Category: SHOWRUNNER
Task master
For Icelandic drama Pabbahelgar (Happily Never After), Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir juggled writing, directing, producing and acting. She tells DQ how she did it.
Terror strikes again
The second season of US drama The Terror lands in 1940s America, where a Japanese-American community is confronted by horrors both human and supernatural. Showrunner Alexander Woo tells DQ about the real-life experiences that influenced the programme.
Blick magic
Hugo Blick, the writer, director and producer of dramas including The Honourable Woman and Black Earth Rising, reveals his motivation to tell stories and his approach to his craft.
Top of their game
Serial showrunners Greg Berlanti and Jed Mercurio talk about the creative processes behind some of their biggest hit series, including You and Bodyguard.
Indian independence
Netflix’s acquisition of Richie Mehta’s manhunt series Delhi Crime made waves at this year’s Sundance. Here, the showrunner tells DQ why he decided to plough ahead and make the Hindi-language drama, despite having no broadcasters attached.
King of the Hill
Veteran showrunner Tom Fontana tells DQ how his latest series, Showtime’s City on a Hill, tackles uncomfortable issues and explains why the 1990s-set show speaks to the present day.
Grace period
Co-showrunners Steve Conrad and Bruce Terris tell DQ how they plan to disrupt the traditions of crime noir in Perpetual Grace, Ltd, a 10-part series from US cable network Epix and MGM Television.
Fair game
American Princess showrunner Jamie Denbo tells DQ how her own life inspired the Lifetime drama, which follows a woman who finds support among an eclectic cast of characters at a Renaissance fair after running away from her wedding.
Changing for the Bitter
Showrunners Burak Sağyaşar and Timur Savcı tell DQ how they aimed to break the Turkish drama mould with their series Bitter Lands for ATV, and talk about the challenges that come with the rapid growth of a local scripted industry.
Fear factor
Jami O’Brien has moved from Fear The Walking Dead and Hell On Wheels to AMC’s supernatural frightener NOS4A2. But as she tells DQ, she never intended to become ‘that horror writer.’
Music to die for
Canadian police procedural The Murders puts music front and centre as a detective tries to make amends for the mistake that led to a colleague’s death. DQ speaks to showrunner Damon Vignale.
Family focus
Love, life, laughter and loss come under the microscope in family adventure drama Northern Rescue, a coproduction from Canada’s CBC and Netflix. Executive producer David Cormican tells DQ how the show meets audience demand for hopeful programming.
Scaling new Heights
Warren Clarke, showrunner of Australian ensemble drama The Heights, discusses the making of this series set in a housing tower and the challenges of launching a serial drama.
Rite of Passage
Liz Heldens, showrunner of US drama The Passage, discusses the two-year journey to bring the Fox series to screen, adapting one of her favourite books and finding the balance between character and a furious blend of science fiction, thriller and the supernatural.
Speaking for the dead
Morwyn Brebner, showrunner of CBC series Coroner, tells DQ about making the Canadian drama – from adapting Matthew Hall’s series of novels and casting Serinda Swan in the lead role to the collaborative nature of making television.
Money maker
Bedrag (Follow the Money) III is the next chapter of the acclaimed TV series from Denmark’s DR, set in the world of organised crime and money laundering. Creator and showrunner Jeppe Gjervig Gram (Borgen) explains how this new season attempted to stay ahead of the headlines.
Blast off
First-time showrunner Mika Watkins tells DQ about building Origin, a 10-part space thriller commissioned by YouTube Premium that mixes sci-fi and horror to tell the story of a group of people dreaming of redemption but left fighting for survival.
Loss leader
Kit Steinkellner’s widow-focused drama Sorry for Your Loss has given Facebook’s Watch platform its first real episodic hit. Here, the showrunner discusses making a ‘traumedy’ for an audience of two billion.
Meet The Romanoffs
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner’s latest project has arrived on Amazon Prime Video, but The Romanoffs swims against the tide of contemporary television drama, as DQ discovers
The royal treatment
Showrunners Emma Frost and Matthew Graham explore the early life of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, in historical drama The Spanish Princess. They reveal how the future queen caused a stir in Tudor England and the drama’s parallels with Breaking Bad.