6 Things We Learned at the ATX Television Festival’s ‘Women Who Defy’ Panel

On June 9, 2018, the ATX Television Festival, in conjunction with SYFY Wire Fangrrls, hosted a “Women Who Defy” panel, featuring Emily Andras (creator/showrunner for Wynonna Earp), Sera Gamble (co-creator and showrunner for The Magicians), Carina MacKenzie (showrunner of the upcoming Roswell, New Mexico reboot on The CW) and actress Maddie Hasson (star of Impulse).

The conversation touched upon seminal sci-fi and genre shows in their lives, whether the current political climate is represented in their work, and what show they’d love to remake, among other topics.

Here are six things we learned during the “Women Who Defy” panel.

1. The First Genre Shows That They Connected with as Fans

To begin, panel moderator Cher Martinetti (managing editor of SYFY Wire Fangrrls) asked the women assembled about the first show that struck them as fans.

For Gamble, it was Star Trek. “It’s actually my first memory of human life — sitting on my dad’s lap and watching a guy with pointy ears on the TV,” she recalled. “So I feel like I didn’t even have a choice in the matter. My dad just decided I would be a science fiction fan. I’m grateful.”

MacKenzie claimed that she wasn’t much of a science fiction person, but did connect with the original Roswell. “[But] the first one I fell in love with as a fan, the first genre thing that I really loved and watched episodes [of] over and over again was Supernatural, for sure. It’s on Season 47, and I’m still watching it,” she joked.

Andras named Twin Peaks as the show that taught her what you could do with mixing genres. “I remember watching that show, and the end is just traffic lights swaying. It’s the most eerie thing ever. And being like ‘You can do this? That’s amazing!'” she said.

Hasson admitted that she loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “I loved Buffy, and I loved Joss Whedon. I think he’s just a genius,” she said. But like many Buffy fans, the actress wasn’t down for a reboot of the beloved show: “It can only be Sarah Michelle Gellar!”

2. The Moment They Knew They Wanted to Create Genre Shows

For Gamble, it was watching Six Feet Under. “That’s when it really occurred to me that you could do anything on TV,” she said.

MacKenzie said that growing up, she was a fan of more “quiet character dramas.” But once she got her foot in the door as a writer on The Originals, she found genre fandom to be “like crack.” “Genre fans are so intense and so dedicated, and so passionate, and so involved,” she said. She recalled that, when The CW wasn’t marketing The Originals, she was blown away by the things fans were creating to support the show.

“That feeling, that groundswell of support behind you… It’s very intoxicating,” MacKenzie said.

Similarly, Andras said she had done a lot of teenage shows and young adult shows before moving into genre TV. “You can’t work in Canada unless you’ve been on Degrassi. It’s actually like, in the government, it’s legal,” she joked. “I got brought on very luckily, I got recruited on a show called Lost Girl, which was super fun. And I had never seen a lot of other female-driven genre shows, Buffy aside.”

Andras explained that, after a short amount of time on Lost Girl, she realized you can do just about anything on genre TV shows. “I was just addicted. I thought genre was actually a space to do all sorts of different storytelling. So I’m never leaving,” she said.

3. MacKenzie Wasn’t Interested in Writing More “Teen Supernatural Romance”

MacKenzie revealed that, when The CW called her and asked what she thought about rebooting Roswell, she didn’t want to write more “teen supernatural romance” after The Originals.

“I’m super politically active. All I think about is what’s happening in the news. It was hard for me to imagine, after five years on The Originals, continuing to write supernatural kissing. So I went in and I pitched a version of this story that could only happen right now, that could only happen in 2018,” she explained.

“Essentially, it’s a story about what would happen if aliens were discovered in Trump’s America right now, in the middle of the country, in a super conservative small town,” MacKenzie continued. “It’s 1000% a metaphor for everything that’s going on. It’s a metaphor for illegal immigration, it’s a metaphor for Islamophobia. We’re just up to our elbows in everything I wanted to talk about. And we’re doing it in this really pretty cool way with magical powers and a UFO crash that looks awesome.”

MacKenzie recalled being shocked when The CW went all in on her pitch, buying it at the table. She said that the network has been incredibly supportive of her vision.

4. Gendered Mistreatment in the Industry is Rampant

MacKenzie recalled a time when she wanted to re-shoot a scene in order to get a certain shot. The episode’s director dismissed her, rudely calling her “adorable.” She said that, though it was five years ago, it lit a fire under her that has yet to extinguish.

“No man in that position — no matter how new you were, or how inexperienced you were — no man would’ve been called adorable for saying they needed the shot they wanted,” she said. On the plus side, MacKenzie was later proven right when they needed to go back and get that shot she’d insisted on the next day.

MacKenzie also admitted that there’d been other times when she didn’t speak up and when she’d been cowed by males on set. She vowed not to go silent anymore.

Hasson recalled an instance in which she went to a meeting with a director and was later propositioned by the director that night on the phone. After gently turning him down, the 23-year-old found out an hour later that she hadn’t gotten the part due to “looking too old.”

Gamble advised others to not let the unequal treatment penetrate, touching on the #TimesUp movement. “I don’t think it’s ever okay to be mistreated. I’m excited that people are speaking up, and I think the people around the mistreated need to be speaking up more,” she said. “But I also think, don’t let this discourage you. Tell your story.”

5. The Best Advice They’ve Ever Gotten

Gamble: “Take the long view. It takes a really long time to get good at writing. Even passably good. It’s a supremely 10,000 hours kind of situation. I’m not saying it’s easy. When there’s a prospective opportunity in front of you, you get excited about it. But that’s usually my mantra: The long view.”

Andras: “My female mentor, Michelle Lovretta — she’s amazing, she did Lost Girl and she’s doing Killjoys — she says, ‘Do no harm, but take no shit.’ You can’t control how other people act, but I can only control what I am. […] She’s kind, and she doesn’t feel like she has to be the toughest person in the room to get respect, but she also knows her point where she’s like, ‘Nope, we’re not doing that!'”

MacKenzie: “The advice that has been the most valuable to me is when I was told to value my time and to think about the way that I spend my energy. I worked with an actor who didn’t listen to women, and it didn’t matter what I was saying — he didn’t listen to women. I spent so much time trying to get him to respect me and trying to get him to collaborate with me. And then one day, someone was like, ‘Value your time.’ So I grabbed a man and said, ‘Here’s what you should say to this actor.’ He wasn’t listening to me, so I had a man tell him the exact same thing. I saved three hours of fighting, and he listened. I hate that, but that’s how I’m operating from here on out.”

Hasson: “Lots of people say this, but I think as an actor, sometimes you just want to do something or try something, and you feel like you have to ask a ton of people before you do it. And I think sometimes, the best thing you can do is just show them and ask questions later.”

6. What They’d Most Want to Reboot

Andras first joked that she’d reboot Game of Thrones, asking if it was still on the air. As for her real answer, she said she’d love to remake Lost, eliciting some enthusiastic cheers in the audience.

MacKenzie called her current project rebooting Roswell “the peak of her career right now.” She later added that she’d want to remake the movie Looper for TV. “I love time travel!” she remarked.

Hasson expressed her enthusiasm for the new reboot of Charmed. MacKenzie pointed out that it was being rebooted with a cast of women of color and called it “fucking awesome.”

Gamble said she’d reboot Black Mirror, with an American twist.

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Check out all of our coverage of the ATX Television Festival right here. There is still more to come!

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