Stephen J. Cannell
Interview by Matt Thurber - February 1, 2010
Stephen J. Cannell arrived in a black stretch limousine for our interview at Southern California’s Van Nuys Airport, where the novelist and TV show creator, writer and producer keeps his Gulfstream III and Learjet 55. The 68-year-old Cannell is handsome and elegant while also exuding a charm that can put anyone around him instantly at ease. In many ways he seems almost like a real-life character from one of his hit shows.
When he was young, Cannell thought he would take over his father’s furniture-retailing business, but Hollywood beckoned. Over three decades, he has written more than 450 television scripts and produced or executive produced more than 1,500 TV episodes. His hits include The Rockford Files, Hunter, Riptide, Hardcastle & McCormick, Wiseguy, The Commish, Profit, Renegade and Silk Stalkings.
The Emmy Award-winning Cannell has also owned a major Hollywood studio. And today he is enjoying enormous popularity as the author of 14 best-selling novels. (A 15th–The Pallbearers, the latest in Cannell’s Shane Scully detective series–will be published in March.) But he still knows how to deliver on screen, and is busy developing feature films of his successful TV shows The A-Team, 21 Jump Street and The Greatest American Hero. Cannell also acts and can currently be seen on the ABC drama Castle.
How did you become interested in writing?
I have severe dyslexia and was never a good student, but I always loved to write. I went to college and took a creative writing course. One day I handed in a story. I got a note to go see the instructor in his office. I thought he was going to throw me out of his class. Instead he closed the door and said, “I want to tell you something and I don’t want you to ever forget it. You have a gift from God. I’ve been teaching at the University of Oregon for 15 years. You’re one of the best writers I’ve ever been privileged to instruct.”
How did you feel when he said that?
I was the guy they were having meetings about to decide whether to let me go to the next grade, and here was my favorite teacher telling me I had a gift from God. That was the moment I decided to be a writer. It ranks as one of the highlights of my life.
Do you write every day?
Every day–five hours. I get up around 3:30 or 4 in the morning and I lift [weights] for an hour and then start writing. If I’m doing a novel, I try to write a chapter a day. I plot my story before I begin, so I’m not struggling to figure out where I’m going.
Which of your TV series is your favorite?
The one that probably did me the most good was The Rockford Files. Jim [Garner] made my words sound better than they were. I had the greatest writing staff. It was just so much fun and we had such a great cast. It took me from being a nobody to an Emmy-winning flavor of the week. Everybody wanted to do business with me after that show.
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