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You might need a Mad Men writers room history lesson here:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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These aren’t even funny anymore. Just bitter rants…
Hilarious. Nothing bitter. Just true!
Really? Is it “just true?” How do you know this? Cause some person makes a cartoon you know it’s true? The fact is his show is phenomenal, due in great part because of his hands-on approach in every aspect of the series. I’m sure there’s more than enough credits to share on Gossip Girl, but Mad Men reeks of one person’s vision. A singular level of detail and quality not found on other shows. Unless you happen to be one of the “emmy-winning fired writers” your comment is useless at best.
When you say “these” what are you referring to? There are more? Where?
Exactly. Just cranky, bitchy ranting. People on the outside assuming the worst about Mr. Weiner, believing all the allegations of bitter castoffs and never accounting for his side of it. Or people who are/were on the inside with an ax to grind. All flaming out anonymously. It’s cowardly, inaccurate and mean spirited.
I think chicks are barking up the wrong tree when trashing Matt Weiner given he staffs/runs one of the only predominately female writing rooms in the industry.
Funny or not, it’s spot on. Whether or not his writer’s room is “all women” doesn’t mean he treats them well. Those with power shouldn’t abuse it, or at least they should learn to keep it in check.
While I agree with you…if they don’t like it, they can always feel free to leave, right? Because sticking around to enjoy the benefits of the job, but then turning around and bitching about it is just lame.
I’m sure there are a lot of guys (and women) who would love to be “mistreated” in a writers’ room for $3K+ a week.
Sorry, Charlie. Gotta disagree with you there. Weiner can do whatever he wants in support of his creative vision; if his collaborators don’t like it, don’t work on the show. Clearly, a dictatorship works better than a democracy here. If I’m not mistaken, last week’s ep was one of the few for which Weiner did not have a co-writing credit and it showed. Without his confidence bordering on arrogance he probably would not have gotten this show on the air, now would he. And guess what? MM IS considered one of the best shows in the history of the medium, that’s not just Weiner’s opinion.
Are you Matt Weiner? Because it’s super misogynistic to assume a “chick” wrote this.
Hilarious and all true. Matt Weiner is a douche bag deluxe. Talk to any woman who has worked on that show. He has gamed the Emmys with his co writing credits. Technically you are only allowed to put one episode with your single name in for nomination. But by taking co credit on EVERY SINGLE EPISODE and only allowing each writer one script they end up submitting themselves and Matt. This is legal.
Matt comes off as a guy giving women opportunities but he takes half their pension and health insurance benefits with his co credit and then fires them. Some weird Mommy stuff going on there.
He demoralizes his staff verbally. He abuses his power and doesn’t fight fair. He has no clue as to how he comes off to the world. But ego maniacs and a sociopaths rarely do.
Completely right. One writer wrote an episode with sole credit the first year that then got a WGA nomination, the one with the hoboes. How did Matt respond? He fired the guy (after thinking the episode was good enough to give him another episode to write) and was very, very careful about who got sole credit after that.
Everyone knows that it’s Matt Weiner’s show. Part of an EP job is to rewrite everyone so the show is in the same voice. Why take all the credits on writing episodes? Credits bring out the worst in people — Tom Fontana, an otherwise good guy, hogged all those story credits on Homicide and took a lot of money out of his writers’ pockets.
What do the actresses on the show think of him?
Question: If Weiner’s asshole behavior is so well-known it is able to be satirized, why would he allow it to persist?
Things like that have always confused me.
Uh, because sometimes people can’t help themselves.
Love these!
Hmmmm… yeah, a show about men in the Sixties ad world written only by women… Ready to end that reverse-sexism thang, MW?
Talk about inside baseball… This is a sketch for about 12 people from the Mad Men writers room yet I must say, having heard a little about that room, I love seeing it in Fred SimpleText animation. I’d like to pitch and idea: Ellen D and her studio floor crew!
His room’s mostly women because a guy would punch him in the face.
Exactly.
He also fired a man for winning a WGA award “with him.” Matt is one of the sleaziest guys in the business. I just wrote that on spec.
Matt has promoted two of his writers assistants to write on the show. He doesn’t fire writers because they win Emmy’s he fires them because he has to rewrite them excessively. He’s also given many first time director’s their first directing gigs – one was a woman who continues to direct episodes. He is one of the most supportive people in the business to women. He’s also incredibly loyal and is one of the few people to stand up for what he believes in and fight for his show and not kiss executive ass. Especially to someone like you Charlie. Perhaps you should practice what you preach Mr. credit grabbing, no spine, two faced Chuckeroo.
I’m so glad you came forward and spoke, as someone on the inside – connected with the show. I have the highest respect for MW and what he’s given us with the brilliance of MAD MEN. This animated piece is boring, whiney, and a waste of time. It’s “creator” needs to take notes from the creative minds associated with MM. Whoever you are that responded, thank you, and keep up the amazing work!
