Friday, February 06, 2009
Torchwood: Children of Earth
I approve. I have a perfectly irrational love for this very broken show. I would say my Gwen Cooper "issue" may officially be a "problem."
How We Were Renewed ...
Don't need to tell you the story, Dean filmed it.
Courtesy IF Magazine, the high-def version.
Courtesy IF Magazine, the high-def version.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Waid Wednesday #9: The Proposal, Part Two
Continuing the sample proposal from last week....
THE SERIES
ISSUE ONE: We introduce Samantha, Wolf, the concept of the Hunter-Killer squad and the Ultra-Sapiens. We OPEN with the home life of Ellis and introduce him and his kindly parents as people we genuinely like and care about. But when Ellis begins to exhibit weird powers, his parents freak. Not at him; at the realization that this is a warning, that powered Ultra-Sapiens are approaching and Ellis is inadvertently “mirroring” their powers.
Ellis is freaking, too—he has no idea what’s going on or that his parents are anything other than what they’ve always seemed. The parents quickly smuggle Ellis out of the house and order him to run as far and as fast as he can...then, in order to cover his escape, they make a stand against a marauding band of Hunter-Killers, led by Samantha, who hit the house like a tornado.
Turns out Mom and Dad are long-escaped Ultra-Sapiens who have been keeping their background secret from their son—and they won’t go down without a fight. Mom sacrifices herself, Dad goes down in battle, much action, much mayhem—and then it’s complicated by the reveal that Ellis refused to abandon his folks and doubled back to the battleground.
Ellis’ mirroring powers kick in hard, he thinks he’s saving his father—but then Dad turns on him. Better Ellis is dead, he says, than kidnapped and dissected by these monsters. Ellis is forced to kill his father in self-defense, and Samantha and her team scoops Ellis up. Issue one ends with Ellis’ parents dead after having been revealed to Ellis as Not At All What He Thought They Were; Ellis’s home and life utterly obliterated; Samantha taking him into the H-K program; and Wolf on their trail.
ISSUE TWO: More background on the Ultra Sapiens program is revealed in this issue—a little more “origin material” without giving away too much or revealing too many allegiances.
On their way back to headquarters, Ellis begins to manifest a new power. The agents assume he’s trying to escape and they move into attack-ready mode despite his protests, but it’s Samantha who realizes the significance of his power flare-up. Ellis isn’t trying to escape—what this means is that there’s another Ultra-Sapien in proximity! Sam gets a sitrep and realizes the Ultra-Sapien is way high atop their Most Wanted (and Best Hidden) List and that he’s a clear and imminent danger to his surroundings. Sam makes the hard call that there’s no time to ease Ellis into this world or “train” him—even if they’ve got a read on the rogue Ultra, by the time they get Ellis to HQ and double back without him, the trail will be cold. No, they’ve got to bring Ellis into this and hope he lives.
With Wolf still secretly trailing them (staying far enough back not to have his powers replicated by Ellis, a sure tell of his presence), the team finds the rogue Ultra. By issue’s end, Ellis has been separated from Sam and the others and is facing this guy alone—or, rather, with Wolf now reluctantly at his side (Wolf still can’t risk Ellis being captured or killed, not until he knows more about the kid.)
Note also: this issue will detail Samantha’s predicament—that the power in her weapons is actually bio-energy she herself radiates, energy for which the weapons allow safe release.
ISSUE THREE: Ellis and Wolf against the Ultra in a battle that will form the foundation of their future friendship. On the one hand, Ellis is distrustful of Wolf since he still doesn’t quite know what Wolf had to do with his parents’ deaths; on the other hand, through the action of battle, both Ellis and Wolf inadvertently demonstrate to one another how unshakeable their moral codes are, which will be a huge point of commonality between them.
Once Sam and her crew reunite with Ellis (Wolf having vanished again), they take him to Headquarters and we see the operation in action. More secrets of the Hunter-Killer program revealed: first, the headquarters doesn’t technically “exist” geographically—it’s a locale imagined by and carved out of dimensional space by The Architect, one of the Ultras who’s been co-opted by the H-K program. It’s oversimple to say that the HQ exists “in his head”; it’s more that the Architect is a quirky but insanely powerful telekinetic who can link you to a dimension in which nothing exists except what he creates mentally out of thin air. So long as the Architect is on our side, it’s the safest place for the H-K program to house itself since it cannot be accessed or even located by potential enemies. One of the drawbacks of the place is that the look and details of it tend to shift and change whenever the Architect gets a new notion or idea (meaning everyone on-site hates the day each month when his subscription copy of Better Homes & Gardens shows up).
Others introduced are Stalker, who (up until Ellis’s arrival) has been the H-Ks’ primary Ultra Sapiens tracker, and Cloaker, the single most important field agent in any mission because he has the mental power to fool observers into seeing the agents however he wants them to be seen—as Asian tourists, as a visiting swim team, as anything but Threatening Guys With Guns. Cloaker’s weird and a bit slimy—Steve Buscemi-ish—but everyone’s always nicest to him because he has the power to make bystanders “see” you in your underwear.
Ellis—who, remember, is still reeling in shock from everything that went down in issue one—gets the tour but is uneasy. He pretends to go along with Sam and the program for now, but by issue’s end, we realize that he’s keeping to himself some serious reservations and suspicions about this whole operation. He trusts no one except, potentially, Wolf—who has proven to be the only one in Ellis’s world now who is straight up and is exactly who he says he is, something not even Ellis’s parents could have claimed.
