Last year, for the first time, the record industry made more money from streaming services than from the sale of CDs; British singer/songwriter Laura Marling (pictured) talks about her love-hate relationship with L.A.; “Justified” creator Graham Yost on how the show maintained its spirit after the death of co-creator, Elmore Leonard.
How the writers on 'Justified' kept Elmore Leonard's spirit alive
FX's "Justified" launched in 2010 with U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, played by Tim Olyphant, as a trigger-happy lawman who is re-assigned from Miami to his home state of Kentucky. Over the past six seasons he has come across a stream of ne'er-do-wells who alternately offer an aura of danger and comic relief.
The series comes to a close next month. It hasn’t been a huge ratings success, but it has a devoted following of fans who are drawn to the show’s twisting storylines, colorful characters and crisp dialogue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cnl-xa_nFU
Graham Yost, "Justified" creator and executive producer, adapted the Elmore Leonard novella, “Fire In the Hole,” as the basis for the show. When we sat down with Yost to talk about bringing “Justified” to an end on April 14, we found ourselves going back to the beginning.
Interview highlights
What was Elmore Leonard's involvement in the series before his death in 2013? We know the central character was created by him, but how much more was he involved?
Elmore had done his time in Hollywood, writing screenplays back in the '60s and '70s. One reason he gave that up was he didn't like getting notes [from executives], so he was good about not giving us notes. He was excited to see his world come to life on television in a way that — I think — he'd always hoped it might.
And he trusted that you would take it and run with it?
Yeah. The thing about Elmore is that if he didn't like it, he would've let us know, or there just would've been little contact with him. But he got a kick out of it and we stayed in pretty close contact through the years he was alive while we were doing the show.
Somewhere along the line, the phrase, What Would Elmore Do?, became part of the driving spirit of the show. Tell us about that.
I'm looking at my right wrist, I've got the blue wristband that says WWED, [which stands for] What Would Elmore Do? It's honestly something that served us well right to the end. If we got stuck in the writers room, we would stop and say, Whoa, let's just take a moment, take a breath and think about this and really [ask], What Would Elmore Do? It was often looking for the unexpected, looking for something to track with what we knew about the character, but also could give us more information about the character. Tim Olyphant always put it that you were hoping of the moment of, of course — that something wild would happen, but at the same time it would make sense within that world in that character's story.
How much of a collaborator was Tim Olyphant on the series and how would you categorize your relationship at the beginning of the show and now at the end?
There were moments of great contention, where we would really struggle over things — how to play a scene, how to write a scene, a storyline, how an episode should end or a season. And it was not always easy. The thing about Tim is that he was never less than fully committed to making the best show possible. He would always ask for more and that could be difficult at times, but it always made it better. We certainly found the best way to work together to accomplish that. I think the thing that kept the whole enterprise running was that we had a lot of people involved, a lot of voices, a lot of ideas, but everyone was pulling in one direction and that direction was Elmore.
Have you paid attention to other series' finales and thought about what worked or didn't, and what you might want to avoid?
We talked about how series are ending these days and how much focus there is on that and what are the good endings and the not-so-good endings. One of the ones that everyone holds up — at least in our writers room — as perhaps the best ending to a series was "The Shield." It felt like it just made sense in terms of Vic Mackey's character. That was something we really looked at as a model. The other thing we did was just look at Elmore and how he ends his books and how he would wrap up the story. And that became a big part of our decision making.
What will you miss the most about making this show?
That's something that came into my mind about a month-and-a-half ago, when I realized that I wasn't going to have full license to write like Elmore Leonard anymore. He has a certain approach to character and dialogue that's very distinctive [that] we've done our best to mimic and play with.
Do you worry that you won't be able to stop writing like him?
There's that threat that I won't be able to stop writing like Elmore. What I hope to carry from it is his approach to character and surprise, and having these characters be as smart as possible. I'll miss that, I'll miss the writers' room. It's one of those things that I hope every show runner says, which is that they have the best writing staff in television. But that room we had for "Justified" was pretty special. A lot of great work was done in the room and it was also one of the funniest places I'd ever been. I laughed harder in that room than I've laughed in my life.
The series finale of "Justified" is airing April 14. Have you turned in the last episode?
It went in last Thursday night. We got our notes on Friday and we'll be in the editing room this afternoon cleaning it up. It's all done.
What's it feel like to wake up and not have this show looming over you? Will you be a little lonely when this is over?
Now that you put it that way, I feel suddenly bereft... I was talking to Walton Goggins, who plays Boyd Crowder, and he's been on "The Shield." He has the experience of doing a show for seven years and then being done. He said — and this has proved true so far — "You actually feel a great deal of relief when you get to the end because you actually did it and you're all still standing, one way or another." But the sadness set in when they weren't gathering again a few months later to do the next season. So in July, when the writers' room is not forming on "Justified," it will hit me, maybe the hardest then.
There is secrecy that surrounds the end of a series. How do you control that? How many people know what happens in the last episode?
