Veronica Mars executive producer and creator Rob Thomas shed light on the enduring popularity of Veronica Mars and the upcoming Warner Bros. film.
Rob Thomas spoke to his local Austin paper, The Austin Chronicle, about his work as a young adult author, Veronica Mars, and his writing process in general. Thomas is scheduled to speak at the Austin Teen Book Festival on Saturday, September 28.
Thomas compared Veronica to other strong female characters like Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy and Jennifer Garner on Alias. He differentiated them, though, by pointing out that Veronica was a normal girl and did not possess superhero powers. “Veronica just had a quick wit and the willingness to say shit. And I think that’s what people responded to, was her ability to be self-possessed, and to not back down, to truly not care what other people think. That is the toughest thing to do when you are 15 or 16 years old,” he says.
According to Thomas, Veronica Mars was his reaction to Freaks and Geeks, while also considering the reality of trying to get a television pilot to series. “Because Freaks and Geeks was the show I wanted to write, the one I wanted to create, where there was no gimmick; you didn’t have to have a teenage private eye,” he says. “It was just these beautiful small stories about real kids. When that died, I said, ‘Hey, if you want to get a teen show on the air, it needs to be case-driven; you need to have a hook. It needs to be more Buffy than Freaks and Geeks.’ Veronica Mars was my trick to get a teen show on the air.”
Thomas credited the resilience of fans in helping to get The Veronica Mars Movie off of the ground. He also credited Television Without Pity, which told the writers what the fans were thinking. He recognized the fan outrage over Veronica (Kristen Bell) and Piz (Chris Lowell) during the show’s third season but emphasized the importance in balancing the creative direction and the fans’ opinions. “I love those fans, but I would never want to do more than dip my toe in the water,” he says, “because I don’t think you want to do a TV show as a democracy.”
It is unclear when and how The Veronica Mars Movie will be distributed, other than it will occur in 2014. The film will be distributed by Warner Bros. as part of the Kickstarter deal.
Photo Credit: John Anderson/The Austin Chronicle
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