David Crane

In the fifteen-minute solo portion of his interview, David Crane talks about his early years, and his mother and father being celebrities on local television in his town. He describes his then-new series Episodes, starring Matt LeBlanc. He concludes with advice to aspiring television writers, and the importance of having positive portrayals of gay characters on his shows.

In the two-and-a-half-hour joint portion of their interview, David Crane and Marta Kauffman talk about how they met, and how their writing partnership came about. They describe creating and producing the HBO comedy Dream On, for which they received an Emmy nomination, as well as working with Norman Lear on the short-lived series The Powers That Be. They speak in great detail about creating, writing, and producing the blockbuster-hit NBC comedy Friends, including casting, story arcs, the contribution of James Burrows, and their time slot on NBC’s “must-see” Thursday night lineup. They outline the popularity of Friends, as well as its cultural impact and legacy. They recall the breakup of their Bright/Kauffman/Crane production company, and opine on the then-current state of network television. Beth Cochran conducted the interviews on October 7, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA.