This Sunday: Episode 309 – “Unfinished Business"

Written by Jason Wilborn & Nancy Won
Directed by Michael Morris

Nora enlists the men of her family to help renovate the center, but reality sets in when the repairs prove more difficult than she anticipated. A prospective investor from Sarah's past makes her an offer that would alter the future of Greenatopia—for better and for worse. Robert worries that Kitty is only setting herself up for disappointment when she reconnects with potential birthmother Trish. Holly extends an offer of her own to Rebecca, leaving Tommy to wonder which family is really running Ojai.

Writers' Intern Jeff Bibeau interviewed writers Jason Wilborn and Nancy Won about their experience with this episode...

Jeff: What are the best and worst parts of the process for you?  Are they same for every episode?

Nancy:  Every episode is its own challenge, and some for whatever reason go super smoothly, and some are much rockier.  For me, the part I like best is sitting down with the theme for the first time and mapping out what's going to happen and plugging in the characters' voices and getting into the scene that way.  I like that.  It's always hard because it never ceases to amaze me how much revision goes into all of this.

Jason : I think I would agree, I think when you first start there's so much promise. (Laughs) Yeah, and then sometimes you're beating your head against a wall.  I just have to say that everyone has different styles.  Nancy has a style of mapping out scenes and that was something that was a real learning experience for me.  I've talked about a scene, and put it there on the outline, but in terms of mapping it out, and where it's going to go, and where the emotions go, and what part of the scene, I thought that it was helpful for me to do that.   

Jeff: Do you find that certain characters are easier to write than others?

Jason: I think they're all really challenging to write.  I think I would say I'm more comfortable writing scenes with McCallister.  Those scenes that involve Kitty, however, are a little more challenging and daunting.  Yeah, I like to write McCallister and Tommy.  And Sarah's a lot of fun to write, regardless of whether I write her well (Laughs)

Nancy: Yeah, I like writing Sarah.  But yet, each character has a challenge.  I've also written a lot for Nora, and that is very tricky because it's very easy to slip in what could be a caricature of that voice and character.  And with all the characters, it's great that they have such strong voices, and in that way it makes our job supposedly easier.  But at the same time, because of that, it becomes very easy to slip into a caricatured version of that.  You have make it feel like it's authentic, and not just taking the first, top soil layer of this character.

Jason: I think that it's fun, when I'm stuck…I think most of us have siblings.  And sometimes writing a Tommy or a Justin scene, I start with where they are in the family.  Justin's the youngest child. So I think of my younger brother, and what the youngest child might do or how he might respond to something.

Jeff: What were your favorite scenes to write?

Jason: I worked a lot on the demolition scenes, which was Nora going though the renovations of this house.  We both worked on those, and that was fun, but it was hard to structure them and figure out how much we could show.  But then to have the fun of giving the cast construction hammers...

Nancy: There were a lot of scenes that were quite challenging…the Kitty/Trish meeting, that I just kind of went around and around with different angles, different ways to get into that.  There's so much that could be said, you could approach these things in hundreds of ways.  And then a lot of the Sarah/Graham, sort of balancing the talk about the business and personal history, romantic sparring and flirting undercurrent…sort of melding those who things together.

Jeff: How was it being on set for you guys? What's it like to see the scenes you’ve written be played out by the cast?

Jason: I think it's great to be on set. This episode was very challenging because part of our episode had to do with demolition and our actors had to be in a lot of dust and a lot of walking over crud and crap.

Nancy: Actually, for this episode I wasn't on set at all because I had pre-term labor contractions right during prep, and then my maternity leave started early. But the other episodes I wrote this year I was on set for the whole thing. It's really exciting—it's a show where I very much enjoy watching the actors do their stuff. I mean, it's like getting to go to a play every day. It's really staggering sometimes to see—television moves really fast and there aren't that many takes, but even with the takes that we do have, you can see how the actors will say one line—the exact same line—three or four different ways, and get a completely different reading out of it. And that is fascinating.

