Showrunner, does that remind you of something ? The term does not appear in almost any French dictionary. The Wiktionary, on the other hand, offers alternative spellings showrunner And showrunner for this Anglicism, and adds more or less inappropriate synonyms: director (no), author-producer (that’s not it either) or series director, the recommendation of the OQLF (we’re getting close to something ).
The word is just beginning to spread here, because the thing hardly exists. In the United States, on the other hand, this function is at the heart of the television production system. We have even partly linked the new golden age of the TV series to the generalized development of this function.
So what does that mean? Showrunnerwhat is that?
Debora Cahn, emeritus American “showrunner”, explains herself her basic work in teleinterviewing at Duty “I come up with an idea for a series and then I put together a team of writers who turn that idea into a story that spans eight hours. I work with this team to find the right path. Each of the writers writes and, at the end, I reshape everything to create a coherent voice. Afterwards, I supervise the transposition of the texts in the television production and at the final stage of post-production. »
In short, she imagines, designs and directs the writing of the series. Mme Cahn comes from “showrunner” and to direct the production of The Diplomat, which comes out this week on Netflix. She previously acted as producer for 184 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (in addition to writing 17 herself) and as screenwriter for 34 episodes of The West Wing (To the White House, 1999-2006). She also combined the two functions of producer and screenwriter for Homeland (2011-2020), American cover of an original Israeli creation.
It was while working on this anxiety-inducing spy thriller that the basic idea for Ms.me Cahn came to her. ” For Homeland, we met an incredible selection of experts from the political world, the military, intelligence professionals, journalists, she says. We also received a number of ambassadors. The stories they told were breathtaking. They go to war zones or to crisis zones that could turn into war zones. The diplomatic service is the first in and the last out of disaster-stricken regions, and no one knows who drives it doing what. »
My beloved mousetrap
The Diplomat follows the very tumultuous arrival in office of Kate Wyler (Keri Russell, the spy of the masterpiece The Americans), the new United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. A British warship has just been attacked in the Persian Gulf. Suspicions fall on Iran and Russia. The pro helps unravel the responsibilities while trying to avoid the outbreak of a major war.
This planetary issue is twisted around another, intimate one, concerning the ambassador’s breaking point marriage. Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), a gifted international relations adviser, lives with his wife in London and schems behind the scenes to resolve political impasses.
It takes a few episodes for the narrative cogs to activate at full speed and for the twists to hit the mark. Mme Wyler does not imitate diplomats who “go to war zones”. The series takes place in place between the London Embassy, the magnificent official residence and the offices of the Foreign Office. It is above all a show very nice offices.
“I explained to Netflix that I wanted an invoice that was reminiscent of The Crownand Netflix knew what I was talking about, of course”, comments Mme Cahn in reference to this other series from the web giant on the life of Queen Elizabeth II. “We tried, we built something that holds up and that meets our initial vision. »
That said, The Diplomat effectively deals with an unknown world, that of embassies and consulates, which the cliché reduces to posts distributed to old men with particle names still practicing hand kissing. Kate Wyler studied in Kabul and wanted to return there. She crowns like a coach hockey “to show that it does not embody a mannered version of diplomacy”, justifies its creator.
The world according to Kate
Mme Cahn also has the obvious merit of developing another series around a strong female character. And without reaching the heights of captivating pedagogy of The West Wing, The Diplomat informs about the ways of making outposts of foreign policy in the world.
“We wanted to be realistic as much as possible to make the issues understood,” explains Ms.me Cahn by adding to have multiplied the research upstream of the writing. “I find it interesting to expose how decisions that have important consequences are made in a meaningful and intense way. »
In The West Wing, the distorting mirror of power in Washington took on an uchronic aspect. The new London series sticks much more to reality. The president immediately brings to mind Joe Robinette Biden; a remark speaks of its half-zinzin predecessor. The shadow of war in Ukraine and renewed tensions with Russia and China hangs over the entire action.
“I did not want to create a reflection of what is happening in the world, corrects the “showrunner”. Only, while we were writing and producing this show, the nature of US international relations has completely changed. We were in an era determined for decades by the war on terrorism, and everything suddenly changed with the war that is coming back to Europe and Ukraine and gives the impression of a new cold war. So it seemed crazy to us to talk about diplomacy without talking about this new global context. »
The result also contrasts with certain American cultural productions overloaded with militaristic and patriotic propaganda. In one scene, Ambassador Wyler mentions American lies to the UN that served to start the war in Iraq.
“We wanted to take an honest but optimistic look at this kind of diplomatic work, concludes the “showrunner” Cahn. It’s often easy for commentators to write about people in politics to portray them as corrupt and wicked. My experience, as someone who has written extensively about this medium, is that it is full of good people with good values. But the world is constantly going to hell. This contrast interested me. We’ve done horrible things and great things. I try as much as possible to tell these two aspects at the same time. »