I would say there are about 200 that know. We were not a big secrecy show, I also work on "The Americans" and every script that comes to me is watermarked with my name on it. They had everyone sign nondisclosure agreements from the very beginning of the series because it's a spy show and it just has that requirement. With "Justified" we did it on the final episode — we had everyone sign a nondisclosure agreement. It's funny, I don't want the finale to get out there before it airs, but it's not that kind of show. We've been lucky enough that a lot of our surprises have come out when they're supposed to, when episodes have aired.
There are things that happened in this week's episode that are going to surprise a lot of people. Most people are pretty good about not blabbing about that. It helps that we're not the highest profile show on television. I think we're a show that people who have watched really enjoyed, but I think there's quite the clamor to find out what happens to our people as it was to find out who killed J.R. [on "Dallas"], which is a call back to an old show. But I can tell you how it ends: everybody dies in a horrible, horrible way because we're that kind of show. [Laughs]
Laura Marling used the sights, sounds and people of LA to inspire 'Short Movie'
Folk musician Laura Marling is only 25 years old, but she's already released five albums, which have earned her multiple nominations for the Mercury Prize — England’s most coveted music award.
Marling says she’s never stayed in one place for more than a month since she was 16 years old. But recently, she spent an entire year in Los Angeles to record her latest album, “Short Movie,” not to be confused with the short film Marling starred, wrote and scored earlier this year.
The Frame’s John Horn spoke with Marling about why she chose L.A. for her temporary home, how the sounds of the city inspired her latest album, and where she liked to relax in the city:
Interview highlights
How did you end up in Los Angeles for a year?
I didn't plan on making this some sort of grand social experiment in my life, 'cause I did just sort of land there by accident. I had never intended in living or staying in Los Angeles. It was just a surreal place in such a wonderful way that I kind of felt that there was a reason why that place is so strange. It just makes people feel like they can do anything. So I decided to make it my opportunity to congregate with the other weirdos — the great weirdos.
You've said that the traffic and noise of Los Angeles inspired some of your music on "Short Movie," yet with this album, it almost sounds a little more stripped down from your previous work.
Yeah, the mechanical sound of Los Angeles — which is extremely stimulating at first — it was my permanent soundtrack and I was very aware of it. It was the first time that I was aware of how much sound interrupts me. And what we tried to put around the record is this very atonal electric guitar, which is actually in every track, but some of it is so subtle you could barely hear it. That's what I felt like in Los Angeles. Even when you go to the top of some mountain and see this incredibly beautiful city, you can still hear this low rumble, you can hear the electricity of the lights somehow, and I was very affected by that. I tried to put a little bit of that into the record.
In the song, "Don't Let Me Bring You Down," you sing: "Living here is a game I don’t know how to play. Are you really not anybody until somebody knows your name?" It sounds like a commentary of the people living in Los Angeles. Tell us more about the lyrics of that song.
Well, it does sound very crass when put in that context, for sure. I'm embarrassed. I think, more than being centered around Los Angeles, we're centralized somehow. You could be in Los Angeles or London or New York, and I think I was just extremely aware of that when I was living there because Los Angeles is this place where — it's horrible to say — but it's this place of broken dreams. I felt extremely aware of that — having made my pilgrimage there — and having an image of what California or Los Angeles was like, and getting there and realizing how much the mystery is perpetuated. That realization itself was so inspiring because it sort of pushed my boundaries of how surreal you could get, how much of a mystery you could make of things if you so choose.
What was your favorite physical place to visit in Los Angeles?
The city is magical — there's no two ways about it. There were many bookstores and cafes which I intend to go back to a lot, so I'm not going to name them [laughs.] And there's just my favorite roads that I would drive up at night and look over the city and just stop and be mesmerized by. I lived on the east side, so that was my jam.
Revenue from music streaming leaves CD sales in the dust for the first time
It's no secret that CD sales have been dwindling for years, but it's looking more and more like streaming music may portend the end of the once-beloved compact disc.
According to data from the Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. revenue from streaming music sites — such as Pandora and Spotify — surpassed CD sales in 2014 for the first time ever.
Streaming is also the fastest-growing source of income in the music industry, with a 29 percent increase in 2014, compared to a nine percent drop for digital downloads.
While downloads still bring in the most dollars, even that fell last year.
Consumers are trending towards streaming services for many reasons. One is the value that the monthly subscription model offers. Users pay one price for the ability to stream any song they want, whenever they want. The industry seems to be listening and reacting to the trend.
"Now that the industry is starting to warm up to the idea of licensing their music to these all-you-can-eat services, there is a reason why consumers like it," said CNET senior digital writer Joan Solsman. "It is a really great value for them."
Even Apple seems to be of the mind that subscriptions are the future. Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs resisted subscription services early on, but the company seems to be changing under the direction of Tim Cook.
"Right now, it seems like one of the best-positioned players is definitely Apple, because Apple has such a brand recognition and they have devices everywhere," Solsman said.
Still, Spotify is the leader when it comes to music subscriptions, boasting the most paying subscribers of any of the streaming outlets. Pandora is also a veteran in the streaming music world. but their mechanism does not allow for users to listen to any song at any time.
"It will be interesting to see how consumers gravitate, depending on whether or not consumers feel they need to have that sort of control over exactly what they are hearing when they are streaming music," Solsman said.