Danny Strong, Shonda Rhimes and Other Limited Series Showrunners in Emmy-Nominated Series –

This year’s limited series race is a competitive one, with three entries from Hulu against titles from Netflix and HBO, and four of the nominees telling compelling, hard-to-believe true stories of greed, deceit and public humiliation. The creatives behind each nominated series: dopsikDanny Strong, abandonmentelizabeth meriwether, ana’s inventionShonda rhymes, pam and tomby Robert Seigel and DV DeVincentis and white lotusDavid Bernady — Think of the challenges of writing for television when the real stories weren’t ready yet, when they realized their projects were going to be solid and saw their stars come together and discover their characters.

Danny Strong, spectator dopsik (hulu)

“We had someone in the props department who had a lot of experience and knowledge, which he was very sincere about. he was able to do it [drug] The attributes look extremely realistic. And it was so important to me that everything felt real, not glamorous or [what] Some call it “opioid pornography” where you see pictures of people [who look] It’s like they’re drowning in darkness. I wasn’t interested in any of that. He was an incredible asset. We filmed a show in Virginia and there were so many people [on set] Those who lost family, friends, years of their lives because of drugs. There was a sense of collective mission that everyone was fulfilling in telling the story.

“I knew we were doing something really powerful when we had a scene in the first week of shooting where US prosecutors were discussing OxyContin; there was nothing emotional about the scene. After we did a few takes, I saw someone from the crew crying in the corner. just went hear He talked about the drugs that made this person cry. I thought, “Wow, I’m so glad we’re not just telling this story, but here in Virginia where it all happened,” so maybe it’s a little cathartic for the people on the team. He also experienced this as part of the narration of this story.”

Elizabeth Meriwether, executive producer abandonment (hulu)

“I was too scared to write the final. I kept procrastinating. I put it off for so long and Hulu was like, “You have to write that ending!” I was really struggling with, like, “How can I spoil this story while it’s happening?” In closing, we originally created this on Burning Man because she took this trip to Burning Man with her new fiancé Billy, and it was posted all over Instagram, and it was an interesting spot for a date. – Indescribable rebirth. But then it was a blessing in a weird guise because with COVID we weren’t really going to Burning Man. We had to rethink that whole ending, and it became her going to Uber, which totally worked. Sunny’s relationship built up slowly from episode to episode, and so I felt that “we, the audience, owe them a big fight”. But I really avoided writing a big battle drama because I’m a comedy writer. I thought, “How do I write such a dramatic scene without sounding melodramatic?” It was a challenge for me.”

Shonda Rhimes, Executive Producer ana’s invention (Netflix):

“There are so many shows that seem to come out of Anna’s mouth that we’ve had to take some liberties, but we’ve tried very hard to find a balance between the facts that really matter and the accounts that really matter. , and then we try to build moments, to express a moment that maybe happened in life, but didn’t happen in the way we discussed. You know, we wanted to make sure that we were creating these moments and telling them in a clear, visual way that worked for the story. That’s why we say “inspired,” so we don’t feel committed to sticking to the facts. One of the clearest ways was the creation of an inspired reporter [New York magazine’s] Jessica Pressler to make our way in this world because we needed someone you could empathize with and really care about.’

Rob Siegel and DV DeVincentis, executive producers pam and tom (hulu)

DeVincentis: “We did a thorough investigation and Lily [James] We still find things we didn’t know that turned out to be crucial to telling the story. lily and sebastian [Stan] There were some of the best character guards I’ve ever seen. His commitment and his love for the characters is so great and it’s all there. By the way, Sebastian, because his transformation is not that extreme, the details he uses are not that noticeable, but he is very powerful. Especially recently, I’ve seen some footage of Tommy Lee talking, and after watching Sebastian for a few hours, you’re like, “Oh my God, Sebastian really inhabited this.” It was amazing.”

Siegel: “For me, archival interviews, hearing them speak. You can learn a lot from video footage.”
DeVincentis: “If you watch enough interviews with Pam, especially late-night interviews, you’ll see how she handles the situation brilliantly and with innate intelligence. You look at what he supports and you see how he supports. I’d like to think there’s a higher purpose, as she knows people are going to be sexist and rude and mean to her, but if she gets over it, she can talk about things that are really important to her. such as animal rights. and PETA. And for me, watching him treat really insensitive and clueless people was the most instructive of this character in terms of research. “

David BernardExecutive Producer white lotus (HBO)

“I think Mike [White, creator and director] he is a genius. A humanistic approach is constant in all his works. But the amazing thing is that nobody writes faster than Mike. People will think it’s not true: we landed in Hawaii, I would say, on September 13 or 14, 2020. We had a stage. We started production on October 28th. It’s a six-episode series, and he wrote five great scripts in five, six weeks, as we were pitching, prepping, as we worked. We did everything in that six-week period. We had about four weeks to film the show. Mike is also incredibly decisive as a filmmaker. We focused on finding people who could really embody the characters. The choice of Steve Zahn was Mike’s idea. Murray Bartlett was the one Mike had just seen at his first audition and said, “It’s him.” Murray is Armond. sydney [Sweeney] There was one person I met at a general meeting. I only saw it in Euphoriaand from that meeting, [I saw] He is very different from his character. [that]. Mike and Connie [Britton] they worked together Beatriz at dinner. Obviously Connie is an icon and amazing. I think Alexandra Daddario filmed the car, and when we saw the tape, we thought, “This is it.” We just knew. “