NOW THAT THEIR ‘PARTY OF FIVE’ IS FINALLY GOING FULL THROTTLE, EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS AMY LIPPMAN AND CHRIS KEYSER CRANK OUT ANOTHER TOUCHY-FEELY GEN-X SAGA, ‘SIGNIFICANT OTHERS’

by Dan Snierson

Three years ago, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch–the grand pooh-bah of the Fox network–leaned back in his throne and scratched his head, trying to figure out how to rescue his net’s struggling new depressed-family-of-orphans drama, Party of Five. He dialed then-entertainment president John Matoian and pointed out that fires seemed to sell newspapers, so, hey, why not torch PO5’s Salinger house? Matoian met with the show’s creators, Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman, who listened to the suggestion and then did what any sensible rookie producers eager to stay on the air would do.
They said no–and sent Matoian a fire extinguisher for good measure.
“Chris and Amy were always so unflinching about sticking with the vision,” chuckles Matoian. “It was frustrating at times, but you’d think, Wow, these guys have an idea and are willing to go down with the ship if necessary. And then you’d want to say, ‘Well, maybe this ship is worth saving.'”
Thanks to the pair’s unwavering convictions–not to mention the show’s refreshingly honest dialogue and engaging cast–PO5 eventually did catch on (imagine, a gushy family drama with coveted demographics and cool cred among Gen-Xers!). Now Keyser and Lippman are heating up a new Fox drama, Significant Others, debuting March 11 in the Party time slot (PO5 returns in late April). So how do the producers plan to entice eyeballs to the screen this time? Obnoxiously high-stakes plots? Triple-crossed murders? Incestuous amnesiac doctors? “We’ll deal with what friendship and love mean to people in their 20s,” says Lippman with typical thoughtfulness. “How it’s kind of nebulous and the dynamics change all the time.” (This must be the point in the pitch meeting when the twitching Fox exec asks hopefully, “So…when do we get to the menage a trois?”)
Tag the show as you wish–we suggest The So-Called Relativity of My Twentysomething Life Goes On–but Others seems to resemble its older sister only in broad strokes: intricately woven story lines, realistically damaged characters, generous helpings of angst, a damn fine-looking cast. “The tone of this show is a little lighter and zanier, which opens us up to people who don’t want a drama that drives them to drink,” notes Keyser. “It’s about that inevitable passage you go through from not being responsible to having to be responsible.”
If you’re looking for a hearty rite-of-passage story, check out the resumes of Keyser, 37, and Lippman, 34. The writer-producers first met at Harvard in 1985, and a few years later, after moving to L.A. with their future spouses, they became business partners–to mixed results (good: wrote episodes for L.A. Law and Equal Justice; bad: passed up jobs on Law & Order to work on a Jaclyn Smith TV movie). After three seasons on NBC’s menopausal drama Sisters, it was Big Break time: Fox asked them to create a kids-on-their-own series. Of course, the network was thinking along the lines of 90210. Instead it got Nietzsche for Neophytes.
Though PO5 promptly endeared itself to critics, the bummer of a premise didn’t grab viewers, and the show hung by a pinky finger from the cliff of cancellation (even though the duo did cheekily write a restaurant fire subplot into an early PO5 episode–a wink at Murdoch’s odd request). “It’s impossible to describe what it felt like to be as beleaguered as we were, working around the clock,” recalls Keyser. “But some of our best work came during that pressure of almost being canceled 12 times.”
Then one day, the show won a Golden Globe. Youth-hungry mags wanted Neve Campbell and Jennifer Love Hewitt on their covers. The cult of teens sprouted into a wider audience. (PO5 is the only returning Big Four drama with ratings growth this season.) Lifetime recently agreed to shell out more than $55 million to grab the series’ syndication rights. And just last week, Fox paid $80 million-plus to renew PO5 for two more seasons. Keyser and Lippman are also hot properties: With several TV studios eager to snap the pair up, their current home, Columbia TriStar (which produces PO5 and Others), is intensely wooing them to renew their contracts.
“Chris and Amy write dramas layered with reality and dimension,” says current Fox Entertainment president Peter Roth (who calls them every Wednesday at 10:01 p.m., literally in tears, acting out scenes from that night’s PO5 episode). “There’s nothing cooler than honest relationships.” But if you think that the masters of twentysomething zeitgeist must be striped-ski-sweater-wearing Gen-X subversives, think again. “You wouldn’t look at them and go, ‘Wow, I bet those guys are really hip!'” notes Hewitt (Sarah on Party of Five). “But then you read their words and that makes them very cool.”
Looking to double their cool quotient, Keyser and Lippman saw an opening to do a subtle series about twentysomethings after critical darling Relativity sank last season. (NBC and ABC expressed interest, but the producers stayed at Fox. “It’s hard to say no to the people responsible for your career,” reasons Lippman.) They mapped out a best-friend triangle: schemer-dreamer Campbell (Eion Bailey), cheery flake Nell (Jennifer Garner), and needy Ivy League graduate-cum-porn writer Henry (Scott Bairstow). Adjuncts to the L.A.-based threesome are Campbell’s label-conscious older brother, Ben (Michael Weatherly), and Ben’s clean-cut wife, Jane (Elizabeth Mitchell).
Fleshing out Others’ concept was easy; finding the right people was not. Production was delayed three months while the producers screened hundreds of actors, hoping to repeat PO5’s uncanny casting. At first, Garner didn’t want to do TV. Then Keyser and Lippman passed on a too-young Bailey. (“After I did my first reading, they asked my age, and I’m like, ‘Uh…yeah…um…'” recalls Bailey. “And they said, ‘No, no, it’s okay, just tell us.’ And I said, ‘Uh, 21?’ and the whole room just deflated.”) He was later called back when they decided to go younger than planned. Meanwhile, Bairstow dropped out when he found out the show wouldn’t be shot in his home base of Seattle, where it was originally set. Learning the bad news on her mobile phone, Lippman drove her car onto the shoulder of the road and made a flurry of calls. When she reached Bairstow at home, she did everything she could to coax him back. “He told me, ‘I’m sure that next to childbirth, this is one of the hardest days of your life,'” she remembers, “and I said, ‘Childbirth was nothing compared to losing the actor who’s the final piece of the puzzle.'”
Lippman and Keyser ultimately succeeded at moving the pieces into place, and now with six episodes ready to go, Others’ fate is in the hands of viewers. “It may take a while for the audience to invest in the show,” warns Keyser. “That’s the nature of these light ensemble dramas.” Just in case, do the pair have any can’t-miss ratings gimmicks up their sleeves? “No one will be murdered,” assures Lippman. “No incest. No abuse…and no fires.”

