Mandy Griffiths
He created “Veronica Mars”, put crowdfunding on the Hollywood map, and has added another strong female lead to his legacy with “iZombie”. While in town for the Melbourne Writers Festival, Mandy caught up with Rob to talk about the golden age of television, his interesting connection to the “The X-Files”, and what’s next for “Veronica Mars” and “iZombie”.
I was very excited when I saw your name on the program for the Melbourne Writers Festival, is it your first time here?
Rob: It is. I left really hot temperatures in Texas so it is strange to be plunged into winter here. Unfortunately when I said yes to this festival my plan was to bring my wife and spend several days and make a holiday of it, but at the time I didn’t know I would have “iZombie” on the air and consequently I’m needed back as soon as possible so I’m only here for about 48 hours. So it’s a bit of a whirlwind – just as I get over my jetlag I need to get back on the plane. I may only end up seeing about a two block radius.
It is a long way to come for 48 hours – you’re doing well! How did you enjoy your session for the festival?
Rob: It was great! I emailed back to my wife that I felt like one of those American heavy metal bands that finds out that they’re big in Japan [laughs]. I couldn’t believe the number of people that were wearing the “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter t-shirt. The only time I think I’ve ever had people to hear me speak has been at Comic Con and in those cases I’ve had the cast of “iZombie” or “Veronica Mars” on stage with me. Just being by myself that was a big crowd and an enthusiastic crowd and it was a lot of fun.
I understand you got your start in writing surreptitiously through “The X Files” – converting episode scripts into novels. Now that The X Files is coming back are you happy to see it continue on?
Rob: I’m happy to see it continue on. I wasn’t a die-hard fan although I’ve probably seen 30 or 40 episodes. But it’s certainly taught me how to write television episodes. I got hired turn “X Files” episodes into novels and I did three of those novels – all of them written by Vince Gilligan who went on to create “Breaking Bad”. So they were really great scripts. If you want to learn how to write a script from someone, Vince Gilligan was a great person to learn from, and that was the first time I’d even seen what a TV script looks like.
I‘ve been talking to a few film directors lately for the site, and I’ll ask what their plans are the for the future, and interestingly a lot of them have been saying lately that they want to get into television. They really see it as being a golden age for television right now – would you agree?
Rob: Oh yeah. Yes. It is a great time to be in television. The number of movies being shot each year is going down. Suddenly movies are all about blockbusters swinging for the fences, there’s so fewer small movies and half the movies feel like they’re super hero movies, and if you’re not doing that, if you’re not one of those directors or writers, then there’s so fewer opportunities in the movie business. But television on the other hand is opening wide up. It feels like every month a new network is doing original script programming. There were four broadcast networks you could write for and they were all doing big tent television. And now with all these cable outlets and subscriber services that are doing original programming it makes for much more interesting shows. The big networks are still trying to do big tent pole/people pleasing but you can go off on a cable network and do something weird, with an anti-hero and do something interesting.
I think there is a greater flexibility in television as well. A good example might be Logan in “Veronica Mars”. Watching the pilot I don’t imagine he was envisioned as the great love interest for the series but was developed in reaction to the chemistry between the actors – would that be an accurate description?
Rob: Yes, and also in movies you can’t fail. And because you can’t fail there are so fewer risks being taken. The nice thing about being in television is that you can have an episode that doesn’t work and survive to fight another day. You can take that leap, you can try things, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, but if your show overall is strong enough you can keep moving on. With a movie you just have that one trip up to the plate. You get one shot and so it tends to be safer now than television. And yeah, certainly in television there is always a battle plan going in but as you’re watching episodes come in and dailies come in, you are seeing what’s working and what’s not working and you can adjust on the fly. If you see something that’s great, and in our case, when we saw Logan and Veronica on screen together, we just quickly shifted in that direction. You know he was hired to be the bad guy [laughs]. And he just turned out to be good with Veronica.
I know you’re doing a screening of the pilot episode for the festival as well. Is it interesting to go back to that time and think about the inception of the show?
Rob: Yeah, I’m wondering how long ago I wrote that…we shot the pilot in 2004 but I had written it on spec a couple of years before that. So yeah I wrote that script maybe 13 years ago! It does take me back but if we’re going down memory lane I have written many episodes of television that I’m not proud of so I’m happy to be talking about this one [laughs].
And I think even though it was a while ago now it’s still relevant and people are very taken with the themes and characters of the show.
Rob: Oh thank you.
On to “iZombie”, I was so pleased when I heard you’d cast Rose McIver in the lead role. I saw her a couple of years ago in a small Australian film called “Blinder” where she played a 15 year old and then a 25 year old, and I was so blown away by her performance, I thought she was incredible. How did you come across her and how do you find working with her?
Rob: Honestly she could not be more of a pleasure to work with. I adore her. The interesting footnote to the casting of Rose and Kristin Bell as Veronica – when we cast “Veronica Mars” Kristin was the first of maybe 100 actresses that I saw. And so I knew I had it right away, I had the girl I want to play this part and she’s great. I felt secure through the whole casting process. With “iZombie” again I saw about 100 actresses and I knew I didn’t have it until Rose walked in. She was the very last person we saw – we were on the verge of having to shut down production of the pilot until Rose walked through the door. She’s just so winning. People react to her because she has so much charm – and she’s that way in real life and it translates on screen. People really root for her.
How far progressed are you into breaking down Season Two at the moment?
Rob: We are shooting season two right now. We’ve written the first eight episodes. We have shot the first three episodes. Literally I just came back to my room and they’ve sent me the cut of episode two so we’re really in the thick of it in season two.
Can you tease us with anything coming up?
Rob: Sure. I can tell you that season one there was a whole lot of zombies going after humans and in season two there’s a lot of humans going after zombies. So that dynamic has been flipped a bit. That will interestingly, I think – I hope – force Blaine and Liv to become very estranged bedfellows. They find themselves on the same side.
Very interesting. I would imagine “iZombie” is your primary focus for the moment – “Veronica Mars” has taken a bit of a back seat?
Rob: Yeah. Someone was asking me if there would be more “Veronica Mars” novels and I said that if you want more “Veronica Mars” novels then you’ll have to root very hard for the cancellation of “iZombie”. I did both last year – we were finishing that second book while doing “iZombie” and it nearly killed me. So I’m trying not to put myself back in that position although I’m proud of the books and I would certainly like to do more in the future but right now there’s just too much on my plate.
And last year was probably one of your busiest years working – ever?
Rob: Yes between the movie coming out and iZombie being picked up, and the first book coming out that was a big year!
I read both the books and I loved them, I loved how in ‘tone’ they were – you could really tell how involved you were throughout the process which was really nice. Sometimes you feel like people just pass it on for others to deal with…
Rob: Yes, that was my problem, I don’t just hand it off! Certainly I’m working with a writer and she does the bulk of the writing although I do plot it out and I edit it and it does take some real time.
Well it was very much appreciated from a reader perspective. Thanks Rob, I hope you enjoy your 48 hours in Melbourne!
Rob: Thank you! I haven’t gotten to see much but I’ve met a ton of people and it has been so lovely. They’ve been so nice to me it’s great.
Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an annual, ten day literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne.
The second Veronica Mars book “Mr Kiss and Tell” was released earlier this year.
“iZombie” season 2 premieres 6 October on The CW.
