THE BESTED OF 2010

As I review the BEST OF 2010 lists, I cringe at the some of the names the blogosphere is giving season three of Sons of Anarchy.  "Uneven" "Problematic" "Counter-intuitive".  It's fucking hard to watch your child being bullied and yet I've realized that one must live and die by buzz. 

The truth is a lot of bloggers and critics are too fucking lazy to actually watch the show and form an original opinion, so they'll let a few other critics determine what the show is.  In season two, a few critics tagged Sons as one of the best shows on television.  That buzz was picked up and so season two was labeled "brilliant".  This season, a few critics struggled with the Ireland/Baby narrative and labeled those middle episodes as confusing and off-point.  That buzz was also picked up and so season three is being labeled "not-so-brilliant".  The reality is that neither assessment is true.  It's just that one is easier to accept that the other.

I, of course, did not see a problem with season three.  Obviously.  In my mind, it was the most complex and in-depth storytelling we've ever done on the show.  Perhaps that's the problem.  I do know that anything I say in defense of the show will land as sour grapes and desperate, so I'll let a critic describe my feelings.  Tim Goodman, former critic for the SF Chronicle, now head TV critic for the Hollywood Reporter listed SOA as one of the top 18 shows of the year (#13).  This was his follow up assessment --

Sons of Anarchy

 
Of all the excellent dramas here, fan reaction to SOA in Season 3 is the most interesting, and baffling. This outlaw biker-club series from Kurt Sutter embraces its heightened gangster mentality, its Hamlet-on-a-Harley agenda. You’ll find few series whose fans are as rabid and outspoken. The story line that took the club from the fictional Northern California town of Charming to Northern Ireland had a lot of viewers and critics claiming it meandered and that the skillfully riveting first and last episodes held together a soft middle. It’s too tough on Sutter; any creator/writer/showrunner ought to take chances — that’s essential to greatness. Had he kept SOA in Charming for a third year, playing the same tune, the backlash would rightly have been more fierce. Fans ultimately might look back at this ambitious season as instrumental in the series achieving brilliance.

Besides, who wants a show that resists change and shies from a creative leap? If you want that, turn on broadcast TV. Now that these shows are gone, you’ll get plenty of settling.

ANGER IS MY FRIEND, REASON IS MY BITCH, JOY TO THE WORLD

This started out as a holiday message, then the pressure of gifts, money and moving to a new house inspired something else.  So I share this piece of kurtness for your holiday enjoyment -- 

Even on medication, my first response to any challenge (fear) is never, "Let me understand" (reason).  It's always, "Let me cut your fucking heart out" (anger).  I've done quite a bit of work on myself in the last twenty years and I've come to realize that some of that response is just my humanity -- primal survival instincts.  Some of it is my obsessive personality.  Some of it was being raised in an unpredictable (alcoholic) household.  But mostly, it's because anger is my friend.  Rage, not so much, but anger feels so fucking good.  It's the sauce that makes the bland noodles taste like God's been cooking.  It gets my dick hard, my confidence up, my creativity ticking and focuses my mind like a bloody, gleaming straight razor.  I've discovered that I seek out opportunities, consciously and unconsciously, that trigger my favorite emotion.  I stir up trouble, then open wide to receive the backlash, using it to feed my beautiful hostile machine.  (Wasn't there an alien on Star Trek that did that?)

I am aware that this is probably not the healthiest trait.  It's created more than a few uncomfortable work experiences (Fox lawsuits) and garnered at least two or three death threats per season.  FYI: I don't carry a gun.  That would be bad.  

Well, that's it.  Merry Christmas, happy holidays.  Me, I'm hoping for a stocking full of coal.  Just a little something to spin me into the new year.  

Peace be with you.

THOUGHTS ON THE WRITING CORPORATION

I look at some of my showrunner peers with awe.  The men and women who create and run more than one show at a time.  It's amazing to me.  I just don't understand how they can spread themselves over several projects and run them successfully... but some do.  I would imagine the only way to do it is to extensively delegate.  To surround yourself with a staff that can expedite your exact vision without a degradation in quality.  In essence, the writer becomes a writing corporation whose primary product is content.  That content is then mass produced by a proven formula and process.

I'm not sure that I could do that.  It's just not how I'm wired.  The inability speaks to my obsessive nature.  I joke about my control issues but the truth is, I am so proprietary over my show, I couldn't imagine not devoting 100% of my energy to it.  It's not that I can't delegate or don't trust my staff, I do, it's just that I am so compulsive about details that I doubt I could obsessively focus on more than one thing at a time.

