Steven Levitan Talks Modern Family’s Success at MIPTV

CANNES: Modern Family’s co-creator Steven Levitan talked about the hit comedy’s enduring success in a keynote interview at MIPTV today with World Screen’s Anna Carugati.

Discussing the show’s production process, Levitan noted that the writers spend two months working on episodes before the cast appears on set. During that time “we come up with about half of our stories,” he said. “We’re not a production-heavy show,” he said. “We shoot two cameras at once. We’re not big on fancy camera work. We want to capture the comedy in the most spontaneous way possible.”

The writers help contribute story lines by sharing experiences from their own lives, Levitan said. "[At home] if a good argument breaks out, I’m reaching for my phone to get the language down!”

Talking about the origins of the ABC comedy co-created with Christopher Lloyd, Levitan noted, “With Everybody Loves Raymond ending, it dawned on us that there were no good family shows on the air. And also we went through a period, with Seinfeld and with 30 Rock, where emotion in comedy fell out of favor. It became hip to have no hugs and to go for the flat-out comedy. That’s wonderful if you can pull it off the way that those shows did. We both loved shows like Cheers and Mary Tyler Moore, where you got both, really good comedy and a dose of emotion.”

The duo then had to devise a new way to do a family show, which led to the series’ innovative mockumentary format. The comedy, sold by Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, is now in its sixth season and has won five consecutive Emmys as best comedy. “We realize how lucky we are. The last show Christopher Lloyd and I created together was Back to You. It lasted a year and for whatever reason it didn't take off. That’s the business. You can bring together this amazing group of people and for some reason it just doesn't magically line up. Every once in a while something magical happens. Things just fall into place. It’s almost out of your control. You’ll make 10,000 decisions in the course of making a pilot and you can make 9,999 of them correctly, but if you make one key decision wrong, it could sink the whole thing. There are so many different ways to fail and so few ways for things to come together. We feel the pressure to honor [the show's long-running success]. We don’t want to hear, Modern Family has really lost it. We work extra hard to say, How can we continue to innovate? How can we tell a story in a new way?”

Levitan also discussed the series' international appeal. "Whether you’re living in the west side of Los Angeles or in the middle of Ohio, you’re in Europe or Asia, that family experience is pretty universal. Everyone is trying to raise their kids, everyone wants the best for their kids, everyone over thinks it a little, everyone is struggling with the ways families are changing. That's what people can relate to."

Watch the entire session below.