Amy Sherman-Palladino and the Genius of Gilmore Girls

I wrote an essay about Amy Sherman-Palladino for a screenwriting class last semester, and I thought it would be a good idea to post an excerpt on my blog, given the recently confirmed news of the Gilmore Girls Netflix revival. Enjoy!

After a series of stints on sitcoms, Amy Sherman-Palladino wanted to create her own show. She set up a meeting at The WB with then-president Susanne Daniels, who she wanted to work with. She pitched a lot of ideas, but the one The WB was most interested in was the least developed one. This was the pitch that would become Gilmore Girls. All Sherman-Palladino had was a mother and a daughter who were more like friends. “I didn't have a show, mind. I had a relationship.” (AV Club) Sherman-Palladino was then tasked with coming up with a pilot script from there. She and her husband Daniel Palladino (who would become a crucial part of the development of the show) took a vacation to Connecticut, and that caused the development of the “small town” personality of the show. “Our few trips to smaller towns [...] fed into my psychotic version of the warmth and safety of a smaller environment, where people kind of gave a shit about each other.” The small town aspect became very important as the characters began to take shape. “If [Lorelai and Rory] were going to live in a small town in Connecticut, [Lorelai’s] parents needed to be big-city, which–in Connecticut, Hartford is about as big as you're going to get.” (AV Club) It made sense that a 16-year-old Lorelai with a newborn baby escaping the stuffy life of her parents would end up at a completely opposite place: a warm, safe, and accepting small town. 

Writing and shooting this pilot was only the first taste of Sherman-Palladino’s excellent skills in creating characters and the worlds that surround them, and also her trademark fast dialogue. “[The pilot] was like 60-something pages. I knew I needed to get it down to 50, but I was just feeling internally that this was right. We shot it and we were 15 minutes short. Legally you cannot put the program on when it’s that short. We had to shoot four extra scenes.” (EW) Throughout the run of Gilmore, Sherman-Palladino and her writing team regularly turned in 70-80 page scripts, all of which fit the regular 43 minutes that aired on television because the characters spoke so fast. It is estimated that Gilmore has 20-to-25 seconds for one page of dialogue, much faster than the standard page-a-minute formula. (WSJ) But this dialogue wasn’t just dialogue to fill pages, or characters talking just to be heard. Every sentence was constructed for a reason, and furthered the plot or the characters in some way. “The show’s characters weren’t caricatures; in fact, its female characters especially possessed uncommon complexity. They were intelligent and ambitious, and also allowed to slip up without fear of being devalued or stabbed in the back by friends. The Gilmore Girls universe was a safe place for women to make (and learn from) mistakes.” (Salon - Paskin) That is a big reason why this show has stood the test of time and has captured the attention of mothers and daughters for 15 years.

Amy Sherman-Palladino, despite not having created many shows, has made a big impact on a lot of people, if only through her work on Gilmore Girls. “Her talent in creating witty conversations, presenting diverse family dynamics, and writing hilarious comedy in Gilmore Girls captured the hearts of many viewers.” (Fusion Film Festival) Her female characters are written with such complexity that they become easy role models for young women, not because they are perfect, but because they show that it’s okay to be imperfect. “Sherman-Palladino also recognized how important it was to let the characters grow and evolve: They didn’t have their educational or personal ambitions stifled, and weren’t shoehorned into awkward situations for the sake of good TV.” (Salon - Zaleski) Sherman-Palladino herself is also a great role model for young women, because she is not afraid to get what she wants. She gave this piece of advice to women: “If you have to be better than the men to get ahead, just be better. Work harder, get it, succeed, and then be in the position to do that for other people. Because that’s what men did.” (Refinery29)

Links to references:

• AV Club
• EW
• WSJ
• Salon - Paskin
• Fusion Film Festival
• Salon - Zaleski
• Refinery29

The 100 is the Best Show on TV Right Now... and Here's Why

The 100 returns for its third season today,Thursday, January 21st, and I’m here to tell you that you should be watching it. There are a list of reasons why people have written off this show, chiefly the fact that it airs on The CW, a largely “teenager” network, but those people are wrong.

