Running the Show: Television from the Inside

by Jeff Melvoin

Running the Show takes you inside building a show from the ground up and what a showrunner's life looks like in Hollywood. This unique job covers aspects from the creative to the managerial and everything in between.

Seasoned showrunner Jeffrey Melvoin shares his fascinating insider's perspective on how to call the shots and make the final decisions when choosing and writing scripts, hiring staff, casting, making the budget, and juggling schedules. Along with the managerial responsibilities that keep the show afloat, they are also the visionary for the series and the characters. Melvoin describes how to confidently communicate abstract ideas so they can become the show's reality.

Running the Show reveals the ethical side of show running and writing with humor, integrity, and wisdom.

As a writer/producer/showrunner, Jeffrey Melvoin has worked on over a dozen series including Designated Survivor and Killing Eve. He has taught courses at USC, UCLA, and Harvard, led workshops at the Sundance Institute and the American Film Institute, and chaired the Writers Guild of America's Showrunner Training Program. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Genres: Nonfiction, Tv, Writing

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2023

About the author

Emmy award winner Jeff Melvoin has been a writer-producer on over a dozen dramatic series, serving as showrunner on eight of them. In all, he’s helped produce over 470 hours of primetime television, most recently as an Executive Producer on season three of the BBC America series, Killing Eve. Other Exec Producer credits include Designated Survivor, Army Wives, Alias, Early Edition, and Picket Fences. He was Supervising Producer of the CBS series Northern Exposure, for which he won an Emmy and two Golden Globe Awards. Other writer-producer credits include the NBC series Hill Street Blues and Remington Steele.

Melvoin is also founder and chair of the Writers Guild of America’s celebrated Showrunner Training Program, now entering its nineteenth year. In February, 2015, he received the Morgan Cox Award, the WGA’s highest recognition for Guild service. In making the announcement, Guild President Chris Keyser said, “If this is a Golden Age of television, the program Jeff so lovingly shepherds deserves its fair share of credit. Thanks to him, as an art form and as a business, we are better at what we do.”

Melvoin has taught at USC School of Cinematic Arts, UCLA, Harvard, and the Sundance Institute, and is a frequent guest instructor on college campuses throughout the United States and at media conferences around the world.

He is a past board member of the Mystery Writers of America (Southern California Chapter) and the Writers Guild of America, West. Before entering television, Melvoin was a Time magazine correspondent. He is married to Martha Hartnett Melvoin and has two sons, Nick and Charlie.

Reviews

[Lee Goldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit some biases from the get-go — I’ve known the author for years and we had the same mentor in TV business, Remington Steele showrunner Michael Gleason. So it’s probably no surprise that I loved this book..but I am sure I would have regardless of my biases. It’s a long overdue, nuts-and-bolts guide to TV showrunning that should be required reading before any writer-producer is put in charge of a TV series. I’ll go further than that. Every TV writer who joins the WGA should get a copy of this book with their membership card so they understand exactly what they are getting into. And the book should also be required reading for network and studio executives, many of whom, it would surprise you to learn, don’t actually realize what goes into producing a TV series (ignorance often reflected in their notes). Melvoin’s book reflects the wisdom he’s gained from his years of in-the-trenches experience running shows, but it also benefits from his active role as a teacher / mentor / advisor in the WGA’s showrunner training program, which helped many of today’s top TV showrunners hone skills they might not have picked up on the job (especially in this era of eight-episode limited series and tiny, pre-production writer’s rooms). Melvoin delves into just about every aspect of showrunning, from tiny details to big-picture concepts, and it’s great stuff. But even if you’re never going to run a show, if you’re just fascinated by TV, this is a remarkable inside look at how series are made. Speaking personally, seeing the photos of Jeff’s early scripts, with Michael Gleason’s handwritten notes on the side, brought tears to my eyes….and many good memories.

[Janna Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

So you want to be a TV producer? The first thing you should do is buy this book by award-winning producer-showrunner Jeff Melvoin. The second thing you should do is read it — carefully and slowly — enabling you to learn from the author’s decades-long experience in television.

Mr. Melvoin has worked on a multitude of network series, dating back to his first job as a writer on the 1983 series “Remington Steele” starring Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist. He proved himself to be an excellent writer who brought intelligence and a strong work ethic to every show he wrote for, quickly growing into an intelligent, hard-working, and organized producer and showrunner.

This is one of the very best books I’ve ever read about working in the industry because the author gets into the nuts and bolts of running a show. He is honest and forthcoming about every aspect of the job — the good and the bad. He doesn’t mince words or protect the reader from the dark sides of the industry. His is as honest a depiction of the job (and industry) as you’re ever going to find.

If you are intent on a career as a writer, producer, or showrunner in television, you must pay attention because he’s got the knowledge and experience and spells it out carefully and conscientiously.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Running the Show" by Jeff Melvoin is a captivating mix of personal anecdotes and practical advice for aspiring showrunners. Drawing from his experiences on hit shows like Designated Survivor and Killing Eve, the book offers an interesting peek into a showrunner's demanding yet exhilarating life.

Through a conversational tone, he unravels the intricacies of decision-making in the television world, covering everything from script selection and team management to budgeting and scheduling. But what makes this book really fun is its down-to-earth guidance around the challenges faced by showrunners.
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In a nutshell, "Running the Show" serves as a friendly mentor, providing invaluable industry insights and practical tips for navigating the complexities of showrunning. With its relatable style and wealth of firsthand wisdom, this book is a must-read for anyone eager to carve their path in the thrilling world of television production.

[Praggya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do I want to be a TV showrunner? No. Am I interested in learning how the scripted TV sausage is made? Definitely.

If you want to be a TV showrunner or are interested in TV writing, this is the probably the best book you could read on the topic. For those who don't know what a showrunner is, a showrunner is the the person who is charge of all the writing and production of a TV show as well as all of the managerial aspects of a TV show. They are like the CEO of a show.

In the first part, Jeff Melvoin goes over his career and his move from journalism to TV writing and his journey up the showrunning ladder. He was the showrunner for many of the biggest shows of the 80s, 90s, 00s, and beyond, so he definitely knows what he's talking about. The second and third parts of the book discuss the managerial and day-to-day aspects of the showrunner's job. Considering how hard showrunning is, I'm kind of surprised we get any scripted TV at all.

[G · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love the entertainment industry and are interested at all in the process of writing and showrunning, this book is absolutely indispensable.

The writer draws from decades of experience and provides insightful information and blends it well with interesting anecdotes from his career.

This book is very accessible to the layman and will have a ton of great info for people knowledgeable about the industry as well. I definitely will be picking it up for my personal library at some point.

[Vanni Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, incredibly informative in demystifying what goes on during the development and production of a TV show. A must read for anyone working in TV, especially aspiring TV writers (esp of underrepresented communities) for which inside baseball knowledge is so often gatekept.

[Aaron McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute MUST READ for all professional and aspiring writers.

[Elianor M.A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

a tad outdated. i can run the show when i get the show.