Six Degrees: Glenn Eichler and Allison Silverman

Hi gang! I hope everyone had a good weekend and is ready to face Monday. (What, already?) This is just a quick drive-by post to fill you in on some news about a couple of our favorite Colbert Report people.

Glenn Eichler

• Hollywood University blog has a great interview with TCR writer Glenn Eichler, who talks about becoming a TV writer. Here he discusses his transition from writing for an animated show to writing for the Report.
  

  Interview with The Colbert Report’s Glenn Eichler – Hollywood University blog

  Your credits include animated series as well as The Colbert Report. How did you make the jump from one genre to another, and what advice do you have for other writers wanting to do the same (i.e. miving from comedy to drama)?

  I made the jump because the animated show I wrote for five years (Daria) had a sort of cultish cachet, so I got to meet some up-and-coming comedy writers while doing it. By the time the show wrapped, several of them had become established in the industry, including Ben Karlin, who became e.p. of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. He recommended me for the latter when it was staffing up. So my story may be a little atypical. But my advice for writers is always the same: never stop writing, even when you’re not being paid to, and try to learn as many genres as you can. Even so, you may get pigeonholed in one area — I was “the guy who can write in a teenage girl’s voice,” until I became “the political satire guy.”

Allison Silverman

• Somewhat related to the topic of the interview with Glenn Eichler is this New York Times article about women writers — or more precisely, the lack of them — in late night television. Among the women writers and producers who were quoted in the article was former TCR head writer and executive producer Allison Silverman.
  

  Among late-night writers, few women in the room – New York Times

  “When you’re writing for late night, you’re writing through one person’s prism, and that person at the shows you’re looking at is always a dude,” said Hallie Haglund, one of the new writers on “The Daily Show.” Allison Silverman, who has served as the only woman writer first on “The Daily Show” then on Conan O’Brien’s staff, said she has no trouble assuming the voices of male hosts. Bu tshe added, “I don’t think the issue of sensibility is off base. The hosts and the staffs I worked on often resembled one another. Have you seen how many tall Irish people are on Conan’s staff?”
  . . .

  Writer’s rooms have always had a reputation for crude behavior. Ms. Silverman described both “The Daily Show” and Mr. O’Brien’s show as “really good experiences” — though rife with crudeness. “There were plenty of penis jokes,” she said. “On occasion I’ve told them myself, though my penis jokes were rarely good. I don’t quite have the feel.”

• In other Allison Silverman news, Variety reports that she’s just won a Muse Award from New York Women in Film and Television: New York Women in Film and Television has announced the winners of this year’s Muse Awards. “The Good Wife’s” Julianna Margulies, “Ugly Betty’s” America Ferrera, The Colbert Report” writer-producer Allison Silverman and Lifetime Networks CEO Andrea Wong will be presented their awards at the Muse Awards gala Dec. 9 at the New York Hilton.

(h/t Ms I)