Everything is better when you add ninjas. On his MySpace page, TV writer Luke McMullen describes his latest project, ABC Family’s Samurai Girl, as “kind of like Gossip Girl meets Alias. With ninjas”. At this years San Diego Comicon, Pink Raygun’s Juliana Weiss had the chance to talk with McMullen about Samurai Girl and breaking into television writing.
PRG: What drew you to the story of Samurai Girl?
Luke McMullen: The real answer is I took a general meeting with the company Alloy, which publishes books for young adults. They do Gossip Girl and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. They also had Samurai Girl and I went in to meet with them just about the books they had and Samurai Girl just jumped out at me. I’ve always been interested in samurais and ninjas, I used to teach karate and all that stuff. So as soon as I saw it I thought, “yes, that’s what I can do,” and it just immediately clicked in my head. I went back a couple days later and I pitched them what I thought would be the best version of it for a TV show.
PRG: How true did you stay to the books?
LM: I would say we stayed with the spirit of the book. The books have great story and sets up a great world, but we had to find a way to support it for sixty minutes of screen time every week. So we started filling out more details. We had to create more characters. We did stay true to the spirit of Samurai Girl, but with the story we’re telling, we’ve gone off in a different direction. We might be able to go back and do some things they did in the books, but by the end of our six hours we’ve followed the story we’ve started telling.
PRG: How did you get your start in writing?
LM: I was always interested in film writing and moved out to Los Angeles after many years of writing in New York and after NYU film school. I worked to be a film writer for years with different levels of frustration. Then I pitched a freelance episode of Alias in season four and I’ve been doing TV ever since. That’s been a lot of fun. It’s still been challenging in it’s own way, but it’s been a more interesting ride than film had been after years of banging my head into a wall.
PRG: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
LM: Keep writing. Figure out what it is that you like and that inspires you and write that. Absorb what other people are doing. Even the bad stuff because you can figure out why it doesn’t work and what you didn’t like about it. Use that to make yours better the next time you set out. Keep at it.
Samurai Girl is a three night miniseries from ABC Family airing at on September 5th, 6th, and 7th. For more, visit the official site.
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Juliana Weiss is an aspiring Television writer in Los Angeles. She currently works as the head of the web content department for the star of an Emmy-nominated reality series. In this column, she will share with you her own experiences, thoughts, and theories about making it in the business, as well as the stories of other women who are working to make it-or have already make it-in Hollywood.
This interview was conducted by Juliana Weiss. The intro is written by Lisa Fary.
Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Cool interview. I wish it could have been longer.
PS Juliana Weiss=awesome