The 100 takes place 97 years after a devastating nuclear war took place on Earth, killing nearly the entire population. Now, the survivors live in an orbiting satellite called the Ark, where the life support systems are failing rapidly. A selection of 100 juvenile prisoners are deemed expendable, and are sent to the ground to see if it is livable. The cast is led by Australian actor Eliza Taylor, who plays Clarke Griffin, an independent and headstrong character who becomes one of the leaders of the 100. The 100 face many challenges, from both within and without, in their quest for survival.

While the premise is an interesting one, the core of the show is its moral center. One of the biggest conflicts the characters constantly struggle with is the difference between “who we are and who we need to be to survive.” The characters, most of which are under 18, are forced to make difficult decisions way beyond our scope of the capacity of 18-year-olds. From a technical standpoint, this is remarkable because the writers put these characters in impossible situations without giving them an easy way out. Too often, television characters are saved by a deus ex machina event that “saves” them from making a difficult choice, or completing a difficult action. The 100 doesn’t do this. If a situation arises that could cause a massive impact on the characters’ lives, it’s safe to say that that situation will come to fruition. There will not be an easy way out. Additionally, the characters will feel the consequences of those actions, both physically and emotionally. These consequences are explored in terms of guilt over one’s own survival.

This show is also one of the most diverse out there. Just in terms of the main cast, representation includes disabled, lesbian, bisexual, black, Latina, Korean, and biracial characters. These characters are all given the opportunity to be deeply explored and discovered. None of the characters are tokens or stereotypes, and they are all extremely complex, as people are. The characters also grow immensely from who they were in the pilot. They remain true to their core beliefs and character traits, but discover new things about themselves as they navigate the new world of the ground.

A lot of fans of the show (and even the creators) admit that the show takes a few episodes to really find it’s footing. A major event takes place in the fifth episode of the first season that, for me, was the major hook to keep me watching. I was definitely interested in the show enough to get to that fifth episode, but that was the one that made me realize how groundbreaking it really was. After that major event, the conflicts and problems just keep getting bigger and bigger, while still keeping the characters’ emotional journey central. The second season expanded the world of the characters in a major way, and judging by trailers and teases from cast and crew, the third season will expand the world even more. The show will hopefully continue to explore the moral ramifications of survival and what it takes to be a “good” person in a world like that.

The first two seasons of The 100 are currently streaming on Netflix. You have no excuse.

4 New TV Shows I'm Checking Out This Fall

To reawaken this blog from the depths of the underworld, I figured I’d reflect on this upcoming season of television and the new shows I’m looking forward to checking out.

Quantico (ABC)

At first glance, this show seems to fall closely along ABC’s “pretty 20-somethings in training” trope (see Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away With Murder), except with FBI agents this time. But I love shows that play with time, and this show appears to flash back and forth between a group of agents-to-be training at Quantico (with the added drama of 50 trainees competing for a limited number of jobs) and the aftermath of a huge terrorist event, where the perpetrator is supposedly one of the FBI trainees. This is a plot device that is certainly inspired by HTGAWM, but I’m interested to see where they decide to go with it. It also feels like a bigger story than HTGAWM, because instead of one single murder, the “event” is a huge terrorist event. One thing that cannot be overlooked in this show is its racial and sexual diversity. I strongly believe that diversity is important thing to see on screen, and I applaud this show for its casting (thus far).

Wicked City (ABC)

I have been a huge fan of Erika Christensen since I started watching Parenthood, and I am so excited to see her in a different show tackling such a different role. I also think that the sudden popularity of anthology storytelling is really interesting, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how a network is going to handle that.

Wicked City will follow two LA cops who are searching for a Bonnie & Clyde-esque serial-killing duo amidst the rock ‘n’ roll Sunset Strip of the 1980’s. I love Bonnie & Clyde, so to see that updated to the 80’s setting is going to be captivating. The show will focus equally on the cops and the serial killers, getting into both of their minds and motivations. This will allow for a number of complex characters, and justify their actions based on their reasonings.

