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Left to right: Ryan Patrick McGuffey, Damon Lindelof and Des Doyle.

J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire), Shawn Ryan (The Shield), Damon Lindelof (Lost) and countless others shift from behind the scenes to become the focus of a new documentary, Showrunners: The Art Of Running A TV Show. The doc offers numerous first-hand accounts of what it takes to get a TV show on the air and features a backstory that is almost as equally fascinating. Director Des Doyle and Co-Producer Ryan Patrick McGuffey, both natives of Ireland, sat down recently to discuss the arduous journey of bringing this film to life. "For anyone who has ever truly pursued the dream of making a film, they know it comes with costs attached. “The lucky thing about being a first-time director is that naiveté can make you unaware of just how big a challenge you've set yourself,...

 J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire), Shawn Ryan (The Shield), Damon Lindelof (Lost) and countless others shift from behind the scenes to become the focus of a new documentary, Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show. The doc offers numerous first-hand accounts of what it takes to get a TV show on the air and features a backstory that is almost as equally fascinating. Below, director Des Doyle and co-producer Ryan Patrick McGuffey detail the arduous journey behind Showrunners. Read more 'Showrunners': Movie Review For anyone who has ever truly pursued the dream of making

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“The Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show” is a dream come true for TV fanatics, packed with powerful TV producers sharing insights about what it takes to get and keep a series on the air. J.J. Abrams, “Big Bang Theory's” Bill Prady, Joss Whedon and “The Good Wife” power duo Michelle and Robert King are among the many contributing to Des Doyle's documentary, screening at the Arena Theater in Hollywood and available on demand Friday. “The Showrunners” can be bittersweet — several of the shows tracked are no longer on air — and sags a bit toward the...

For TV fans, showrunners like Joss Whedon, Damon Lindelof, Kurt Sutter and J.J. Abrams are just as famous as the stars on their shows. A new documentary, available Friday on iTunes and Video On Demand (and in select theaters), takes an inside look at their jobs and what it takes to make a hit series.

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show is the brainchild of Irish filmmaker Des Doyle, who spent more than four years shooting the documentary. "It was borne out of the fact that I'm a huge, über TV fan," Doyle says....

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Just in time for Halloween, Daniel Radcliffe gets some special powers and couple of appendages growing from his temples in Radius’ Horns, which will be this week’s biggest rollout among specialty newcomers. The title received a warm welcome at a Cinema Society event attended by its stars this week in New York. This week’s newbies are dominated by nonfiction fare, though with some exceptions. Kino Lorber is opening French/Swiss maestro Jean-Luc Godard’s Goodbye To Language following a successful festival run. It has been critically acclaimed, and the company is expecting it to be a box office winner too. The 2014 Best Documentary winners from South by Southwest and Tribeca are going head-to-head in their theatrical debuts. Radius’ The Great Invisible (SXSW) opened in limited release Wednesday in an exclusively theatrical rollout, and The Orchard is bowing Point And Shoot (Tribeca) in a single NYC run. Submarine Deluxe...

Features: J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Ronald D. Moore, Damon Lindelof, Bill Prady, Hart Hanson, Jane Espenson, Jonathan Nolan | Written and Directed by Des Doyle

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show is the first ever, feature length documentary film to highlight the fascinating world of U.S. television showrunners and the creative forces aligned around them. These people are responsible for creating, writing and overseeing every element of production on one of the United State’s biggest exports – television drama and comedy series. The film shows audiences the huge amount of work that goes into making sure their favourite TV series airs on time as well as the many challenges that showrunners have to overcome to make sure a new series makes it onto the schedules at all.

I watch a lot of television. Probably unhealthy amounts actually, but that isn’t important right now. The point I am...

The trailer for a documentary that delves into the world of Us showrunners and their importance to the television industry has been released.

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show is a feature length documentary film that includes Jj Abrams, Joss Whedon and Ronald D Moore.

The film will go behind-the-scenes, focusing on those charged with writing, creating and moderating Us television projects.

It will also show the immense workload showrunners take on and the challenge to make sure their series gets on air in time.

