Write On: 'The Boys' Creator & Showrunner Eric Kripke

“The most subversive thing this show could do is make you cry… If
you really boil down television, really cook it in the pan, it’s
the character business. I’m in the character business. Movies are
in the plot and spectacle business, for television, there’s a
thing about laying in bed and watching someone in your bedroom or
living room that you really care about, you’re inviting these
people into your house. The more you care about them, the more
your show will succeed. There’s no simple formula, but you could
boil down every single TV show to if the characters work, that
show is likely going to work. If the characters don’t work, no
matter what that show is, no matter how much money you throw at
it, that show is not going to work,” says Eric Kripke, creator
and showrunner for The Boys on Prime Video. 


In this special episode hosted by screenwriting career coach Lee
Jessup live from the Writers Guild Foundation in Los Angeles,
Kripke talks about the functions of a showrunner, the excellent
training he got doing 15 seasons of the show Supernatural, and
what it’s like when the real world mirrors the darker aspects of
The Boys. 


Kripke also shares his sage advice for writing dialogue. 


“I was interviewing people about their life experiences – it was
a romantic comedy so I was asking people about their love lives.
I wanted to transcribe it, so I had about 20 hours of material
that I’m just transcribing and that’s how I learned to write
dialogue, just from doing that because you learn how people
really speak. No one speaks in straight, declarative sentences.
It’s this weaving thing where they’ll start and they’ll back away
and throw in a new idea. When you start to pay attention to what
real language looks like on a page, it’s very different than what
you think it looks like. So, to know what it looked like and how
to recreate it, was huge. I recommend everyone try that,” says
Kripke. 


To hear more, listen to the podcast. 


You can also watch this episode here.