Supergirl (CBS)

Usually, I am a strictly Marvel girl, but in this case, I am so excited to see where this show goes. Any show that has a woman in the lead role will immediately catch my attention, and I truly believe that there needs to be more woman superheroes represented on screen. The plot sounds like it could be a little bit cliche, but I do like the feminist implications of Kara Zor-El embracing her true self and not hiding anymore. There is the added bonus of her having a day job as a media mogul’s assistant, giving a chance for some funny double-identity storylines, and a “girls can do anything” theme.

Scream Queens (FOX)

This show is my prediction for the breakout hit of this TV season. All the right elements are in place: the creator is Ryan Murphy, who also created Glee and American Horror Story, the cast includes stars like Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, Lea Michele, and Emma Roberts, and it belongs in the horror genre (which is on the rise), but adds a comedic twist. It will be interesting to compare this show to the already massively popular American Horror Story, which boasts Lady Gaga among its “Hotel” themed cast this season. Also, Scream Queens has the misfortune of being on a broadcast network, FOX, unlike AHS, which is on FX, an edgier cable network.

I Was So Alone And I Owe You So Much

These are the three stories that changed my life:

Harry Potter

The Harry Potter book series has not changed my life. It has shaped my life. I first read the Harry Potter books when I was about 10 years old, simply because my older brother was reading them. I never knew how influential they would be in my life. I labeled myself as a Ravenclaw early on, and that identifier is a very important part of who I consider myself to be. When I became active in online fan communities in middle school, the Harry Potter fandom was the first I went to. Even though me and all my online friends had different tastes, Harry Potter was our common denominator. The fan community has been a constant in my life since then, and I know if I feel like crap, all I have to do is log back on to Mugglenet or browse the Harry Potter tag on Tumblr to make me feel better. My copy of Deathly Hallows (which I will hopefully one day get signed) was one of the few books of my extensive collection to come with me to college, and it has always been there to guide me home to Hogwarts if need be.

I cannot write about the impact of Harry Potter on me without writing about Hermione Granger. Early on, she became my favorite character, simply by being the main female character. But I grew to identify so much with her and idolize her: being a Ravenclaw, I was very bookish and smart. Hermione was my role model; she never apologized for her intelligence, even when it was made fun of, and she remained brave in the toughest situations, making her a true Gryffindor.  She had strength that I never had, and I loved her so much because of it. The best part was, she didn't even need Ron (or Krum or McLaggen) to be herself. She never relied on anyone else, she was always who she wanted to be without reservation. And that is who I strive to be, every single day.

Fringe

I can pinpoint the television show Fringe as the reason that I am a film major today. Yes, I hear you saying, "Oh Fringe isn't a film, it's a television show wahhh". Deal with it. I am probably the worst film major ever because I barely watch movies. The reason I am a film major is because I want to write, and Temple's film screenwriting track is fabulous. Boom. Anyways, I fell in love with Fringe when it began airing my freshman year of high school. My older brother was currently watching Lost (I promise this is where the trend ends) and watched the pilot of Fringe, since they shared a creator (JJ Abrams, aka a god). I just so happened to be sitting in the room when he was watching it, and inadvertently fell in love with it. The next time I sat down to watch it, my dad decided he liked the show and wanted to watch it with me. So, for the next five years every Tuesday/Thursday/Friday (depending on the season) me and my father would have our "Fringe time". When the fifth and final season was airing, I had just moved to college and could no longer watch it with my dad. But everything came full circle when the series finale aired on the last Friday of my winter break. I was able to close out an incredibly emotional experience exactly how it started: with my father by my side.