ISSUE FOUR: Take the recent “Iraq/Haliburton/oil field contracts” scandal-scenario and replaced “oil fields” with “superhumans.” The U.S. Government has uncovered the existence of a small band of Ultra-Sapiens in a war-torn, third-world country, and a high-level administration official has “arranged” for his corporation to secretly take “possession” of them for the corporation’s own ends. Ellis and Cole must get into the war zone and deal these Ultra-Sapiens out somehow before this happens.
ISSUE FIVE: An Ultra-Sapien who’s a “telemech”—able to read thoughts and transmit them as electrical impulses—is on the loose, and Ellis and Cole are dispatched to deal with him. Once they confront him, they realize he’s not a hardass criminal; he’s a poor bastard whose life was ruined by the Project, and he wants revenge. He’s gathered enough information to blow the Hunter-Killer program wide open and is about to feed it through every fax machine and modem line on Earth in one big burst of information. Do Ellis and Wolf take him down with extreme prejudice for the greater good?
ISSUE SIX: Ellis and Wolf have to shut down a full-scale riot at a prison nicknamed “Area 52”—a virtually unknown Guantanamo Bay-style facility where captured Ultra-Sapiens believed to be “hostile to the U.S.” are held and tortured in utter violation of anything resembling civil rights.
Further adventures will continue in this vein. Every mission will have a hard, character-revelatory moral choice at its center. And as we barrel into the back half of the year, Morningfrost’s relationship with the Hunter-Killers will become more antagonistic, leading to an all-out war between the H-Ks and their leader.
*************
There. A little wordy, maybe, and we changed a lot of the details as I wrote the actual series, but in answer to numerous requests--a sample Proposal.
Next: The Job of an Editor
THE SERIES
ISSUE ONE: We introduce Samantha, Wolf, the concept of the Hunter-Killer squad and the Ultra-Sapiens. We OPEN with the home life of Ellis and introduce him and his kindly parents as people we genuinely like and care about. But when Ellis begins to exhibit weird powers, his parents freak. Not at him; at the realization that this is a warning, that powered Ultra-Sapiens are approaching and Ellis is inadvertently “mirroring” their powers.
Ellis is freaking, too—he has no idea what’s going on or that his parents are anything other than what they’ve always seemed. The parents quickly smuggle Ellis out of the house and order him to run as far and as fast as he can...then, in order to cover his escape, they make a stand against a marauding band of Hunter-Killers, led by Samantha, who hit the house like a tornado.
Turns out Mom and Dad are long-escaped Ultra-Sapiens who have been keeping their background secret from their son—and they won’t go down without a fight. Mom sacrifices herself, Dad goes down in battle, much action, much mayhem—and then it’s complicated by the reveal that Ellis refused to abandon his folks and doubled back to the battleground.
Ellis’ mirroring powers kick in hard, he thinks he’s saving his father—but then Dad turns on him. Better Ellis is dead, he says, than kidnapped and dissected by these monsters. Ellis is forced to kill his father in self-defense, and Samantha and her team scoops Ellis up. Issue one ends with Ellis’ parents dead after having been revealed to Ellis as Not At All What He Thought They Were; Ellis’s home and life utterly obliterated; Samantha taking him into the H-K program; and Wolf on their trail.
ISSUE TWO: More background on the Ultra Sapiens program is revealed in this issue—a little more “origin material” without giving away too much or revealing too many allegiances.
On their way back to headquarters, Ellis begins to manifest a new power. The agents assume he’s trying to escape and they move into attack-ready mode despite his protests, but it’s Samantha who realizes the significance of his power flare-up. Ellis isn’t trying to escape—what this means is that there’s another Ultra-Sapien in proximity! Sam gets a sitrep and realizes the Ultra-Sapien is way high atop their Most Wanted (and Best Hidden) List and that he’s a clear and imminent danger to his surroundings. Sam makes the hard call that there’s no time to ease Ellis into this world or “train” him—even if they’ve got a read on the rogue Ultra, by the time they get Ellis to HQ and double back without him, the trail will be cold. No, they’ve got to bring Ellis into this and hope he lives.
With Wolf still secretly trailing them (staying far enough back not to have his powers replicated by Ellis, a sure tell of his presence), the team finds the rogue Ultra. By issue’s end, Ellis has been separated from Sam and the others and is facing this guy alone—or, rather, with Wolf now reluctantly at his side (Wolf still can’t risk Ellis being captured or killed, not until he knows more about the kid.)
Note also: this issue will detail Samantha’s predicament—that the power in her weapons is actually bio-energy she herself radiates, energy for which the weapons allow safe release.
ISSUE THREE: Ellis and Wolf against the Ultra in a battle that will form the foundation of their future friendship. On the one hand, Ellis is distrustful of Wolf since he still doesn’t quite know what Wolf had to do with his parents’ deaths; on the other hand, through the action of battle, both Ellis and Wolf inadvertently demonstrate to one another how unshakeable their moral codes are, which will be a huge point of commonality between them.
Once Sam and her crew reunite with Ellis (Wolf having vanished again), they take him to Headquarters and we see the operation in action. More secrets of the Hunter-Killer program revealed: first, the headquarters doesn’t technically “exist” geographically—it’s a locale imagined by and carved out of dimensional space by The Architect, one of the Ultras who’s been co-opted by the H-K program. It’s oversimple to say that the HQ exists “in his head”; it’s more that the Architect is a quirky but insanely powerful telekinetic who can link you to a dimension in which nothing exists except what he creates mentally out of thin air. So long as the Architect is on our side, it’s the safest place for the H-K program to house itself since it cannot be accessed or even located by potential enemies. One of the drawbacks of the place is that the look and details of it tend to shift and change whenever the Architect gets a new notion or idea (meaning everyone on-site hates the day each month when his subscription copy of Better Homes & Gardens shows up).
