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Q&A with Ilene

After the talk, Raelle Myrick-Hodges was heading a short Q&A session with Ilene. They warned us right away that we can ask any questions as long as it’s not, “Who killed Jenny?” Again, here’re some highlights from that part of the evening.

- At first they talked about gay characters being marginalized, or Ilene being marginalized as an artist because she’s gay. Ilene said that even in the earlier years of her career she felt pretty integrated but sometimes people used it against her. She told a story when she hired a woman to direct one of her movies and she got a call from a very powerful person who said that Ilene hired that director because she was gay. In reality, the director was straight and married but they wouldn’t believe her. And she added that we get marginalized not because we are gay women but because we are women. It’s still a largely misogynist culture. And in her career she felt more oppressed because she was a woman and not a gay woman.

- They talked about how Ilene separates her life and her art and Ilene said that she often put a lot of her personal life stories into her writing.

- Ilene said that she tried to write a show that would not only speak to gay women but to straight women and men, to anyone who wanted to come and partake of our stories. The thing that made The L Word a great success was that women loved it, not just lesbians but women. The loved the show and supported it throughout the years.

- The questions chosen from the audience were mostly general questions about movie business or asking advice for young writers. Ilene’s advice was - writing, writing, and writing. Learn all you can about the business and your craft, and keep writing. Ilene herself has certain rituals when she’s writing. She usually gets up very early in the morning and she either works out or write, usually she does both. She writes all day long and most of her writing is done at her computer and not on the paper. She doesn’t write like some writers who go for a walk and come up with ideas then. She writes, takes breaks and then comes back to write more.

- Ilene said that she doesn’t watch many TV shows. There were just a few that got her attention but as soon as she began working on The L Word, she just didn’t have time to watch pretty much anything. Her favorite show was “Six Feet Under.”

- One question was kind of funny. Someone asked if Ilene had ever excluded a storyline from The L Word because it was “too gay”. Ilene was really surprised and asked, “On The L Word? It’s a gay show, there were no stories that can be too gay.” She did mention that she worked on other projects when some people questioned a storyline that appeared too gay but never on The L Word.

- Ilene also said that another reason she wanted to do a lesbian ensemble drama because on the television there were gay characters but it was always the gay best friend or the gay character here or there, and even if there was a show about a single lead gay character, this character was living in a largely straight world. She wanted to have several gay lead characters, represented in a multitude.

- One question was about any similarities between the “Lez Girls” movie storyline and a real-life relationship with Showtime upper management. Ilene replied that as she said before, the Showtime was always unbelievably supportive and never tried to shut her down, make her less gay but that storyline was very real about Hollywood, especially in the movie making business.

- Ilene did say again that Jenny’s storyline was a response to fans’ demands to kill Jenny but it wasn’t only because the fans demanded it. She also said that in the Pilot, Jenny’s character was written based on Ilene and her personal life when she was younger. However, the actresses changed the characters as they brought themselves into their characters; therefore, Jenny changed a lot over each season. Bette was also another character that represented Ilene in her adult reincarnation-- someone driven by work and her passion -- but Bette’s character also evolved because of the way Jennifer Beals portrayed her. Ilene said that she loved Jenny because she thinks that Jenny made the world more interesting place to live.

- Marina was written off the show because Karina Lombard went to work on another show, “4400”.

- One question was asked about Dana. Ilene basically said that when they met in the beginning of season three for their writer’s meeting, a lot of them went through some loss with family members and friends. They wanted to tell a story about a loss and they hadn’t decided right away what character they would kill. All they knew that it had to be a beloved character. Ilene said that she loved Dana and she loves Erin Daniels who had fit very well with the group, but they decided that the most powerful way to tell this story was telling about a character who was healthy, who took care of her body, and it would be shocking. But Ilene had no idea what the reaction of the fans would be and that the grief would be so profound. Ilene said that they believed it was an important story to tell, but if she had a foresight about the fans’ reaction, she would not have killed Dana off.

- The obligatory sex scenes question was asked again, and Ilene replied that all sex/love scenes were choreographed. Each actor works with sex scenes in a different way. There were some who wanted each scene being choreographed to the number, telling them when to move this hand or when to move there, or when they have to orgasm. Some worked better when they were told just the general direction where the scene would go. Always, when they did the sex scenes, the actors had a large say on how the scene was done. They all had different boundaries and Ilene respected those boundaries. The only thing Ilene told them was, “I want you to tell the story, and I want you to believe in it, and we will make it work in a way that makes you comfortable.”

- They had an incredible crew and the directors were predominantly women and it’s really unique in Hollywood. Women were dominating in this project. Rose Lam, who is actually straight, hired as many lesbians as possible to work for the show. It was a very pleasant environment to work in and all the straight people who worked on the show were always comfortable, even with some sensitive material. Ilene said that there was never a division between straight women or gay women who worked on the show behind the scene because, in her opinion, everyone wanted to be gay.

- They skipped most of the written questions about individual characters and then gave the audience the chance to ask more questions. One question was about how to keep going and make more stories about gay and lesbian community. Ilene said that one important thing is for the community to get engage in the storytelling and tell the networks what they like. Ilene added that the president of Showtime called her all the time and told her about the crazy L Word fans that kept sending him letters and emails. When Showtime was deciding to pick the L Word for another season, they started a “black bra campaign” and he got tons of black bras sent to his office. When the community gets together, there’s no way to stop them.

- There was a question “What happened to OurChart” and Ilene was telling about how they really believed in that project, but because of the business structure and some other reasons I don’t remember, it wasn’t valuable as a business. Ilene and some other people who were on OC are working really hard to put together another version of OurChart.

- Another question about The L Word the movie was asked, as well. Ilene pretty much said the same thing as she always said – that the cast and she really want to do it, but it’s not up to her, so it’s hard to say right now what will happen. I suggested sending more black bras to the CBS or whatever company is in charge of it. Ilene’s reply: “It won’t hurt.”

- Another thing Ilene said that there’s a difference between writers and screenwriters. As a screenwriter, you write not to see your words on page but to see it performed by actors. She was always so excited to see what actors would make out of your work, and sometimes they would make it better with their acting. In television, writers are supreme, and in the movies, writers are garbage. In television, the writers are often in charge of everything, even more than directors.

- On any television show, there’s a group of writers. On the L Word, Ilene had a relatively small group of writers. She was a head writer who chose writers, and they all worked together as a group, talking about their ideas in collaborative way. At certain points, Ilene would give everyone certain scripts or stories to write or contribute to a storytelling, but as the head writer, she had the final say.

VIP reception

During the VIP reception we all had a chance to approach Ilene and talk to her. I found her by herself for a moment and asked if she always had a big picture in her mind about where the storylines would go when she pitched the Pilot to the Showtime executives. Ilene replied that when she pitched the Pilot, she basically pitched the characters, but each season they would decide where their stories would go.

Then I asked if it was true that she never intended to get Bette and Tina back together after their break up in season 1. Ilene said that she didn’t intend not to get them back together, but there was a possibility that TiBette would end up in different relationships. Then I asked, “Why did you finally decide to reunite them? Was it because of the fans?” And Ilene said, “It was such a good story to tell and bringing them back together was part of it.”

Overall, I liked event. It was entertaining and informative and just another little connection to the show that I missed so much already.