So, we basically worked two weeks in the studio and one week on location. They’d shoot all the scenes in Jamal’s bedroom for four episodes. Also, we could get more production value if we did four shows at a time.Įvery four-episode story would be filmed back-to-back? We thought the cliffhanger would keep kids coming back. One of the challenges in finding the original writing team was that we had decided to do this format that was going to be four, half-hour segments making up one big story. The educators were separate from the writing team, correct? Miranda Barry (far left) standing next to her mother who guest-starred in the “Who’s Who” serial. She wanted to hire a producer who had experience in narrative. Everything.īut she had never worked on anything that was a narrative. At a certain point, she decided that MTV was super fun as a job, but as a career, she wanted to do something that was going to be a little more meaningful for kids. She loved doing that, but she also had this idealistic, do-good side to her nature. She had been part of the startup team at MTV actually and had worked all over the world for MTV. The first person who was hired was the executive producer whose name was Liz Nealon, and she had been a senior executive at MTV. They had this idea that they wanted to do a show like that, but they didn’t really know what the show would be like. And Ghostwriter was intended for a to help them learn to read better, and enjoy it more. The idea was that kids would watch Sesame Street, and then when they got older, around first and second grade, they’d start watching Electric Company and that would help them learn to read. They had a show called The Electric Company, that was for beginning readers. It’s the same company that produced Sesame Street, and they had this idea to do a literacy show that would help kids 7-10 learn to read. The show was produced by Children’s Television Workshop which is now called Sesame Workshop. When did you start working on the show, and what was your role? Jackson in the pilot, the need for hand models on screen, and, of course, all about that Julia Stiles as a hacker episode. (We tried to contact Nealon as well, with no response.) We learned all about the casting of Samuel L. Barry now works as education and editorial director at a children’s ebook start-up, but she remembers the days of Ghostwriter vividly.
GHOST WRITER SHOW SERIES
Sponsored by the Children’s Television Workshop, Ghostwriter ran for three seasons on PBS, presenting educational mysteries in four-episode serials, and cementing itself in the consciousness of an entire generation.īut where did it come from? To discover the true history of series, we contacted Miranda Barry, who acted as the supervising producer for all three seasons of the show’s original run, essentially helping create the series with executive producer, Liz Nealon.
The iconic show was memorable not just for its supernatural premise, but also for its vivid New York settings, and the so-90s-it-hurts fashion of its characters. Only able to see letters and numbers, Ghostwriter, as the typographic specter was called, helped the diverse group of kids solve crimes ranging from copyright infringement to stolen grades, all using the power of literacy. If that makes you want to throw on a pen necklace and start looking for clues, you probably grew up as a fan of the beloved PBS series Ghostwriter.ĭebuting in October of 1992, the series revolved around a group of Brooklyn kids who discover a ghost in an old book. (Photo: Youtube)ĭoes the phrase “RALLY J!” mean anything to you? From Julia Stiles to 90s styles, here is everything you’ve ever wanted know about Ghostwriter.
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