Others introduced are Stalker, who (up until Ellis’s arrival) has been the H-Ks’ primary Ultra Sapiens tracker, and Cloaker, the single most important field agent in any mission because he has the mental power to fool observers into seeing the agents however he wants them to be seen—as Asian tourists, as a visiting swim team, as anything but Threatening Guys With Guns. Cloaker’s weird and a bit slimy—Steve Buscemi-ish—but everyone’s always nicest to him because he has the power to make bystanders “see” you in your underwear.
Ellis—who, remember, is still reeling in shock from everything that went down in issue one—gets the tour but is uneasy. He pretends to go along with Sam and the program for now, but by issue’s end, we realize that he’s keeping to himself some serious reservations and suspicions about this whole operation. He trusts no one except, potentially, Wolf—who has proven to be the only one in Ellis’s world now who is straight up and is exactly who he says he is, something not even Ellis’s parents could have claimed.
ISSUE FOUR: Take the recent “Iraq/Haliburton/oil field contracts” scandal-scenario and replaced “oil fields” with “superhumans.” The U.S. Government has uncovered the existence of a small band of Ultra-Sapiens in a war-torn, third-world country, and a high-level administration official has “arranged” for his corporation to secretly take “possession” of them for the corporation’s own ends. Ellis and Cole must get into the war zone and deal these Ultra-Sapiens out somehow before this happens.
ISSUE FIVE: An Ultra-Sapien who’s a “telemech”—able to read thoughts and transmit them as electrical impulses—is on the loose, and Ellis and Cole are dispatched to deal with him. Once they confront him, they realize he’s not a hardass criminal; he’s a poor bastard whose life was ruined by the Project, and he wants revenge. He’s gathered enough information to blow the Hunter-Killer program wide open and is about to feed it through every fax machine and modem line on Earth in one big burst of information. Do Ellis and Wolf take him down with extreme prejudice for the greater good?
ISSUE SIX: Ellis and Wolf have to shut down a full-scale riot at a prison nicknamed “Area 52”—a virtually unknown Guantanamo Bay-style facility where captured Ultra-Sapiens believed to be “hostile to the U.S.” are held and tortured in utter violation of anything resembling civil rights.
Further adventures will continue in this vein. Every mission will have a hard, character-revelatory moral choice at its center. And as we barrel into the back half of the year, Morningfrost’s relationship with the Hunter-Killers will become more antagonistic, leading to an all-out war between the H-Ks and their leader.
*************
There. A little wordy, maybe, and we changed a lot of the details as I wrote the actual series, but in answer to numerous requests--a sample Proposal.
Next: The Job of an Editor
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
LEVERAGE: The 13th Step is "Shut Up About It Already."
First, a lovely little article about some of the FX in this week's episode over at IF Magazine. We work our VFX guys pretty hard, and average about 300% more FX shots than the usual 1 hour show.
Tonight's episode, "The 12 Step Job" was one of the last written, a gang-bang by ... well, there were only two other writers on staff at that point besides myself, so I'm not sure that counts. More of a menage-a-trois with the script, involving Chris Downey and Amy Berg. I was off writing the first half of the season finale while they were wrestling this to the ground. We can discuss some of the funkier dynamics once you've seen it, but a.) the bad guy isn't our usual bad guy and b.) Aldis and Kane spent the week calling each other "Riggs" and "Murtaugh." We may have created a monster. This ep is a fanfic grenade. Oh, and c.) I'll show you the last page of the script, and we can discuss something that's been heating up the message boards. Let's just say -- it's been on purpose.
This was actually meant to be the last regular season ep before the two-parter finale. It's out of order, but for an interesting reason -- clearance issues for some background footage on "The Juror #6 Job" didn't come through, and we had to switch eps to buy time to yank-and-replace the background imagery. Ah, well, the best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley. Welcome to weekly television production.
(You know, if I had to do it again, I would name my company "Gangaftagley Productions.")
Although I like all the episodes we made this year, I will say the next four -- "12 Step", "Juror", "The First David Job" and "The Second David Job" are a straight run through what I always thought of the show becoming.
I've got two mailbags to dive into, and you people were chatty as all hell. Let's see what we've got ... oh, wait, I mentioned back here that there were a few things cut for time from "Mile High" that I really missed. Now, first, go back and watch that episode.
...
Okay. In no particular order a.) the flashback scenes from Tuscany and Paris were actually written, but not shot. b.) the scene explaining how the Security Guy was in chargeof the cover-up, so he had to die too, and most important, c.) when Hardison originally arrived at Genegrow in the morning, the security guards were distracted because they were talking to a police sketch artist who was sketching the "furry thing" based on their eyewitness testimony. I believe Berg still has that sketch around here somewhere.
Right, now the mailbag, covering "Mile High" and "Snow Job" and miscellany.
John Seavey: But the real question is, (in "Mile High") do your airplane restroom walls contain a trans-dimensional portal in the mirrors out of which zombies can inexplicably spring forth to assault the hapless occupant, as in the classic film "Flight of the Living Dead"?
Shit. That was the fourth thing we cut.
Kathryn: I have to say, what excites me most about tonight's ep is the fact y'all got Jeremy Roenick on! Yes, yes I know. Forget the con, the victims, Sophie speaking French, it's the hockey player that gets me.
