David Chase may be as haunted as Tony Soprano as The Sopranos’ showrunner angered his protégé enough to create an Emmy-winning show.
David Chase became one of the most influential people in TV after creating the crime drama series The Sopranos. Centered on the Italian mafia in North Jersey and its boss Tony Soprano, the show broke the standards of network TV at the time and paved the way for auteur-driven TV shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men.
Chase was known to be eccentric to the levels of his lead star Tony Soprano. The writer was reportedly unhappy with the confines of network TV and was under constant pressure to make The Sopranos great. This quest for greatness reportedly led to him firing one of his proteges an hour after getting an Emmy nomination.
David Chase fired a young writer on The Sopranos an hour after receiving an Emmy nomination
David Chase’s The Sopranos is one of the best written and directed TV series of all time. The crime drama focuses on Tony Soprano, the boss of a crime family, who deals with his anxiety and domestic problems while also running an organized crime family. The show earned several Emmys throughout its run and is considered among the greats.
However, this destination of greatness reportedly came at a price for David Chase, who was constantly battling pressure from himself. The showrunner was reportedly a huge fan of the movies and considered himself to be a sellout for being in TV. He was seen as a powerful man in the network while also being unpredictable.
One anecdote from Todd A. Kessler, a writer on the show, reveals the strange mindset of the man. Kessler mentioned that he considered Chase to be his mentor and even the showrunner had involved him in the nitty-gritty of the show at times.
However, after both of them received an Emmy nomination for their writing, Chase reportedly called Kessler to his office and said (via GQ),
I guess the timing isn’t great, but I think I need to end this relationship. I think you’ve lost the voice of the show.
When Kessler reportedly begged him to reconsider, Chase apparently allowed him a second chance where he had to submit a production-ready script with no revisions. He was then eventually fired.
Todd A. Kessler went on to create an Emmy-winning show based on his experiences with David Chase
One of the most popular hacks of writing a good show or a film is to write what you know. Sure, not everyone who writes a mob show has lived the crime life (no one is Christopher Moltisanti), but writers and artists pull from real-life to craft an engaging and human story. Todd A. Kessler reportedly took his time with David Chase and turned it into Emmy gold.
