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I met Winnie Holzman!

Posted: May 21st 2003, 12:37 am
by mscl revival
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this, but I just had to share. :lol:

I am an instructor of a student-led MSCL class at UC Berkeley (isn't that awesome!) and my co-instructor and I were able to get Winnie Holzman (creator/writer/co-exec producer) to come up from L.A. and speak to our class (if anyone from my class is reading this-- Hi!) ! We had a group of almost 100 come listen to her Q and A. It was great! She looks a little older than when she appeared in MSCL (as the counselor) but about the same. People had some great questions. I got her to sign my DVD set and also got a picture with her.

I don't want to make this too long, but one interesting thing she said was how she never imagined that so many people would end up hating Patty. In fact, she said that she didn't intend for Patty to be so extreme but that much to her surprise, Bess (who played Patty) ended up putting a negative/judgmental/accusing tone into almost every line. hehe :)
Oh, and also Jared Leto was supposed to just be a guest for the pilot, but ended up staying the whole time due to how well he and Claire clicked.

Ok, one more thing-- she intended for someone (namely Sharon) to get pregnant in the second season, and for Patty and Graham to get divorced, while the girls had to fend for themselves because Patty would go into a deep depression :) (Sorry if this info is already posted somewhere on the site, eg. in the Winnie interview)

There were also lots more great questions :)
Has anyone else attended a Winnie Q/A or anything like that? Please share!

Posted: May 21st 2003, 12:39 am
by Guest
Yikes, my bad. I replied to a post instead of creating a new thread. Please reply to the repost-- thanks

Posted: May 21st 2003, 12:42 am
by MSCL revival
Argh.. so sorry, guys. I accidently posted twice because I thought this one had been posted in the wrong thread. ignore my last comment about the "repost". :oops:

Posted: May 21st 2003, 2:03 am
by Natasha (candygirl)
Is this Catherine? Any chance of offering the course again next year?

:D

mscl

Posted: May 21st 2003, 9:15 am
by lance
Way cool!

Always nice to hear more background info on MSCL.

Best,

Lance Man

Posted: May 21st 2003, 9:29 am
by Megs
Wow. Patty and Graham were going to get divorced? I really didn't think that that would happen. :?

Sharon, pregnant? That would have been interesting to see.

Did she say anything about who she saw Angela end up with?

That is so awesome! It sucks that I live on the east coast. :(

Posted: May 21st 2003, 10:33 am
by Guest
WOW, for one that is an awesome idea, about the class and all!!!!! And two, I always wondered about the divorce thing especially from one particular comment, how when Angela, Danielle and Patty are having a heart to heart looking through Pattys old yearbook and talking about Tony Poole, how Danielle says that kind of thing gives me nightmares, that you and dad could get divorced. That to me was some major foreshadowing. I mean, my own personal perception I wouldn't have necissarily expected it to happen I mean especially my personal perception of Graham in particular, but I saw that as major foreshadowing and wondered if that was a clue of what was to come.

And it's funny that you found that out about the pregnant thing, I have always thought about that, and always thought about incorporating it into a fanfic, ironically enough even though the obvious choice woulr probably be Rayanne, I've always thought it would be interesting thing to have happen to Sharon.

And it's kinda funny about Jared, since he ended up being one of the core charachters, but I'm glad he did. And also that makes me wonder if Angela and Brian were *supposed* to inevitably end up together eventually if Jordan was not supposed to be a key characher in the series. However since he ended up becoming one, that might mean that plans could have changed too. So ya never know but yes that is obviously the question everyone always has.

Also congrats! that must have been so amazing to meet the creator and brains behind such a compelling, life impacting show as this, especially a show that has obviously cast all of us under it's spell even in it's short life and long absence. She seems like she'd just be a great person, that's the vibe I seem to get just seeing her as the counselor...It must have been an honor to meet her! You are so Lucky! I could only dream of meeting her!!!

Posted: May 21st 2003, 10:39 am
by lithiumkat
Anonymous wrote:WOW, for one that is an awesome idea, about the class and all!!!!! And two, I always wondered about the divorce thing especially from one particular comment, how when Angela, Danielle and Patty are having a heart to heart looking through Pattys old yearbook and talking about Tony Poole, how Danielle says that kind of thing gives me nightmares, that you and dad could get divorced. That to me was some major foreshadowing. I mean, my own personal perception I wouldn't have necissarily expected it to happen I mean especially my personal perception of Graham in particular, but I saw that as major foreshadowing and wondered if that was a clue of what was to come.

And it's funny that you found that out about the pregnant thing, I have always thought about that, and always thought about incorporating it into a fanfic, ironically enough even though the obvious choice woulr probably be Rayanne, I've always thought it would be interesting thing to have happen to Sharon.

And it's kinda funny about Jared, since he ended up being one of the core charachters, but I'm glad he did. And also that makes me wonder if Angela and Brian were *supposed* to inevitably end up together eventually if Jordan was not supposed to be a key characher in the series. However since he ended up becoming one, that might mean that plans could have changed too. So ya never know but yes that is obviously the question everyone always has.