I say that Fringe is the reason I want to work in film/TV for a few reasons. First, Fringe was the first show that I was really invested in. The characters and the storyline pulled me into their world more than any show had ever done, and it took me completely by surprise. Like I said, I fell in love with this show and each episode left me begging for more. It gave me a passion for storytelling that is key for working in the industry.  Second, I was in awe of the writing on Fringe. Some scenes were so captivating I watched them over and over on YouTube the next day. This led me to be interested in television writers, and to my third reason. Third, I discovered J.J. Abrams. In some Wikipedia surfing, I came across his article and all the things he had written and all the things he was about to write.  Reading about the lives of Abrams and other Fringe writers made me crave that life: not the Hollywood celebrity, but the hours spent in a writing room hammering out plot details. I became convinced that this was the life for me, and I knew the way to get there was to be a film major. And here I am, one step closer to that life.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

This web series adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice is incredible. Seriously, if you haven't seen in by now, go and come back in 100 episodes. The series depicts Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bennet as a current day grad student with a mountain of student debts embarking on a year of making twice-weekly video blogs, with lots of fantastically done modern-day updates.

I watched The Lizzie Bennet Diaries from the very beginning, when creator Hank Green announced it on his own YouTube channel (youtube.com/vlogbrothers). I had tried to read P&P, but never got past the first few chapters because the language was hard to get used to. After a few months of watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (and loving it!) I decided to give P&P another try. This time, I pictured all of the actors from the series when reading, and I tore through the book in about 2 weeks. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries itself had a profound impact on my artistic life, as I was just starting my freshman year of college as a film major when the first episode went live (which I am just about to finish!). Through the course of the last nine months, I have thought a lot about where I want to go artistically and online content is a new avenue which I am interested in exploring. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries changed my view of a medium of which I was already a fan, but was never interested in creatively. I had always pictured myself working in television, being in the writers room of some network sci-fi drama coming up with plot twists to confuse the audience. But now, I can see myself doing the same thing, but with web series. There are so many more creative opportunities in web video, and I am excited to explore the possibilities. But that doesn't mean that I am giving up on television. Who says you can't have more than one dream?

Thoughts on Doctor Who: Steven Moffat

NOTE: These are my personal opinions. I am in no way discrediting other people's opinions, in fact, if you do have a different viewpoint, I'd be interested to hear it!

I began watching Doctor Who right before series 6 premiered, marathoning the first 5 seasons on Netflix. Series 6 was the first one that I watched as it aired, so the experience already felt different. I quickly realized it wasn't the way I was watching the show, but the story itself that bothered me. 

The current showrunner of Doctor Who is Steven Moffat. He was a writer on the show under Russell T. Davies, the showrunner who began the reboot. Moffat took over in season 5 and has been running the show ever since. Moffat is an excellent episodic writer. His episodes from the RTD era are some of my favorite Doctor Who episodes ever (I'm pretty sure "Blink" is in most fan's top 5). He can write monsters really well: the Weeping Angels, the Vashta Nerada, and the Silence (as weird as the storyline was, they are freaking creepy) are all some of the scariest monsters the show has ever seen. The problem I have with his writing is that he cannot seem to write a believable season-long storyline that viewers can connect with. RTD had Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Vote Saxon, and the stolen Earth storylines: they were hinted at throughout the season, and then came to fruition in the season finale. Moffat seems to want twists and turns in every episode of a season, which confuses the audience too much (I don't mean to suggest the DW audience is dumb, because even a genius would have a bit of trouble understanding exactly what is happening). For example, take River Song's storyline. When she was introduced in season 4 (in a Moffat-written episode), she had so much potential. A time traveler like the Doctor was bound to meet someone who he didn't know, but knew him. But what Moffat did to her - she can regenerate, she is in jail for killing someone, she's Amy and Rory's daughter, she and the Doctor are married (?!) - was half unbelievable, half incredibly predictable. The moment the Doctor was killed in the season 6 premiere and we were reminded River was in jail for murder, it was extremely obvious who killed the Doctor, the only question left was why. 

