John Wells on Directing The Company Men and Being Fired Because of Jay Leno

The Company Men is a nice complement to Up in the Air. Were there any worries about one film stepping on the other's toes? There's a version of the George Clooney character briefly in this film.

You know, we were doing the final episodes of ER and I was directing George in a scene that I had written for ER when he came back. And he was telling me about this film that he was getting ready to do and I was like, "Uh oh." He gave me the script to just kind of let me read it on the set, briefly, and I realized the interviews in the piece that Jason [Reitman] did, we're actually following the people that were interviewed. If you saw Up in the Air and wondered what happened to that guy, that's what we're trying to do -- what happened to the guy on the other side of the desk.

I'm well aware of the successful run of television shows that you've had. Has anything like what happens in this movie ever happened to you?

Oh, sure. We're all freelancers in the film business, so I've been fired by friends, which I heard through my agent. Particularly when you're screenwriting it happens all of the time. And I was a carpenter before. I supported myself through college and we built homes as a kid. When I was first being a writer for six or seven years we built houses; of course we got fired all of the time.

Right after I asked that question I remembered, "Oh, yeah, Southland being dropped for The Jay Leno Show."

Oh, I mean, it happens all of the time. The shows get canceled but the more painful ones are when I've been working for someone who is a friend who then lets me get fired by a third or fourth party rather then just calling me and telling me themselves.

Speaking of Southland, I just read Bill Carter's The War for Late Night.

Oh, yeah...

You're in the book...

Oh, am I? [Laughs] For saying a nasty thing about Jay [Leno]?

Actually, they avoid that because there are enough nasty things said about Jay already in the book.

I actually didn't say anything nasty. I said something honest, which sometimes can be construed as nasty.

If I remember your quote, it was something along the lines of that Jay is a nice guy but you hope that he falls flat on his face. How much heat did you take for that?

I didn't take any heat from that from anyone other than the people who are directly involved who said, "We're catching so much criticism already, do we really need to catch it from you?" I said, "Yeah, you know, I feel strongly about this because I really care about what I do. And what I do is to have done a lot of network dramas, and you just got rid of about eight of them between the first runs and the mid-season shows."

Do you feel validated?

I'm not sure I feel validated. I think that the network drama that I've done for a long time is a bit imperiled, and most of it has moved to cable. I'm more concerned that the networks get back to showing a bit more courage and patience with those in allowing things to last longer.

Did the network prime-time drama die when ER went off the air?

[Pauses] I mean, there are certainly other shows that are like that for other segments of the audience. That kind of area of the audience is kind of fragmented, mostly to basic cable and pay cable, which I think is kind of a shame. But we were the last visage of the last surviving breath of the old Must See TV. But NBC gave up on it just as a business strategy. So... it's their money. They can decide what they're going to do with it. [Laughs]

Will it come back on the networks, or will it all be on TNT now?

I hope it comes back. I think there should be a place on network television, but they've become more timid. And they will admit that they've become more timid.

What's the disadvantage of basic cable?

I don't think there are real disadvantages. You have less money to make it, so that's more of a challenge to put the production value on-screen that you would like to. But I think we're doing a good job with that. On broadcast television you have an opportunity for a larger audience because they reach more people.

Both ER and The West Wing were pitted against each other for Emmys one year when you were very involved with both shows. Is that tough to root for one over the other, or does it even matter?

You're just trying to survive day-to-day making them, honestly. And making them good. By the time you get to the awards-season stuff, you're like, "Oh, yeah, that was last year." And you're already, like, 40 episodes past it.

Like we discussed, The Company Men is getting a limited run to qualify for awards season. With this film, is awards season more important as opposed to television?

Well, I think about it more. With these types of smaller films, with any type of awards recognition, it really helps because you get more people to see it. And when you're trying to make things, you want people to actually see them. And the subject matter of this is such that any kind of recognition we get can be very helpful in getting more people in to see it. Not for the monetary reasons, although that's great, but primarily because when you make something, you just want people to actually see the damn thing.

[Top photo: WireImage]

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