I Have to say it was and is amazingly arrogant of Matt to run for wga office and not write ANY words. As if he’s entitled. Total dick move.
Sorta a cheap shot…and it doesn’t look much like the Matt Weiner I know.
Come on. who are we kidding. Weiner is high on his own air supply. He is a first class ____________ and everyone knows it. Didn’t you all know, when he goes to the bathroom, he shits a gold brick !!! It’s true. He keep these gold shitbricks on the shelf next to his Emmys. All 10 of them.
By the way, the show is brilliant
Would love to see a list of the other showrunners in town who take credit for other writer’s work.
This reminds me, what happened to Kater Gordon?
Anyone know where Kater Gordon is now?
It is a shame that the best show on television has to be run by such an insufferable douche.
Not true, Vince Gilligan is supposed to be a really good guy.
yes he is. pretty good writer too…
lolling at the knowing references this season to arguing over credits
face it, the writing stable has changed dramatically but the writing quality stays the same…seems like Weiner is contributing something there, or else he has the magic ability to find the best writers in Hollywood, a place known for writing mediocrity
The third season was lousy except for Leslie Linka Glatter’s lawnmower episode. And please, Emmys Shmemmys — the Wire never got anything nor did Friday Night Lights, let’s not use that as a yardstick. The new season is hit or miss, though it’s better than Season three. But this show has aged as poorly as Six Feet Under.
Is there finally a Mad Men backlash happening? It’s about time.
Matt Weiner goes out of his way to promote writer’s assistants to staff writers and has given numerous directors their first TV episodes. Getting to the next level in these two fields is one of the highest walls to climb in the industry and he has given a number of people their first big break. This is extremely generous as entire careers are made from these opportunities, which is why he does it. Let’s not forget that when bashing the best writer on television.
What a stupid pile of sour grapes. Could only have been written by someone insanely jealous and acutely aware of their own deficit of talent in comparison.
I really don’t understand the argument against Matt Weiner. It is quite obvious reading through many scripts that go around LA that the majority of writers are BAD, not good at all… Many times I am shocked at how some terrible writers keep getting job after job. Usually they start out with a solid show and are just kept because, “hey they were there at the beginning and it would be mean to just fire that person, they have a family! etc…”
I appreciate writer gigs that have a high turnover…. let other writers get a chance to prove themselves and break through that bubble.
And at the end of the day- quality is what counts. I really don’t care if Matt Weiner is the biggest A-hole ever…. if he delivers top quality shows season after season, he is obviously running things the right way.
Agreed. If an auto designer makes a crappy car, should they keep getting promoted anyway because they have credit for designing A car?
Im no insider, but Weiner does come off as a massive tool in most of his public appearances. His “As I was saying..” line as he picked up his last Emmy just dripped of arrogance.
But like Mel Gibson the guy is may be a douche but he is also clearly a massive talent. Mad Men is consistently excellent and there is no way around the fact that he must be a huge part of its success.It would be nice if he wore it better, but unless he’s doing something majorly unethical or improprietary why mess with the secret sauce?
Show runners/creators make all this money — it’s incomprehensible sometimes, you should see the amounts.
And yeah, some of them have talent or a good idea years ago but you know what they mostly do? Sit in their big ranchos and rewrite other writers, this while you and I are celebrating New Years Eve or even their kid’s birthday. You may have a kid their kid’s age and be right at the party. The show runner is hunched over in their study trying to get something shootable from 78 – 83 pages of repetition and characters that behave like no real human one ever met. Or sometimes the script is 41 pages and the characters spend most of their uniformly 1 1/2 page scenes entering, saying hello or some chuffah, sitting down, covering the one plot point from the beat sheet he./she was handed, vomiting it out in in a a bare-bulb line, the character maybe “fighting tears” and then exiting; moving onto the next scene where they get out the same plot point.
But if I had his job I’d be thinking first and foremost about my staffs’ pension and health and welfare benefits, not the show shooting at 7am the next morning.
And you know why they do this? Those goddamn statuettes. Plain and simple. Northing can beat the feeling of hugging that trophy for the cameras after your spouse is terribly unhappy and your kid is bombing out in school because of your selfish devotion to your job. The whole family begins to see that it’s all worthwhile. It’s a TV series.
I read the comments here. I know you will feel for them and why? Why waste your tears when they can engage in endless real estate porn and actually act on it all.
Did you ever, just, like, think about life, man? Like, we’re ALL gonna die some day. All of us. Trippy.
He takes credit on EVERY script? I know he used to work on the Sopranos and I know that Tony Soprano, when he tried for a time to be a TV writer, he did that.
Look, I had to say I was defending the guy. I want to work again. My Audi burns oil.