THE SHOW RUNNER'S SERIES: PAM VEASEY...'THE DISTRICT'.

Pam Veasey has worked as a producer on the television series 'Get Real' and 'Martial Law', a consulting producer on 'The Gregory Hines Show', and as an executive producer on 'Between Brothers' and 'In Living Color'. She was also a writer on 'Nash Bridges' and 'Gimme a Break'. Her current assignment is as executive producer and show runner of CBS' popular crime drama 'The District', a series which centers around DC police commissioner Jack Mannion (Craig T. Nelson), a former Newark PD chief, who has been hired to reduce the city's crime rate which, due to politics and indifference, has become the highest in the U.S. AUSUS Magazine spoke to Pam about her career, the show itself and working with the actors.

Q: Tell me a little about your background.

 I was born in Texas, went to college at the University of Southern California (USC), majoring in journalism and political science. My first job in the industry was as a receptionist on the television series 'Gimme a Break'. I was making coffee, ordering lunches, typing...working with the old Avery tape, cut and paste system. I had free time at this job, however, and so during this time I managed to write a screenplay and a spec script for a show called 'Valerie'.

 Q: What happened to the spec script?

 I remember this very clearly. I gave it to my bosses Hal Cooper, Arthur Julian and Rod Parker on a Thursday. The following Monday they called me into their office. I thought I was just being called in to take dictation, but they fired me! I couldn't believe it. I got really angry and started blasting them saying things like 'how dare you...you didn't even give me any warning and all I do for you is make coffee, and I don't even drink it!' At one point in my tirade Hal leaned over to me, took my hand and said '...it's okay...we're just firing you as a receptionist to give you a job as a writer' (on 'Gimme a Break').

Q: What was it like working for these guys?

 Fantastic. They were more like mentors than employers. They were continually coming around to all of us who worked there asking us where we were heading with our careers, what did we want to learn from being at this job, and how could they help us do it. Before I became a writer on the show, when I was still a receptionist, I was offered a position as a writers assistant. But I turned it down because all the writer's assistants I saw there were spending so much time on other people's scripts that they had no time to develop their own.

 Q: What happened to that job on 'Gimme a Break?'

 The show eventually got cancelled. I found out one night when I was watching 'Entertainment Tonight' and they said it was no longer on the NBC schedule.

 Q: So what happened next?

 I did a couple of free lance writing assignments from pitches. I also worked my way up to executive producing 'In Living Color', which was a great time because I was totally free and could write anything I wanted. But I decided I wanted to do drama and this was a difficult transition because being a black writer I would only get hired to work on black shows, which were usually comedies. There were only a few established black television writers around back then so if a black show needed a writer then one of us could expect to get a call. So I actually left the business for about eight months in 1988 and went to Washington to work on Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign. My agent thought I was crazy because by this point, it was easy for me to get work. Eventually I came back to the business and did those shows like 'In Living Color', but it took me twelve years to get on a series that didn't have a black actor on it. I just didn't understand why I wasn't being hired by other shows before then.

Q: How has your career evolved on 'The District'?

 I started as a supervising producer and worked my way up the ladder. John Wirth, who I had worked with before, came in for seasons two and three, and he just kept expanding my duties. I just kept telling the people above me that I supported them and that I understood what was involved in the job because of my own previous experiences.

Q: What does a 'show runner' actually do?

 A show runner is like a coach. You oversee everything. It can involve things like talking about the sets with the set designer, discussing costumes with the costume designer, giving tone readings to the directors, asking the writers for rewrites. It's really a social meet and greet. I spend a lot of time talking to people and so I have less time to actually write on the show but, because of my background in writing, I do try to spend a lot of time with the writers. It's about making decisions, taking responsibility for things that happen on the set and also delegating work to other people who have the time to do what I can't. I also discuss character with the director and the actors. Jonathan LaPaglia, the Australian actor on the show, often comes in and talks about his character if there's something that doesn't sit right with him. Often i'll go on the set and talk with the director and the actors.

Q: What would you like people to say about your career when it's over?

 (laughs) That's a good question. I think I'd like them to say that I broke the barriers. That I didn't follow what was expected of me but that I said it's possible and I did it. That I crossed successfully from comedy to drama and that I had longevity. Success is longevity.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like to share about 'The District'?