Damon Lindelof, Bill Prady, Hart Hanson, Jane Espenson and Jonathan Nolan will provide their insight into the world of television.

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show will be available to watch exclusively at the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin and Galway's Eye Cinema on October 17. From October 31, the documentary will be available to buy on Volta and iTunes.

In Tara Bennett's book "Showrunners: The Art Of Running A TV Show," the job is variously described as being a dictator, a CEO or leading an army. And while we're now in the era of celebrity showrunners—Damon Lindelof ("Lost," "The Leftovers"), Matthew Weiner ("Mad Men"), Vince Gilligan ("Breaking Bad")—it's often forgotten how expansive the responsibilities that come with that position truly are. If you've ever wondered exactly how complicated the machinery is that drives your favorite show, or what the gig actually entails, Bennett's book—a companion piece to the forthcoming documentary directed by Des Doyle—is a slightly jumbled, but still interesting peek behind the curtain. With names like Joss Whedon, Jonathan Nolan, Terrence Winter, Damon Lindelof and more taking part, 'Showrunners' brings a broad spectrum of talent from shows both popular and niche, both successful and failed, to help define what that eleven letter word means.

The job title Showrunner says a lot; if you have ever been watching TV and stopped to think about all the hard work and dedication that goes into keeping your favorite programs exciting, you’re thinking of a showrunner. We usually don’t think about all the work that’s done behind the scenes for shows to run smoothly; until recently in this golden age of television, many of us had never heard the term. Showrunners are creators and writers of television shows; they’re decision makers and the creative authority and management of episodic television shows.

A lot of TV shows over the last few years became “required viewing” for fans around the world like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, The Sopranos, Lost and The Big Bang Theory; each with notable showrunners who make it all possible. In Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show Tara Bennett explores...

Being one of the bigger movie sites on the Internet, we get sent a lot of links to Kickstarter projects. In fact, we could probably start a sister site called Kickstarter Fans or something like that and fill every day with highlights of all the cool projects looking for funding. Naturally, given the volume of things in development out there, we can’t cover everything that comes our way – but when something super cool does turn up, we like to share. Showrunners: A Documentary Film is one of those projects. We want to watch this right now – and if you love television, we bet you’re gonna want to check it out too. The premise is simple: Director Des Doyle and crew interview some of the biggest showrunners in Hollywood, giving the audience an inside look at...

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This story first appeared in the Oct. 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Take it from the Kings, the husband and wife showrunning team of CBS' The Good Wife: Mixing work and pleasure is no easy feat. Here Michelle, 50, and Robert, 52, who will be married 25 years next month, reveal the perks (and perils) of being married to their work. List: Top 50 Power Showrunners 2012 The Hollywood Reporter: What's the best part about working with your spouse? Michelle King: You can't resent someone not doing dishes if they're in the midst of a rewrite. Robert King:

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Showtime is going into business with the creators of The Good Wife. The premium cable network is developing Girls With Guns, a female-led military drama from Robert and Michelle King. The working-titled drama revolves around two Los Angeles sisters whose family moves to the one place in the world where women are drafted into the military: Israel. Photos: 10 Showrunners to Watch in 2012 Ridley Scott and David Zucker will executive produce the effort for Scott Free Productions alongside the Kings, who will pen the project under the three-year overall deal they inked with CBS Television Studios in

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Tags: Dee JohnsonBossStarzE.R.The Good WifeIMDbArmy WivesLaura InnesHornet's NestPatricia CornwellAngie HarmonSasha AlexanderShowrunnersRizzoli & Isles

Dee Johnson has worked on some of your favorite shows and she happens to be an out lesbian. She began her career as a writer on Melrose Place in 1993 and eventually joined the team at E.R., where she fought for the Kerry Weaver storyline that was one of the turning points for major lesbian characters on network television. Dee said she's proud of the storyline, in general, but there are two things she said she "robbed from" her real life as a gay wife and mother.

