Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521956
B O O K R E V I E W 45 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E or one of the major film studios, it was producers who came up with ideas, hired writers, editors, direc- tors, cinematographers, got pilots made, and were responsible for the finished product. Writers were usu- ally freelance, often hired for only a few episodes. As the number of producers, exec- utive producers, associate producers listed in credits began to proliferate, it became increasingly difficult for interested audiences to tell which one person was most responsible for a program. As television audiences became used to, and then demand- ed, more complex characters and sophisticated plotlines, it was more practical to consistently employ the same writers for an entire season. These staff writers added long-term character development and nuance in ways that one-off episode writers could not. Just as important, TV crews, including editors, needed a word to describe the person in charge; "produc- er" was just too confusing. Showrunner emerged as an accurate description. Variety started using the word in 1992, and in 2007, the Hollywood Reporter published its first list of "Top Fifty Power Showrunners." S h o w r u n n e r s p e r f o r m a m u l t i t u d e o f tasks, often beginning with the writers' room, but sometimes pitching their original ideas. In the 2020s, people are proud to be called showrunners, and many individuals aspire to hold the job. For those who do, Marygrace O'Shea's book "Conversations with Women Showrunners" is a must-read for both women and men. O'Shea is an Associate Arts P rofessor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She worked on numerous TV shows, including "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," "Law and Order: SVU" and "In Treatment" and is a working member of WGA, East. The book arose from a need to educate a n d a dv i s e s t u d e n ts, b u t i t go e s beyond that. Its form is simple in consisting entirely of transcribed and edited interviews with women who are or have been showrunners on many television programs. The inter- viewees represent a broad range of shows, including animation, drama, sci-fi, comedy, procedurals, horror, children's shows, and more. O'S h e a p re s e n ts a c ro ss s e c t i o n o f women of different races and diverse backgrounds — also young, mature, and everything in between. Some, e s p e c i a l l y t h e y o u n g e r w o m e n , graduated from first-rate universi- ties, often with film schools, such as USC, NYU, Columbia, Stanford, Vassar, Yale, and Sarah Lawrence. Others were chosen to participate in industry fellowships, programs, and workshops designed to provide training and access. Many worked t h e i r way u p t h ro u g h t h e ra n k s, starting as assistants. All share a hard-driving, perhaps consuming, passion to succeed in the very tough television industry. There are 42 interviews, gener- ally three or four pages long. Each is accompanied by a black-and-white photo portrait as grainy and poorly printed as all Focal Press book im- ages. The women's stories are not presented in any particular order. The book could be improved through some sort of organization — by types of shows, years in the industry, or even alphabetically. The randomness, and lack of an index, make it difficult to pull out specific information, but it does suggest a sense of the often cha- otic and fast-paced environment endemic to creativity on television. It is easy to dip in and out of the stories. O'Shea aptly characterizes the pieces with the phrase "As told to portraits." She states that this format grew out of an original question and answer approach that evolved as her contacts grew and as people had time to reflect and talk during pandemic shutdowns. The result is very conver- sational writing that feels personal and specific. Each woman approved her own chapter before publication, and their stories, some funny, others harsh, read as genuine and heartfelt. There is emphasis on the route that each person took to become a showrunner, an appropriate slant for what began as a book for students. "Women Showrunners" is also a Marygrace O'Shea.