AE: What do you think the reason is that there are so few
gay characters on network TV?
MM: I don’t think that people write them well. I
actually believe that the bar is high. And I think that guys like Robbie
[Baitz] and Alan Ball and Greg Berlanti are writing gorgeous gay characters
that work. And I think when you write ridiculous flamboyant – and I know this
is rich coming out of the mouth that was responsible for Jack McFarland – but
if you don’t write them real and true – and a lot of people don’t – then they
don’t work.
AE: And what are the flaws they fall into?
MM: Groundless stereotyping. Jack had a fully fleshed
out life that existed. He wasn’t just a flaming homo. He had family and friends
and values and lack of values. I always have taken umbrage at people that just
refer to Jack McFarland as a stereotype. He is not a stereotype. He was an
innocent. He was very specific. And I think that that’s what the problem is. I
think if and when people run into problems with writing gay characters - or the
reasons why they’re not on TV right now - is because they’re not written really
specifically.
Jack encounters Cher
AE: A lot of showrunners have told me that they feel if
you have a central lead character who is a fully developed gay character, that
it may tip the scales against you in getting something on the air.
MM: That’s just not the case anymore. We can’t make
those kinds of excuses. Because we live in a world where if you write a serial
killer sympathetically, it will get on the air and it will do well. People want
to be with interesting characters who are experiencing interesting story lines.
That’s what they want. And as long as they’re well-written they deserve, and
should be, and are on the air.
AE: So writers need to get over it?
MM: I don’t think this is something that we suffer
from at this point. … I don’t mean to sound boring, but [gay characters] will
be on the air if they’re good characters that are well-written. Period. End of
story. …
There’s no oppression. The only oppression that exists that
you and I have been talking about is internal. We’re at the same place again.
It only exists inside these gay writers that keep saying to you that “I don’t
think that it will work”, “I don’t think they’ll ever say yes to it.” When the fact of the matter is that the
straight people that are working in these positions of power, not a one of them
that I’ve come into contact with in my professional dealings has felt reluctant
or homophobic or disinterested in this subject matter. Not once.
[Mutchnick receives an email – then exclaims with great
portent…]
MM: I just got a very important bulletin that it’s
Ellen’s 50th birthday tomorrow, and I’ve sent her nothing!!!
AE: Us gays have got to stick together, baby…
MM: Yes, exactly! Then let’s send her…? What should
we send her? Come on, you tell me.
AE: Three dozen long stem yellow roses.
MM: [Horrified] Honey!!! You’ve lived in [suburbia]
for too long!
AE: [laughter] I KNOW! It’s pathetic.
MM: It’s orchid country around here [Hollywood] first of all.
And nobody sends three dozen of anything. Next, are you going to tell me I
should send her three dozen peppermint carnations? Jesus Christ.
AE: I’m so glad you read me. Because now I know.
MM: I’m sorry. We will not be interrupted again.
AE: So tell me about this pilot script that ABC just
bought? [The script is one of only four comedy scripts going to pilot at ABC,
and one of the first scripts bought after the writer’s strike].
MM: It is another
gay story. And I’m very excited about it. … I start the casting process next
week. I’m really going to try very hard to make this one work. I think we did
what we could do, and now, God willing, we will find great actors to elevate
this material and make it so it gets on the air. That’s the best I can hope
for.
AE: And say it does make it onto the schedule? What would
you do differently with the gay characters now almost ten years later, then you
did starting out Will & Grace?
MM: I want to be past the story.
AE: You don’t want it to be about that? You don’t want it to be about the gay jokes?
MM: I’ll make as many gay jokes as I make in a given
night. That’s the barometer that I’ll use. I don’t want to make it the drive. …
The gay angle is not the hook. The relationship is the hook. And it happens to
be a gay man and a straight man who are best friends. And I want the
relationship to be more interesting to people than I want the fact that one of them
is gay. But by the way, I think that the thing that people were interested in
with Will & Grace was that relationship [between Will Truman and
Grace Adler]. I think people knew that relationship – they just hadn’t seen it
on TV yet. That was just lucky. I mean that relationship was around.
AE: We’ve all had it.
MM: Mm-hm.
