Everything Girl

Sera Gamble is writer and producer on the CW cult series Supernatural where she enjoys torturing two vagabond brothers on the hunt for all kinds of supernatural creatures. She also writes short stories and is the co-author of a one-of-a-kind blog, Very Hot Jews, with Simon Glickman. In the past she wrote two episodes on the ABC show Eyes and acted in The Clay Man. I asked the multi-talented Sera a few questions about her writing and future plans.

What would you say is the biggest difference between fiction writing and writing for TV? Is there a difference? Which one do you find easier/harder?

Writing TV is collaborative; writing fiction is solitary. In TV, you have to be fairly un-precious about your work, because you don’t have a lot of time with it before a bunch of folks swoop down to pick it apart and make it producible. On the other hand, it’s a very direct, visual way of telling a story—and millions more people will get to see your work than would probably ever read your story. Writing fiction, though—for me, anyway— is a way to get at more instinctual, deeper impulses. I don’t try to rationalize or explain why I want to tell a certain story. I let it spin out and tell me.

So, which is easier? Writing well is difficult, period.

You probably often hear this question, but we all know Hollywood is a very competitive place, so how did you start working for television and what do you think is your main strength that helped you succeed?

When my former writing partner and I made the finals of a screenplay competition, we signed with a fantastic agent named Sue Naegle. She suggested we write a TV spec, because the work was steadier than film; five years later, here I am.

One thing I assume has helped me is my attitude. I haven’t lost my sense of gratitude about having this career. I know how fortunate I am, and I also know how hard I’ve worked to get here. So I come in ready to work and, barring act of God, cheerful about it.

When working on a TV show, the writers work as a team, at least in the brainstorming, planning, plotting stages. Writers are infamous for being solitary souls. So, are TV writers different or do you simply have to adapt to team work if you want the job?

There is an advanced social skill-set that goes along with being a TV writer, definitely. Stereotype aside, I’ve met plenty of writers who are naturally adept in groups. And I’ve known writers who find working with others so difficult that they contemplate quitting and moving to remote Arctic locations reachable only by helicopter. We’re all over the spectrum. If you want to work in TV badly enough, you’ll try to adapt, I suppose. It’s like any other job that way.

What’s the process of writing an episode like? Where do you start? What’s the difference between your roles as a writer, (executive) story editor and producer on the show?

About titles: writers are promoted each season. Titles just reflect seniority. Upper-level producers are expected to be able to handle their own writing with little assistance, work with other writers, and also juggle non-writing production duties.

So, the episode process. First, I write an “arena,” a few paragraphs explaining the episode. Essentially, this sells it to the studio and network. Then I go off to break the story (”breaking” is TV for “figuring it out”) on a whiteboard. That’s where most of the work goes. It takes up to two weeks, I’d say, though it’s hard to know because nothing in TV is done on an uninterrupted basis. Then I write an outline. Then, I’m finally off to script. Which at that point kinda feels like dessert.

From there I’ll rewrite the script based on my bosses’ notes. Then rewrite it based on studio notes. Then network notes. And, of course, the perfect version will be two hundred thousand dollars over budget, so I’ll have to rewrite it to make it producible.

Have you ever been to the set when your script was being filmed? Was it hard to watch the actors flesh out your characters, your words, did you feel they did your work justice?

Yes, I’ve been on set for my episodes in the past; the show I work for now films in Canada, so I can’t be there. Being on set is exciting. TV actors are incredible professionals. They pick up a script, look at it for ten minutes, hit every single beat, and often turn something that was just okay on the page into something fabulous. So, sitting in the middle of the action doesn’t make me nervous at all—I tend to look around, marveling that all these people are there to bring to life this thing I typed at two in the morning. It’s what you daydream about for all those years before you get your first job.

How does your workday look like? Do the tight deadlines hinder your inspiration and creativity?

