I dunno about all that. We’ll only ever know what they show us. I can only think of one tell all book, and it was published for the 30th anniversary. What I saw in the doc:
- The writers’ room really doesn’t exist anymore. It looked an initial meeting with the host, full cast, and writers. Then writing teams of 2-3 broke off into small groups, sometimes with cast members, and basically write the nuts and bolts of the show. Writing night, cast goes home at midnight. Writers stay up all night writing the show. Pitch to Lorne on Thursday. Lorne picks the show, and rehearsal on Friday.
- I think regulars are maybe there for parts of Tuesday and Wednesday, Lorne meeting on Thursday, rehearsal Friday, and show on Saturday.
- I don’t think current cast members are writing nearly as much as in the past. As the doc hammered home, if you want to be on the show, you have to write your own sketches. Could be an aftershock of the strikes. Maybe it’s not a strength of the current cast. Maybe they don’t care.
- The old system is closed. Doing well on a SNL isn’t going to get a cast member a network sitcom. With all the packaging, it won’t get them a movie either. There’s no motivation to be great. Why take risks when longevity is key? Many appearances lead to becoming a familiar face for commercial work like Kennan and Heidi Gardner.
- I’m sure they got a ton of help getting it made, but at least Please Don’t Destroy took a swing and made their own movie. The scenes with Conan are gold.