I'll always do something over my hiatus.  I need to creatively cleanse my palate.  This year I'm selling a reality project and I'm writing a movie which will overlap with the beginning of my SOA season a bit, but will be finished before I have to really dig into the show.  I guess if I had to model my career after someone it would be the three Davids -- Simon, Chase and Milch.  These guys are my creative heroes.  Visionaries.  Guys who plugged into one show, made them brilliantly and stayed with them to the end.  Then found the next passion story and began all over again.  In Simon's case, man, to have The Wire and Treme on your resume... fuck, how extraordinary is that?  That's the career I want.  

As much as my ego and competitive nature would love to setup and produce a dozen shows at several networks, it's just antithetical to my process.  I didn't become a writer to make money.  I know that sounds like bullshit, but it's the truth.  I spent almost twenty years figuring out who I was as a man and an artist.  It was a painful, circuitous path filled with lethargic hopelessness, self-loathing, addiction and hundreds of broken relationships.  When the bleeding stopped and the black smoke cleared, the path pointed to writing.  Becoming a writer wasn't a career choice, it was a survival choice.  It's all I have.  It defines me.  It's why I hate downtime.  I don't know who I am without a script at my keyboard.  That probably just sounds like heady bullshit... and I don't know, maybe it is, but it's what I believe today.  Which is why the thought of writing enmasse for power and profit just seems counter-intuitive to me.  

I think some writers get lured in by the money.  Some are misguided by greedy agents and managers.  Some get caught in the wake of their own success and can't stop the tide.  And some really love the game of winning.  More money, more power, more headlines, more, more, more... I just wonder how many feel fulfilled.  Truly, creatively satisfied.  That sense that they're doing something that really matters.  Something that honors the profession of writing.  Maybe they all do.  This is not a judgment, it's a query.  A fascination, really.  Probably driven by envy, perhaps pity.  I'm not sure.  Like all my posts, this is my stream of consciousness today.  Tomorrow I may have a completely different opinion.  

Anyway, what I come away with -- which wasn't the purpose of this entry, but nonetheless true -- I come away with gratitude.  Beyond all my conjecture and bombastic opinions, I am so fucking grateful to have found my voice.  A voice I get to share with others.  A voice that affords me a comfortable life for myself and my family.  A voice of one writer.

I thank fucking god... I am not SutterInk. 

SEASON THREE POST MORTEM

I want to thank the fans of SOA for another terrific season.  Even with the Dish debacle, y'all showed up for the club.  We ultimately retained our high numbers and throwing in the Live +7 (DVRs) data, we actually had a healthy upward tick in viewers from season two.  

This was a very important season for me, both creatively and personally.  I knew I was going to do this Belfast arc back at the conception of the show.  It's a crucial arc for the evolution of Jax and for the evolution of the series.  To pull it off it would mean structuring the narrative differently and taking Sam Crow out of their native environment.  It's always a creative risk to try a different approach in an established show.  What I learned is that sometimes folks don't like change (and some of you just hated that fucking baby).  The great thing is that critics and fans are completely invested in Sons of Anarchy, they take a lot of ownership in the show.  With that investment comes a great deal of scrutiny.  Man, it's intense, the good and the bad, people really give a shit about what happens to these characters.  And they let me know it. 

For me, it's all about challenging the process.  My mantra in the writers room is -- What is the audience expecting and then let's never do that.  How can we organically move toward the darkest and most absurd choice?  Honoring our nod to the Bard, what Shakespearean device can we exploit to move our tale of blood and woe forward?  In short, how do we avoid derivative storytelling and shake up the viewing experience.  That's who I am as an artist, that's what SOA is as a show.  That doesn't mean I'm writing in a vacuum.  Yes, I have a clear vision of what, how and where Sons of Anarchy is heading.  But that vision is always expedited with an audience in mind.  Meaning, I give a shit that it's a satisfying hour for folks.  That's my commitment to myself, FX, and most importantly, to the viewers.

I'm very satisfied with this season.  It played out as I envisioned and I think the writing, acting and directing was top notch.  Everyone involved generated thirteen hours of quality television.  This cast gets better with every episode, and for me, Charlie Hunnam broke out this season.  He went places he's never been on this show.  He broke my heart and chilled my soul.  I have little faith that there will be awards or accolades coming his way, so I want to thank him for his tremendous work and his tireless effort.  Charlie is a consummate professional and his love of this work inspires me to keep raising the bar.

I also learned a lot about "why and how" people watch Sons; information that won't go unheeded.  When folks look back on season three, I imagine it will be with a squinted, perhaps contentious eye.  Cool with me, as long as they're looking.  I'd much rather have a controversial reaction than a complacent one.  After all, it is a show about fucking outlaws.

Anyway, I'm sure this post will get spun against me in some "bombastic" way, but I just want to thank everyone for staying on the ride.  Until season four, I'm wishing everyone all the anarchy their little hearts can handle.   

Best,

ks