Purple Prime Time

From:Northwestern Magazine
Date:Spring 2004
by Jenny Hontz

Many have created their own TV series and serve in the top job as executive producers, both writing and running the shows: Greg Berlanti (C94) of the WB drama Everwood, David Hollander (C90) of the CBS drama The Guardian, Robert Borden (C89) of ABC's sitcom George Lopez, Betsy Thomas (C90) of the WB comedy Run of the House, Terri Minsky (J80) of the Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire and Mara Brock Akil (J92) of UPN's comedy Girlfriends, among others.


That's good news to someone like The Guardian's David Hollander, who grew up in a family that disdained television and was never interested in the medium until he created his own show, the CBS drama The Guardian. Working first in theater, Hollander wrote a stage play that spoofed Hollywood, which caught the attention of film producer Scott Rudin.

Hollander went into the movie business as a screenwriter. But the experience left him demoralized after he spent six years taking a back seat to directors, actors, producers and studio executives, who, he says, view writers as "interchangeable parts."

"It's not a lot of fun if you have a personality like mine," he says. "It's isolating and powerless. I felt I was wasting my valuable time."

Writing for theater wouldn't support his family of three kids, but percolating in the back of Hollander's head was the idea for a character-driven, television legal drama set in his hometown, Pittsburgh. Ignoring protocol, he skipped the studio pitch, heading straight for the networks with a list of conditions - a bold gamble for a television novice.

"I guess they thought, what the hell," Hollander says. "They signed off on creative control."

CBS gave him a relatively paltry sum to produce a pilot, which he shot in Toronto, flying below the radar screen of network executives. The series prototype tested well among a focus group of people who match the demographics of CBS viewers.

Immediately, The Guardian became a sleeper hit, giving Hollander even more leverage to take risks without network interference. He writes nearly every episode and oversees casting and production.

"That (ratings) number matters enormously. TV is a numbers business," Hollander says. "My main character does all the things a main character does not typically do on CBS. He has a coke habit. He doesn't like kids. He has sex with other women while his pregnant girlfriend is at home."

Hollander actually credits audience fragmentation and smaller ratings (compared to the years before 100 channels) with giving writers more freedom to make unpopular choices. "You do not have to entertain 30 million people," Hollander says. "You set your demo and get your ad rate."

Few people break into the business as quickly and at as high a level as Hollander, and for those struggling to make it, television isn't the picture of Hollywood glamour. In fact, nearly everyone starts at the bottom, in the mailroom of an agency or as a production or writer's assistant.