Over the past 15 years or so, television has truly blossomed into its own art form. Series like The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and much more have exploded what the medium was once thought capable of producing. There’s one thing that all of those shows have in common, and which they also share with all other shows, even the bad ones: they each have had one or two people calling all the shots behind the scenes.
Television is a messy business, and the showrunner has the messiest job of all. They have to direct all the chaotic elements of production bouncing about, and turn out 13-24 TV-worthy episodes in the process. The position is stressful, and the turnover rate is sky-high. But a good showrunner can mean the difference between a good and a bad season of television.
Save for a few creators who have gained their own fame (See: the article image), the work of these people has gone mostly overlooked. But now a documentary, Showrunners, has been shot, and it aims to change that. The filmmakers interviewed the creators and showrunners behind Lost, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, Spartacus, Once Upon a Time, The Big Bang Theory, and many more series. But now they need funding to finish the postproduction work, and to that end, they’ve set up a Kickstarter. And now they’ve put together a new trailer to give a good feel for what the movie will be like.
Check out the trailer for yourself below. And take a look at the movie’s website here, and their Kickstarter here. As of this posting, they need roughly $65,000 in 15 days, so spread the word if you believe in the project.
