Kicking off 2022 in style, we’re absolutely delighted to be running this interview with Heather Bellson – a writer who has worked on an absolute panoply of quality television projects at a time when, in the eyes of many, the television series is king. TV has been on the up and up when it comes to writing, production and at root, fascinating storytelling; Heather has very likely worked on some of your favourite shows, and it’s a real privilege to speak with her. Over to Heather!
Interview by: Helen Creighton
WP: Welcome to Warped Perspective, Heather! We’re really happy you have taken the time to talk with us over here in the cold and rainy old UK!
Firstly, Can you tell us a bit about your background? Did you always want to be a screenwriter? Was there any influence or experience that crystallized or inspired this ambition for you? What route did you take to pursue this career?
HB: I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t really know what that looked like because I didn’t know any actual writers beyond the posed photos on the back of the book jacket, or the brief interviews on a daytime talk show. I grew up working class, so I just assumed writing was something I would do in the middle of the night while I had “real” jobs. It seems like I tried to do everything else for years – I was a locksmith’s apprentice, I worked in cafés and restaurants, admin jobs in biotech firms and law offices, I worked in IT for a while, went to grad school. Little magazines paid me $50 for a short story or an essay, or sometimes nothing at all. Meanwhile I was watching the beginning of TV’s new golden age – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Deadwood, Lost, Mad Men, etc. It dawned on me that I could write for TV and actually make a living if I managed to break through. And because I had fucked around for so long, I was convinced I was no good at anything else. I had nothing to lose so I just went for it. I wrote a bunch of scripts which were terrible. I kept writing bad scripts until I realized they weren’t bad anymore and I actually kinda liked them. At a certain point I felt like I was writing at the level of what I was watching on TV and so in 2007 my now-wife and I picked up and moved to LA to see if I could swing it.
When I got to LA I knew nobody in the industry, so I joined a couple of writing groups and workshopped my scripts. Meanwhile I was working as a researcher for a working television writer. It wasn’t a lot of money but it was good to witness what the life of a pro writer is like from inside. It was a far better education than any class or formal degree program. I also met a lot of people he worked with and one of them was another writer who asked to read my samples. He liked an original script I wrote about Jamestown and passed it on to his agents, and they liked it and called me to come in and sign. I got my first paid job on TV a few months later.
It seemed like it all happened really fast, but I spent years getting to the point where I would be ready when the door opened.
WP: Looking at your IMDb, with the exception of the crime show Unforgettable, all your credits are on wonderful cable genre shows ranging from fantasy to horror to science fiction: The Walking Dead, Black Sails, The Exorcist, American Gods, and the recent Raised by Wolves. Was it always a goal of yours to pursue genre-based writing in particular?
HB: Yes. Genre is what I love watching and reading, always has been. In school there was this stink on popular fiction and movies and TV, like it wasn’t real literature or something. I never understood that. Shakespeare wrote pop theater about fairies and wizards – I think he would have written for genre TV if he were alive today. Maybe he’d be running Dr. Who. (I can feel the ivory towers shaking at the thought.)
But to get back to your question, genre to me has always been more challenging and fun to write. You can go anywhere, do anything… and if you want to write about “real” stuff you can do it in a way that lets the audience leave all their political baggage at the door. I remember watching Battlestar Galactica sneak a story about the occupation in Iraq into their third season, which was ostensibly about humans living on a hostile planet while being subject to their robot overlords. It was fantastic… it was maybe the best storytelling that came out on the topic and it was hidden in an allegory and snuck into a science fiction show. People got to relax and just go with the story instead of worrying about whether or not it matched up to the opinions they thought they had on the topic.
But also it’s fucking fun. How can it not be when the subject is pirates or zombies or space robots?
WP: There’s an interesting cultural difference in the writer’s creative process between UK and the US TV industry. I’m referring to the existence of the US phenomenon known as ‘the writer’s room’, where episodic TV is written collaboratively by a group of writers rather than by one person commissioned to produce a script. Have all your shows involved the writer’s room process? Can you walk us through how the writer’s room process actually works? What are the difficulties and conversely, the creative advantages of working this way?
HB: To talk about writing room culture now feels a bit like that metaphor of trying to stand in the same river twice. Things have changed so fast, especially with the pandemic. But until a few years ago, TV rooms here were variations on the same thing: The showrunner is the head writer and the boss of the whole production, and they would work with a staff of other writers to write the story, which would then go to production to be shot, and then come back to the editors for editing and effects before going to air. All of this would happen near simultaneously, and the showrunner would be in charge of it all. The writers in the room would peel off as needed to go write their episodes, do revisions, go to set and help produce, or sometimes even come back and work with the editors on the edit.
Now things are different depending on the show. There are shorter orders and some showrunners are working with a smaller staff or by themselves, finishing up all the scripts before production even starts. The phases of development, production and editing are separated from each other, and therefore they don’t cross pollinate each other. In this way it feels closer to the model feature films have always used.
