Ed Zwick recalls recording ‘My So-Called Life’: ‘I vowed to portray true youth’

As My so-called life As the 30th anniversary approaches, executive producer Ed Zwick took a stroll down memory lane Saturday to remind people to celebrate before his time Drama starring Claire Danes.

In one long X wireZwick shared an “origin story” about how he was initially drawn to Winnie Holzman’s work before eventually publishing her script with his longtime producing partner Marshall Herskovitz. Zwick describes his work My so-called lifeHow thirties, The Last Samurai And fame in his forthcoming book, “Hits, Flops and Other Illusions,” due out in February.

“Kristy McNichol played ‘Buddy,’ an adolescent girl on the ABC TV series Family,” Zwick began. “I wrote harsh teenage dialogue and found network notes on my scripts with the initials NOB, which means ‘not our partner.’ I promised that one day I could portray the real youth.”

“Marshall wrote a provocative pilot for Showtime called Secret Seventeen that explores unruly, uncompromising, brainy and highly sexualized teenagers in retail culture,” Zwick continued. “The network barely read it and summarily moved on. He promised that one day he would be able to portray true youth.’

Then they met Holzman. “Some writers manage to create a voice that is at once strikingly original and utterly familiar,” Zwick wrote. “As an exercise, she started writing Angela’s diary. When we read it, we realized she was already writing to the pilot. For extra authenticity, she started teaching high school.”

Regarding the casting of the then unknown Dane, Zwick explains: “She was fourteen when we met her. Her audition was breathtaking. There are certain actors who are so preternaturally gifted that it takes your breath away. What they know simply cannot be taught. One problem: No one has ever made an hour-long drama about a teenager starring a real teenager… California has strict child labor laws that regulate the number of hours a minor can work per day. This meant the show had to be reimagined. Like many such compromises in television series, this one too turned out to be a blessing. It became an ensemble.”

To help the pilot escape, Zwick and Herskovitz turned to their old friends thirties. “Scott Winant directed the pilot,” Zwick wrote on X. “Liberty Godshall and Richard Kramer wrote episodes. Pat Norris created Angela’s look. We found out that Jason Katims was writing plays while living in his parents’ apartment. And Winnie’s handwriting could be found in every script.”

When Zwick found the perfect Jordan Catalano, Zwick said, “Jared [Leto] was older. A budding movie star, but also sweet and unpretentious. He was accompanied by Devon [Odessa] & AJ [Langer] as Angela’s best friends and of course as the always desirable Devon Gummersall [as Brian Krakow]. Meanwhile, Graham [Tom Irwin] and Patty’s [Bess Armstrong] The marriage cast an unexpectedly dark shadow over Angela’s world.”

“Winnie’s first draft described Rickie Valdez as sweet, Puerto Rican and gay,” Zwick continued. “Impossible to find, we thought. And then came Wilson Cruz. As the first openly gay teenager to play an openly gay character on network television, he became a role model for countless others.

Zwick then ended his sentimental thread by starting a tweet with the word TORTURE in all caps. “Despite acknowledging how much the show meant to their daughters and a fiercely loyal fan base, the network refused to acknowledge the changing culture around them. Her infamous final words: “Teens are simply not an important market for not our advertisers.”

Luckily, MTV was there to pick up the pieces. “MTV has run endless, wildly successful marathons,” Zwick said. “There is a famous exchange between Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: Mayer wanted to buy the rights to Gone With the Wind. “Forget it, LB,” Thalberg said. “No Civil War film ever made a dime.”

“To this day, every interesting woman I meet between the ages of 35 and 50 gets that glamorous look at the mention of the show – the equivalent of Taylor Swift fans feeling ‘seen’ by her songs and knowing all the lyrics, Zwick said. his thread. “Men, too. In a way, we’re all fifteen-year-old girls.”

My so-called life aired on ABC from 1994 to 1995.