You know what, Jeremy was frikkin' great, and a real pro. Apparently he wants to move into acting, his agents contacted us, and so we took a shot. He didn't let us down.
Alan Scott: (earlier post)I tend to construct the villain plan absent the heroes, then drop them in. (Alan) Is that the Dungeon Master school of writing?
Terrifyingly, yes. I've had very good experiences with characters letting me know that they had somethign much more interesting in mind than I did when I started writing the script. I tend to trust them and let them run around in the world.
R.A. Porter: What I want to know is if the causeway landing - which was ridiculously cool and looked really good considering your budget - was inspired by the urban myth about the Interstate Highway System of if it was just done because it was cool.
Necessity is ... that epsiode ended differently, and Dean came in and reminded us that we had a fully functioning VFX department in house, and we should take a run at a big action ending. The company had causeway footage, so we just used that.
We of course didn't write a water landing, because at that point, every water landing had fatalities. Didn't bank on a miracle.
On the other hand, these things are tricky. The Core opened up right after the Columbia tragedy, and of course has a big-ass sequence where the space shuttle nearly crashes, and winds up landing safely in the LA river. We waited, breaths held, as the audience watched the movie's space shuttle roll to a stop ... and then they burst into thunderous applause. People stood up and whistled. Fiction is how we work this collective id shit out, and you never know how it's going to break.
Keith DeCandido: The Doctor Who references made me jump about. The World of Warcraft bonding made me laugh loud enough to scare the cats. Bravo! (And we already know that Hardison's a Who fan, since he mentioned Torrenting Who episodes in "The Bank Shot Job," so he probably picked those aliases deliberately.) Now we just need a Farscape reference.
Berg picked the Who aliases (she's nto a fan, but knows how to make the boss chuckle), but yes, Hardison in theory builds all their fake ID's. They tend to be ... consistent. I'm shocked you haven't realized that while I say the show is based on 60's and 70's heist shows, it's plainly a Farscape rip-ioff. Hardison's laptop is even named Winona ...
Jill: Definitely a fun episode - but was there a scene cut that linked Hardison's "birthday" to getting back into the main guy's desk? Or did I look away at the wrong moment and miss it?
It was cut -- more of just an angle to establish geography, but the location didn't cooperate.
Joshua James: Question ... it seems from the sample you posted that you all use traditional screenplay formatting for your scripts, as opposed to (what I've read, anyway) TV format (with Scenes A, B, C, and action lines all in CAPS) ... true? If so, how did that come about and is that possibly a new thing (because screenplay format is more accessible, I think)?
That format you mentioned (SCENE A, ALL CAPS ACTION) is the traditonal half-hour multi-camera format. One-hours (traditonally "single camera") have generally used filmic formatting for, well, as long as I've been doing it, which is around a dozen years now. I can check with my more veteran writer friends and see if the half-hour format was ever the standard for both styles of show.
Michael Clear: When Parker was giving the instructions about water landings and the emergency exits, was it clueless insensitivity that generated the comments about drowning and burning to death or was it the puckish sense of humor of someone who isn't afraid of being fired? Also, the amount of background research the team does is amazing. How do they always know that every man Sophie meets wants to sleep with her?
Annoyance at having to play a role, along with her usual cluelessness. The lecture to Sara Rue, however ("death haunts us all") is actually pure, sincere Parker.
As for the second bit ... yeah. When we finished the first take of the pilot, with Saul Rubinek trading barbs with her face to face, he stumbled over to me after the first take. I asked him if he was okay. He smiled grimly and muttered "John, you have no idea what it's like to be the full focus of that woman's attention."
Andrew Cunningham: When it comes to snipping bits, I'd far rather you cut the client meetings. They tend to be rather dreary, with lots of concerned looks and restrained tears - and this episode had enough references to what they were up to that it would have worked just fine without the opening scene. I wonder if you haven't got into a habit where you assume you need to drive home the cause they're working for, when that side of things occasionally serves as a sour note in an otherwise terrific episode.
You know, the client scenes are tricky. We're of two minds about them ourselves, but we've found that the eps where you don't connect with the clients don't land as well. I think we found a good balance later in the season, but yeah, they're the bane of our existence. Murder shows have it easy -- the victim's dead, and they can just show up.
Richard Jensen: The plane landing at the end was a pretty spiffy bit of CGI. I was wondering if it was done in house or if you had to farm those shots out to an outside effects house?
All in-house (see above.) Welcome to the future of television. Everything under one roof. When we began working on Leverage, the Electric Entertainment offices were on a studio lot. Across the way, a giant steel and glass building was under construction - a new post house. I idly asked Mark Franco, our VFX supervisor, what they did in that building. "Everything we do on six Macs," he answered.
"So that's not the future of visual effects?" I asked.
"John, the future of visual effects is four guys in a garage with a bong."
Patrick: The twist didn't make any sense to me. Why would Haldeman send his head of security on the plane to kill the accountant if he was just going to blow up the plane, the head of security doesn't need to be around to make sure she dies ...
See above. He was in on the original cover-up, but that bit got cut for time. Ah, the bitch-goddess of pipe. You never know what people will miss ...
All right, most of the next are off the "Snow Job" open thread:
Kimm: In addition to being filmed early in the process, was it also originally scheduled earlier in the season? It sure seemed like it to me - even though that really didn't take away from the enjoyment of the show.
