… each episode … takes viewers backstage into the heretofore unseen world of the writer’s room for intimate interviews that offer a rare look at these diverse writers and what inspires them. From that first idea to the finished script, the writers share their views and stories, examining their successes, failures, and everything in between.”

I enjoy the chance to interview interviewers, so my thanks to Berman for his time.  In preparation of the interview, he was kind enough to allow me to view screeners of the Lindelof and Whedon interviews. My thanks also to Sylvia Desrochers for making this interview possible.

Tim O’Shea: How did you first come up with the idea of doing this series when the writer’s strike was in full swing? Do you think you would have been able to get these writers’ time if they had not been on strike?

Jeffrey Berman: The series came about as a byproduct of the Writers Guild Strike. I had co-founded a web site called UnitedHollywood.com. Our mission was to keep our members, and the public, informed as to what was really going on behind the scenes. My contribution to the site was producing live interviews from the strike line as well as viral videos to assist in getting our point of view heard. As the strike progressed we started talking about cutting out the middleman, aka the studios, which would allow us to retain ownership of our own projects. As an aside, I’ll tell you that screenwriting is the only faction of the creative world where the creators do not retain ownership or rights to their material once they sell it.

Anyway, The Write Environment felt like a natural progression from what I was already doing at the time. Plus, how often do you really get to hear interviews with the people who create the entertainment we spend the majority of our lives watching? I saw this as an opportunity for the fans to hear from the folks behind the scenes, while offering some insight into the work process to the screenwriting neophytes out there.

O’Shea: When you saw Dr. Horrible mapped out on Whedon’s planning wall, did you have any inkling how popular his “Internet thing” (as he described it to you in passing) would be?

Berman: Nope. Who could? Of course, it was expected that anything Joss did would have an impact and certainly find a home with his fans, but I’d wager even Joss was surprised with the attention, and sales, he received from it.

O’Shea: Whedon confided how he paces while writing (not in a narrative sense, but literally walking in his writing area)–I was curious if the floor was worn where he paces–or did you look?

Berman: That’s funny, but no. There are no trenches worn into his floor. Of course, had it been a carpeted floor it probably would have shown more wear, but I related to this as I do the same thing. No trenches in my home, either.

O’Shea: Maybe I’ve not read or watched enough interviews with Whedon, but had he previously discussed the fact that his father and grandfather were writers much before?

Berman: Not to my knowledge. I discovered this while doing due diligence for the interview. Prior to that I had no idea he came from such a prolific family.

O’Shea: Given that most of the interview subjects are associates of yours, did you have to do much research in preparation for the interviews. Did you prep the interview subjects about what ground you wanted to cover before filming began?

Berman: Yes and no. I did research each of the writers background and reviewed their work histories but beyond that I approached the interview from two sides; As a fan and as a student. Then I split my question down the middle. Or at least I tried to. And no prep was given to the writers beforehand. Though Joss and I did have a chance to talk a little shop while the crew was setting up for the shoot. Wouldn’t you like to know what was said then? Heh-heh!

O’Shea: In all the writer’s offices you toured in the projects, what was the most impressive heirloom that you saw?

Berman: Hands down, Mr. Echo’s stick in Damon Lindelof’s office.

O’Shea: While you are an experienced writer yourself, I’m curious if you gained some writing lessons from the interviews?

Berman: Absolutely. As a comedy writer I probably benefited the most from my interview with Phil Rosenthal. As an aside, I have to tell you that it was hands down the most enjoyable of all the interviews. His comedic timing is beyond perfect. He had the whole crew in stitches for a good portion of the interview. His insights into comedic writing probably had the greatest impact on me.

O’Shea: In talking with all these successful writers, were there any common traits (for success or effective storytelling) that you observed with a majority of the subjects?

Berman: Yes, writers write. That and never sacrifice your characters for story.

O’Shea: Were any of the subjects immensely more forthcoming with information than you originally expected when you picked them to interview?

