{"id":194803,"date":"2025-10-01T13:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T13:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/194803\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T13:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T13:43:07","slug":"silicon-valleys-john-altschuler-on-europes-issue-with-showrunners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/194803\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Silicon Valley’s John Altschuler On Europe’s Issue With Showrunners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJohn Altschuler<\/a>, the co-showrunner of Silicon Valley<\/a> and King of the Hill<\/a>, wants Europe to show more respect to writers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe scribe, part of a writing duo with Dave Krinsky, called this facet of the European production system the \u201cbiggest difference\u201d with the Hollywood studios\u2019 approach. However, he did credit the European view that TV production is seen through cultural and artistic filters.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a keynote interview at Iberseries<\/a> & Platino Industria in Madrid, he urged European TV makers to better recognize the role of its screenwriters and the wider role of the showrunner. While Hollywood \u201cdespises\u201d writers, he argued, \u201cThey know without a script you have nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHis comments came an on-stage interview with Gersh partner Roy Ashton, in which he described the \u201cgreedy, ravenous, terrible people\u201d that HBO\u2019s Silicon Valley was based on, and revealed a new UK-Irish co-production.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a well-received session in front of a Spanish audience, Altschuler outlined the differences between European and Hollywood production systems \u2013 and was particularly down on how Europe views scriptwriters and showrunners. \u201cThe studios have always hated writers \u2013 the first organized union was the Writers Guild \u2013 but they know without a script you have nothing and TV doesn\u2019t exist without writers being being in charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn contrast, \u201cThe writer doesn\u2019t exist in Europe,\u201d he added. \u201cI meet companies and they won\u2019t have scripts. America has a writing culture \u2013 everything from Hollywood has always been about the writer and the script. There is something wrong with a system that devalues any element of the creative process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAltschuler recalled a story about shooting a project in Berlin, Germany, and asking for a showrunner, only for a French exec to question how a director \u201ccould possibly\u201d report to a writer. \u201cIt\u2019s very strange the way Europeans have embraced the showrunner, but don\u2019t quite understand the concept, in [terms of] what it means for television.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, he believes Europe does hold sway over the U.S. in certain respects, as he outlined as he revealed was in town to shop an Irish-UK international co-production based on a book about the drug trade.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI believe there are underlying strengths of the Hollywood system you do not have here, and there is also a feeling towards art and culture we don\u2019t have in America,\u201d he said. \u201cBringing them together is something a little more interesting, and that is how I believe we will succeed in the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAltschuler revealed he is developing a series based on\u00a0The Gangster\u2019s Guide to Sobriety: My Life in 12 Steps, which he co-wrote with Krinsky and Richie Stephens, the Irish actor. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m in town,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere in the talk, Altschuler recalled bonding with King of the Hill co-creator over their middle-class background. \u201cWe hit off right off the bat,\u201d he said. \u201cHe had a similar background to me. We had a horrible stink pf the middle class. In Hollywood, they despite the middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter working his way up on Judge and Greg Daniels\u2019 Fox show for several years, Altschiler and Krinsky eventually became showrunners for five seasons. \u201cIt was fantastic,\u201d he said. \u201cI worked with everyone from Brad Pitt to Ben Stiller to Jennifer Aniston, because it was a show everyone wanted to be on. It opened up so many doors for us to create our own shows and do our own features.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMore generally, the experience has stayed with him as mark of a different Hollywood. \u201cI do miss the structure of the business,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were frustrating things about it, but that is something that is a little bit lost now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe role ultimately brought Judge, Altschuler and Krinsky to Silicon Valley and the culture of technologists. \u201cNobody was doing anything about technology,\u201d he said. \u201cThe closest was Big Bang Theory, which was just about geniuses and didn\u2019t get it right, and when Dave, Mike Judge and I do something we try to get it right, so that\u2019s why I did Silicon Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter meeting with several real Silicon Valley execs, who claimed they were \u201cnot interested in making money but making the world a better place,\u201d the trio decide to develop their series.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese really are some of the most horrible people on Earth. They are greedy, ravenous, terrible people,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI like big targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAltschuler was asked to give his take on the business in the wake of the 2023 labor strikes. \u201cIt was always hard,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was easier when I came in, but it has always been a game of chance. You have as much chance to succeed as ever it\u2019s just a little more unclear of how to get there. With more avenues [available], it is the good and the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Altschuler, the co-showrunner of Silicon Valley and King of the Hill, wants Europe to show more respect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,111841,111842,113017,38522,2793,65410],"class_list":["post-194803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-iberseries","tag-iberseries-platino-industria","tag-john-altschuler","tag-king-of-the-hill","tag-silicon-valley","tag-tv-markets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}