The TV Showrunner’s Roadmap (Book Review)

Posted by Julie Stratton on Jul 22, 2014 | 0 comments

Book Review
The TV Showrunner’s RoadmapAuthor: Neil Landau
Topic: How To pitch, oversee, and run a television or multimedia episodic series
Publisher: Focal Press
Available Formats: Print, Kindle, Epub,
Page Count: 321 Pp.
MSRP: $24.95
Discounted Price: Click Here
Expected Release: Available Now
Official Website: Click Here
Review Issue: Is. #100 (07/14)
Reviewed By: Julie Stratton
Final Score: 9.3

In The TV Showrunner’s Roadmap, Mr. Landau brings his television and teaching experience together to walk us through 21 tips and tools an effective showrunner would need. But these tips are useful not just for showrunners, but also anyone working in television or multimedia, such as we’ve seen with the proliferation of new Indie YouTube networks like the Nerdist and Geek & Sundry.

Writers, directors, producers and actors can all benefit from the advice and information provided, whether you’ve got the next Breaking Bad to pitch to a network or you’ve got the next Tabletop to pitch to a YouTube channel. (Let’s also remember that showrunning can be a pretty direct path to Hollywood film directing, as JJ Abrams and McG have proven.) An extra treat is the interview each chapter features, which brings an additional voice to the discussion from showrunners of a wide variety of beloved shows.

Comprehension

The author uses a conversational tone to talk to the reader, as opposed to preaching at them, which leads to a nice reading flow and makes it easy to understand. The author uses parenthesis to include slightly personal thoughts or additional comments, which I like as it continues the “conversational” tone to the writing (and increases the interest level). Headings are used in chapters to help chunk ideas and to give a reader a slight breath when changing gears. Italics and bold are also used in a plentiful fashion throughout the book; italics were used primarily for TV show titles, but sometimes also when defining words. Neil lays out a lot of concepts that often are passed along on sets, but never really addressed. Something as simple as the basic hierarchy (or food chain) on a production when written down becomes a great reference. And rather than just create a number of lists or tips, he adds examples to support what he is discussing.

Depth of Information

Mr. Landau notes in the forward that due to the sheer amount of content, it becomes a never ending task to try and view all of the assorted series and detail how they successful navigate the roadmap of show running. To simplify this, the book takes a topic approach; think of it as a map of the iconic Route 66, pinpointing important landmarks along your journey that you should make sure to stop and visit. Each chapter/topic uses a wide variety of examples to illustrate what is good (and sometimes not so good) at each of these landmarks.

The chapters can be pulled out and read in any order as each chapter is fairly self-contained. The topics all build together, but Landau does a great job of examining each topic as an individual piece and then pointing out how they link and influence each other.

Interest Level

Each chapter features an intriguing interview between the author and others in the entertainment field. These gems alone made each chapter worthwhile and unique, so you don’t get disinterested in the material. The examples Mr. Landau uses are primarily current, making it easy to locate the exact show being referenced to be able to view exactly what is being explained (Warning: spoilers are in plentiful abundance for most of the examples used). My only nitpick in this area is that there aren’t many foreign examples, leading me to ask: are American shows the only good examples? Since the essentials of show running, which is the focus of this book, should be similar for any series, I was a little disappointed we didn’t go outside the U.S.—say across the pond into the realm of Doctor Who, for example. I did especially enjoy the words from Alex Gansa and Christopher Lloyd about their series.

Reusability

In addition to the many hats I wear, I also teach media. I could definitely see this book being used as a textbook for those interested in learning more about the overall structure to television and multimedia series. I would recommend this book for anyone in that position. Also, this is a great book to be read when on set during the wait times that occur during production—or when you’re trying to get your creative brainstorms into a cohesive show concept. It is very easy to read a portion, put the book down and then come back later and pick back up and continue on. And the fact that things can be read in many different orders based on where you are in the production process, just helps the reusability.

Value vs. Cost

As a textbook, or a learning tool, this is a must have for any student. For someone already familiar with the basics, the interviews and application of examples are useful and read very well. The companion website includes additional examples and also consolidates the interviews into one place.

Overall Comment

I highly recommend this book not only to aspiring show/content runners, but also those who write for any episodic medium can benefit from the advice shared by Mr. Landau.

Breakdown
Comprehension	9.5
Depth of Information	9.5
Interest Level	9.5
Reusability	8.9
Value vs. Cost	9.0
Overall Score	9.3