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Winnie Holzman knows teenspeak

The Washington Post published on Sunday 30th of July 2000 an article about the creator of "My So-Called Life", Winnie Holzman.

Here are some excerpts:

*Talkin' Teenspeak Winnie Holzman knows teenspeak.*

"Not many people know of Holzman. Anonymity is common for television writers. But a previous creation of hers, the short-lived drama "My So-Called Life," has led to a cult following. That show was cancelled in 1995 after just 19 episodes because ABC executives, on a day that shall live in infamy, put it up against a new NBC show called "Friends."

[...]

One Savannah Dooley [Winnie Holzman's daughter] line was used in "MSCL" when a preteen character asks if she can wear makeup on a family night out. She is told no. Her next question: "Well, can I wear it in the driveway?"

There is a key Holzman insight about teen speak. "When you are 14 or 15, you don't feel like you are young," she said. "You feel like you are old now, grown-up. It is easy for adults to forget that and write down to kids. But I remember that age."

[...] "It troubles me," she said, "that people in our community are more comfortable with the image of a 15-year-old girl stripped and stabbed and destroyed than they are with one fully dressed and alive and speaking her own mind."

But she rejects any notion that she is down on television. With "Once and Again" safely renewed, there will be more adventures of Grace Manning and her family ahead.

"I am energized and excited to be working in a medium I feel passionately about," she said. "I love what I do."

© 2000 The Washington Post Company, Jay Mathews

You can read the full article for free until August 12th 2000 here: http://www.washingtonpost .com/wp-dyn/articles/A54378-2000Jul27.html

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