Westworld series co-creator and writer Lisa Joy is a straight shooter when it comes to dealing with networks. In a masterclass on screenwriting at the ongoing Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023, Joy said she prefers a transparent dialogue with the executives regarding money and time before starting work on a new season.

“I am a straight shooter when it comes to dealing with networks. Having a transparent dialogue with your executives about it (commissioning a new season) is very helpful. Because I have a business background, I always check all the numbers before everything else,” Joy told the audience.

Among other things, Joy shed light on her creative process. “Writing for me is like being a theoretical actor. You sit there in your mind and are cloaked in the body of a different character from a faraway land, from a different gender, from the future or from the past. It is about having the eyes of the character and looking around the world to see what’s there,” she said. “I read philosophy, look at other people’s work. To create any kind of world that is believable, you have to look and know what is believable.”

The Westworld writer stressed that she likes a diverse writers’ room as it helps strengthen her writing and the show. “The more diverse the room, the less marginalised the voices feel. There are so many different ways to do it… You are surrounded by beautiful people with some wonderful ideas. I try to make sure I am listening to everybody,” she explained.

“I like to have the trust (of my writers). I do not want to let ego creep into my room. If there is a good pitch that didn’t come from me, I’m overjoyed. It’s glory for everyone. It’s exciting to be around people whose ideas are better than my own, or enhance my own. I also believe in giving credit to those writers,” Joy signed off.