In The Envelope: An Awards Podcast

What does a TV showrunner do? More to the point, how many other tasks does a TV showrunner tend to take on? What is their relationship to actors? In today’s deep dive episode, Ben Sinclair of “High Maintenance” and Prentice Penny of “Insecure” reveal the creative and logistical processes of keeping a hit show...running! Writer-director-editor-actor Ben Sinclair became a pioneer of short form content alongside Katja Blichfeld by developing a community of filmmakers around “High Maintenance.” First a hit Vimeo web series, then as of 2016 a half-hour anthology series on HBO, “High Maintenance” features snapshots of modern New York City life, each episode featuring Ben as a cannabis courier known only as The Guy. Ben’s critically acclaimed work has earned him a Writers Guild of America Award. Multihyphenate Prentice Penny got his start in Hollywood writing on the hit sitcom “Girlfriends,” before contributing to the writers’ rooms on, and often producing episodes of, “Scrubs,” “Happy Endings,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nin