6 Questions with Jessica Gao

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A truly excellent six answers today from the truly excellent Jessica Gao, but before that, a bit of housekeeping.

I’m teaching another introductory “Televisionary” class with Script Anatomy (over Zoom, so anyone can take it) starting September 10 and running for five glorious sessions. I just completed my second of these intro classes, and this one really grew on me! The class covers the basics of pilot writing—1/2 hour or hour-long—and it’s material that find myself returning to frequently in my own work. Plus, I’m really invested in the scripts my classes have been writing! Of course, that’s down to the classes themselves, so I’m hoping to get lots of smart, interesting, interested, cool people in this fall course. That’s you, I suspect. You can learn more and sign up here.

I’m also doing another Draft Intensive on Zoom, which is the three-session class that follows the intro course. This one starts Oct 22. Mostly, I’ll probably have my Televisionary students in it, but if you have a solid outline that you think is ready to go to script, then it’s worth signing up. These ones fill up fast, as they are smaller and more collaborative. Sign up here.

Now Gao

The WGA strike has messed up everyone’s brains and everyone’s schedules, so I’ve been remiss in bringing you paid subscribers our live Zoom Q&As, and I feel terrible about it. So, we’re going to do two of them in July and we’ll probably double up again later this year. They’re fun, anyway, and I always get so much out of your questions and the answers from the pro writers who join us!

Our Q&A guest on Saturday, July 15, is Jessica Gao. Jessica started out in kids’ TV and then segued to adult series with Robot Chicken, Silicon Valley, Rick and Morty, and running the She-Hulk series, which is one of the best Marvel shows.

When she was on the podcast, Jessica talked about how she put together her She-Hulk room, which contains a lot of good, general advice for writers looking to staff someday:

I didn't want an entire staff of all comic book nerds, because, I mean, there's a whole other component of [She-Hulk] that was comedy writing. So, we do have a good amount of die hard comic book fans, but the other half of the room is people who are really great at making TV, are really funny, or really respond to the human parts of this character.

I look at putting together a staff as some sort of sports team. I don't know sports, but some sort of sports team.

I think the mistake a lot of people make when they first start out is that they think they have to be good at every aspect of being a TV writer. And it's not possible. There are probably like three people working who are good at everything. But if you're on some sort of sports team, you're not gonna play every position. So I always tell younger writers, “figure out what you're really good at, what you really like doing, the aspect of the job that's really your strength, and hone that skill.”

And also be honest when you go on an interview and say. “this is the kind of writer I am, this is my strength. This is what I'm really, really good at.” Because, say I have ten staff slots to fill, I'm gonna think like, “I'm going to want three people who are really good at jokes and dialogue. I'm gonna want three people who are just really good at structure and story. And I'm gonna want two people who are really good at character. And I want a person who's gonna do the gut check of the show.” Like, I'm gonna assemble a team of people where it's a mixture of different positions.

6 Questions with Jessica Gao

1. What you working on right now (for yourself, if you are indeed doing that during the strike)?

Under great duress and intense pressure from my husband, I'm attempting to write a feature spec. Maybe even two.

2. What challenges are you facing specific to your current writing project?

Just getting my ass in the seat and typing. I know I'm not unique in this, but it is so hard to hold myself accountable for work when there's no real deadline or external pressure (like a contract legally binding me to write it). A good friend once said that I "work best when there's a knife to my back" and that is the single most accurate description of how I function.

Honestly, she was doing him a favor.

3. What advice about the business of TV/film writing can you give to someone starting out now?

I mostly work in TV, so I'll keep my advice TV-specific. It's a collaborative medium, so it's not just writing that's important; it's how you play on a team as well. If you're a nightmare or insufferable to be around, or just plain inconsiderate, that matters just as much as how well you can write a script. It's the ultimate group project and just one person can ruin the entire group dynamic. 

4. What advice about the craft of writing can you give to someone starting out?

When you get a note that you don't agree with, take a step back and try to figure out what is at the root of what's bothering them. Sometimes, people (especially non-writers) can't exactly pinpoint what the problem is but the fact remains that something in the script bumped them and didn't feel right.

They're like a patient who is trying to self-diagnose an illness based on symptoms. Your job, as the doctor in this scenario, is to use your expertise to figure out what is the root cause of the patient feeling these symptoms and then addressing that. Sometimes it could be totally different than what they self-diagnosed, so it's worth taking a second to give the script a more thorough exam. And sometimes you got a hypochondriac and there's nothing wrong.

5. What do you respond to most in a piece of writing?

I love when someone has a strong voice and sets a clear, consistent tone. It makes me feel like I'm in good hands while I'm on the ride.

And brevity. I always look at page count before I start reading.

Shorter is better.

6. What are you watching/reading/listening to lately that’s getting you excited or inspired?

Succession, The Bear, Righteous Gemstones, Poker Face. I've been watching and rewatching a lot of Westerns: Tombstone, Silverado, Unforgiven.

I just started Burn It Down by Maureen Ryan and it's both great and terrible for my mental state.

Everyone in town is reading this right now. You should be too. It’s some high quality reporting and analysis.

I’ll send out the Zoom info for the live Q&A next week! Watch this space.