Limited Series Scribes Talk Pacing a Story at Variety’s A Night in the Writers Room: ‘We Try to Function as Empathy Generators’

variety.com:

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Writers of nine limited series ranging from “A Murder at the End of the World” to “Tiny Beautiful Things” traded shop talk and stories of how they crafted muscular worlds to tell extended, standalone stories.

Ed Solomon of Max’s “Full Circle” astounded the crowd at Variety’s A Night in the Writers Room at Hollywood’s NeueHouse with the origin story of his 586-page spec script for the twisty thriller. “And then Steven [Soderbergh] decided to direct it and that led it to be great.” Andy Breckman, of Peacock’s “Mr.

Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” explained to moderator Jazz Tangcay, Variety’s senior artisans editor, how he had to pad the original 2002 pilot for the detective franchise into a USA Network TV movie – because star Tony Shalhoub was contractually prohibited against starring in a competing pilot. “I had to fatten up the animal and get it to 90 minutes to make it legally a movie,” he joked.

Joan Rater of Apple TV+’s “A Small Light” touched hearts at the evening panel event with the story of how her visit to the Anne Frank House museum and her own son inspired her look at the inner life of the legendary historical figure Miep Gies. “Suddenly I wanted to see the story of a real person wanting to do the right thing and then having to do it.” Chad Feehan of Paramount+’s “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” explained his appreciation as a fellow Lone Star state native to the extraordinary life story of the pioneering Black law enforcement officer. “As an enslaved person he was forced to fight for the Confederacy,” Feehan said.