Also congrats! that must have been so amazing to meet the creator and brains behind such a compelling, life impacting show as this, especially a show that has obviously cast all of us under it's spell even in it's short life and long absence. She seems like she'd just be a great person, that's the vibe I seem to get just seeing her as the counselor...It must have been an honor to meet her! You are so Lucky! I could only dream of meeting her!!!
*sighs* that was me, my account was deactivated when I changed my email addy, so I was no longer logged in and didnt realize lol, just wanted to let you know that I made that post.

Posted: May 21st 2003, 11:34 am
by TomSpeed
Hmmm...Season Two would have been very different from Season One. I really can't see Patty and Graham getting divorced. I also can't see Patty becoming depressed. I agree the that the scene between Danielle, Patty, and Angela when they discuss Patty's dream would be great foreshadowing. I wonder what would have caused it? I can see one of the girls getting pregnant. Although, I believe the writers and producers would have received quite a lot of flack from ABC's censors for portraying a high school girl getting pregnant. I'm really sad that we did not get a chance to see another season.

Did anyone ask about a reunion show?

afterlife

Posted: May 21st 2003, 11:53 am
by lance
Hey all,

I can't remember where I saw it, but I remember reading an article about the writers of MSCL shortly after the cancellation. They said that if they had been allowed to go on to season two they would have had Angela become more politically active.

I don't know if this was to be a nod to 1992 being the "Year of the Woman" or not. Would have been interesting though.

Best,

Lance Man

Posted: May 21st 2003, 10:55 pm
by MSCL Revival
Candygirl-- Yes, this is Catherine. Were you in my class? :)

Yeah, that's interesting about the divorce foreshadowing.. I actually forgot about that!

Unfortunately, no one asked about the reunion show, though I had wondered about that earlier. I'm assuming that it wouldn't happen :(

Oh, also-- Winnie said that her least fav. episode was Weekend (Rayanne being hand-cuffed to the bed) because it "didn't turn out the way she wanted". However, everyone usually loves that episode! I like how everyone unites in a way.

Another thing-- She got the inspiration for Rickie after seeing a documentary on Latino/a drag queens. :)

And, according to Winnie, despite popular belief, the show was not criticized for being too extreme in its themes, except for the Rickie character. They thought he shouldn't be a "feminine" gay character, etc. But, Winnie didn't want to talk about the show's cancellation and said it was cancelled due to "business reasons". Does anyone know any confirmed reasons for the cancellation? I heard that Claire Danes wanted to go into film.

Oh, and about who she would get together with at the end-- Winnie said that she would continue her relationship with Jordan, just because that's how it would be like in real life since she always was in awe of him. But Winnie also said that she had not fully decided yet what would happen. :P

Here's a plug for Winnie: She did the screenplay for the book, Wicked (by Greg (?) Maguire) and it will be premiering at the Curran theater in San Francisco in mid-June! Go see it :)

Posted: May 21st 2003, 10:58 pm
by MSCL Revival
"Wicked" will be a musical, so I guess it should be script, rather than screenplay. It sounds fun-- the wizard of oz story told from the viewpoint of the wicked witch.

Posted: May 21st 2003, 11:00 pm
by MSCL Revival
About the MSCL class being offered again--

We're in the process of getting the sponsor to agree to sponsor again, but we already have 3 students from our class that will be teaching it as soon as the sponsorship goes through :)

Posted: May 21st 2003, 11:28 pm
by TomSpeed
I'm extremely distressed about the Graham/Patty divorce plot line. They are the most fully developed and realistic couple on TV. Yes, they have problems, but they try hard to work them out. If Graham and Patty's marriage fails, what marriage can succeed?

I agree that Angela would choose Jordan because she is mesmerized by him. My fan fic stories have Angela under Jordan's spell for 13 years. However, she finally realizes something. I'm not sure what she realizes. It's really a mystery why people love each other. But I think realizes she needs to be her own person. Also, I think she realizes that they just aren't compatible. My big cheat is, of course, that I reintroduce Brian into Angela's life.

Jennifer Ambrose writes in Claire Danes that Claire felt worn down by the rigors of doing a weekly series and wanted to concentrate on films. Although the show's poor ratings was the primary cause of it's cancellation, MSCL without Claire just wouldn't work. Of course, Jared Leto said he hated working on the show because they did great work but they didn't know from week to week if the show would be on the air. It's cancellation came as a relief to him because he could move onto other things as well.

Posted: May 22nd 2003, 3:17 am
by Natasha (candygirl)
MSCL Revival wrote:Here's a plug for Winnie: She did the screenplay for the book, Wicked (by Greg (?) Maguire) and it will be premiering at the Curran theater in San Francisco in mid-June! Go see it :)
FYI - more info about Wicked is available here

I would like to see it, but damn $84/ticket? I guess I could buy the cheap nosebleed seats, but I have bad eyes!