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This is Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky's third season writing for Sex and the City. Their partnership began when they were nine years old in Philadelphia. Since then, they have worked together and separately in various writing fields. Elisa has written fiction and worked as a journalist in New York. Her "Cheap Date" and "Celebrity Date" columns in the New York Post chronicled her pursuit of the perfect man and the perfect $10 bowl of pasta. Her work has also appeared in McSweeney's, The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and Nickelodeon Magazine. Julie, an award-winning playwright, has also written for magazines and TV animation, and edited comic books at DC Comics. Two of her plays were made into short films. Together, Julie and Elisa have written for MTV, Nickelodeon, and wrote sit-com pilots for Studios USA and ABC. Last year, they sold their first screenplay, "Shrinking Violet" to Revolution Studios. During Sex and the City's fourth season, they wrote "My Motherboard, My Self," which was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and an Emmy® Award, and "Change of a Dress," also nominated for a Writers Guild Award.
What do you like best about your job?
Elisa: The fact that I laugh every single day. That's not to say that's all we do -- there's plenty of mental elbow grease that's also involved. But at every stage of the process - from brainstorming storylines, to writing the scripts, through producing the episodes - I'm struck by how hilarious the people around me are. On set, the actors often don't even realize how brilliant their performances are, because the crew has perfected the art of laughing silently during each take. Fortunately, there's no delicate sound technology to worry about in our writers' meetings, because they can get pretty raucous. They're probably the most highly charged and personal business meetings taking place in the city - or anywhere. I mean, really: How many people can say they've watched gay porn with their co-workers around a conference room table?
Julie: I have to agree with everything Elisa just described. (In addition to the gay porn exhibit, we also had an extensive vibrator show-and-tell presentation one afternoon.) I also love the table reads (which is when the scripts are read aloud for the first time by the actors), because no matter how much we work and rework a script sitting at our computers or together in the writers' room, the most valuable tool is hearing it read by the cast. It always feels like we're putting our scripts through an X-Ray machine and seeing exactly what's fractured or broken, and what's in good, strong health. Also, since the actors are reading the script out loud for the first (and only) time as a full cast, the performance is really fresh and spontaneous, and surprising things always happen. It feels like a live theatre performance of a one-act play. The other thing I must confess I love about this job is the astronomical amount of food we are surrounded by at all times.
What is your process when writing an episode?
Once we've worked out the story for the episode, we split it in half, and start writing separately. Then, when we're happy with what we've written (or, when we hate what we've written and need help), we'll exchange scenes and work on those. Once we have a draft of the entire script, we come together and sit side by side at the computer (armed with snacks, of course), and tackle problem spots, or scenes we want to rethink together. After that, we just keep writing and rewriting, obsessing, and re-obsessing, until they grab it out of our hands.
Do you write from your personal experiences?
Yes, and since we've known each other forever, we have the luxury of reminding each other about mortifying dates and ex-boyfriends we've tried to repress.
What do you do to get inspired?
Elisa: I can't overstate the importance of walking around Manhattan every day, for story ideas and overall brain activity. If I'm feeling particularly blah, I reach for The New Yorker or The New York Observer, because I'm
invigorated by smart, funny, (non-SATC) writing.
Julie: Leave the computer! Seriously, every time I get up from my desk, or leave my apartment and go out into New York -- even just to the corner for a bagel - I am inundated by experiences that are funny, horrifying, upsetting, energizing, touching, infuriating, or all of the above. Also, I have the luxury of working with a partner, so even if I'm having a day when I'm feeling sluggish, uninspired or just plain stupid, Elisa will say something that makes me laugh and that will spark an idea, or she'll have an idea she's excited about, or, if I've already dismissed one of my own ideas as god-awful, she might be able to reshape it into something better.
What's the hardest scene you've had to write?
We both agreed it would have to be the scene in which Carrie and Aidan's engagement breaks up (also known as the fountain scene) in "Change of a Dress." Carrie and Aidan had already broken up once before (in Season 3, after Carrie had an affair with Big), so we felt it was important to mine new territory. We also felt strongly that, unlike the first time around, Carrie and Aidan should both be responsible for ending the relationship. Carrie's fear of marriage was clear to us, but we wanted to zero in on the underlying reason she changed her mind about the engagement in the first place. That meant finding Aidan's flaw - the fact that he was pushing her to get married because he still didn't trust her -- which took a lot more digging. We wanted to present both of their perspectives, but like any real break-up, we also wanted it to be complicated. Their break-up is something we still debate with our friends (and strangers).
How does being a New Yorker shape your writing?
New York is the biggest small town in the world. We've both been here for over thirteen years, and we love (and sometimes hate) the fact that everyone is connected in one way or another. And people from all phases of our lives are constantly popping up in unexpected places, so we never run out of eccentric characters to draw from.
Do you spend time at locations featured in the show before writing them into a scene?
Since we've both lived in New York for so long, story ideas and their locations usually go hand-in-hand. For instance, in "My Motherboard, My Self," Carrie absolutely had to take her computer to Tekserve to be repaired, because we're Mac users (and hard-drive crash survivors) and had spent plenty of time in the Tekserve waiting room. Last season, we wrote an episode that takes place in Atlantic City. As native Philadelphians, we grew up going to the beach there every summer, so it felt especially thrilling to return to shoot an episode in our old stomping grounds.
Which SATC character do you identify with most?
Elisa: My inner-Charlotte is constantly being mocked by my inner-Miranda.
Julie: Miranda, with a trace of Carrie.
Do you have a weakness for shopping, dating or any other SATC behavior?
We might not dress or dine as fabulously as they do (okay, not even close), but the core of the show - the friendships among the women - hits very close to home.
Over the years, how has your writing for the characters changed?
Hopefully, the characters themselves have grown and changed over the years, so we try to make sure the characters' voices and stories match that evolution. Every now and then, we'll look at a line of dialogue or a story idea and say, "That feels like something she might have said in Season Two - she's been through a lot since then."
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The Look
Browse fashions from all six seasons of Sex and the City. |
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