became a gargantuan worldwide triumph for the fledgling network, beyond everyone’s highest expectations. Initially running for nine seasons, it then spawned two movies and three more seasons of a re-boot from 2016-2018. David Duchovny starred as a laconic conspiracy theorist determined to solve the FBI’s most unexplained cases, and Gillian Anderson was his science-based, skeptical partner. Their chemistry was palpable, and the stories—which ranged from alien mysteries to scary monster tales—were fresh and irresistible.

At the time, there were virtually no sci-fi shows on TV except for the occasional Star Trek series. And the success of The X-Files ushered in a flurry of investigative supernatural shows that still endures today. However, in 1992—when it was just an idea in the mind of its inventive creator, Chris Carter—it was almost not to be.

I was the young head of drama series development at Fox back then, my very first job in television. Amid almost daily predictions that we would soon go out of business because no one wanted a fourth network, we were actually experiencing some success with a couple of fresh teenage soaps from Aaron Spelling and Darren Star: Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place. Consequently, no one was on the hunt for science fiction. Personally, it wasn’t a genre that ever excited me, aside from a few undeniable movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, E.T., or Star Wars. Nor did a show set in a fantastical arena even make sense for a wobbly network that was finally starting to get some traction with our serialized dramas.

Peter Chernin was president of FBC at the time, and my boss. He went on to become one of the most prominent executives and producers in our industry (and he also created Hulu!), but at first he was just a young network head trying to put a faltering company on the right track after a rough start. It was critical to distinguish Fox from the other broadcast services if we were going to make a name for ourselves. And this is where he instilled in me something that became one of the guiding principles of my career: Every show must have a singular, unique, undeniable quality. That’s a no-brainer, right? Well, much easier said than done. And while we didn’t always achieve this goal by any means, that was what we were all going for.

My job was therefore to deliver drama series that were wholly original, shows no one else was doing. Our young-skewing soaps were a great example of this—totally unique in the marketplace at the time. Science fiction was another genre not represented on TV back then, but we really didn’t see that until after The X-Files was a big hit. I guess hindsight really is 20:20. Well, here’s a glimpse into how this seminal show came to be—against all odds—along with a couple of fine points I took away from it after seeing it come so vividly to life.

Ironically, The X-Files shares a bit of a connection with the primetime soap genre. Its creator, Chris Carter, was a handsome, suntanned surfing enthusiast who began his career at the Walt Disney company in the late ’80s writing shows that were decidedly serialized. There were no aliens or monsters on his resume when he created a one-hour NBC drama called Brand New Life. It starred Barbara Eden and Don Murray as a couple who brought their two families together in Brady Bunch-style, and ran for only six episodes. Despite that, I was a fan of his writing exactly when we were attracting a rabid young audience obsessed with Darren Star’s new teen drama, Beverly Hills, 90210.

In 1992, Peter Roth was president of the 20th Television studio (our sister company) and he made a blind deal with Chris Carter to develop a new series. I had recently hired a smart development executive from Aaron Spelling’s company named Danielle Claman, who I had worked with on 90210 and Melrose Place. Since we were on the lookout for more soaps, we agreed to buy Chris’ blind deal to get into business with him on a new show about even more good-looking teenagers. But when we sat down with him to talk about the new idea he was passionate about developing for us, it would be an understatement to say that the meeting didn’t go so well.

Chris had brought with him a few pages for a pitch that he was calling The X-Files—as in unexplained FBI files—noting that it was inspired by a series called Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I was already skeptical! As he began to read his pages, somewhat haltingly, he seemed very uncomfortable, almost nervous. Maybe that’s because he knew we were looking for a new teen soap and that’s not at all what he wanted to write.

In the middle of the second paragraph, Chris suddenly started coughing. Before Danielle and I could get a sense of what the show was really about, I jumped up to get him a glass of water. He took a few sips and then continued reading, but started coughing and clearing his throat again. Somehow, he managed to power through the rest of the pages. But when he finished, Danielle and I were both a little stymied because we had no idea this was the kind of show he was going to pitch us. We asked a couple of perfunctory questions, thanked him, and told him we needed to think about whether The X-Files was right for us, because we weren’t really looking for that kind of a show.

Unexplained supernatural FBI cases with two agents who disagreed on how to solve them—what were we supposed to do with that? Melrose Place had premiered only a few months earlier and was becoming a new hit for us. Along with 90210, we were starting to solidify our drama identity, and what we needed were more of those shows to bring in more young adult viewers. We did have a couple of detective shows on the air, but even 21 Jump Street was focused on attractive young stars who spoke to our young audience. What should have been an easy lay-up for a new soap with Chris was now a little complicated.

After reporting to Roth that the pitch didn’t go so well, I politely told him we didn’t quite understand the concept or see how it was even right for us. So, I had no choice but to pass on The X-Files. He suggested we should step away from the blind deal so they could try to sell it elsewhere, but I said no, we liked Chris a lot and still wanted to work with him. But if he was dead set on this FBI idea, I suggested at the very least he should write a detailed pilot story for us to demonstrate how an X-file case worked. That might help us to better understand it all, though I secretly hoped making him jump through some hoops would dissuade him from the whole thing altogether. Instead, however, Peter told us that Chris would be thrilled to deliver us a pilot story if that would help push it over.

A week or so later, a single-spaced 12-page document arrived that went into detail about Fox Mulder’s desire to take on these strange cases partly due to the painful and unsolved disappearance of his own sister. It set up his awkward partnership with Dana Scully, a forensic scientist who believed in facts but for some reason was open to Mulder’s vulnerability. There were also hints that Scully herself might have been involved in an unexplained incident she wasn’t ready to face. And it laid out a compelling case of the strange murders of several teenagers in Oregon that Mulder felt certain were actually alien abductions.

It’s worth noting that there were no aliens anywhere in the story. The murders happened off-screen and remained unexplained even when the episode ended. An abducted kid reappeared alive in the final scene, but at no time did we see him on a spacecraft populated by strange creatures with dark eye sockets. Apart from Mulder’s insistence that these were alien kidnappings, there was no real evidence to support that fact. Chris had purposely left it all rather ambiguous because he believed that showing less would be more effective, and that the audience (and Scully) would come to believe what Mulder believed.

Surprisingly, the story was riveting and scary and emotional. There were no actors or special effects yet, but Danielle and I agreed this was powerful storytelling in its simplest form. Even with the ambiguity. And though I wasn’t into the supernatural at all, I found myself sucked in because I cared about Fox Mulder. To be honest, I still didn’t know if this genre would work for our audience, but we decided to give into Chris’ passion and at least let him develop it.

This is one of the best lessons I ever learned about the creative process, something that has guided me many times since. Even though I didn’t gravitate to The X-Files—and despite the fact that we weren’t looking for anything like...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	9.11.2022
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
ISBN-10	1-6678-6652-4 / 1667866524
ISBN-13	978-1-6678-6652-9 / 9781667866529

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