Should have been the third or fourth episode. It was the second shot, based on a real-life scam, and we used a returning serviceman because the fact that the 2005 Bankruptcy bill didn't protect active-duty servicemen pissed me off. The second episode aired, however, "the Homecoming Job", also had a serviceman as a vic because we were working backwards off the giant pool of cash gone missing in Iraq. But it was written sixth -- no way we could have anticipated that victim duplication. So in retrospect, we would have split up the episodes by a few anyway.
Scott Edwards: Now, when you say second episode filmed, is that "after the pilot" or "including the pilot". I was watching this and it totally felt like the third episode (after the Nigerian job and the Homecoming Job). Nate's drinking problem just felt like it was something of an early show to a season.
Filming order was "The Nigerian Job" (the pilot), then the writer's strike, then "The Bank Shot Job", then "The Snow Job" and then "The Wedding Job." "Bank Shot" was always meant for the middle, and I'd always reserved the #2 shows as a soft relaunch I'd write later, so the original ep broadcast order should go Nigerian/Homecoming/Snow Job/Wedding. I'd argue that the group belonging in the first half of the season, except "Homecoming", can probably be shuffled in that half about to no great damage to the character arcs.
On the other-othe rhand, Nate's drinking flares up in a nice place where the epsiode landed in the season. So ... there's no lesson there. Just "so."
Richard Jensen: 1) I'm curious about the discussions in the writer's room about how far to take Nate's drinking problem. You need it because it gives an emotional grounding to the character. But if it gets too heavy, it could (To use your term) derail the fun train. Can't wait to see where your going with it.
It's a constant argument. It does pay off, and I have to say I'm a bit surprised by the people who think it's gone away. Go find me the episode where he doesn't have a drink in his hand -- particularly when he's stressed.
It may just be that because I'm a high-functioning ... well, not alcoholic, but I am a writer, for chrissake -- I tend to write characters who are not obviously drunk when they are, indeed, drinking.
Laci: this doesn't relate to the Snow Job- I have it DVRed and haven't watched it yet... but, I wanted to know if any of the writers are connected to the Midwest or Kansas in general. I have noticed that the state has been mentioned a few times, and you really never see it mentioned in TV or movies. Not unless you're talking about the Wizard of Oz or tornadoes. Just curious.
Kansas is the perfect comedy name for a state. Has a "k" sound.
Caseyko74: Also, why not use the name of a real county in Mississippi? Was it a clearance issue or just not wanting to offend anyone there?
Clearance. Counties get very tetchy about shows implying they lock up heroic Iraq veterans or cut deals with con men in order to arrest contractors.
ita: How long has Nate been single? With all this history with Sophie I can't but wonder what his status with the mother of his son was.
Hi ita! Nate's been single about a year and a half -- his marriage broke up almost immediately after the death of his son. Nate and Sophie, as detailed in "The Miracle Job", had a very borderline relationship, but never slept together during Nate's marriage. Many people may find that not cool, but I think Nate's a more interesting character for having been tempted but never succumbing, rather than being so saintlike he's never been tempted.
That's why Sophie said "I knew you two years ago." Nate dropped off the face of the earth when Sam died, and started drinking (more) heavily. She's just now figuring out he's not the man she thought he was ...
Michael: I still don't get how or why ppl in the movie/tvshow biz seem to think this is irrelevant or whatever, but PLEASE OH PLEASE, if you show somebody from Germany, allegedly speaking German, why does it have to be somebody who can't and who very obviously doesn't! Would it really cost too much to find somebody for the job who could actually deliver that ONE fucking line right? And also maybe correct it from the writing, where it was obviously fucked up?
As addressed in the comments -- the line was written by a native German speaker, but delivered (very funnily) by an Austrian actress. Unfortunately, at the time, we had no idea the trouble this caused, until our intrepid assistant had to run down the version for the dubbing. The line, if you're curious, was: " "This is the only thing that belongs to me. I curse the day Father put me on a sled."
Mitchy: If I have any complaints at all, it'd be that we don't see how or why, exactly, everyone stays with Nate (Sophie excepted). Eliott had good reason to walk out, so did Parker yet they didn't. Will that get explored at some point? I know we've had eps saying "we're more than a team" but I don't really think it's been established WHY they would feel that, when they're such loners as a rule.
They don't feel that way at this moment -- that's why the next couple eps are about them forming the team they become during "Bank Shot." Nate, at this moment, has a LOT of currency to make up, and that's why Sophie gives him the warning at the end. She knows it was a near thing that everyone stayed.
Darkrose: One thing, though...I know it's just a TV show and I should really just relax, but there are a couple of things that are straining my ability to suspend disbelief. It was nice to see Jonathan Frakes notice Nate talking to himself, but it made me wonder why more people don't notice. The bit in "Mile-High Job" where Alec ducks behind the cabinet door, still talking struck me as particularly silly.
Ideally, they can whisper, almost sub-vocalize with those earbuds -- but acting in a whisper, particularly when conveying pipe, sucks. So we tend to try to block the scenes so people are clear of them. Sometimes, we screw up. I'd absolutely admit that scene is one of them. We should have blocked the actress so she crossed out fo the room, or Aldis moved farther from her.
Darkrose cont'd: The other thing I'm wondering is how the team's clients find them. Given that they work for law-abiding people who got screwed over, it doesn't seem like it would be easy for them to find a bunch of thieves. In "Snow Job", the victim apparently uses his one phone call to get in touch with Nate--how did he get their number?
The other long-running conflict in the show's development -- how to explain where the clients come from. Hardison glosses over it in "Homecoming", but assume they seek out news items that pique their interest, mixed with legitimate web links off legal aid websites, etc. It was one of those things we spent a lot of page count on in one version of the show, but nobody really missed it.
