WEBVTT - Sarah Jessica Parker 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:09.600 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:14.240 My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.800 hear their stories, what inspires their creations, what decisions change 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:25.240 their careers, what relationships influence their work. On Sunday nights 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.080 in the late nineties and early two thousand's, you would 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:34.280 hear this in homes all over the country. In six 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.760 seasons and two feature films, Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.240 navigated the complexities of single life in New York City. 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.720 When HBO's Sex in the City wrapped in two thousand four, 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.400 it left millions of empty Cosmopolitan glasses in its wake 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.760 and changed brunch conversations forever. All four of its actresses 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.400 became major stars, most notably the show's narrator and my 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:03.600 guest today, Sarah Jessica Parker. I Am someone who is 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:11.440 looking for love, real love. Parker's professional career began long 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.280 before she became Carrie Bradshaw. At eleven, she made her 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.360 Broadway debut in The Innocence. She went on to star 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:21.839 in films opposite Bruce Willis, Nicolas Cage, and Steve Martin, 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.680 but Sex in the City brought Parker a different kind 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:29.000 of success. Parker the actress became Parker the celebrity, fashion 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:34.319 icon television producer. Today, Sarah Jessica Parker is also a mother. 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.160 She has three kids under third Team. The decision to 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:42.480 become a mother was not one Parker took lightly. When 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.080 you're one of eight children and there isn't a lot 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.800 and you are struggling, you don't think that this I'd 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:51.560 like to replicate this. Yeah, you don't want to give 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:55.160 your siblings your real address? No, you think, gosh, I 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:58.120 can't wait to have my own space. I can't wait 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.680 to own address that was mine to begin with. That 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.160 wasn't seven or eight other people's. You have that now, though? 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.640 Don't you address that your own? Do? And I understand 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.480 that actually that isn't as fulfilling as one might have 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.680 imagined as an eight year old. But I really wanted 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.240 a lack of chaos. I wanted I enjoyed it my 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:22.600 siblings and I'm in I'm mad and really quite taken 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:27.000 with them now and have been for many years. But 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.080 I didn't think at the time that I wanted to 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.520 recreate that. When it last I was on my own. 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.960 You know, it was insane in our home and in 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.720 your childhood. You started working very young, you were you 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.120 were a child actor your eight and what do you 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:47.079 remember about your childhood. I'm not certain how we sort 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.560 of recreate how we felt about our childhood, because I 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.560 wouldn't want it any other way. I wouldn't want I 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.320 wouldn't want to sort of fix the things that were painful, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:03.080 or change the disappointments to triumphs or the struggles to ease. 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:07.760 I remember everything about my childhood, and I think the 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.560 memories are vivid because it was a very vivid life. 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:20.760 It was a colorful, energetic, unpredictable, exciting, scary, sad, ebulent life. 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.919 And um, I think I benefited from that in countless ways, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.359 far more than I would have if it had been 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.280 easy and care free and without concern and worry. I 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.160 think I loved working because it allowed me something of 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:38.560 my own time to myself, something that I felt was mine. 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.840 Were your siblings performers, any of them? My brother Toby 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.680 was an actor, um, and was started working before me, 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.040 and then we eventually worked together a number of times. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:52.480 And I think he would also say that he loved 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.760 this independence from his siblings money. Knowing that we had this, 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.120 we were creating like a past. Remember your past. Look 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.160 at the bank you you and I have that in Comay. 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.280 So all of those were wonderful. Going home was a 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:11.839 little dreary after a day of independence. But I think 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.080 about days that I didn't want to be in my home, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:16.600 and I think about days that I got to be 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.159 out working as an actor, that you know, getting through 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:26.040 the days that that I found not always super pleasant. Um, 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.960 I earned those days away. I earned the five dollars 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.920 they gave me from my dinner money or this opportunity 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.720 to pretend to be somebody else. So I liked the 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:39.320 balance of the suffering and the reward. Is that crazy? No? No, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.000 I think that. I remember when when I worked and 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.320 I got a job, and I remember I just felt strange. 