Who’s Who…

After breaking in rookies like Neve Campbell and Scott Wolf, exec producers Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman are once again betting that relative unknowns can carry their new drama. Here’s a primer on the party of five rising stars in Significant Others. –DS

Eion Bailey plays unemployed but optimistic Campbell AGE: 21 PREVIOUS CREDITS: A Better Place, Dawson’s Creek ON CAMPBELL: “The women like him, but he’s no pimp daddy.” PO5 CHARACTER HE RELATES TO: “Thurber the dog. He just kind of walks through the set, neglected, and doesn’t really do much.”

Michael Weatherly plays Campbell’s grating brother, Ben AGE: 29 PREVIOUS CREDITS: Deadline, Meet Wally Sparks ON CAMPBELL: “He leases the BMW and wears the Rolex he can’t afford. He just figures, ‘Let’s not get too deep, kids, stay in the shallow end.'” PO5 CHARACTER HE RELATES TO: “The guy with the beard who runs the house, Charlie. I have responsibilities in my life that mirror his. But I don’t have cancer yet.”

Scott Bairstow plays porn-writing Yale grad Henry AGE: 27 PREVIOUS CREDITS: Wild America, White Fang 2 ON CAMPBELL: “He lies to himself in order to feel good about what he’s doing. Henry needs people around him. He needs love.” PO5 CHARACTER HE RELATES TO: “Owen. It’s that whole child thing.”

Elizabeth Mitchell plays Ben’s insecure wife, Jane AGE: 27 PREVIOUS CREDITS: Loving, Gia ON CAMPBELL: “She’s one of these really together women that you wonder if they could possibly be that together, and then you get a glimpse inside their lives and realize they’re just completely gone.” PO5 CHARACTER HE RELATES TO: “Claudia. Her reactions to Charlie being sick? Love that! I’m a basket case too.”

Jennifer Garner plays commitment-phobic Nell AGE: 25 PREVIOUS CREDITS: Deconstructing Harry, Mr. Magoo ON CAMPBELL: “She’s your basic 25-year-old going in every direction in life. She’s a flake, but with such good intentions.” PO5 CHARACTER HE RELATES TO: “Charlie and his struggle with responsibility. I respect that.”