Beau Willimon on House of Cards, Showrunning, and Power
The creator and showrunner of Netflix’s House of Cards talks about when he first felt like an artist and how he writes plays in less than two weeks.
Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images for the Tribeca Film Festival
Listen to this episode of The Moment with guest Beau Willimon:
This week on The Moment, Brian Koppelman talks with Beau Willimon, the creator and showrunner of House of Cards. This episode was recorded minutes after Brian got the call that Billions, the series he co-created with partners David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, was ordered to series by Showtime. Brian and Beau discuss why playwrights are good television writers, how Beau thinks about story, and why the key to success as a showrunner is knowing what you don’t know.
Mentioned this week:
- Billions, a new Showtime series
- Glengarry Glen Ross a play by David Mamet
- The Anxiety of Influence by Harold Bloom
- American Buffalo a play by David Mamet
- House of Cards
- Horton Foote
- Farragut North a play by Beau Willimon
- The Ides of March a film adaption of Farragut North
- Davidson College
- Solitary Man
- Tony Gilroy
- David Milch
- Deadwood
- Barack Obama’s impact on The Ides of March
- George Clooney
- @KevinSpacey
- @RealRobinWright
- Agnieszka Holland
- @PennJillette
- The Parisian Woman a play by Beau Willimon and directed by Pam MacKinnon
- La Parisienne a play by Henry Becque
Note: Season 4 of House of Cards was officially announced earlier this month.
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