The following is the second in an ongoing series of blogs by the writers of the previous night’s episode. The first was written by Pete, the second by Cliff.
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Now it’s morning, and last night, Cliff and my second episode aired. We’re both proud of it, and feel that the hard work paid off. Writing for TV, as David Marshall Grant (he of good humor and bad back) said, can be a terrific grind. It can be oppressive at times, and liberating at times, but it is always exhausting.
I can say, honestly, the night after Cliff and I turned in the first act of our episode that I have never been more tired.
[I’m not sure if I should admit that the following actually happened. The proud writer in me wants to pretend that everything that Cliff and I wrote was gold, and was seen as such immediately by our bosses. That part of me wants to make everyone think that there’s a talent in me that is breezy and fast. I wish.]
After talking through the story of the episode with Greg, we were sent off to write. So we did. And we turned in the first act (the phone tree, and the two next scenes) the next day. He read them. His response: “Good. But it’s not good enough. Go deeper.” “Go deeper” we thought as we left his office. Alright. That sounds like a good idea. Deeper. We’ll go deeper. Except… how?
That’s when the fear hit us. First it was the breed of fear when you’re not doing a good job, the fear of letting people down (in this case Greg and Robbie, who have been nothing but kind, nurturing and confident in us). Then, it morphed into the terror of having no idea how to actually make it better.
So, facing a deadline, and worried to death about what our bosses might think of us if we turned in a stinking pile of poop, we sat down and we wrote. We emerged later, red eyed and slightly delusional, with what you saw.
I’ve reflected on that moment, of walking out of Greg’s office after he told us to go deeper. A big part of his job is wringing the most water out of the towel as he can. And that’s what he was doing to us – but it was the way he did it, the way he made us feel that he thought we could do it that makes him so good at his job (oh man, I hope he doesn’t read this; he’ll undoubtedly come into my office and make fun of me for trying to kiss his ass – you see, no one in the office misses an opportunity to give shit to the young staff writers).
We hope everyone enjoyed the episode. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how surreal and exciting it is to see the words we wrote come to life. I think that that, past all the fear and the pressure, is what makes this the best job in the world. And then we got a helicopter? I mean, come on.
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I hope you folks enjoyed “Valentines Day Massacre,” because we sure had a hell of a time getting it to you. As you’ll read in Pete’s blog, the writing process wasn’t “easy,” but it was exciting. Being on script gives me a high, a euphoric and borderline-manic buzz that comes from having been given a great deal of responsibility as well as complete artistic and creative freedom. That mental rush was especially strong while writing this episode, because I believed, when it was all said and done, that this would be a particularly fun one. Fun to watch and fun to make.
An interesting thing happened during the process of 116. When the script was “finished,” (I should say, at a stage when we could start shooting, for there were many revisions on the horizon) and I stepped on set, the creative buzz never left. Watching our story unfold, watching the greatest cast on television breath life into our words was incredible. Michael Schultz, our director, had a vision for this episode, and he just ran with it. I’m glad he did, because he contributed so much. It turned out better than I had imagined. It was a pleasure working with / watching / learning from such a pro.
As always, it was great to spend time with my on-set co-workers. Pete and the rest of the writers are fairly decent people, but I get to see them every day. So, it’s always exciting to spend some time with friends on set. We tell jokes, we do work, we smile. Some of them are from England.
Here are some highlights from the production of Valentines Day Massacre:
We got a real-life helicopter. It took off, it landed, it took off. And it ruled. It’s not every day that you get to go onto the roof of a Downtown Los Angeles Hotel and watch Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe absolutely nail a scene you wrote. It’s not every day that you get to feel somewhat responsible for the actions of a helicopter pilot. Pete and I had a good day that day. It felt like we were getting away with something. Quality character interaction AND bad-ass “action” sequences. Does this paragraph even make sense?
The pot smoking scene was something special. It was one of the first days of shooting (maybe the first), and it really set the tone for what would be an efficient, but thoroughly enjoyable shoot. Margot Kidder showed up on set, and hit it off big-time with Sally Field. Then, when the cameras rolled, they totally went for it. They just cracked each other (and the crew) up. Much of the scene was improvised, and we aired the only appropriate bits of dialogue. Boy, oh boy did we get some gag-reel material. Hilarious.
Office Football. Big part of our lives. Closed-quarters-you-should-be-working-catch might be my best sport. I’d like to believe US Senators mess around with pigskins. Ya’ll know the saying, “If you can’t throw a spiral, you can’t have my vote.”
Roxy. The part of Michelle, Chad’s beautiful girlfriend, was played by my sister, Roxy. She was a bit nervous, and so was I. But when the time came, she absolutely killed it. I was so proud, and I hope she won’t forget me when she’s famous. You know you’ve got talent when you can “act” like you’re attracted to Jason Lewis of all people. She even had to kiss him. Way to take one for the team, thanks sis.
One last thing. They did a wonderful job in post. Each cut of this episode improved dramatically. It’s amazing what editors can do, how much of an effect they can have on a story. I don’t get to spend much time with them, but they’re good people.
I’ll stop blogging now.
Loose Change:
Where did this category go? It has somehow been lost to the deep, dark abyss of the blogging universe… Can you guess which is Pete’s favorite line from last night? It’s the one he’s most proud of writing… Dave, the PA, has been a lot quieter lately. Word is, he’s been working on his standup routine. But seriously, Dave, can you please get our Starbucks faster?... Oscar just walked by with a huge plate of eggs, piled on top of several slices of bacon… Someone asked this before: the episode you saw last night, according to our numbering system, is number 116. It airs 14th, because we reshot the pilot (that was 102) and because episode 103 was thrown out. And that brings us to… Episode progress: 118 being shot, 119 in prep, 120 being written, 121 being broken.