WHEW!!
All right, this is your open thread for "The 12 Step Job." Also, we're starting to put together the DVD set for Season 1, including Commentaries. We will consider all reasonable suggestions for DVD bonus features as submitted in the Comments below.
Tonight's episode, "The 12 Step Job" was one of the last written, a gang-bang by ... well, there were only two other writers on staff at that point besides myself, so I'm not sure that counts. More of a menage-a-trois with the script, involving Chris Downey and Amy Berg. I was off writing the first half of the season finale while they were wrestling this to the ground. We can discuss some of the funkier dynamics once you've seen it, but a.) the bad guy isn't our usual bad guy and b.) Aldis and Kane spent the week calling each other "Riggs" and "Murtaugh." We may have created a monster. This ep is a fanfic grenade. Oh, and c.) I'll show you the last page of the script, and we can discuss something that's been heating up the message boards. Let's just say -- it's been on purpose.
This was actually meant to be the last regular season ep before the two-parter finale. It's out of order, but for an interesting reason -- clearance issues for some background footage on "The Juror #6 Job" didn't come through, and we had to switch eps to buy time to yank-and-replace the background imagery. Ah, well, the best laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley. Welcome to weekly television production.
(You know, if I had to do it again, I would name my company "Gangaftagley Productions.")
Although I like all the episodes we made this year, I will say the next four -- "12 Step", "Juror", "The First David Job" and "The Second David Job" are a straight run through what I always thought of the show becoming.
I've got two mailbags to dive into, and you people were chatty as all hell. Let's see what we've got ... oh, wait, I mentioned back here that there were a few things cut for time from "Mile High" that I really missed. Now, first, go back and watch that episode.
...
Okay. In no particular order a.) the flashback scenes from Tuscany and Paris were actually written, but not shot. b.) the scene explaining how the Security Guy was in chargeof the cover-up, so he had to die too, and most important, c.) when Hardison originally arrived at Genegrow in the morning, the security guards were distracted because they were talking to a police sketch artist who was sketching the "furry thing" based on their eyewitness testimony. I believe Berg still has that sketch around here somewhere.
Right, now the mailbag, covering "Mile High" and "Snow Job" and miscellany.
John Seavey: But the real question is, (in "Mile High") do your airplane restroom walls contain a trans-dimensional portal in the mirrors out of which zombies can inexplicably spring forth to assault the hapless occupant, as in the classic film "Flight of the Living Dead"?
Shit. That was the fourth thing we cut.
Kathryn: I have to say, what excites me most about tonight's ep is the fact y'all got Jeremy Roenick on! Yes, yes I know. Forget the con, the victims, Sophie speaking French, it's the hockey player that gets me.
You know what, Jeremy was frikkin' great, and a real pro. Apparently he wants to move into acting, his agents contacted us, and so we took a shot. He didn't let us down.
Alan Scott: (earlier post)I tend to construct the villain plan absent the heroes, then drop them in. (Alan) Is that the Dungeon Master school of writing?
Terrifyingly, yes. I've had very good experiences with characters letting me know that they had somethign much more interesting in mind than I did when I started writing the script. I tend to trust them and let them run around in the world.
R.A. Porter: What I want to know is if the causeway landing - which was ridiculously cool and looked really good considering your budget - was inspired by the urban myth about the Interstate Highway System of if it was just done because it was cool.
Necessity is ... that epsiode ended differently, and Dean came in and reminded us that we had a fully functioning VFX department in house, and we should take a run at a big action ending. The company had causeway footage, so we just used that.
We of course didn't write a water landing, because at that point, every water landing had fatalities. Didn't bank on a miracle.
On the other hand, these things are tricky. The Core opened up right after the Columbia tragedy, and of course has a big-ass sequence where the space shuttle nearly crashes, and winds up landing safely in the LA river. We waited, breaths held, as the audience watched the movie's space shuttle roll to a stop ... and then they burst into thunderous applause. People stood up and whistled. Fiction is how we work this collective id shit out, and you never know how it's going to break.
Keith DeCandido: The Doctor Who references made me jump about. The World of Warcraft bonding made me laugh loud enough to scare the cats. Bravo! (And we already know that Hardison's a Who fan, since he mentioned Torrenting Who episodes in "The Bank Shot Job," so he probably picked those aliases deliberately.) Now we just need a Farscape reference.
Berg picked the Who aliases (she's nto a fan, but knows how to make the boss chuckle), but yes, Hardison in theory builds all their fake ID's. They tend to be ... consistent. I'm shocked you haven't realized that while I say the show is based on 60's and 70's heist shows, it's plainly a Farscape rip-ioff. Hardison's laptop is even named Winona ...
Jill: Definitely a fun episode - but was there a scene cut that linked Hardison's "birthday" to getting back into the main guy's desk? Or did I look away at the wrong moment and miss it?
It was cut -- more of just an angle to establish geography, but the location didn't cooperate.
Joshua James: Question ... it seems from the sample you posted that you all use traditional screenplay formatting for your scripts, as opposed to (what I've read, anyway) TV format (with Scenes A, B, C, and action lines all in CAPS) ... true? If so, how did that come about and is that possibly a new thing (because screenplay format is more accessible, I think)?
That format you mentioned (SCENE A, ALL CAPS ACTION) is the traditonal half-hour multi-camera format. One-hours (traditonally "single camera") have generally used filmic formatting for, well, as long as I've been doing it, which is around a dozen years now. I can check with my more veteran writer friends and see if the half-hour format was ever the standard for both styles of show.
