Writers' Interview: Episode 314- "Owning It"

Written by David Marshall Grant & Cliff Olin
Directed by Bethany Rooney

We hope you all enjoyed last night's episode.  Writers' Intern Miriam Parks recently sat down with writers David Marshall Grant and Cliff Olin for a brief interview about the process.

Miriam: When it comes to writing your episodes, what's the most challenging part and what's the most fun?

David: The most challenging part is trying to figure out the story. That's really the hardest thing, breaking the episode.

Cliff: I agree.

David: You really have to struggle to understand what the story is. And once you have the story, it's usually fun after that. The characters are in you after a while-- by now, we've been doing this for a long time--and you're able to just have fun with all the voices and stuff like that. But if you don't have a story, you may as well be writing in the sand.

Miriam: And with every episode, it takes a different amount of time to kind of come up with that story?

David: Yes, some come up really easily, and some are a little bit harder to break. This one was a little bit harder to break than some of the others were, actually--

Cliff: One tough thing is having the responsibility of resets. We always have to reset where each story was and each character is at in case, by chance, we have a new audience member tuning into B&S for the first time or someone who missed the previous episode, or just to jog peoples' memories...

Miriam: You don't just stick it in the "...previously on Brothers & Sisters?"

Cliff: We cannot rely on the "...previously on Brothers & Sisters." I actually don't think there is one anymore.

David: Yeah, there isn't.

Cliff: But there might be this week because we've been off the air for a few weeks.

David: Yeah, that's always a challenge in writing a one-hour show is that really the show has to work if it's the only episode you saw. You have to be able to follow the plot. So you can't rely on information that's in other episodes if it's intrinsic to the plot or to the characters' catharsis or something, the story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end in the episode. You have to know all the information that makes that story work in the episode.

Miriam: This episode specifically I thought it was really interesting that two men wrote it because it's about Kitty struggling with becoming a mother and the fears of that and balancing a career, and I was wondering what that process was like for two men sitting down and trying to...

Cliff: I'm not a man, I'm a boy-- and David's gay.

David: [Laughs] I can't believe you outed me! Actually, I think that the episode's about coming to terms with the truth about the fact that you might have a baby. It's about Kitty finally accepting the fact that this isn't just some hypothetical fantasy-- it's the moment you go, "Oh my God, all my fantasies about being a parent are actually going to become real. This is all going to be real."

Cliff: Right.

David: And as a three-time prospective parent with open adoption-- and once it didn't happen because the birthmother changed her mind just a week before we had the baby-- I had already gone through those kind of parental attacks where you realize that having the baby isn't going to be this fun fantasy. It's like, "What am I gonna do?" So this episode was very much about stuff that I had actually gone through.

Miriam: Do you think that male couples wanting to adopt go through the same kind of having to choose between a family and career like women do?

David: Yes, I mean if there's two men or two women or one man and one women, someone still has to sacrifice. So, yeah-- the idea of, no matter if you're a father or a mother, or two fathers or two mothers or whatever it is, you still have to think about how much you owe to the baby and how much you owe to your career.

Miriam: So these themes were pretty universally felt...

David: Well, they were very particular to what I had been going through.

Miriam: In this episode, what was your favorite scene to write?

Cliff: Well, it was fun writing the shower games. It's funny every time the Walkers are in that kind of... "everybody's going wild" dynamic.

Miriam: Truthfully, have either of you ever been to a baby shower?

David: My own.

Cliff: Yeah, I went to that.

David: I still have all the baby toys. All the cradles. All ready to go. No baby, though.

Miriam: Did you actually come up with baby shower games to play in this episode?

David: No, Cooper [Supervising Producer Sherri Cooper-Landsman] came up with the baby games. Actually, the game we liked was Smell the Diaper--

Cliff: Yeah, we had originally written that they were playing Smell the Diaper, where they put chocolate sauce and honey on the diaper...

David: They made us cut it.

Cliff: Apparently, because so many people hate [poop].

David: We had to cut it, everyone was mad, but--

Cliff: --It was too disgusting.

