'Mad Men' Writers Open Up To The Community
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Maria and Andre Jacquemetton (Photo by Tanya Mardirossian
Their visit featured their Emmy-nominated episode, “Commissions and Fees” (Season five, Episode 11), and opened up to the audience about their work process and experiences while being married for 20 years. The couple worked at Paramount Studios before landing the big gig.
Being married for so long and being able to work together for even longer was a concern by an audience member.
When asked, “How do you do it all when you are together all the time?” the couple looked at each other, waiting for the other to take the lead with the answer.
Maria Jacquemetton said, “It’s very beneficial to be a team…it’s just a huge gift to have another half of you, like another brain who’s coming in and can really be working even when all I want to do is go to a soccer game or drive my daughter to cheerleading practice.”
Later, her husband said, “We complement each other,” with his wife by his side, who nodded in approval.
The audience also commemorated the two for writing with wit and a hint of bitterness, depending on the episode. The writers laughed together describing why and how they incorporated bitter elements to the script for episodes, but particularly for the one featured that night.
“As writers, we’re vampires and we sort of steel people’s lives and we find a way to bring to dialogue,” Mrs. Jacquemetton said. “The bitterness—a lot of characters on the show aren’t getting what they want. So naturally, they’re going to feel tied down."
She later added that she wouldn’t consider her or her husband to be bitter people, but they have that “lens on the world.”
As for character development, the two took turns: Maria writing sub-elements for the female characters, and Andre writing for the male characters.
With a room full of mostly writers, the Jacquemettons told the aspiring writers and fans not to give up and hold on to hope, even if it means getting rejected on several accounts. They shared that “Mad Men” was threatened of being canceled after its first season, until the press made it popular to stick around until its seventh and final season.
Although the writers haven’t been on board for the final season of the series, they enjoy keeping up with the show as fans.