I move through the world in disguise as regular working American adult. I get in my car and drive to an office, work all day, and then drive home. I suppose I don’t have to worry as much about what I wear as actual nine-to-fivers, but otherwise I’m very convincing.

Every writer has an internal rhythm. I know writers who work best when they set schedules and write a few pages a day. I’ve tried that and it drives me absolutely batshit. I write fast. And I like to write as much as I possibly can in one spurt. So tight deadlines actually make me happy.

What do you find easier to write when it comes to a TV show: comedic elements, action or angst?

My favorite scripts to write have a bit of everything. When I’m breaking the story, of course, I do think, “a joke goes here, a fight scene goes here, the hero breaks down here.” But once I’m writing, I don’t find one element particularly breezier than another. I tackle things as they come. The single best tool in my box is something that got drilled into me in acting school; I find it applies across the board when I’m writing: be specific, be specific, be specific.

Sometimes it’s hard to stop writing when you’re working on a story. The ideas, questions, characters swirl around in your head till they drive you insane. Do you ever get tired of writing, of the whole mental process of writing?

Not so far.

What do you like to do in your free time? Do you even have any free time with your busy schedule?

I make free time. I veg out without apology. I don’t care if it looks lazy. It’s vital. All the bad TV, the cheap novels, tabloids, the hours spent splayed out on the floor listening to music. Because I really am trying to leave work behind for a few hours, put it totally out of my mind, so I come back to it refreshed.

My favorite things to do are highly basic. All the usual stuff—movies, hanging out with friends, that kind of thing. If I have over a week off I start to get ambitious, but any less than that and I keep it simple.

Supernatural is now in its fourth season, you wrote the second episode and you’ll probably write a few more this season, and you will adapt the Miki Falls series for the big screen. Do you have any future projects beside that? Any stories or novels in the work? Anything you’d really want to try, something totally unrelated to writing maybe?

Yes, I’m also writing a pilot for Showtime. And last spring, I contributed a short story to a collection Susie Bright will be publishing this year. I based it on a very old fragment I had sitting around. I’ve had a private laugh at Supernatural because several elements from that story ended up also popping up in the show this season. It’s interesting how patterns and themes emerge over and over in one’s writing. Or, in my case, not just themes but also actual creatures. I’m a dream patient for Jungian analysts.

There are lots of things unrelated to writing I’d like to try. I have a friend who sometimes shows up at my door with a couple of grocery bags and proceeds to cook me the most extravagant, poetic dishes. He’s a food magician. Before I met him, I was happy to stay at level one. Now, I want to learn how to cook all the crazy stuff.

Which books are currently on your nightstand? Do you choose authors/works depending on the mood you’re in?

I’m always reading a bunch at the same time. I have such a massive stack of books to get to that by the time I’m reading one I forget why I was compelled to buy it. Probably the recommendation generator on amazon.com suggested it. And I always have poetry and short stories lying around because they’re low-commitment—you can abandon them for ages and then open them to any page and be more or less forgiven.

So: Bonk by Mary Roach; The Likeness by Tana French—it’s the sequel to a book that floored me called In The Woods; two new books by friends: How To (Un)Cage A Girl by Francesca Lia Block and Love Junkie by Rachel Resnick; and a collection of Tobias Wolff’s stories. Two books of poetry: People On A Bridge by Wislawa Szymborska and Crush by Richard Siken (which, not to judge by it, has a distractingly beautiful cover).

And Letters To A Young Poet, Stephen Mitchell translation, has a permanent spot.

Writing or reading? Movies/TV or books?

Good thing I don’t have to pick.

Brigita Pavshich lives in Slovenia where she works as a literary translator. Some of her recent and forthcoming publications include short stories and poems at All Things Girl, Autumn Sky Poetry, Static Movement, Your Messages, an anthology by Cinnamon Press and others. She is currently seeking representation for my YA novel. My blog is www.bsoulflowers.blogspot.com.

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