BuddyTV Interview With Josh Schwartz
Published December 14th, 2006 in General OC News.
Sometime last week BuddyTV had the honor of sitting down with writer/producer and all around good guy Josh Schwartz for a one on one exclusive interview. Check out a small portion of the interview below and folow the link at the end for the rest.
BuddyTV: You were the youngest person to ever be in charge of a prime time network TV show. How did you get into the business at such a young age?
Josh Schwartz: I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer since I was a little kid. That was always the dream. I went to film school at USC, and when I was a junior there, I wrote a screenplay - we had to write a script for school, for homework basically, and it was my first screenplay about my senior year in high school and I ended up selling it to Sony Pictures. It never got made, but it got me out in the world of agents and stuff, and I’d written a couple of pilots right after that, that had gotten produced but hadn’t made it to the air, and then The OC happened. So I had been working for a few years before The OC as well.
BTV: The OC’s pilot is very highly regarded; it’s certainly one of my favorites. Where did that idea come from?
JS: Well, I had a general meeting at Wonderland Sound and Vision, which is McG’s production company, with a woman named Stephanie Savage who was running the company at the time. And we just started talking about TV and worlds and she mentioned Newport Beach as a potential world for a show, because that’s where McG’s from.
And, having gone to USC as a Jewish kid from Rhode Island, and showing up in the land of water polo players, and as you may or may not know, Newport Beach has sort of a direct pipeline into USC, they just basically drop their kids down a chute and they get funneled right into USC right out of Orange County. So I had a lot of exposure to that world and to those kids, and I said that to her, and went off and cooked up some characters, and came back and we took it from there. Really, the show is designed as my revenge against water polo players, because they got all the girls in college. (Laughs)
i think the oc rocks lol i just wanted to be the first person to comment on this page
josh schwartz totally rocks he is my hero for creating the best show EVER!!
i think he’s a great writer but it will never be the same looking back at how good the o.c was in season one compared to now without Marissa she was the best. The most amazing episode was the Debut 1.04. I wish marissa would come back
nah nah most amazing episode. 1.02. “you know what i like about rich kids?” *punches luke* “nothing” *runs away* ha. amazing. lovve it. could watch it a thousand&one times. the rest of that episode was amazing too btw. not saying 1.04 wasnt one of the best. (2nd fav. first episode ever, hallelujah at the end. perfect.)
anyyways about that interview. oh man. water polo, funny. i like how seth is like, just like him, well obviously not just like him. annoying the whole he didnt write cause he pretty much almost screwed over his show. ugh. oh well.
jussst kidding guys is wasnt hallelujah i just happen to be listening to the song making me think it was but it was obviously into dust in the first episode. hallelujah was when ryan burned down the model home
i want season 4 to be as good as season 1. sumhow they stuff up after season 1, buti still love the oc!!!
kudos to josh schwartz for a job well done!
love the o.c.
Will there be A Season 5 ?
yes there will be a season 5
No, there will not! But atleast we can hope it will!
Did you ever think of getting the ratings from Grey’s Anatomy? If you did, you would see your competition. I find it hard myself to make the difficult decision between these two shows. I love The OC and own all three seasons, will have the forth season shortly. it’s really a shame the show has to end this way when it could be changed to a different time or day. The ratings would surely go back up. We are really going to miss the show now and will be watching our dvd seasons frequently.
I personally think that Josh is one of the best writers ever.
He really did start a cultural phenominon (sp). His smart witty humor is something that no other television show had ever had.
Nothing will replace the oc. nothing.
josh schwartz is a very clever man. and if they have to axed the oc then i hope he comes back with another great phenominon! please bring us another classic show after the oc.
p.s the pilot of the oc will go down in history!
it was so clever , funny and moving!
i totally agree with G-Funkage