As Emmy season is ramping up after the nominations, The Hollywood Reporter has released their first ever “genre roundtable” as part of their ongoing “Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter” series. This episode’s moderator, Rebecca Ford, talks to various producers and showrunners within the superhero, horror, and sci-fi fields about the current state of film and TV and how “genre” has been elevated within recent years. The eclectic roundtable features producers Jason Blum (“Sharp Objects”), Shawn Levy (“Stranger Things”), Simon Kinberg (“Legion”), Robert Kirkman (“The Walking Dead”), in addition to showrunner/producers Salim Akil (“Black Lightning”), Jonathan Nolan (“Westworld”), and Melissa Rosenberg (“Jessica Jones”).
While the conversation covers a range of topics, including genre, obviously, the producers focus in on diversity and interacting with fans for the majority of the conversation. All of the producers have had to deal with fan interaction and have realized that you can’t appease everyone.
Simon Kinberg, who has decades of experience writing and overseeing the “X-Men” films, notes, “In the same way that you have religious fundamentalists, you have fanboy and girl fundamentalists. Being true to the essence of the book is what you’re trying to do, but [you can’t be] true to every letter. If you actually read the Bible literally, you’re a crazy person and stoning people to death. You have to acknowledge the fan in yourself first before the fan out there – stick to the thing that got you excited in the first place.”
Jonathan Nolan concurred, providing an anecdote about, “When I wrote ‘The Dark Knight,’ Chris [Nolan, his brother] had to figure out how we’d tackle the Joker. Chris had a good meeting with Heath Ledger. And no one got it – I didn’t get it, the studio didn’t get it. And the fan community was … we were fucking pilloried for it. ‘Disaster, the worst casting decision ever!’ Chris just stuck to his guns. It was a question of not giving the fans what they’re asking for but what they want.”
In regards to dealing with fans, though, Melissa Rosenberg may have had the most intense experience, “having written all the ‘Twilight‘ movies, I will tell you there is no more fierce a critic than a tween girl. You take your life into your own hands if you mess with their stuff.”
As for making the television landscape more diverse, Salim Akil is hesitant about about inclusion riders, which Frances McDormand famously brought up in her Oscar acceptance speech, believing, “Every program that I have ever heard about, it’s just a program for corporate America to be able to say, ‘We have a program.’ Showrunners, the people who actually hire, are the change-makers.”
Blum agrees, saying, “there’s a middle ground, which I think is super effective. SAG has that minority rule [diversity in casting financial incentives]. If you cast a certain number of minorities, you pay a lower rate. It hits you in the pocketbook. That’s more effective than forcing you.”
Check out the entire conversation below, which goes in-depth about not only fan service but fixing gender pay disparity and when to end their respective shows. “Close-Up” continues with roundtables featuring comedy showrunners next week and finishes up with dramatic showrunners the week after.