Michael Clear: When Parker was giving the instructions about water landings and the emergency exits, was it clueless insensitivity that generated the comments about drowning and burning to death or was it the puckish sense of humor of someone who isn't afraid of being fired? Also, the amount of background research the team does is amazing. How do they always know that every man Sophie meets wants to sleep with her?
Annoyance at having to play a role, along with her usual cluelessness. The lecture to Sara Rue, however ("death haunts us all") is actually pure, sincere Parker.
As for the second bit ... yeah. When we finished the first take of the pilot, with Saul Rubinek trading barbs with her face to face, he stumbled over to me after the first take. I asked him if he was okay. He smiled grimly and muttered "John, you have no idea what it's like to be the full focus of that woman's attention."
Andrew Cunningham: When it comes to snipping bits, I'd far rather you cut the client meetings. They tend to be rather dreary, with lots of concerned looks and restrained tears - and this episode had enough references to what they were up to that it would have worked just fine without the opening scene. I wonder if you haven't got into a habit where you assume you need to drive home the cause they're working for, when that side of things occasionally serves as a sour note in an otherwise terrific episode.
You know, the client scenes are tricky. We're of two minds about them ourselves, but we've found that the eps where you don't connect with the clients don't land as well. I think we found a good balance later in the season, but yeah, they're the bane of our existence. Murder shows have it easy -- the victim's dead, and they can just show up.
Richard Jensen: The plane landing at the end was a pretty spiffy bit of CGI. I was wondering if it was done in house or if you had to farm those shots out to an outside effects house?
All in-house (see above.) Welcome to the future of television. Everything under one roof. When we began working on Leverage, the Electric Entertainment offices were on a studio lot. Across the way, a giant steel and glass building was under construction - a new post house. I idly asked Mark Franco, our VFX supervisor, what they did in that building. "Everything we do on six Macs," he answered.
"So that's not the future of visual effects?" I asked.
"John, the future of visual effects is four guys in a garage with a bong."
Patrick: The twist didn't make any sense to me. Why would Haldeman send his head of security on the plane to kill the accountant if he was just going to blow up the plane, the head of security doesn't need to be around to make sure she dies ...
See above. He was in on the original cover-up, but that bit got cut for time. Ah, the bitch-goddess of pipe. You never know what people will miss ...
All right, most of the next are off the "Snow Job" open thread:
Kimm: In addition to being filmed early in the process, was it also originally scheduled earlier in the season? It sure seemed like it to me - even though that really didn't take away from the enjoyment of the show.
Should have been the third or fourth episode. It was the second shot, based on a real-life scam, and we used a returning serviceman because the fact that the 2005 Bankruptcy bill didn't protect active-duty servicemen pissed me off. The second episode aired, however, "the Homecoming Job", also had a serviceman as a vic because we were working backwards off the giant pool of cash gone missing in Iraq. But it was written sixth -- no way we could have anticipated that victim duplication. So in retrospect, we would have split up the episodes by a few anyway.
Scott Edwards: Now, when you say second episode filmed, is that "after the pilot" or "including the pilot". I was watching this and it totally felt like the third episode (after the Nigerian job and the Homecoming Job). Nate's drinking problem just felt like it was something of an early show to a season.
Filming order was "The Nigerian Job" (the pilot), then the writer's strike, then "The Bank Shot Job", then "The Snow Job" and then "The Wedding Job." "Bank Shot" was always meant for the middle, and I'd always reserved the #2 shows as a soft relaunch I'd write later, so the original ep broadcast order should go Nigerian/Homecoming/Snow Job/Wedding. I'd argue that the group belonging in the first half of the season, except "Homecoming", can probably be shuffled in that half about to no great damage to the character arcs.
On the other-othe rhand, Nate's drinking flares up in a nice place where the epsiode landed in the season. So ... there's no lesson there. Just "so."
Richard Jensen: 1) I'm curious about the discussions in the writer's room about how far to take Nate's drinking problem. You need it because it gives an emotional grounding to the character. But if it gets too heavy, it could (To use your term) derail the fun train. Can't wait to see where your going with it.
It's a constant argument. It does pay off, and I have to say I'm a bit surprised by the people who think it's gone away. Go find me the episode where he doesn't have a drink in his hand -- particularly when he's stressed.
It may just be that because I'm a high-functioning ... well, not alcoholic, but I am a writer, for chrissake -- I tend to write characters who are not obviously drunk when they are, indeed, drinking.
Laci: this doesn't relate to the Snow Job- I have it DVRed and haven't watched it yet... but, I wanted to know if any of the writers are connected to the Midwest or Kansas in general. I have noticed that the state has been mentioned a few times, and you really never see it mentioned in TV or movies. Not unless you're talking about the Wizard of Oz or tornadoes. Just curious.
Kansas is the perfect comedy name for a state. Has a "k" sound.
Caseyko74: Also, why not use the name of a real county in Mississippi? Was it a clearance issue or just not wanting to offend anyone there?
Clearance. Counties get very tetchy about shows implying they lock up heroic Iraq veterans or cut deals with con men in order to arrest contractors.
ita: How long has Nate been single? With all this history with Sophie I can't but wonder what his status with the mother of his son was.
Hi ita! Nate's been single about a year and a half -- his marriage broke up almost immediately after the death of his son. Nate and Sophie, as detailed in "The Miracle Job", had a very borderline relationship, but never slept together during Nate's marriage. Many people may find that not cool, but I think Nate's a more interesting character for having been tempted but never succumbing, rather than being so saintlike he's never been tempted.