Miriam: At the shower we finally get to meet Saul's boyfriend, Henry.

Cliff: Oh yeah, the Henry stuff was fun.

David: We liked writing the Henry stuff. Henry being introduced to the family, that was fun. He's played by John Glover, who everybody loved. John Glover's a wonderful, wonderful actor from NYC.

Miriam: Did anything really exciting happen during filming?

Cliff: When we were shooting on location in Pasadena, the scene with Justin and Chelsea are on the steps of outside the AA place, production was postponed by like an hour while the set was attacked by a flock of wild parrots.

David: Wild parrots? Is that true?

Cliff: That is true.

David: Wow, tell more about that. I like that.

Cliff: We heard a screeching in the distance that sounded like a high-pitched apocalypse, and everybody took off their headphones and looked to the sky. There were a thousand birds going AAAHHH and screaming above us, and then they decided to land in the trees directly above where we were shooting and scream for an hour.

Miriam: And you just had to wait it out I guess, right?

Cliff: Yeah.

Miriam: Oh. Fun. So, if you weren't on Brothers & Sisters, what shows would you guys love to write for?

David: If not Brothers & Sisters, I would love to write for Mad Men or Friday Night Lights.

Cliff: I would want to write for...

David: He would want to write for the vampire one [True Blood].

Cliff: ...If I couldn't write for this show I'd like to write comedy, so I'd like to write for 30 Rock or Weeds...

Miriam: Well, luckily we have you here! Thanks so much for sitting down with me.

Comments

[Izzy]

Great interview, I love how David had such a personal connection to this story-- I hope you get to use those baby toys soon! And oh my gosh, we have those crazy parrots in my neighborhood! You should give them a cameo in the show, maybe that will keep them happy.

[Lisa]

I am trying to find out where I can get the shirt that Rebecca is wearing when she tells Justin that there is something not right about Tommy's plan.

[S.L.]

Thanks for the interview. It's always interesting to know what's going on behind the scenes.

It was particularly interesting to hear them say writing for the characters is no longer a challenge since they know them so well by now. If I have any one complaint about this season, it's that everyone is acting increasingly out of character. No offense to the writers, but maybe they should start giving characterization more thought.

I also wonder how important it is - well into the third season and in an era of online TV and seasons on DVD - to worry about potential new viewers. Why not reward your loyal viewers by giving them more in-depth stories in any particular episode?

Overall, I think the writers do a good job, though. I love the show, but it's set so high expectations for me, that it's bound to disappoint sometimes.

[betty]

what brand was the stroller that Nora bought for Kitty?

[Vin]

Ta for that interesting interview.

I have to agree with S.L. Some of them are acting completely out of character (e.g. Kevin working for Robert); or there's no real character growth (e.g. Justin repeatedly making mistakes followed by apologising to Rebecca). Not to mention the sometimes unrealistic nature of a character (e.g. Holly running a company despite not having any business experience or qualifications).

I love this show and have been loyal to it since its very first episode and I'm sure there are many of us out there who would very much appreciate it if the Walkers that we've grown to know and love, are allowed to act within character, show real growth and are given realistic and justifiable storylines. I hope that's not too much to ask.

Meanwhile, please tell Ken Olin that he's looking fabulous. Very thirty-something :)

[S.L.]

So true, Vin. It's not just that they sometimes behave in unbelievable or unrealistic ways. We also aren't seeing much character growth. Sarah's trying to deal with her concerns about this dot com and being a single mom. Justin's still not fitting Rebecca's image of the perfect boyfriend. Kitty is being neurotic about her upcoming motherhood, while Robert is ambitious to a fault? WE GET IT. Let's have some development!

It's a TV show, and I understand sometimes dramatic things need to happen. But I don't like feeling like the characters' actions are entirely based on the needs of the story and so change in nonsensical ways from week to week. I'd rather have the story be character-driven, if that makes any sense.

[Lindy]

Did I miss something? I thought the fianl shot was the most exciting of the whole episode but Miriam didn't even mention it!

[phausat]

pls which seasons is this.
cos am lost