"We had a fear, early on, when we both were having kids because I had no biology," Johnson said. "My partner had the kids. I just had a fear her mom, who's since passed away — that if anything ever happened .... that I'd be in for a battle. "So when when her partner,...

Montreal – Oh, so this is what comedy showrunners think about agents. Comedy agents aren't especially helpful in hiring sitcom writers because they often submit scripts they haven’t read, The Big Bang Theory showrunner Bill Prady told the Just For Laughs comedy conference on Saturday in Montreal. “They (agents) will send something, and say ‘this is fantastic, it’s a great read.’ And they’re saying that because someone handed it to them and said it’s a great read,” he insisted. Photos: Emmys 2012: Behind the Scenes Photos From THR's Comedy Showrunners Roundtable Prady recalled one agent telling him to

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After an astounding 75,000 votes, what started with forty-eight very deserving showrunners in our second-annual TV Showrunner Madness Competition has been whittled down to one with Castle’s Andrew Marlowe coming out victorious in a truly epic battle against UK counterpart Steven Moffat. Accordingly, we here at theTVaddict.com would not only like to take this opportunity to thank all of our passionate and vocal readers for voting, but the equally enthused Showrunners for being such good sports. Particularly this year’s winner, Andrew Marlowe — who following in the tradition started by last year’s winner Hart Hanson — was only to happy to take some time out of his incredibly busy schedule to personally pass along a letter of thanks to the entirety of the Castle fandom. See for yourself, after the jump.

Thanks…

In response to winning the TV Showrunner Madness Poll.

I can’t tell you how surprised, shocked...

The Good Wife co-creators Robert and Michelle King are staying put at CBS. The husband and wife showrunners behind the network’s critical darling have inked a three-year overall with CBS TV Studios. As part of the pact, the Kings will not only remain with the Julianna Margulies-led series but also develop new projects for the studio. Photos: 10 Showrunners to Watch in 2012 In its third season, Good Wife still manages to lure more than 11.5 million viewers and a 2.5 rating among the coveted 18 to 49-year-old demographic in its competitive Sunday night slot.

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The Good Wife is half-way through its third season on CBS and it has managed to stay one of the strongest legal dramas on television. Considering how many of those there are on network television, that's no small feat. Showrunners Robert and Michelle King are passionate about their characters, and fans connect with that and their stories, along with the cases that come into the law firm and state's attorney's office at the center of the show.

And while the name of the show might make you think Alicia (Julianna Margulies) is the star of the show, she's only one of a brilliant ensemble cast that make the series the sexy, edgy, intelligent show it is. One of The Good Wife's most necessary parts of the group is Archie Panjabi, who plays bisexual private investigator Kalinda Sharma.

Kalinda is a precarious place in Season 3. She's always been kind of a loner,...

Sons of Anarchy, FX’s hit drama about a California motorcycle club, wrapped up its fourth season on Tuesday. The finale ended what has arguably been the best season for the drama, helmed by Kurt Sutter. [Warning: Spoilers ahead if you have not watched Tuesday’s Season 4 finale.] Photos: Behind the Scenes With Kurt Sutter and Other Showrunners In the final episode, Jax (Charlie Hunnam) deals with the revelation that the president of the club, Clay (Ron Perlman) killed his father and attempted to have his wife Tara (Maggie Siff) killed. While he wanted to kill Clay and leave the

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Are the creators of some of today's most popular TV shows becoming more famous than our most well-known filmmakers? I don't know if we're there just yet, but the upcoming documentary Showrunners finally shines a spotlight on the intriguing personalities behind many of our favourite shows, and explores what it takes to get a show on the air nowadays. If you're a fan of such shows as Lost, Fringe, House, Battlestar Galactica, Spartacus or Sons of Anarchy, you'll probably want to check this one out. Before you ask, though, Joss Whedon is notably absent. Directed by Des Doyle, a camera assistant for such films as Reign of Fire and It Might Get Loud, the documentary is comprised mainly of interviews with various current television writers and series creators. It seems similar to the screenwriter documentary Tales from the Script, and I can only hope that it features some equally fascinating success and horror stories.