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.680 I mean they I did a television soap opera in 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.960 New York. There was the lowest rated soap opera. I 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.480 did the Doctors on NBC before they were canceled. Were 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.440 you a doctor? No, I was the bastard son. I 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.240 was a swindling son of a doctor, this scion, and 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:08.880 I get this job they pay you. I was twenty 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:10.680 and I get the job and they pay me the 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.520 minimum and I get a check for whatever. Like the 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:16.640 first year, I remember sitting there thinking I make more 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.640 money than my dad, who's been teaching for twenty eight 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.159 years at a public school. And I felt funny. I 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.560 felt weird, Like people will always sometimes smack you or 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.280 swat you and say, what do you know? You're out 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.560 of touch because you all you people are so overpaid 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:33.960 And there's a part of me sits there and yeah, 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.040 I mean it is kind of crazy, but but I 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:38.599 have to ask you a question. Wait, let me just 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.840 go back, because I think it is curious when you're 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.240 criticized or or there's a conversation around sort that you 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.120 might be out of touch or you're not you know, 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.560 you don't recognize what it means to work hard. On 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.440 one hand, you can say it is true, um, lots 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.039 of people make absurd amounts of money, and none of 0:05:58.040 --> 0:05:59.760 it's just none of it makes sense and none of 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.039 it's fair and it's but I think the accusation of 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.240 your being out of touch or you're not aware of 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:07.000 what it means to work hard, that's the part of 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.760 that kind of charge that I am most frustrated by. 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:15.080 Because a lot of people I know who work in entertainment, theater, 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:21.200 show business didn't come from anything and simply worked incredibly hard. 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.800 And we're willing to work hard and earn nothing, and 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.160 every now and then a job comes along that does 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.479 pay and that you know, that's wonderful, and almost everybody 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.320 I know is thrilled and appreciative. So the idea that 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:39.480 you know, we're sort of blithely going through life, you know, 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:43.400 not aware of um out of whack it is and 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.960 how lucky we are too. And then and the other 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:47.960 part of that I find is that other people have 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:53.120 jobs where there's a meritorious system of a sentencing. You 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:55.039 go to high school, you do well, you get the 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:56.920 good s, A T s, you get the g p A, 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.839 you get the right scores, You go to Harvard, and 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.039 in our business you can be great and do great work. 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.040 It doesn't mean anything. Do the mean you're gonna move up. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.400 Sometimes the most successful people are not the most talented 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.440 people in terms of the kind of complexity they're acting. 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.920 If you will, Yeah, and I think I'm predictable nature, 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.280 I mean, and it's it's impossible, you know, to compare 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.720 career trajectories and paths and choices. But there are things 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.240 that are you know, obviously very unstable about making these 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.880 life choices. And and most people, you know, really everybody 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.200 I admire basically has not really you know, hit the 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.560 pay dirt the way that I think they should have. 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.600 And so, you know, I'm particularly sensitive to the idea 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:38.640 that I that I'm not aware of what it means 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:43.000 to work hard, and that I'm not aware of the 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:48.280 imbalance of you know, the sort of It's not you know, 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.080 for me, what is interesting is you and men. Eventually 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.880 you become very famous. It's you, it's Mary Tyler Moore, 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.640 it's Gene Stapleton, and you become one of the most 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.960 prominent women in the history of television. Before Sex in 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.840 the City, when someone hired you, what were they hiring 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:12.520 you for? Well, they were usually hiring me to play uh. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.520 For a while, I was the cerebral best friend of 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:22.840 the pretty lead girl, subversive or UH. Could be a 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:37.000 clever person, witty, um, maybe bitter, uh, you know, funny, buoyant, um, wise, cracking, 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:41.199 but not overly confident UM. So that I found enormous 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:46.080 pleasure in and I felt, why would I complain? You 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.240 know this is the career. This is the journeyman career 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.720 I always dreamed of having. This was the career I wanted, 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:55.800 And so that was the kind of Those were the roles, 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.480 never the lead, you know, foot loose. I was the spirited, 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.480 best end of Lorie Singer. She was the beautiful, withholding, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:09.200 I don't know, desirable lead. And but one once again 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.680 I will say, and I couldn't mean this, And it's 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.199 not that I'm looking back on it fondly and kind 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.560 of creating affection for a time or a place. I 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.120 really I thought I had it all. I would work 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.280 in the theater all the time, I would play these 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:27.480 smaller parts in movies, I would do television shows. Um, 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:30.920 I thought I had everything a person could ever want 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.000 and hope for. And I would never have been so 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.600 bold as to as to say I did want more 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:40.480 than that. I assumed that the leads were really only 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.800 made for a particular type of girl and then woman, 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.520 and I understood that I just wasn't going to ever 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.679 be that person. And I talked myself into believing that 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.120 the roles that I got to play were more complex people. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:01.480 They were more nuanced, they were more interesting. Sometimes that 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:04.520 was the case, not always, but the opportunity to work, 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.880 to move from job to job was the best because 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.280 I was constantly figuring out new relationships, new people. How 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:13.920 did they work? How do I work? What do I 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:15.720 want to do? Like they do? What? I think? You 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.880 make a lot of films, I remember that, but all 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.559 the people you could those days of like running to 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.920 a pay phone checking your voicemail I mean sorry, checking 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:28.120 your answering machine. It was like you're like, oh, there's 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:29.720 a lot of calls. It's a lot of calls. You 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:34.240 have thirty nine messaging messages. Just the potential of that 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:39.160 next job. Also the romantic relationships that exist when you're 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.040 moving that quickly and you're young, and you're I don't 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.960 know all of it. I think was I couldn't have 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.880 planned it any better in a way. And then what happened? 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:54.400 And then um, Kevin Euvaine, my agent of twenty or 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.280 thirty years now, rang me and said, there's this pilot 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:00.120 script a guy named Darren starred you know who and 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.199 star as. I said, yes, I know, certainly do Melrose Place, 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.120 um Beverly Hills nine at two and oh he he said, 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:07.960 he's written this pilot. He says he's written it with 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.400 you in mind. So Starr told you, Vane, he wrote 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.240 this with you in mind. Correct. Kevin Evane told me 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.480 that that's what Darren Starr had had shared with him. 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:21.240 Would I read the script? Um? I read the script 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:26.480 right away. I was really kind of confounded by the 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.600 idea that I was a voice that would have come 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.000 to mind because she was so this part of Carrie 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.200 Bradshaw was so unlike anything I'd ever played. And the 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.839 book had come out before before um, I would say 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.439 maybe a year and a half, two years to the script. 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.720 He had been clever enough to go to Candice and say, 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:46.719 can I buy the rights to this and use this 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:48.840 as a jumping off point. I had been sent the 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:52.520 book anonymously, I mean just you know, as publishers sometimes 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.720 send people books. I was familiar with this column. I 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:59.680 thought it was a really clever, interesting take on sexual 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.640 pole ticks. I love the way she wrote. And so 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.559 I met with Darren, and you know, I was busy. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:08.800 I was doing a Broadway musical at the time. I 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:10.880 was shooting movies during the day and going to the 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.199 theater at night, and you know, had two or three 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.520 movies coming out, and he said to me, you know, 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.719 I would love for you to consider this. We met 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.000 at eat on the Upper east Side, which I thought 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.240 was kind of a fancy place. It's expensive, you know, 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.920 the menu is pretty dear like everything on the menu, 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.720 and uh, I said, you know, I don't feel comfortable 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:32.600 doing nudity. I don't. I think we can be more 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.080 thoughtful about this language. She's a writer. Does she have 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.079 to use the effort? It Isn't she more thoughtful about? 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.280 You know? He kept just saying to everything, every possible 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:43.600 obstacle I can throw it his way to talk him 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:48.040 out of hiring me. He had a relatively great convincing 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.040 And have you been successful at talking people out of 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:55.400 hiring you previously? I think I'd given people lots of 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.839 other ideas, like don't you think Patty clarkson the same one. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.160 I'm always offered up having Sarks And because I don't 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.640 know about you, but I always have these actors in 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.079 my head that I think are more deserving or better 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.640 Frank simply better. I always I always think that. And 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.800 I always think that there were like four or five 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.040 other three named actresses that either they may be meant 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.000 to go to first, and that when I showed up 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.760 there like we didn't mean that, we meant Mary Louise Parker. 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.720 But anyway, he was very convincing and um and really, 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:29.679 uh just so tenation. He just never let the idea go. 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.679 And and I said, oh, and by the way, between 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.520 you and me and I'm actually getting married, I think 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.400 next week. It was I think I'm getting married next 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.040 week on my night off. He got the day off. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.200 We're gonna get married. So I don't want to start 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.840 shooting until after we get married. And he said, that's fine, 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.600 we'll figure it out. We'll push it a few days. 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:51.240 And so I went and did this pilot and, um, 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:53.360 you know, are you ready to do a TV show? No? 