Q&A: Screenwriter Carly Wray on the Fundamentals of TV
From ‘Mad Men’ to ‘Westworld’ and ‘The Leftovers’ to ‘Watchmen’, the scribe shares what she’s learned from writing so much ‘prestige TV’ (whatever that means anymore)
Earlier this year, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Arrival) joined me for one of my artist-on-artist conversations. It was a sprawling discussion, as interested in going deep into craft as the existential reality of being a film/TV writer in the 21st century. Afterward, I asked Eric if he had any suggestions about other screenwriters who might be able to similarly dig into the art form with me. That’s how I found myself emailing Carly Wray, a writer whose name I was very familiar with from the credits of several TV series I loved, but whom I had never actually met. Eric did not steer me wrong. Carly is an exciting — and even probing — conversationalist who fully embraced the spirit of this series. I think you’re going to learn a lot from my chat with her.
Carly kicked off her television career by landing a plum gig as a writers’ assistant on not just a critically acclaimed series — but one of the greatest TV series of all time. I’m talking about “Mad Men”. No slouch, she quickly found herself promoted and her first episode, “In Care Of”…
