EXHILARATING’’

10 TV SCRIBES TO WATCH
ANGELA
KANG
“The Walking Dead” (AMC),
returns Oct. 2016; age 40
JUNE 14, 2016 VARIETY.COM
84
MICHAEL
D. FULLER
& GRAHAM
GORDY
“Quarry” (Cinemax), fall;
ages 34 (Fuller); 40 (Gordy)
Patience paid off for Gordy
and Fuller. The writing
duo pitched their ’70s-set
thriller “Quarry” to HBO
executives back in 2012, and
it will finally premiere this
fall on Cinemax.
The slow burn fits an
intriguing series that combines
the character-driven
elements of SundanceTV’s
critically acclaimed “Rectify”
(on which Gordy and
Fuller were writers for the
first season) with the gritty
action angle Cinemax has
turned into a brand.
“We sparked to the tremendous
possibilities of
this character returning
from war and dealing with
the effects of that trauma
at a time when there wasn’t
an acronym for it,” Fuller
says of the show’s hero,
Vietnam vet Mac Conway
( Logan Marshall-Green in a
breakout performance).
“We were very interested
in the era, the early ’70s,”
Gordy adds. “The original
idea was that this was the
best era for feature films of
anything we knew.”
“Quarry” is inspired by
a series of novels by Max
Allan Collins that Fuller
found surfing Amazon’s
“readers also liked” recommendations.
Already a fan
of Collins’ work, Fuller took
the material to Gordy and
the pair discovered the
rights were available. Collins
ultimately wound up
scripting one of the first
season’s eight episodes.
Arkansas native Gordy
and South Carolina native
Fuller met in college
through a mutual connection
at NYU’s playwriting
program. They quickly
bonded over a love of college
football and television
(they wrote an AMC pilot
set in the world of college
ball that ultimately didn’t
go to series).
Fans of TV’s new golden
era touchstones like “The
Sopranos” and “The Wire,”
they’re bringing those influences
to “Quarry.” As Fuller
says, “It was intriguing to
us to say, ‘What if you did
something in the way “Mad
Men” uses the era so deftly
to be a commentary on
where we are now, and you
have that driving criminal
narrative [of] “Breaking
Bad” that makes you lean
up in your seat because
you’re invested in the characters
and their journeys?’”
— Geoff Berkshire
Representation
CAA; Anonymous Content
DAVID
GUGGENHEIM
“Designated Survivor” (ABC), fall; age 37
Having already worked with
the likes of Denzel Washington
and Nicolas Cage on
the big screen, Guggenheim
understands how to talk to
stars. So when it came time
to meet Kiefer Sutherland
for his pilot “Designated
Survivor,” the tension was
barely there.
“We got along from the
get go,” Guggenheim says.
“He read the script before
meeting me, so I didn’t have
to sell my voice. I wanted
him to trust me. When he
signed on it was the get of
the century.”
Sutherland plays a member
of Congress who unexpectedly
becomes the
leader of the free world
when a terrorist attack kills
the president, his cabinet
and all of Congress.
With a leading man best
known for his role as special
agent Jack Bauer on
the long-running Fox series
“24,” Guggenheim wants to
reintroduce audiences to
Sutherland .
“I wrote him to be me,
so when Kiefer signed up,
I didn’t want him to be Jack
[Bauer]. The ultimate goal
is to be the ordinary man,”
Guggenheim says. “That
said, it’s all right to have
a little flash of that character.
Kiefer is so great that
you forget about Jack Bauer
immediately .”
Guggenheim still considers
himself a feature writer
first (his reboot of “Commando”
is casting at Fox),
but as he heads into his
first season of television
he’s only seeing the bright
side of the small screen.
“I can tell a story on a
much bigger scale compared
to just two hours,”
he says. “So far it’s a dream
scenario. ” — Justin Kroll
Representation
Paradigm, Madhouse
Entertainment
When Kiefer [Sutherland]
signed up, I didn’t want
him to be Jack [Bauer].”
David Guggenheim
As a writer and the sole
co-executive producer on
AMC’s “The Walking Dead,”
Kang has a knack for connecting
with fans. Her contributions
to the recent
sixth season — including
“The Same Boat” and “The
Next World” — were hailed
as innovative standouts
by loyal viewers and critics
alike.
“I started doing theater
because I was a shy,
awkward kid and my parents
thought it would be a
good activity,” Kang says . “I
acted and learned behindthe-scenes
things, but I was
always very drawn to writing,
so I started writing
plays. I used to walk around
with a notebook filled with
stories I wrote.”
AMC signed Kang to a
two-year overall deal earlier
this year, and her vast imagination
comes in handy
on “Dead,” especially with
its ever-growing stable of
characters.
“With each script I try to
find the thing I love about
the particular characters in
that moment, ” she says.
Kang, whose previous TV
gig was FX’s quirky drama
“Terriers,” was an admirer
of Robert Kirkman’s “Walking
Dead” comic-book series
before she found herself
writing for the zombie
apocalypse drama.
“I go back back to the
comics all the time for
inspiration and to pull
pieces from it,” Kang says.
“The TV show does have
a life of its own and some
of the character’s journeys
have diverged quite a bit .”
— Jacob Bryant
Representation
UTA, The Shuman Co.
GORDY & FULLER: CINEMAX/MICHELE K. SHORT; KANG: SEAN OLSON