Berman: It’s really a crap shoot when you do these kind of interviews. It’s taxing to ask someone to sit and talk about themselves for over an hour at a time. ( Which is why I chose to do it in a surrounding where they’re comfortable. ) I was extremely pleased and rewarded with how generous and forthcoming all of the writers were. Not to mention insightful. Each of them has a s wealth of experience in different formats and they were all absolutely fascinating to speak with.

O’Shea: I’ll ask the question you asked some of the writers: “what makes a good writer”?

Berman: Fortitude. Writing is hard. It’s so easy to just not write. But in those time where I’m not writing, in-between the enormous guilt I feel and the sheer joy of not being chained to my computer, I’m still thinking about writing. The struggle to turn off the TV and get back to work, that’s the hardest part for me.

O’Shea: In talking to these creators about their show, did any of them instill in you a new level of appreciation of the show or its characters?

Berman: I have to go back to Phil Rosenthal because I think he broke the mold with Everybody Loves Raymond. How that show was allowed to survive for nine years astounds me. And lucky for us it did. It was on the bubble many times, but kudos to CBS for sticking by it.

O’Shea: How do you explain your encyclopedia-level knowledge of TV (ie your example of Donald Bellisario’s breaking his vow never to delve into JFK in Quantum Leap)?

Berman: I’m a fan. What can I say?

O’Shea: Where can folks get the DVDs?

Berman: Yeah, if I can put in a plug, please check out my site at http://www.thewriteenvironment.com/indexFlash.html and buy a DVD or two. Then tell a friend. Then tell your friend to buy a DVD or two… or three… Okay, I’ll stop now.

Tim O’Shea: You’ve been a fan of Pixar since the late 1980s, but how long had you been considering an examination of the Pixar company?

David A. Price: I became a Pixar fan after I saw an unfinished version of Tin Toy at a conference in ’88. But I didn’t start thinking about writing their history for another 15 years. In 2003, I had finished my book on the Jamestown colony and everyone was telling me to tackle another story out of the colonial period. That’s the standard advice — to build on what you’ve already done.

There were a couple of things that pushed me in a different direction. The kind of nonfiction I like to write has very strong characters at its center. As I pondered ideas for another book on early American history, I came away with the feeling that most of the really important and interesting figures had already been covered ad infinitum. I wasn’t confident I had anything to say that was worth saying.

At the same time, I was feeling drawn to the idea of a company book that would be heavy on reporting and that would have some literary ambitions. Pixar bubbled to the top of the list very quickly. I liked that it would give me the chance to write about art and technology in addition to business.

O’Shea: Who do you think is the target audience for this book–fans of computer animation; business students with an interest in working in Hollywood; or both?

Price: Certainly animation fans seem to be a big part of it. But I’ve also found the book has connected with a lot of business people. This doesn’t surprise me, because what the founders of Pixar went through in the early years was pretty much the standard small-business drill with lots of fits and starts, good and bad decisions, lucky and unlucky breaks.

There are also people working in technology who are drawn to the story. The biggest audience I’ve had for a book talk was at Microsoft Research.

O’Shea: How many interviews did you conduct for the book, and were there some interviews that were much more challenging to gain than others?

Price: I think I interviewed 30 or 35 people for the book. There were some I interviewed once or twice, and others I was in touch with many times by phone and e-mail.

Some people were harder to find than others. Pixar’s former CEO was hard for me to find. Other than that, I don’t consider any interview “challenging” to get. I’m not of the school that says you pester people or charm people into talking with you. Basically, my m.o. is that I write somebody one time to explain who I am, what I’m doing, and why I want an interview. If they say yes, great. If they have questions, I try to answer them. If they say no, I wish them well and move on.

Fortunately, most people I approached said yes. Love and Hate in Jamestown gave me credibility with some people. Some just liked the idea of an independent history of the company.

O’Shea: How did you go about getting access to personnel files (such as employment agreements) or was that information you gained from the SEC?

