1/ Good thread, And I'll add to it ... sometimes a muppet will ask "well why not just hire the BEST writers?" No, not "often", you always see this shit.
2/ Now @downey and I could not have been more of a united front on LEVERAGE. We would have one barnburner of an argument in the room per year, much to the staff's amusement, and completely sympatico the rest of the time ...
3/ Every year he and I would list our favorite and least favorite episodes of the season. Nothing we ever hated, not that kind of show, but just, "whats my vision of the show?"
4/ The lists were not only never the same, THEY ALWAYS CROSSED OVER FROM BEST TO WORST. The two guys who created the show, ran the show from chairs six feet apart, thought each others' favorite episode was the weakest of the batch.
5/ My point being, THERE IS NO OBJECTIVE "BEST" ANYTHING IN TELEVISION, and I assume creative arts in general, but hey, this is my job over here. No best episode, no best writer, no best director *outside of the context of the show*
6/ That's a bullshit "reasonable" argument meant to shut down change. We have to challenge ourselves to come up with the best writers for that show and that show's character's voices.
7/ Life's a magnificent mix of varied humans and beliefs. Your characters are lenses into that world , and so your staff, at least in my opinion, is more effective when reflective of that reality.
8/ My *best* staff is going to be different for every show I'm developing -- and will be *best* dependent on what I'm trying to accomplish. I like a jazz band style. you're here because you play an instrument I don't. You'll make the show BIGGER than me.
9/ For some folks, "best" will mean "shut the fuck up and type my vision, page monkeys." And hey, if that's their choice, and how they think they can make the "best" show in a timely fashion, sure.
10/ But the idea that you just say "hire the best" makes any sense whatsoever is bullshit. My "best' is hiring a diverse staff, and making the EFFORT to hire a diverse staff despite my own path dependence and admitted blind spots.
11/ tl;dr stop reducing complicated creative processes operating within a multivariable environment of individual creative frameworks to smug unself-aware aphorisms, you muppets.