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.840 And to be honest, at the time, HBO is a 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.720 very different network. It was a place that was a 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:04.640 primarily mailed, mainated um uh network. It was there was 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.320 heavy on the sports and boxing. There were a few 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:13.120 scripted shows dream on, UM a football show. Um there 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:17.160 was a football show about a football team. You know. 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.640 It was skewed towards the male audience that existed for 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.000 the for their sports, their great special sports events. And 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.480 so I thought, you know, I'll do this pilot and 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.960 I loved. I thought the script was spectacled, and actually 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:30.120 I gave it to Matthew and my oldest brother Pippin, 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.240 and they both read it and said, without a doubt, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.520 you should do this. You've never been offered anything like this. 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.320 The writing is is really really good, it's smart, it's different. 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.360 There's nothing else that they could think of that was 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.040 like it. So I did the pilot. Went on with 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.600 my life and one day I was walking down the 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.320 street and I ran into Merrill poster and she said 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:51.600 to me. I think I was on my way to 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.360 see a play and she said, oh, I I saw 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.520 your television show. And I said her, what what television show? 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.760 And she said, did you do a pilot it called 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.400 Sexton City. I was like and I literally said, oh, 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.240 that's right, I did. And she said it's good and 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.800 I said it is. I haven't seen it and she said, 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:10.400 oh no, I just thought I think it's really good. 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.560 I said, okay. So after Merril post the pilot, what 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.200 happens next? I think eventually I saw it or was 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.520 forced to see it, and um, there was this discussion 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.320 of it, you know, going to series, and I then 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.760 tried to get out of it. I went to Kevin Euvaine, 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.280 and I went to, uh, who's a great television agent 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.840 at CIA who ran the televison Lee. Oh God forgive me. Um. Anyway, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.880 I went to them, called a meeting and said to them, gentlemen, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:38.400 you have to help me get out of this. I 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:42.320 don't want to do a television series. I've rethought this. UM. 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.440 I would like to offer myself up to HBO basically free. 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.240 I will work for them for the next four years. 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.280 I'll do any television movie they want. But I just 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:51.360 don't think I want to be caught up and tied 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.240 down in a television series. This is after you've seen 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.640 the pilot. After i'd see the pilot. I might not 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:58.840 have seen the pilot yet. And I just sort of 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:04.360 rethought my future and panicked, and eventually they producer ended 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.200 up coming on the show. Who I did a movie 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.640 with Miami Rhapsody. They said to me, Look, this is 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.040 We'll tell you about this kind of home. HBO is 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.080 a place where it doesn't feel good. After season one, 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.040 we don't do season two. Don't worry about that. Just 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.320 let's try. They're not going to hold you hostage. I 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.320 went to the set on the first day and I 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.760 never looked back, and every day I got in the 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:29.000 shower to go to work, I was I was gobsmacked 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:32.120 by the idea that I didn't want to be anywhere else. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:34.680 There wasn't a day that I spent on that set 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:36.600 that I didn't want to be there. When I think 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.200 of that show, because it was a lot of practical locations, 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:41.480 and when you guys were on the streets a lot, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.640 you weren't on the stage much, and I always think 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.080 of you like four chicks in a trailer changing your 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:54.800 clothes and outside of you here. Yeah, but I loved it. 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.640 I loved it. I loved the work. I love the people, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.200 I love the storytelling, I love the character I loved it. 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.320 When did you know you guys had gotten them well? 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.400 I felt at the end of the first season, Um, 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.720 we produced the whole first season without being on the air. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.800 We went on the air, I think while we were 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.000 already into our second season shooting, and even though there 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.080 wasn't a terribly large audience at that time, I just 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:23.199 felt that the stories we were telling were successful. And 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.280 I think it became really necessary for us as we 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.359 started to face a second and possibly third season that 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.080 it had to get You couldn't hang your hat on 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:34.960 being titillating. You couldn't hang your hat on, you know, 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.080 Nor did we want to on the story of clothes 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.160 and carrying the story that told. But rather she had 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.800 to start revealing why she was floundering, why why was 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:51.480 she a mess? And Michael just had some innate, sort 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.240 of preternatural instinct about carry Bradshaw and how to tell 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:58.679 her story. And he was here. I think Michael was 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:00.680 you know, grew up with a lot of bun A sisters, 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.159 a lot of important women in his life. He is 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.960 deeply curious about women's stories. He can write women. It 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.760 doesn't really make any sense, although there have been some great, 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.360 great screenwriters who have written I mean, we know them. 