Price: Ed Catmull’s and John Lasseter’s employment agreements from the Toy Story era were part of the file I got from the SEC.

O’Shea: In terms of pacing of the book, did you trim out a great deal of the pre-Toy Story/formation of Pixar history, in order to get to Pixar’s mainstream success days, or did you think people would be as interested in the early history as much as the popular days, so pacing was not a concern?

Price: I enjoyed writing about the years leading up to Toy Story as much as I enjoyed writing the stories behind the feature films.

Probably more so, in fact, because there was this great sense of constant temporizing. They couldn’t make a go of it as part of Lucasfilm–George Lucas sold them off. Then they couldn’t make it as a computer company. When that didn’t work, they tried software and couldn’t make it as a software company. They tried making commercials. They were doing great work at all of these things, but there was never enough cash coming in. Steve Jobs was in a constant state of angst over the red ink. Ed Catmull stepped down as CEO for a while because the stress of dealing with Steve was starting to affect his health. At the same time, Pixar’s employees had the feeling of being on an artistic and technological frontier, which they loved.

O’Shea: As you examined the history of Pixar, I’m sure you encountered many of the same names that have always been associated with its success–but is there a person (or people) who you think was/were pivotal to the success who may not receive as much credit as they deserve?

Price: John Lasseter and Ed Catmull and some of the other early people at Pixar really do deserve tremendous credit for pursuing their vision with the persistence that they did. They could have walked away any day of the week and gotten more money and security–or at least the feeling of more security.

As for under-recognized people, I’d say one of them is Joss Whedon. Most people don’t know he was one of the writers of Toy Story. The point when that film really started to come together was when Joss started working on it. Obviously, there were other very talented people on the story team at different times, also.

The other person, and I’m going to get in huge trouble for saying this, is Jeffrey Katzenberg. When he was running the Disney studio, he pursued the Toy Story deal with Pixar at a time when every major studio in Hollywood was shutting its doors in Pixar’s face. Pixar approached Paramount, Columbia, one studio after another, and got turned down. He saw what computer animation could be, and what John could do with it, at a time when other people in the industry couldn’t.

O’Shea: Do you expect to hear from Jobs about your take–I would imagine if he read it, some of it (for example, the struggle over his Woodside residence) might be awkward for him to read.

Price: I am absolutely certain I will never hear from Steve about the book. You’re right, parts it are awkward from his point of view.

O’Shea: In researching the book, it seemed you did not leave many stones unturned. How intimidating or stressful was it to conduct the interview with Mike Hoover the only survivor of the 1994 helicopter crash in which his wife and Frank Wells, among others, died. Why was it important for you to interview him rather than use the archival information that is readily available?

Price: There isn’t much out there on the helicopter crash other than the NTSB accident report. I sent a letter to Mike asking for an interview and I didn’t hear back. Then a year later, out of the blue, I got an e-mail from him saying, “Sorry, I’m sure you’re finished with the book, but if there’s any info that you think I may have, call me anytime.” Naturally I called him that day.

I did feel apprehensive because he’d lost his wife in the accident. Until then, I actually didn’t have any experience at all interviewing somebody who’d lost a loved one. Mike was gracious and made it easy.

The crash turned out to be important to the book in a different way than I expected. I started out wanting to include it because the death of Frank Wells set in motion Jeffrey Katzenberg’s departure from Disney and the founding of DreamWorks Animation. But talking with Mike, I learned how Frank had put other people first–there was another helicopter that got out ahead of the storm.

At that point, I was unhappy with the pattern that seemed to be emerging in my story–that if you want to be successful in business, you have to be self-centered and difficult like Steve Jobs or Michael Eisner. Frank Wells was a good guy on a personal level, which came across in his actions that day. So I was glad to have him as a counterpoint.

O’Shea: Was it hard for you to enjoy Pixar films as much when you began writing about and doing research on the company on a 24/7 basis?

Price: The films I liked, I liked more as I was writing the book because I could better appreciate the artistry and technical genius behind them.