Written by Ashley Wehrs, Graphic by Ashley Wehrs
The “Wonder Women: Showrunners” panel began on the final day of SCAD’s first virtual aTVfest. The panel highlighted four showrunners, including Michelle King of “Evil,” “The Good Fight,” “The Second Wave” and “The Good Wife,” Jenny Lumet of “Clarice,” “The Mummy,” “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Rachel Getting Married,” Terri Edda Miller of “The Equalizer,” “Castle” and “Take Two” and Alycia Rossiter of “To Tell the Truth,” “Encore!,” “Dating Around” and “Supermarket Sweep.”
The showrunners discussed their inspirations to enter the television industry, their “big breaks,” biggest challenges, how they create a show’s final cut and their methods to staying true to their voice.
King, Lumet, Miller and Rossiter grew up loving television. “Bewitched,” “Dallas,” “M*A*S*H” and the quick-witted carrot-loving Bugs Bunny were just a few inspirations on their paths into the industry. These shows helped them realize one of the most significant parts of storytelling — how it brings people together. “TV was always a way for me to bond with people who were in very different places in their lives,” Rossiter said.
Despite the showrunners’ many successes, they didn’t hold back on the challenges they faced along the way. King admitted time and money will be constant challenges throughout any showrunner’s career, but some of her most notable challenges were as an assistant. She noted that there is a fortunate decline in the amount of bosses peeing in employee waste baskets and requesting illegal activity. Miller felt similarly about looking back at her early career and realizing how awful the norm had been. “[I learned to] bare down and get more fierce,” Miller said.
This fierceness is represented in the choices of each showrunner and their desire to make meaningful content that pushes at a system so in need of changing. Rossiter emphasized her priority of including people of all different races, ages, and body types in reality TV. “My job is to show the world how funny and interesting and beautiful and silly and hard-working we all are,” Rossiter said, “We’re all really interesting if you ask the right questions.”
As showrunners, King, Lumet, Miller and Rossiter strive to set high expectations for their content. Miller explained her show’s transition from an editors’ cut to director’s cut to producers’ cut. “Once we have our producers’ cut, it’s really in our hands and it’s our responsibility to deliver the show,” Miller said.
Throughout any career, you pick and choose your battles. As each showrunner addressed student concerns of being silenced, they emphasized the necessity of sharing your voice and your truth with a civil footing. Lumet admitted that reading hearts and minds will always be difficult, but understanding who you are and your mission as an artist will buoy your confidence. “The intention by which you’ve made all of the decisions, […] I’m serving this show, I’m building this with as much integrity as possible — that is what makes me comfortable in my voice,” Lumet said.