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:19.879 But he just was very, very First of all, he 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.639 loved Carrie Bradshaw. He loved telling her story and was 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:25.760 as invested in it as I was. And I think 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.440 that's why we were such great partners and producing partners, 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.160 because we were both bitter enders. We will work until 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.879 we were bloody and bloody crossing the finish line. We 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.960 cared about it being as perfect as possible. But he 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:42.960 loved that girl and he loved those stories, and I 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.880 think when you were that interested and curious about when 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.440 you're a writer like that, it just makes the writing 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.920 that much richer. So King's the head writer, and he's 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.560 a guy with an eye and an ear toward women's stories. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:57.560 Was the writing staff a lot of women or was 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.600 it mostly women? The top of each season they would 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.480 meet in a writing room Los Angeles, where a lot 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:07.480 of them lived at Michael Patrick's you know, home base 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.840 was when he wasn't you know, shooting our show, And 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.680 every now and then a fellow would come along and 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:15.240 he would sit in the writing room I think at 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.400 the top, you know, and they're breaking story and just 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.680 um kind of give a perspective that was important for 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:24.600 people to be familiar with because there was such a 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.600 strong female sensibility, and a couple of scripts were written 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:31.439 by men. We had one young man for a while, 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.200 but they weren't as consistent year to year as as 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.160 our women were. At what point the ten staff too 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:42.840 very tiny relative for television, considered quite small. Yeah, you know, 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.159 at some point the show becomes this huge hit, And 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:47.960 at what point in the process did they start to 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:49.760 turn to you and say, well, now you're a producer 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:52.760 now we're going to factor in your import. When I 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:54.680 first met with Darren, he said to me, why don't 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.520 you be a consulting producer on the show or consultant? 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:58.879 And I said, you know, He said it would be 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:00.720 good for you. You You could learn about television, You could 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.120 learn about producing television. So I said, well, who would 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.760 say no to an opportunity to learn? And so I 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.520 was very devoted to that idea. And second season they 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.760 said do you want to start producing? And I did, 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:17.440 and I I said yes if they continued to let 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.040 me learn, And that sort of the understanding was that 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:23.160 I kind of laid out, was that I would only 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.600 contribute if and when I thought I had something valuable 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.600 to say. Really, it was an opportunity for me to 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:31.280 now sit be more part of the conversation and learn 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:36.080 about producing. And I just did and loved it, loved 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.960 And one aspect of that that I comes to mind 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.560 for me, is it in your career prior to this, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:44.959 number one on the call sheet is a guy and 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:49.840 you're the girl. So Nick Cage approves you, and Bruce 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.720 I was hired before Nick. What I mean, but for 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.800 many times in your career, whether you're working with Tim 0:20:57.880 --> 0:20:59.400 and you're working with all these people you made movies, 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:01.600 or you made a lot of movies. You're the girl 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.919 and now you're number one of the call sheet and 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:06.840 you get to decide who the men are that are 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.880 coming to the door. How did that work with you? 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.560 You know? I mean you have like kind of um 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.800 tastes and you react in ways that you didn't even 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.800 know you would. I would have, you know, feelings about 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.080 certain names, and and Michael would have feelings and that was, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:27.320 you know, sometimes hard because he would write it, so 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:31.320 he imagined things, and so I couldn't argue with what 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:33.600 what he saw in his head. My problem was that 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.680 I knew what I was going to have to do 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:39.760 on screen with them, and I think there's something very 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.359 interesting about that which is hard to explain to people. 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:44.960 But you and I can get into it now. So 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:48.880 you know, when they've given you somebody to play opposite, 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:55.000 and everybody wanted them but you because and what you know, 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:58.040 I would allow it under dress when someone's holding me 0:21:58.040 --> 0:21:59.680 down and saying you have to trust me, you have 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:01.280 to try me. I know you haven't seen this out 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.439 of this person. I think he or she can do. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:07.400 Trump is perfect for this part of your boyfriend. So 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:11.879 what I think it's hard to explain to these people, 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:16.680 right the Senate that believes in their choice, is that 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:21.440 you know what they won't bring, and you know what 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:24.200