And then you have the companions. Don't get me wrong, I love the Ponds more than anything and I am looking forward to seeing Clara interact more with the Doctor. But I don't feel I can relate to them. Now, I haven't seen any Classic Who (although I am planning on starting it over the summer), but purely based off of the RTD era, companions are supposed to be normal people who are made extraordinary by their travels with the Doctor. Amy and Clara do not follow that formula (you could make an argument for Rory, so I'll leave him out for now). At first, it seemed that Amy was just an ordinary girl, but we eventually found out Prisoner Zero being in her house was not a coincidence. She was clearly special before the Doctor ever met her. Clara is a plot point, pure and simple. She exists only as a problem the Doctor wants to figure out. I'm not sure if he would even want her as a companion if she wasn't special. The reason that I have a problem with this is the fact that the companion is supposed to be our entry into the Doctor's world; that is why his companion is almost always a human. Starting as human and becoming something more by traveling with the Doctor is something about which we can fantasize. Amy and Clara began as extraordinary, making them that much less relatable. 

I still love Doctor Who, don't get me wrong. It is one of my favorite shows currently on the air, and I am anticipating the 50th anniversary special with baited breath. From a writing perspective, there are a few things that I would change, but nothing can be perfect, right?

Narrative Conventions in Castle 5x15 "Target"

I had to write this short essay about narrative conventions for a media class that I am taking, and since I chose Castle, I figured it would be a good thing to post on my blog! I am writing this as if the reader had never seen/heard of Castle, so keep that in mind. Enjoy!

"Target", season 5, episode 15 of Castle, was produced in January 2013 at  Raleigh Studios, Los Angeles. The episode was written by Andrew W. Marlowe and was directed by Bill Roe. This episode of Castle deals with the protagonist (Richard Castle) realizing that his daughter Alexis has been kidnapped. These are two characters that the audience has become attached to, so there is an extreme emotional attachment to this story.           

One often-debated narrative convention within television shows is closure. Many television episodes tell a complete story: beginning, middle, and end. For the most part, each episode is a stand-alone story. This convention comes from the creators of the show balancing "trying to address both experienced and new viewers" (Branston and Stafford 58). This particular episode of Castle, however, challenges this idea of a complete story. The goal of the episode is established early: to rescue Alexis from a mysterious kidnapping. However, this episode violates the convention of the stand-alone story. It is the first of a two-part story arc, so the conclusion will not come until the next episode. "Target" goes further into challenging this convention with its use of suspense. Close to the end of the episode, the viewer is lead to believe that Alexis is about to be found, but a last-minute cliffhanger reveals (both to the audience and the protagonist) that she is not even on the same continent as Castle. For those in the audience expecting the story to be concluded within this episode, the "To Be Continued" title card is even more frustrating.

This convention of closure exists very differently within the plot and the story. In this single episode, the plot is incomplete. It requires a second episode to fulfill the resolution of the conflict that has arisen. The way that television is structured, the viewer is required to wait a week until the airing of the next episode in order to see the conclusion. In the story, the break between episodes has no bearing whatsoever on the characters or their emotional development. The characters do not need to wait a week to discover how this conflict will be solved. The story will have a beginning, middle, and end, it will just take more than one plot to tell the story.

The story of a father trying to rescue his daughter from a kidnapping is not a new idea, as it is most prominently seen in the popular film Taken, starring Liam Neeson. In "Target", there is a scene in which Castle is given a chance to talk to an accomplice in the kidnapping. The viewer is not privy to this conversation, but we do hear off-screen yells of pain from what we assume to be the accomplice. This scene, even to viewers who may not have seen Taken but know its cultural pervasiveness, is an echo of Taken. In both stories, the father will do anything to get his daughter back, even resorting to violence.

Castle is usually a model of narrative conventions in cop shows, but the episode "Target" breaks from this model. It utilizes a cliffhanger in order to emphasize the lack of complete conclusion, and echoes images of the popular movie Taken to heighten emotional involvement. Although "Target" does not present a complete story, the plot is affected by the unanticipated ending. 

Divergent and Insurgent: Not Anything Like Mockingjay (Thank God)

WARNING: This blog post contains moderate spoilers for both Divergent and Insurgent. Read at your own risk!