As someone who came up in writers’ rooms, I have a bias toward them. I’m an introvert and before I got into TV I always wrote by myself, so it was a challenge to adapt to the kind of collaboration a healthy writers room requires. But once I got a taste it was hard to go back. When there are other voices in the room, not too many and not too few, and everyone feels free to talk and nobody is getting talked over, and everyone leaves their ego at the door (in other words, when the conditions are Just Right), so many wonderful things can happen. You can all get into this flow state where you are moving at the speed of light, and you’re all doing it together. You form bonds with each other, learn to trust each other, and all the psychological bullshit that usually gets in the way of the process can fall away. When it works, it’s such a high. However the down side is that when it doesn’t work it can be worse than being alone. We’re human, so playground politics can emerge.
Creatively I think a room is worth it. You get more done, faster. And because everyone plays a part, everyone feels kinship to the whole story, the whole show, instead of just feeling like little bricks in a wall. That enthusiasm is contagious. So I prefer the writing room model.
At some point though, you’re just a writer working alone. After the room has laid out the basic story for the episode on the board – this can be as general as “here are the basic moves” to something pretty granular, including each scene and how you get in and out of the scene – then the writer of that episode leaves the room for a week or so and writes the first outline, while the rest of the room moves on to the next episode. That outline goes to the showrunner, producers and studio and network, and it changes along the way according to their notes. Then that writer writes the first draft, and that goes through the same process, with the writer revising it at each step.
Ultimately every script goes to the showrunner, who does their pass before it heads to set. I’ve had showrunners who rewrite everything very heavily, and some who don’t touch a thing. It really depends on the show and the showrunner’s style.
WP: Are there any episodes of any of the shows you have worked on that you are particularly proud of? What would your personal writing showreel include?
HB: I’m proudest of an episode of American Gods that I wrote. It’s the seventh episode of the second season, called “Treasure of the Sun,” about Mad Sweeney remembering who he used to be. The production was very troubled on that show, and I wrote the script under a lot of stress. It’s a small miracle that it even exists, let alone that it was good. But I had dream collaborators in Neil Gaiman, actor Pablo Schreiber and director Paco Cabezas. And it just… worked. So many times you write a script and it comes out the other end of production bearing no resemblance to what you started with, and it’s often beat up, missing a leg, blind in one eye, etc. But in this case, despite the chaos happening on the show at that point or maybe because of it, we made a really cool episode of television. I wish I could bottle the feeling I had making that one. I wish it could be like that for every episode of TV.
I’m grateful for all the work I’ve had, but some shows were true loves. Working for Black Sails, The Exorcist, and Raised By Wolves were creative high points for me. Not because the end result was better than anything else (though I’m certainly proud of that work), but because the creative process was so good to participate in.
If I made a reel like directors and actors do, I’d include: scenes from the ship story from Black Sails season 1, episode 6; Rick’s speech in the barn in The Walking Dead, season 5, episode 10; Marcus and Tomas’ confessional scene at the end of The Exorcist season one, episode two; Sweeney’s scenes from American Gods, season two, episode seven; Mother’s flashback scenes in Raised By Wolves, season one, episode five.
WP: You are also credited as a co-producer, or co-executive producer on a number of shows you’ve written for, including the absolutely amazing recent HBO Max series Raised by Wolves. How did that career shift occur, or is it more of a natural segue from writing? I admit to knowing very little about what producers really do.
HB: Writers are usually producers on TV. Until the pandemic hit, most of the shows I worked on sent some of the writers to set to produce episodes. We would be there to prep the shoot with the director and cast and all the different departments that come together to make a TV show. Writers on set are there to help guide everyone toward the vision the showrunner has and make sure choices are made that won’t violate an important story point later on. They’re also making revisions to the script based on what’s realistic to produce. For example, we might have to change that epic fight scene from a riverbed to an empty field because that’s all the locations department could get in time. Or maybe an actor had to unexpectedly drop out for a week and we have to rewrite around their absence. Shit happens, and the script has to adapt to it.
As for the producer title and how that happens, the writers’ union here (the WGA) sets pay minimums according to experience and how much responsibility you have on the show. So it’s pretty straightforward if you climb the ladder the usual way. New writers start with the rank of “Staff Writer.” Which is a bit confusing because all writers who aren’t the showrunner are writers on staff, but bear with me… Then, the next year you’re on staff, you usually get promoted to “Story Editor.” The next year, “Executive Story Editor.” These have different titles and slightly different pay structures, but mostly you’re just a writer at that point. You show up every day to the writers’ room, pitch story, write scripts, do revisions, and that’s it. Once you graduate to the next level, “Co-Producer,” things change a bit. You’re paid by episode instead of by time, and you take on more producing responsibilities. Depends on what the showrunner defines for you… you might give notes to junior writers, you might have to rewrite some of their stuff for production needs, you might watch dailies from set and flag things for the showrunner, you might watch casting reels, you might actually go to set to cover your own episode or someone else’s etc. Each year you spend on staff you get a better rank and hopefully a bit more pay… going from “Producer” to “Supervising Producer” to “Co-Executive Producer.” This is where people usually top out unless they become a showrunner. There are “Executive Producers” at the very top, and these can be non-writing producers, or writers such as the showrunner or someone who helped to create the show. Sometimes a lead actor gets this credit too.
