By the way, I didn't make the final call, I just took the 2,000 tapes and weeded it down to the 50 contenders and passed them on to the executive producer. But Jeff Sagansky's niece did get selected for the show. So a year later when I'd finished my first novel and had it in bound galleys, I sent a copy to Jeff Sagansky, who'd moved from president of CBS to president of Sony. So I wrote a ludicrous letter: "Dear Mr. Sagansky, You may remember writing to me last year in regards to your niece appearing on Channel One. Gosh, we sure loved her. She was great. I was hoping you might do me a favour in return and pass along my manuscript to any show that you're in contact with involving teen characters."
I wasn't naive, I believed there was a 1 in 100 chance that he would ever even see this envelope. I believed there was a zero percent chance he'd read it. I believed if he even got it, there was a 1 in 10 chance he'd hand it to an assistant. So I wasn't staking anything on this, I just thought it was the one name I knew in television.
A year later – a year later – I got a call one night, and it's Jeff Sagansky.
I'm living in Texas at this point working on my second novel and he says, "Hey, I just finished your book and I think it's great and I think you should write for My So-Called Life. I just got done doing a movie with Ed Zwick called Legends of the Fall so I'll recommend you to him if that show gets picked back up, so fingers crossed. Hey, do you have any screenplays I can see?" Uh, no. I admitted I had not written any screenplays. He said, "Well, if you do, send it to me."
So I spent the next six months waiting to see if My So-Called Life got picked back up, which it did not. In the meantime, a film school grad asked me to write a feature for him. He wanted a romantic comedy that he was going to shoot for $100,000, so he wanted something with very few characters and very few sets. So essentially I wrote My Dinner With Andre with a teenaged couple, a twentysomething couple, and a thirtysomething couple in a Chinese restaurant. When I finished, I gave it to the guy who bought it from me and I sent a copy to Jeff Sagansky.
Article comments
1 - Elizabeth
Rob Thomas is God to me for creating VM. Seriously, Rob, please don't shoot for Lost. That show is all ratings and the substance was gone long ago. 1,000 years from now, when this civilization is long-gone, people will dig up old VM dvds and think, "What the hell was wrong with CBS for canceling this awesome show?!?!"
2 - jenny
i wish veronica mars was still on. i would have loved for it to continue..it was aunique show and it deserves to keep on playin!
3 - Abby
I've have been waiting forever to see if veronica mars would have a 4th season. I had finally got the 2nd and 3rd season, to complete my collection, for christmas this year, and I had hopes that there was for sure going to be a 4th season. I wish that the plot wasn't her being in the FBI yet, but no matter what i was happy there was going to be a 4th season. Today I was curious as to of when that season was going to start, and now there's not going to be one. That truely disappoints me. There was more to that show than any other show I had ever watched. I was into ever single aspect of that show. It was funny, the people seemed so real, the plots were so out there, I just felt like everything about that show as perfect and made a person want to keep watching it. It was kind of like a good book you don't want to put down, except more. I had never heard of the t.v. network UPN until one day there was nothing to watch and i was flipping through every channel and i was thankful to come across a great show that hooked me from the first episode. There are so many curcumstances of as of why VM didn't get as many viewers as it should've. At the time there were other shows people had already become into when VM was aired, nobody really watched upn, and when it started airing on the cw well it was the 3rd season already (but i'm sure those who had started watching it then wanted to see the first and second seasons also). I think if Rob Thomas fought to have it air from the beginning to the end, on a more popular channel, and gave it advertisement, it could become the big hit it should be. There are still so many things a fourth season could go on, of vm being in college still. It could go on whatever happened to Kendall Casablancas, who won sheriff, what will become of the Fitzpatricks, will Duncan ever return, will the Castle ever be publicized, and what will become of the best love hate relationship i've ever seen between Logan and Veronica. I would hope my words are read thoroughly and passed on the the big guys. I'd email them to if i knew how to communicate with them.
4 - Abby
I'd also have to say i'm not one to actually email someone for how much i love a show, but veronica mars is the best show i had ever seen and i dont want it to end. 3 seasons is too short, i speak for many about this show when i say it must go on.
5 - Diane Kristine
Sorry Abby, this article is half a year old - the series is as dead as dead can be and everyone involved has moved on. You might see it in a comic book, though, when the strike's over.
6 - Megan
I definetly agree i have never bought complete seasons of any show but i had to of veronica mars. i finished the entire 3rd season in a matter of 4 days. the show is addicting and i cat believe they are cutting it off. im very disappointed. No one cares about these dumb reality tv shows like the pussycat dolls. i for one would rather watch veronica mars any day of the week. i just wish there was a chance that they would reconsider a season 4.
7 - greatz
DUDE PLIZ GET VERONICA MARS BACK = ITS LIEK THE BEST TV SHOW EVR!!!
8 - Kate
I LOVE VERONICA MARS IT IS THE BEST SHOW EVER ive got season 1 and 2 and waiting to get season 3, PLZ MAKE SEASON 4 AND AIR IT ON AUSTRALIAN TV BECAUSE I THINK IT WILL BE A HUDGE HIT, I THINK THAT IT WILL BE THE BEST THINK THAT CAME ON TV PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEPLEASE PLEASE PLEASE