Who Runs the Show?

You will undoubtedly have heard Alex O’Loughlin mention that one of the many challenges that Moonlight had to deal with during its all too brief run was the replacement of one showrunner after the other. If you’ve always wondered what a showrunner does, then read on.

According to Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a showrunner is “a program’s chief creative visionary, generally the executive producer/head writer”. So, for Alex’s current show Three Rivers, that would be Carol Barbee.

For a more comprehensive look at the showrunner’s role, Rob refers to an article written by Kurt Sutter, who was a writer and executive producer on The Shield (Shawn Ryan was the showrunner) and who is now the showrunner for Sons of Anarchy. Sutter explains that although it’s logical to him that the person who created a show, is put in charge of the show, this isn’t always how it works in practice:

Sometimes a network will develop a project from a writer and then for one reason or another, hire a more seasoned showrunner to take over the show — the television landscape is littered with those failures. Sometimes a creator will be high-profile and will not want the daily duties of running the show. On “Lost” Damon Lindelof, who co-created with JJ Abrams, brought on Carlton Cuse to help with the running of that show because JJ was pursuing feature work. Carlton is a great showrunner and Damon still carries forth the original vision — clearly that combination is working.

Interesting stuff! For a behind the scenes look at what goes into making a show, read Kurt Sutter’s full article: The Show Must be Run.

[tags]alex o’loughlin, alex o’lachlan, moonlight, three rivers, the shield, showrunner[/tags]