It is a visible relief to everyone at THR‘s TV Producers Roundtable when David E. Kelley, legend of the medium, insists that no one ever feels like they have this showrunning gig figured out. “You get the hang of a show or a character or a rhythm, and you think, ‘OK, it’s going to get easier,’ ” he says on this late-May evening. “But it’s not going to get easier — and if it does get easier, you’re probably in trouble.”
Still, over the course of 90 minutes, the Margo’s Got Money Troubles boss and five more of TV’s top writer-producers — Lucia Aniello (Hacks), Erin Foster (Nobody Wants This), Bill Lawrence (Rooster, Scrubs, Shrinking), Lee Sung Jin (Beef) and Dan Levy (Big Mistakes) — make it clear that, despite their frustrations with streaming notes, withholding singers and awkward actor interactions, there’s nothing they’d rather do.
What’s one thing you wish someone had told you at the beginning of your career?
BILL LAWRENCE In comedy, your job is not to write what you think is funny. Your job is to write what the showrunner thinks is funny. I got fired off my first three jobs, then I learned that.
DAN LEVY There is this quest for perfection. You want it to be exactly as you’ve envisioned it. I wish I had known that some of the greatest moments come out of some of the most unexpected places. Let it flow a little more.