Jeff: In this episode you brought Graham back, who was a popular character. Were you excited to see him return, and whose idea really was it to say, "Hey, let's get him back in here"?

Nancy: He's totally beloved around here and I think even when he left the showrunners wanted to bring him back. It was just a question of, "When can we work that in? When does that make sense in the story?"

...

With Graham Finch, Sarah continues to mix business with pleasure

Jeff: This episode deals with career moves, especially for Sarah and Rebecca. Which Walker would you most like to work with?

Nancy: I would say definitely Scotty. He's a chef and that just seems the most fun to me. I like Scotty as a character too.  He seems like a lot of fun...it would be fun to be in the kitchen with him.

Jason: I would say Sarah. She's smart, and she works hard when you see her at Ojai.  But she also has a good sense of humor.

Jeff: Every writer brings their own personal experience and identity into a script that they write. Are there ever any inside jokes or shout-outs to friends that you try to throw into the script?

Nancy: You know what I would put? I'm an only child, so I can't, but I would totally put in sibling anecdotes.  Jason was telling me that when he was I don't know how old, on the subject of sibling jealously, that he actually sprayed Raid in the face of his little brother, trying to off him, basically, the only way he knew how.

Jason: (Laughs)

Nancy: I could totally see one of the Walker siblings saying, "Oh my God, when you were five and you tried to murder me. You tried to assassinate me with bug spray."

Jeff: That's pretty creative.

Jason: I don't remember it. That's what I always say.

Nancy: I could totally see a Walker doing that.

Jeff: Did you have any special plans for watching your episode on Sunday? Do you gather your families around the TV?

Jason: This episode airs Thanksgiving weekend now, so I thought I was going to watch it with my all family. But it turns out they're leaving Sunday morning, so no big party, I don't think.

Nancy: Actually, my five-year-old is obsessed with the show. She is really into, sort of like, soap operas—

Jeff: --She understands your involvement?

Nancy:  I don't know how much she understands. She sort of does, but it's kind of hard to explain. I feel like, if you're an actor, it's easier for kids to see your contribution to the show. She loves the show. We always have these little brief sex scenes, so it's always kind of like, "You wait out in the hall until this scene is over." We have this deal when she watches that at any point I can tell her, "Go into the hall." Just closing her eyes isn't enough because I realize there's all this provocative audio. So I send her to her room, and then I yell and she can come back.

Tune In This Sunday...

Jeff Bibeau
Writers' Intern

Comments

[will]

brief comment.

Jason says: "Nancy has a style of mapping out scenes and that was something that was a real learning experience for me. I've talked about a scene, and put it there on the outline, but in terms of mapping it out, and where it's going to go, and where the emotions go, and what part of the scene, I thought that it was helpful for me to do that."

---------

mapping out the scenes and emotions is fine, but there is such a thing as overmapping too.

I like the random, incidental bullsh!t moments that happen between the characters when they're not busy making speeches (Nora, Scotty in the last episode) or advancing the plot. The stuff that (rarely) happens when the writers get silly and the characters loosen up and crack jokes.

Kevin and Sarah, for some reason, are allowed a bit more of this off-topic freestyle bullsh*tting (which is why audiences love them); Holly and Rebecca almost none (which is why they grate).

There's my 2 cents. More colorful, expressive, random, bullsh*tting that lets us bond with these guys, unburdened by the heavy churning wheels of plot.

[Sylviane]

I just saw the sneak-peeks and I must say it looks good again. I really hope that this show can find the quality again it had in Season 1.

But of course I'm also bias, there is one clip with Kevin/Scotty, so I'm already sold. :-D

*****...you can see how the actors will say one line—the exact same line—three or four different ways, and get a completely different reading out of it. And that is fascinating.*****

And that makes me wonder if sometimes hearing the actor read it another fashion than intended, if it makes the writers re-think a scene? Or perhaps re-write it? Or realize that something is just not working?

*****...leaving Tommy to wonder which family is really running Ojai.****
Sincerely?

[will]

Just got back from seeing the movie "Milk".

