The following is an excerpt from The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore by Stan Zimmerman, published by Indigo River Publishing. The book, available February 13, details Stan’s time working alongside some of the most notable women in the TV industry, including Lily Tomlin, Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, and all four Golden Girls.
Working on Gilmore Girls
For whatever reason, a lot of our words stayed in our scripts. But boy, was it hard to write them. Most hour shows are maybe sixty-some pages. Think a minute per page. Gilmore Girls scripts were seventy-five to ninety pages because the characters talked so damn fast. What helped me in the writing was how I could draw upon the relationships I saw between my grandmother, mother, and sister. They definitely shared similarities with Emily, Lorelai, and Rory.
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Although we had our name on two pivotal scripts, “Pulp Friction” and “Norman Mailer, I’m Pregnant,” when you write on staff, you have your hands in all of the scripts in a season. Eventually, you forget which lines you contributed to each.
Amy Palladino also did something unusual for an hour show: She’d have table reads of the next week’s script on the Friday before they’d start shooting. When we arrived for our first table read, on one of the golf carts that are all over studio lots, I saw Lauren Graham standing in front of her truck smoking a cigarette, like Lorelai Gilmore would do. I marched right over to her. I had to. I wanted to gush but played it cool. I didn’t want to come off as a weirdo.
She was shocked that I approached her so brazenly.
Lauren: “You better not let Amy see you. She doesn’t like writers talking to the actors. You might get fired.”
I wonder if Amy picked that up from Roseanne.
I shot back, “Let her fire me. We’re only here for the year. I’d gladly take the paychecks and stay home.”
Lauren loved my snappy attitude, and soon we became friends, on and off the set. I was also someone she could vent her occasional frustration to since I had a history with Amy. But we also had mutual respect and much admiration for Amy, so it never got petty or dramatic. Purely normal bitch-about-work talk.
Amy knew I wanted to be a director, and she had me read the stage directions at all the table readings. I was never sure which action lines to say since I didn’t want to break up the flow of the fast-paced dialogue. My stomach would be in knots knowing I had to do this every week. And if Lauren kept talking, I had to follow her lead and shut up. I soon learned to roll with it.
For many of the readings, Kelly Bishop and Ed Herrmann would be on the conference room speakerphone since they lived back East and weren’t in every episode. A couple times, we had Milo Ventimiglia and Jared Padalecki at the readings. Both were so nice and SO cute. One time, I’m not sure why, but Alexis Bledel literally picked me up and carried me around the room in her arms. This was odd, since she was a thin young woman. And I had been warned how shy she was. But for me, it wasn’t unusual because I’m often picked up physically at bars when I go out. Like a human beach ball. For some reason people feel the need to lift me in the air. I guess it’s a compliment?
Speaking of cute, young men, we all knew we needed one to play Logan Huntzberger, Rory’s new love interest at Yale. And he had to be a really good actor given that he’d have a major story arc throughout our entire season. The casting office was right outside the writers’ room, so we’d often see actors waiting to audition for Jami Rudofsky and Mara Casey, the show’s casting director team.
One morning, while heading into the room, I saw two young, adorable actors sitting across from each other on couches. My eyes went to the blond one.
Once in the writers’ room, I asked Amy, “Who are those guys?”
Amy: “Our final two callbacks to play ‘Logan.’”
I blurted out, “You have to hire the blonde one!”
That was Matt Czuchry.
Amy: “Why?”
Me: “I don’t know. I just have this feeling. Plus, I think his coloring would look great opposite Alexis.”
And he did. He also felt very “old money.”
So, even though I don’t approve of all his character’s choices in later seasons and the reboot, I’ll always be “Team Logan.”
Years later, I ran into Matt in NYC in an elevator going up to a party for the TCA (Television Critics Association). I told him he owed his entire career to me and that I’m going to take full credit for all his success. We had a good laugh. I was only half kidding.
Another selling point Amy made to me when we initially met with her and Dan at the Chateau was that I’d get to be on set a lot. I was secretly hoping maybe one day I could direct an episode. Unfortunately, we rarely went down there. Once for the cake cutting for the 100th episode celebration. And once to say hello to Norman Mailer when he was filming our script. We felt we couldn’t leave the writers’ room. We had such a small staff, there would’ve been a big hole if I left the room. And Jim didn’t want to be in there alone. Also, Bill Prady, who was supposed to be running the room, kind of threw in the towel and would sit by the window and sadly look out. I think he felt beaten down after months of Amy and Dan not being especially receptive to him. I felt bad.
Except for the table reads, we didn’t really have much interaction with the actors on the show. Sometimes they’d swing by our offices. Melissa McCarthy would come sit with us on the picnic tables outside in the back of our office building. She wasn’t a “star” then, merely a friend hanging out on a work break. I remember her being so funny and down to earth.
We also knew Emily Kuroda, “Mrs. Kim,” from our days writing on Gung Ho. She’s an exceptional actor, and I love that she always returns to the stage to share her talents with live audiences.
And Bill Prady was not the only one from my hometown of Southfield, Michigan, who was involved with the show. I knew Rose Abdoo, who played “Gypsy,” from my high school. How crazy is that?
A common question I get asked about the show—“Is there any storyline we pitched that was NOT put in?”
I have to say that Jim and I wanted Michel, played by Yanic Truesdale, to have a boyfriend or some love interest in Stars Hollow. We were shocked when Amy said Michel wasn’t gay. Had she ever watched the show? For some reason, she didn’t want to go there with the character. I did notice in the Netflix reboot Michel had come out of the closet. Little victories.
Stan Zimmerman is a man of many mediums, from TV to film to stage. He’s been nominated for two WGA Awards for Best Comedy Writing for his work on The Golden Girls and Roseanne. Additionally, Stan’s other Hollywood accolades include writing and producing Gilmore Girls, co-creating the Lifetime sitcom, Rita Rocks, writing for both Brady Bunch movies and rewriting the ABC-TV movie of Annie.
Alongside his illustrious career in television, Stan has enjoyed a lengthy career on the stage. Stan has a BFA-Drama from NYU Circle-in-the-Square and has directed such LA productions as The Diary of Anne Frank-Latinx (8 iterations since 2018), Entertaining Mr. Sloane, A Tuna Christmas, Gemini, Spike Heels, Pledge, Heartbreak Help and his original plays — Meet & Greet, Knife to the Heart, Yes Virginia and Have a Good One. Stan directed Off-Broadway’s Hyprov and the Daryl Roth Theatre. TRWplays recently published and licensed three of his works: Yes Virginia, Silver Foxes and Right Before I Go, which he has appeared in across the U.S. He will be directing the West Coast Premiere of Paul Rudnick’s The New Century at the BENT Theatre in Palm Springs and the World Premiere of Peter Ritt’s High Maintenance at The Road Theatre Company in North Hollywood this spring.
The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore hits bookstore shelves February 13.
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dbmcvey
Sounds very interesting! “Gilmore Girls” is such a great series.
I know someone who worked on the set of “Roseanne”, it sounds like a nightmare.
JessPH
I love Gilmore Girls but it is utterly disappointing that a show with a very huge gay following didn’t have any gay relationship storyline or even openly gay characters until the Netflix reboot. I mean, it is not as if homosexuality was still taboo during the 2000s.