It's Their Party

"Party of Five" co-creators Amy Lippman and
Chris Keyser add "Significant Others"
to their stable of TV dramas.

tysomethings are executive produc-
ers and co-creators of the hit Fox
Special to The Jewish News
TV show "Party of Five" and of
my Lippman and Chris
"Significant Others," which is tem-
Keyser sit in a room trying
porarily taking over "P05's" 9 p.m.
to make sense of episode six
time slot on Wednesdays.
The duo have creative control
of their new Fox TV show,
"Significant Others." They think and
over both shows: They read every
laugh aloud for the next 20 minutes as
script, attend every story meeting
and are involved in casting.
they hash out whether two characters
are really in love with each other.
In fact, they write every script for
At the end of the conversation,
"Significant Others," although they
Keyser looks at Lippman, smiles, and
have stepped back a little and are
says, "Do you believe we do this for a
allowing the writing staff to pen
living?"
some dialogue for the more estab-
lished "Party of Five."
No doubt they love their jobs.
What's not to love? The two thir-
With "Significant Others,"
Keyser and Lippman wanted to
Julie Weingarden is a West
write something different for the
Bloomfield-based freelance writer.
same audience. "We also wanted the
same opportunity the
actors have when they
leave to do a feature
film. This allows us to
flex our writing mus-
cles a bit," says
Lippman.
"Significant Others"
centers around a group
of twentysomethings
trying to figure out
what to do with them-
selves for the rest of
their lives. Both shows
target men and women
18-49, says Lippman,
though 35-49 year olds
will relate more to
"Significant Others."
"It has an older cast
and more humorous
possibilities than 'Party
of Five,"' she says.
"Party of Five" tells the
story of five children
who bond together
after their parents are
killed by a drunk dri-
ver; they've faced issues
The cast of "Party of Five':• A Jewish sensibility.
ranging from abortion

JULIE WEINGARDEN

A

3/27
1998

90

Above: Amy Lippman: "The shows
aren't about us, but you have to be able
to understand the characters in order to
write them."

Left: Chris Keyser: "Do you believe we
do this for a living?"

and alcoholism to depression and can-
cer.
Keyser, 37, and Lippman, 34, were
strongly influenced by the 1980s show
"thirtysomething," but wanted to
focus on younger adults.
"People in their 30s have already
made decisions in life and are looking
back asking, 'Am I happy? Do I like
the person. I married?' They're not ask-
ing questions like, 'Who am I? Whom
should I marry?'" says Lippman.
The cast of "Significant Others"
prominently features day dreamer
Campbell (Eion Bailey), cyber-porn
writer Henry (Scott Bairstow) and
commitment-phobic Nell (Jennifer
Garner).
Like the cast of "Party of Five," the
actors aren't hard on the eyes. But
casting "Significant Others" took
much longer than it did for "Party of
Five," says Lippman.
"We wanted to find new faces who
could become the characters and not
themselves playing the characters. It's
hard to imagine actors in new parts
whom you've seen in other roles," she
says.

Lippman and Keyser met in a play-
writing class at Harvard University.
Lippman was a senior studying
English, and Keyser was in his last
year of law school.
Lippman was hired right out of
school writing for soap operas in New
York. She worked on "Loving" and
"Santa Barbara," but never loved the
soaps. Keyser realized that law wasn't
his calling and began writing screen-
plays after graduation.
The duo eventually moved, with
their future spouses, to California,
where Keyser's law background pro-
vided them with an entree to some
legal shows. Their first credit was
"L.A. Law." They've also written for
"Equal Justice," "Eddie Dodd," and
were co-executive producers and writ-
ers for "Sisters."
Lippman says there is a piece of her
in each character. "The shows aren't
about us, but you have to be able to
understand the characters in order to
write them," she says. "I relate to all of
them in some way."
"I grew up with my grandparents
living around the corner," says Keyser,