The reality though is that these are just job titles. I’ve known low level writers who are writing half the scripts and go to set to produce their episodes. I’ve known co-executive producers who have never been to set to produce an episode. That’s not common, but it just shows that there are no hard rules.
WP: Speaking of Raised By Wolves, what an utterly fantastic series! It’s truly one of the most exciting shows I’ve seen in a long while. Classic science fiction dealing with a grand concept that seems to delve satisfyingly deeply into Ridley Scott’s obsessions from his own science fiction films. All the issues with artificial intelligence, androids and humanity that plague Alien, Blade Runner and Prometheus etc. are there, but in much more depth. Mother is perhaps one of the most terrifying characters in television. Then there’s the matter of Ridley Scott directing and the concept being developed by former Denis Villeneuve collaborator and screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners). How did you land such an exciting job producing the show and writing an episode? Did you get to travel to South Africa where it was filmed?
HB: I’m so happy you like it! I did get to go to South Africa and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I love that show and the people I got to work with. Ridley Scott has been one of my heroes since I was a kid and my dad let me watch Alien. Aaron Guzikowski is quite possibly the nicest person I’ve ever met in this business, and he has a wild, beautifully strange mind. He and Ridley brought things to TV nobody would think possible a couple years ago. Sergio Mimica-Gezzan directed the episodes that I covered on set, including my own, and he made the the whole production – which is usually physically and mentally gruelling – an actual pleasure. He’s directed a ton of cool TV – look him up – he brought so many cool ideas to set.
I got that job when I wasn’t looking, actually. After American Gods, I’d promised myself I was going to take time off to write my own stuff. I told my agents to forget about me for a few months because I needed to focus. Two weeks into my “sabbatical” they called me anyway, and sent me Aaron’s script for Raised By Wolves. They insisted I read it. Reluctantly I did… and I was blown away. It was so imaginative and different from anything I’d ever seen on TV. I had a meeting with Aaron and we had a great talk, it all felt really sympatico. I could just tell it was going to be a fun job. So I said yes.
WP: The entire world has recently been turned on its head by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic and social fallout has only just begun. The film studios responded to the closure of cinemas by investing heavily in streaming services with simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases and it remains to be seen whether can be a long-term strategy that will sustain the industry financially. Film sets have been and continue to be affected by all sorts of restrictions. What are your thoughts as someone at the centre of the industry? How did the pandemic affect you as a writer and producer?
HB: It’s a body blow. Everything changed. Writing for TV has always been an unstable way to make a living; you never know when you’ll work again. But I know people who think the pandemic killed their careers. Their shows were killed, projects delayed indefinitely, and a bunch of rooms went virtual and with smaller staffs. I know really good, experienced writers who haven’t been able to get jobs since the whole thing happened. I don’t know if that’s temporary and it will pick up again after things normalize. Or if it’s just part of the changing landscape. I try to be prepared for anything just so it won’t destroy me if my career ends. But I’m worried.
If I had to guess, I would think streaming and cable TV in general is evolving toward a model more like movies. A long development process with fewer writers writing fewer episodes, a highly planned production, and then a long editing process. The more expensive the show, the more pressure there is to do it this way. On one hand, I love big epic productions like Game of Thrones. On the other hand, I think the reason TV has been producing the best stories in any modern medium is because production moves so fast. The slower the process, the more likely it gets noted to death. As a writer, I like shows that are like a mean little pirate sloop, fast and agile.
WP: Do you have any upcoming projects you can share with us?
HB: I was in a mini-room for Sandman which is due to air on Netflix this year. I wrote a script for that one just before the pandemic hit. The Sandman comics were a huge influence on me, I don’t think it would be overstating things to say that they are one of the reasons I became a writer. So it was really meaningful to be a part of that. And I can’t wait to watch when it airs, mostly as a fan.
I’m developing a few other things which haven’t been announced yet. One is another project with Neil Gaiman. Another is a show with Ron Moore. Another is a show with my friend Rolin Jones who ran the Exorcist the first season. I wish I could say more, but if I did someone would hunt me down and kill me. These are all shows where I’d be showrunning, so that’s exciting. And daunting. I have seen enough of the job that I know what it entails if you do it right.
WP: In an ideal world, where funding is not object, is there any book or original concept you’d love to adapt for the screen? Or a particular actor(s) or director you’d love to collaborate with?
I have had so much luck that I’m superstitious about making wishes out loud. I definitely have a list in my head, but it’s a secret! I recite it to myself at night like Arya’s kill list. Just kidding. Sort of.
Many thanks to Heather Bellson for her time!