Relax “Brothers & Sisters”’ fans: Kevin and Scotty are in good hands

, Editor
September 25, 2008

Breen finds one aspect of the internet especially interesting. “I’m really curious about spoiler culture because I always, with shows I love, I mean obviously I don’t get to do that with this show, but the minute I hear “na-na-na-na-na” – meaning gossipy spoiler chatter – I don’t want to know what’s happening. I don’t want it to ruin it. So it’s always fascinating to me to think, ‘Wow! There’s a whole other pleasure that’s detective work.’ And then it’s kind of interesting to watch people get upset about things that are going to happen in the future that they might or might not understand how it develops. Intellectually it’s kind of interesting, like what’s the pleasure in knowing what’s going to happen?”

However, both also worry about the downside to that culture or more specifically as Schapker describes it “What I feel like is affecting TV, and maybe it’s more like the critics point of view, is the 'jump the shark' culture. I find that hard because it’s looking for the moment when you fail. It’s looking for the moment of betrayal, and when the show lets you down. And it’s kind of an all-or-nothing . . . I almost want to say like a bad relationship. Where it’s like, ‘I’m outta here. You suck. Like that was so bad, I’m not watching again.’ And I think as somebody who’s trying to tell a story over, you know our dream is five to seven years, we’re going to be trying things that don’t work sometimes. Or sometimes we’re telling a story that we really believe in and we need to take this turn to earn where we’re going and we hope that people will give us the benefit of the doubt to stay with us, at least for a while, to see where it plays out. And I think if there’s anything where I have to put blinders in being a showrunner, it’s that kind of feedback.”

Breen and Schapker have been working in for television since 2000 and they’ve been a team that entire time. They started out on Unauthorized Brady Bunch: The Final Days, landed on Charmed, Alias, and Lost before making their way to Brothers & Sisters.

The duo was elevated to the position of showrunners at the end of last season, making them two of the few women to have scaled such heights in Hollywood. Additionally, Breen is a woman of color, making her achievement that much more noteworthy in the still very white world of Hollywood.

Given that both are minorities in a world still dominated by straight, white men, the duo are eager to credit Brothers & Sisters executive producer Greg Berlanti for having giving them their most significant break to date. As to why Berlanti chose these two women, obviously he finds them very talented, but Schapker is quick to say, “Greg likes strong women.”

Greg Berlanti

Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown

Indeed, Schapker feels that dynamic between a straight woman and a gay man is central to her own life. She elaborates saying, “In my entire life, I feel like that relationship has been at play … because I think that women who have a challenging relationship to their femininity or their sexuality can feel so vulnerable or weird. I think that gay men have the same figuring out to do, but differently, in terms of who they are. And while it’s not the same and I wouldn’t want to in any way say that there are experiences that you equate, it’s not surprising to me that a gay boy and a straight girl who both have problematic relationships with straight men would gravitate to each other to help figure things out. And I think that’s a dynamic that I have benefited from for most of my life. And so to find a workplace where a show has been created by Robbie Baitz, where Greg Berlanti is the executive producer, where none of these people are frightened by difference.”

Breen agrees adding, “It’s kind of like what we were talking about with politics. It’s like there is a way in which, and this is not to mark any individual people we’ve worked with, but straight guys can see that this is the way it is. This is what’s normal. This is how things run. These are the kind of people who run shows. And then you’re trying to sort of push a difference in there, but it’s seen as different [by them]. Whereas I feel like with gays and lesbians, blacks, women – you understand there’s difference. Difference is a given! There is no way of being in the world that isn’t from a particular perspective, so it’s just what perspective do you bring to the table? There isn’t that normative identity that it’s like, ‘I’m the universal perspective that can write everything’ versus ‘you’re the specialized perspective that can write from a black woman’s voice.’”

Schapker adds “That’s another thing that I’d like to say – if there’s anything subversive about our staff writing the Walkers [the show has been criticized for beeing so white], it’s disproving that. You have all these diverse people writing that family. They’re not just writing about who they are.”

And it’s that diversity of perspectives that should keep Kevin and Scotty two of the most authentic gay characters on television.

Submitted by

Michael Jensen

on Thu, 2008-09-25 21:25.

TAGS ::

Okay -- ALL shows should

Submitted by

Knickie (4010 points) (818 posts)

on Thu, 2008-09-25 23:48.

Okay -- ALL shows should immediately be given female showrunners! These two women actually GET IT! And they aren't afraid to talk about the things that drive fans nuts. Brava!

no votes

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Relax “Brothers & Sisters”’ fans: Kevin and Scotty are in good hands

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