"Brothers and Sisters" own Denis O'Hare plays ultraconservative state senator John Briggs of Orange County who introduced Prop 6 in 1977 (Prop 6 was the ballot measure that sought to fire all gay teachers in California - and to remove anyone who "promoted" homosexuality in public schools).

Sean Penn is fan-FREAKIN-tastic as Harvey Milk. Easily one of his best performances. James Franco is smashing (and beautifully understated & natural) as his lover Scott Smith. Josh Brolin is wonderful as the unstable All-American Dan White.

Gus Van Sant directed. There are dreamy, even audacious, artistic directorial choices throughout. Yet it is still a spectacularly mainstream entertainment.

(one major problem I have with "Brothers and Sisters" is this lack of a director's vision, the harnessing together of a unifying sensibility. In B&S, one scene leads to another, but there is no bold, unifying artistry. No artistic cohesion. It's all merely competent craftsmanship! Competent is good, but it is not art)

Anyway. We all need modest artistic triumphs once in a while that raise us to a higher plane of dreaming. San Francisco's Castro district is stunningly recreated to look like the early-to-late 1970's. Again, Sean Penn brings this beautiful gay politician to life. It's a miraculously earthy, sensational - yet unsensational! - lived-in performance. Sean Penn IS. He becomes this character. Please see this movie!

And the Prop 6 battle in the film evokes the current Prop 8 battle we just lost. Which brings in a whole other layer.

[Aron]

Hey... Can you write some really good EMMY stuff for Rachel Griffiths? She has to get the Emmy next year !!!

[Lijie]

Totally agree with Aron. Rachel Griffiths is AWESOME. She may not be the prettiest woman in the play, but she's so confident and charming and sexy, great actress.

Also hope Matthew can score an Emmy, I love him so much!

[JoAnne]

still love the show, love all of the Walker family, but.......I will be watching on Monday via TiVo.

can't enjoy two minutes of show and two minutes of commercials every two minutes.

[Trinity Yanson]

just saw the episode and it was good. congrats and more power to the writers and staff who makes my favorite show on TV really great. next week looks promising too...

[Sylviane]

I think it was a good episode. It had a lot of everything.

It had the The Walkers. (Except Julia as usual)

Sarah was amazing. The way she dealt with Graham was fun to watch. And that sledgehammer looked good on her!

I liked the calmer and less neurotic Kitty. She was great with Trish and I found Trish softer and less heartless this time. The Kitty/frantic Kevin-call was fun to watch, as was the Kitty/frantic Sarah call. Nice to see THEM worked up and Kitty calm. Nice change.

But I also liked the Robert/Kevin talk in the end and Kevin asking Robert what HE wants. And how Robert had to admit he didn't know. (See, Robert, the sky is NOT going to fall if you admit to not having all the answers.)

The only character that REALLY annoyed me in this episode was Rebecca. When Justin apologized to her for not being supportive, Rebecca could have at least apologized to him for being so insensitive to not understand what her news would do the Walkers and to him. What had she expected? Yeah, Kevin and Saul got kicked out so that the mistress’s daughter can have a job she not qualified for?

That said, I loved how Holly now finally overstepped herself. I hope Tommy and Saul really do some damage. But I fear the worst, namely that something will happen that will make HER the winner in the end.

And of course there was Scotty. I still think that Kevin/Scotty is THE hottest couple of them all. Scotty's wink was just lovely. Kevin getting mad at Justin for 'almost killing Scotty. And Scotty interfering. In all, he worked well with the other Walkers. And is it alright that I found it just the sweetest that in the end HE is the one who tells Nora to turn around at look at what they found? It somehow made him more included in the family and not some outsider looking in.

And I have to compliment on the lovely shot of Rebecca in her office, Tommy in the hallway and Holly in the window. One blending into the other. Gorgeous shot!

[Keith]

Great show! It deals with relatable ordeals most unified families go through.

[Juan Carlos]

love the show, but i wonder if you need just a bit more dramatic lines, especially for Sarah, Kevin and Nora.
They really should get an EMMY!!