The YA literary world has spend months raving about Divergent and Insurgent, the first two books in a trilogy by Veronica Roth, but (as usual) it has taken me a while to catch up. I have always been a fan of the dystopian genre (yes, entertainment blogs, dystopian novels did exist before The Hunger Games), so naturally I was attracted to the story that Divergent presented; a future in which a city has split its members into five factions, each valuing a different quality. Like many others, I fell in love with the beautifully flawed character of Tris, and was drawn into her adventure. I purchased both books on my new Kindle (don't worry, I will NEVER give up on physical books) and both were finished within three days of starting them. I've really missed devouring a book like that, and I quite forgot how awesome it felt. I think that I've become a bit jaded, however, when it comes to YA series. I fell in love with The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but like many other fans, Mockingjay disappointed me. I thought that the reason I disliked it was all of the action, as I am more interested in character and emotion than action. It is for this reason that I delayed reading Insurgent for a while after I finished Divergent, even though I loved it. The parts of Divergent that made me love the book were the scenes of Tris being initiated into Dauntless. I liked the middle of the book much more than the end, although it was very exciting and a good release of the tension that had been building (writing-wise, I am not advocating mind control or anything). I was scared that Insurgent would become like Mockingjay, character development and emotional attachment left behind for more action. I am so happy that this was not the case in Insurgent. Oddly, reading it helped me realize why Mockingjay fell flat for me: the pacing was very, very wrong. The first half of the book takes place in District 13 and is slow and does focus on character, but the second half of the book is action packed and doesn't stop for breath once. Insurgent, however, paces itself perfectly. The action sequences are interspersed throughout the book, with slow, almost rhythmic character-driven scenes in-between. It feels more like a natural story; not everything happens at once.

Tris Prior has got to be one of my favorite literary characters to date, right up there with Hermione Granger and Elizabeth Bennet. What can I say? I love strong females. But Tris is more than that (as are those other ladies, but this blog post is about Divergent. Sorry girls! Maybe next time!). I love Tris because she is flawed, because she is real. In a world where everyone is boiled down into one basic personality trait, Tris has three. She says herself that she has always felt torn, like she belongs in Abnegation, but she doesn't. She feels the same way about Dauntless when she is an initiate, and she can even see Erudite traits in herself. This is attributed to the fact that she is Divergent, that she is not made to fit into the holes that her society created, but her character goes beyond that. Tris makes several mistakes throughout the books, some of which weigh on her conscious greatly. She is not an extremely likable character at the beginning, especially when she betrays her family to transfer to a new faction, which ignites the reader's sense of loyalty. In our society, we expect people to be loyal to their family, so we expect the same of Tris. But in her society, it is "faction before blood", a phrase that is repeated over and over again. Even Tris has a hard time getting that through her brain, especially with the betrayal of Caleb in Insurgent. But time and time again, we see familial loyalties crossing faction lines (Will and Cara, Christina and Cara after Will's death), and even loyalties to former factions (Tris's mom, Eric). Clearly, the Divergent aren't the only ones who feel torn.

To me, the factions are the most interesting part of the books. Look at the two most opposite factions, Dauntless and Abnegation, and compare their traits. Bravery and selflessness. Often linked, no? But these factions take their defining quality to the extreme, making the almost the complete opposite. Truth and knowledge often go hand-in-hand as well, but Candor and Erudite are probably more similar than they would like to believe. And then there's Amity, always off to the side, never wanting to get involved. Insurgent did an excellent job of getting us into the minds (and, if you are being literal, headquarters) of each of the five factions. It made us understand the driving forces behind this society, just before it brought the entire ideology crumbling down. I am in a love-hate relationship with cliffhangers. As a reader, they infuriate me, but as a writer, I love the opportunity they bring. This particular cliffhanger was an interesting one. It didn't exactly leave our heroes in peril, but it changed their entire worldview and their entire world. I am really interested to see where Veronica Roth takes this, but in the meantime, I will count down the days until October 22, 2013. And maybe do a few re-reads... just for good measure.