Interview with Greg Berlanti

Talking to Greg Berlanti, the openly gay executive producer of Brothers & Sisters, is enough to make anyone feel like an underachiever. At the tender age of 34, the man has already forged an illustrious career in television and film. Just consider what he has accomplished: He wrote and directed the independent film The Broken Hearts Club (2000); he has been head writer on the WB's Dawson's Creek (and while there oversaw the first romantic gay kiss on network television); he has created two other shows for the WB, Everwood and Jack & Bobby.

Berlanti's early successes at the WB led to a production deal with Touchstone Television, and he was brought on board as executive producer for ABC's Brothers & Sisters early in its current season, replacing original show runner Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who left over creative differences. While the series remains the brainchild of show creator and head writer Jon Robin Baitz, there is no question that Berlanti's stewardship has helped to shape Brothers & Sisters and give it a consistent voice.

Recently, Berlanti spoke with AfterElton.com by phone and had some interesting things to say about gay representation in television, where the Kevin story line on is heading (Here's a hint: He thinks of Scotty as Kevin's Mr. Big!), and what his plans are for next year.

AE: Hey Greg! Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us.
GB: No problem. You guys have been great supporters of the show.

AE: We love the show. First question, and it's an important one: How did you do on your master cleanse diet?
GB: That's hysterical. Have you been reading the writers' blog?

AE: Oh yeah.
GB: My mother called me and said, "All my friends who read the 'blob' said that you're starving yourself."

AE: I did the cleanse a couple a months ago and quit after four days — it was the saltwater chugging that got me.
GB: The morning quart of saltwater is tough. Although by day three or four it starts to be very tasty. I think I lost about six pounds and have managed to keep most of it off. I managed to stay on it for six or seven days, I think. The better thing was the whole office got involved in the effort, and we had some real success stories here.

AE: I have lots and lots of questions to ask you about the show, but before we even get to that I know our readers would like to know a little bit more about you personally. I know you grew up in Westchester, New York, then went to Northwestern to study acting and playwriting, and then moved out to Los Angeles when you were 23. Is that right?
GB: Yep.

AE: Did you move to L.A. specifically to get into television?
GB: No, I had no idea that I was going to work in TV. I wanted to be a screenwriter or a playwright. I figured I could write plays from anywhere, but for movies it would be best if I was in Los Angeles. Once I got there I did a string of awful temp jobs.

AE: Having lived in L.A., I know exactly what you're talking about.
GB: I lived right underneath the Hollywood sign, and yet I cried myself to sleep because I seemed so far from being "in" Hollywood. I would work at an insurance company during the day and temped at CBS and soaps and stuff like that.

AE: How long did it take you to break in to the industry? What was your big break?
GB: Two or three years later — I was, uh, 26, I think — I sold a pitch for a movie, and I was working on that movie with Kevin Williamson. Kevin was responsible for my break …

AE: Was this The Broken Hearts Club?
GB: No, I wrote The Broken Hearts Club during that time, but what happened was Kevin Williamson read that script and said, "What other ideas do you have?" And I had a movie idea, and we took that around and we sold that. And then in the midst of writing that film for him, he showed me a pilot for a series called Dawson's Creek, and so I watched the pilot and he asked if me if I wanted to work on it.

They had a 12-episode order for the first season and they'd already completed most of it, so he asked me if I wanted to go and work on the second year. I did that, and that was the year that I participated on working on the coming-out episodes for the Jack character. It sort of all went from there.