by Jennifer Matos

You’re sitting on your couch, or seated on a bar stool with some friends on a Sunday night. The L Word’s weekly installment of sex and drama is about to begin as multiple pleas to “shhhhh!” fill whatever room you’re in. Soon, the music begins and you hear “Girls in tight dresses, who drag with mustaches…” Gripping the edge of whatever seat you’re occupying, you’re ready, you’re at attention, and you are addicted to the story of the lives of lesbians, “hasbiens”, and one bisexual.

How did this happen to you? How did this all begin? It began, as all great things do, with an idea. And that idea began with a woman by the name of Ilene Chaiken, The L Word’s executive producer and creator.

In the Beginning…
Before “Will and Grace”, before “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and even before “Queer as Folk” hit the air, Ilene Chaiken had an idea to pitch to Showtime television about a series that would tell the stories of lesbians living and loving in Los Angeles, California. Up until that time, lesbians were invisible on television. In 1983, a short-lived lesbian plotline played out on the daytime drama “All My Children” when “Dr. Lynn Carlson” (Donna Pescow, “Saturday Night Fever” and “Angie”), came out as a lesbian. In the mid-1980’s an Aaron Spelling production called “HeartBeat” was featured on ABC prime time television. In the years since, there might have been a lesbian or bisexual character here and there, and then in 1994, Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet on her show “Ellen”. On screen television kisses were shown on shows like “L.A. Law”, “Friends”, “Roseanne”, “ER” and “Queer as Folk”, to name a few, but none of these went in-depth to portray lesbian lives as the main focus.

Chaiken wanted a series that would tell lesbian stories openly and honestly and wanted those stories to be reflected back in a world that they had been so invisible in. Since she is a writer, she wanted to make sure that she was able to tell a story, whether that story was told through people who she had known, or elements of her own story. As a matter of fact, it seems that Ilene Chaiken is all about telling stories and has turned that into a craft. She goes to great and painstaking detail to ensure that every creative choice she makes is telling a story, verbal or not. In interviews she has even said that she would not film a lesbian love scene if it is not telling a story.

Telling Tales
The show premiered in 2004, but the story really began in 1999. Chaiken had been asked to write an essay for Los Angeles magazine about gays and lesbians starting families. During the writing process, Chaiken, mother of two, came to the realization that she wasn’t just writing about her story, she was also playing a role in telling the larger narrative of the community to which she belongs. She decided to begin by sharing the stories of people she had actually known. With ten pages or so in hand, she approached some straight friends with the idea that would later become The L Word, and while they admitted that it was a fun idea, they also told Chaiken that the idea would never take flight. Chaiken decided to shelve it and then things started to change. About a year and a half later, “Queer as Folk” was on the air and enjoying great success. “Will and Grace” was already popular with viewers, and her film “Dirty Pictures” was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

By the time that Showtime approached her after receiving that coveted Golden Globe Award, and gave her the green light for the show, Chaiken had everything already mapped out in her head. She started off by thinking about the Los Angeles social life that she had been a part of. She didn’t want to represent the “typical” lesbian, but wanted to represent real lives and real experiences. In order to do that, she would need to present a myriad of possibilities and consider the aspect of diversity. Not just the on-the-surface diversity, but the diversity within diversity and the interconnectedness that we share. As a result of carefully crafting the story, the show features recovering alcoholics, athletes, bi-racial couples, rich, poor, sexy, insecure, Jewish, Latina, writers, artists, mothers, drag kings and trans men, to name a few.

Greetings, Earthlings!
After the idea was pitched to and accepted by Showtime, Chaiken and her crew got to work. The pilot was filmed with the code name “Earthlings”. It was strictly meant to be the working title for the series as a reference to something that two of the show’s original collaborators had heard: “Is she an Earthling or just a visitor to the planet?” The working title was confusing to the Showtime executives and wasn’t intended to be used since it sounded more like science fiction and less like the reality that Chaiken wanted to introduce. The title for the show was indeed becoming an issue as it was clear that if Chaiken and company didn’t come up with a title, someone else would. While discussing the topic with her writing staff, writer and actress Guinevere Turner recounted an experience she had at a k.d. lang concert. As the story is told, lang, started off with “I’m a leh—, I’m a leh—but couldn’t say the ‘L’ word.” Chaiken says that she “pitched it to Showtime, and I pretty much decided the minute I came up with it that that was it…Showtime was initially resistant, but we couldn’t come up with anything better and I think it’s a really good title.”

Casting Call and Raising Shane
With writers on hand and pilot directors chosen, the next thing to take care of was who would be cast in these roles. The L Word creative team faced challenges presented by agents as they did not necessarily want their clients to be seen fully or partially nude, portraying lesbians, or portraying them while engaging in simulated sex acts. Just as Chaiken wanted to represent diversity within the lesbian culture, so too did she want that to be represented on screen. One by one, she picked the main players with Jennifer Beals as the first to sign onto the groundbreaking project. Pam Grier (“Kit Porter”) signed on after and they started building around that. Interestingly enough, it is said that “Kit” was originally written as a lesbian character who would have “Alice Pieszecki’s” famed “Chart” tattooed on her back. When Kit was instead written as a straight character, the “Chart” idea was then passed on to Alice.

The end desired product was one where the lesbian characters didn’t look alike. Sources from “Welcome to Our Planet” quote Chaiken as saying that she was looking for authenticity. “There is always a bottom line, though, which is completely intuitive and it is a lesbian thing, and I think only other lesbians will know what I am talking about, which is not that she has to be dyke-y…you have to look at her and say ‘Okay, I believe it.’ Sometimes an actress comes in, and however good she might be, you say, ‘No way. She is not a lesbian in anybody’s world.’”

Many actresses auditioned for the role of “Tina Kennard”, but it was ultimately Laurel Holloman who won the role because of her natural chemistry with Jennifer Beals. According to Chaiken, “We took a look at Laurel and Jennifer together, and in two seconds we knew it was just magic. There was just instant chemistry there…” Chaiken had noticed the work of other actresses like Pam Grier, Erin Daniels, Mia Kirshner and Laurel Holloman. Leisha Hailey originally auditioned for the role of “Shane” and while she didn’t get the part, it was clear to the L Word creative team that they wanted her to be a part of the show. Once Mia Kirshner was cast as “Jenny”, creators began to cast her love interests. Among them, “Marina Ferrer” cast by actress Karina Lombard. Of all the accounts of how the show’s main characters were cast, the story of “Shane’s” casting is perhaps the most exciting. When Ilene Chaiken found Katherine Moennig, she knew instantly that she had found “Shane”. Chaiken had a detailed and vivid idea of who Shane would be, what she would be like, what she would exude and convey. It was when Chaiken saw Moennig’s casting tape that she proclaimed “Oh my fuc**ng God, there she is! Shane!”

A Work in Progress
Ilene Chaiken is one who will readily credit the L Word fan base for their support. She is known to visit fan sites such as l-word.com and has shared dialogues with fans, taking their feedback, constructive criticism and praise into account. While Chaiken can’t promise happy endings for all the characters in all the chart connections they make, she can—and does—ensure that a population who was once invisible and had stories untold are now being seen, and heard.

The L Word premiered on January 18, 2004. With nearly a million viewers watching the premiere, Showtime can claim the pilot as one of its most successful programs to date. The L Word seasons one and two are currently available on DVD. Season three of the show is scheduled for DVD release on October 24, 2006 and season four is currently in production in Vancouver.