Michael Jacobs is an American TV screenwriter, best known for creating the dramas Boy Meets World and Girl Meets World. His first writing credit was for the television film Cheaters (1980), but he has also produced many works including the Oscar nominated film Quiz Show (1994). His works have also been nominated for Primetime Emmy awards and BAFTAs. In 1978, he founded his own production company Michael Jacobs Productions which is based in California.
Boy Meets World (1993-2000)
Summary:
Cory Matthews navigates the trials and tribulations of growing up with help from his friends, family, and school teacher.
After wrapping a TV show he had previously created, Dinosaurs (1991-1994), Michael Jacobs was shown the channel ABC's ratings for people between 12-14 years old by an executive there, as they knew that age range had been the target audience for many of his previous works. Boy Meets World developed because this made Michael Jacobs think about the fact that this demographic was used to seeing shows 'where you would focus on the oldest character' and he wondered if he could change this to 'a middle child and instead of focusing on the first date aspect of the older child, he was looking at it as a betrayal?' Because of this, 11 year old Corey Matthews become the main character, rather than his older brother, Eric.
Since first airing in 1993 on ABC, the show developed a large fan following over the 7 seasons and 158 episodes it ran for, something Michael Jacobs associates with the reason that, 'the issues we raised, we never disguised anything.'
After wrapping a TV show he had previously created, Dinosaurs (1991-1994), Michael Jacobs was shown the channel ABC's ratings for people between 12-14 years old by an executive there, as they knew that age range had been the target audience for many of his previous works. Boy Meets World developed because this made Michael Jacobs think about the fact that this demographic was used to seeing shows 'where you would focus on the oldest character' and he wondered if he could change this to 'a middle child and instead of focusing on the first date aspect of the older child, he was looking at it as a betrayal?' Because of this, 11 year old Corey Matthews become the main character, rather than his older brother, Eric.
Since first airing in 1993 on ABC, the show developed a large fan following over the 7 seasons and 158 episodes it ran for, something Michael Jacobs associates with the reason that, 'the issues we raised, we never disguised anything.'
Girl Meets World (2014-2017)
Girl Meets World (2014-2017)
Summary:
Cory Matthews is now grown up and married to his high school girlfriend and must help their daughter face the challenges of growing up. This series aired for 72 episodes over three seasons and was distributed globally by Disney Channel. However, the show was cancelled in early 2017 due to a drop in ratings which, as the Washington Post stated, was mainly due to the fact that it was about 'whether a new generation will find Girl Meets World and enjoy it for what it is, not whether an older generation will determine it lives up to hyped-up memories of a TV show that has been off the air for more than a decade.'
Influence on my work:
As both of these shows feature similar characters, the audience has been able to see how many of them have changed over several years in real time. For example, Topanga Lawrence, Corey's girlfriend has changed a lot from the original show in 1993 to the spin-off in 2014.
In Boy Meets World, Topanga was the outsider at school for much of season 1 because she saw the world differently from the other kids. She focused on big problems in the world such as global warming, called her parents by their first names, and occasionally did not wear shoes. She had never really spoken to Corey until they were assigned by their teacher to work together on a class presentation.
Topanga does not want to do their presentation in a conventional way and seems cut off from her peers as she does not care what they think. Corey is the opposite of this and wants to be normal so that he can fit in.
However, almost a decade later in Girl Meets World, although Topanga still has a similar view on the world, she now uses it in a conventional job as she has become a New York lawyer. Because of this she becomes similar to Corey, and is even married to him.
In the season one episode, Girl Meets Popular, Topanga becomes conflicted about her job when the law firm she works for ends up on the wrong side of a case which could result in an elderly lady losing the bakery she runs in the neighbourhood. Topanga uses her old world view as guidance and, allowing her old self to be her mentor, she does the right thing.
Although Topanga has changed, she acknowledges this and is therefore able to move on without sacrificing her old morals.
This made me think about how my own characters change over the course of my screenplay, even though the time span is of only a few months, not several years and how their personalities and beliefs are entirely different and conflicting.
At the beginning of my screenplay, Diana and Ida are completely different and do not view the world as the same. Everything Ida sees as normal and essential, Diana hates and wants to get rid of.
However, inspired by the changes Michael Jacobs' characters go through, at the end of my screenplay I decided to make it so that Diana and Ida become very similar but so that neither of them sacrifice their old morals.
This also made me consider how Diana would have become a lawyer in the past in the first place because of how she is now. Because of this I came up with the idea that it could be because of her family and that her father owns a law firm she had to work in, which is how she developed the beliefs she has now.
References:
Schildhause, C., Leight, E., Rancic, M., Gelfand, Z., O'Connor, A., Hyden, S. and White, C. (2017). The Oral History Of 'Boy Meets World'. [online] UPROXX. Available at: http://uproxx.com/tv/boy-meets-world-oral-history/2/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Forbes.com. (2017). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonkatz/2017/01/05/girl-meets-world-cancelled-by-disney-but-why/#6d901a495e27 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Go.galegroup.com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org. (2017). Let 'Boy Meets World' Reboot Finds Its Own Path. [online] Available at: http://go.galegroup.com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=ucca&id=GALE|A310418582&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Mentalfloss.com. (2017). 25 Things You Might Not Know About Boy Meets World. [online] Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/56846/25-things-you-might-not-know-about-boy-meets-world [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Yahr, E. and Yahr, E. (2017). Disney Channel confirms its developing ‘Boy Meets World’ spin-off, ‘Girl Meets World’. [online] Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/disney-channel-confirms-its-developing-boy-meets-world-spin-off-girl-meets-world/2012/11/27/3c3bbc90-38c4-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_blog.html?utm_term=.3071e6d723c6 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
YouTube. (2017). 'Boy Meets World' Reunion 2013: Ben Savage, Cast Discuss Series, New Spinoff. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xQANUvOXKs [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
etonline.com. (2017). 'EXCLUSIVE! Topanga faces her old crimped and kooky self on 'Girl Meets World' -Watch!. [online] Available at: http://www.etonline.com/tv/149457_exclusive_topanga_faces_her_old_crimped_and_kooky_self_on_girl_meets_world_watch [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
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