That's why Sophie said "I knew you two years ago." Nate dropped off the face of the earth when Sam died, and started drinking (more) heavily. She's just now figuring out he's not the man she thought he was ...
Michael: I still don't get how or why ppl in the movie/tvshow biz seem to think this is irrelevant or whatever, but PLEASE OH PLEASE, if you show somebody from Germany, allegedly speaking German, why does it have to be somebody who can't and who very obviously doesn't! Would it really cost too much to find somebody for the job who could actually deliver that ONE fucking line right? And also maybe correct it from the writing, where it was obviously fucked up?
As addressed in the comments -- the line was written by a native German speaker, but delivered (very funnily) by an Austrian actress. Unfortunately, at the time, we had no idea the trouble this caused, until our intrepid assistant had to run down the version for the dubbing. The line, if you're curious, was: " "This is the only thing that belongs to me. I curse the day Father put me on a sled."
Mitchy: If I have any complaints at all, it'd be that we don't see how or why, exactly, everyone stays with Nate (Sophie excepted). Eliott had good reason to walk out, so did Parker yet they didn't. Will that get explored at some point? I know we've had eps saying "we're more than a team" but I don't really think it's been established WHY they would feel that, when they're such loners as a rule.
They don't feel that way at this moment -- that's why the next couple eps are about them forming the team they become during "Bank Shot." Nate, at this moment, has a LOT of currency to make up, and that's why Sophie gives him the warning at the end. She knows it was a near thing that everyone stayed.
Darkrose: One thing, though...I know it's just a TV show and I should really just relax, but there are a couple of things that are straining my ability to suspend disbelief. It was nice to see Jonathan Frakes notice Nate talking to himself, but it made me wonder why more people don't notice. The bit in "Mile-High Job" where Alec ducks behind the cabinet door, still talking struck me as particularly silly.
Ideally, they can whisper, almost sub-vocalize with those earbuds -- but acting in a whisper, particularly when conveying pipe, sucks. So we tend to try to block the scenes so people are clear of them. Sometimes, we screw up. I'd absolutely admit that scene is one of them. We should have blocked the actress so she crossed out fo the room, or Aldis moved farther from her.
Darkrose cont'd: The other thing I'm wondering is how the team's clients find them. Given that they work for law-abiding people who got screwed over, it doesn't seem like it would be easy for them to find a bunch of thieves. In "Snow Job", the victim apparently uses his one phone call to get in touch with Nate--how did he get their number?
The other long-running conflict in the show's development -- how to explain where the clients come from. Hardison glosses over it in "Homecoming", but assume they seek out news items that pique their interest, mixed with legitimate web links off legal aid websites, etc. It was one of those things we spent a lot of page count on in one version of the show, but nobody really missed it.
WHEW!!
All right, this is your open thread for "The 12 Step Job." Also, we're starting to put together the DVD set for Season 1, including Commentaries. We will consider all reasonable suggestions for DVD bonus features as submitted in the Comments below.
Chekov's Bullets and the Second View
by M A N
Time has not been a friend of mine this week, but I do quickly want to discuss the concept of the "gun on the mantlepiece." Playwright Anton Chekov said that if there is a gun on the mantlepiece in ACT 1, it must go off in ACT 3. This little tidbit of literary wisdom is known as (obviously) Chekov's Gun (like the Wiki article says, this concept is often confused with foreshadowing. Personally I think they are distinctly different. I see foreshadowing as more of an abstract hint of things to come whereas Chekov's gun refers to more tangible objects or events).
Chekov's adage makes perfect sense. If you're going to show your audience something as profound as a the metaphorical gun, it better have some relevance to your story. There's nothing quite so frustrating as a story that is all set-up and no payoff.
I am terribly fond of Chekov's gun. However, I tend to misuse the concept (or perhaps just misunderstand). Whereas Chekov was referring to something that is obvious to the audience, I like things that aren't immediately obvious to the audience. They're little things that read as throwaway lines or pieces of scenery solely there to decorate the background. It isn't until the climax of the story that all these little fragments come into place.
The wrtiers of Dr. Who use this to wonderful effect.
*SPOILERS BEGIN*
Take for example, Season 4. The declining bee population, the missing planets, the Medusa Cascade, even the more obvious Rose Easter Eggs. They all act as breadcrumbs throughout the season until they coalesce in the final episodes.
*SPOILERS END*
What I love about these little "bullets" is that noticing them isn't imperitive to enjoying or understanding the story, but it adds a layer of enjoyment for audience members who like to delve a bit deeper. It also increases the enjoyment of a second viewing/reading as you notice clues and hints that seemed irrelevant before. This also makes future stories more enjoyable by encouraging the parsing of scenes and language for hidden meanings.
For a brief example, watch the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that Mark Waid posted on his site. Then go back and watch it again, keeping an eye out for all the clues. I'm sure there will be a couple of times where you'll slap your forehead and say, "Duh!" But notice what happenes. You've just watched a show TWICE, the second time being equally enjoyable yet for a different reason. To use a bad metaphor, you already know the punchline, but you're watching it for the joke.
I've done this with my own writing, specifically with Fall of Cthulhu. There is one specific bullet that I have been leaving on the mantlepiece since the very first issue that won't go off until the very last (next month as a matter of fact). The goal is to not only make the story enjoyable during the first reading, but to compel the reader to read the story a second time. Whether it works or not is something you will have to tell me.
On a separate note, we'll be skipping Guitar Friday this week since I'll be in New York for the New York Comicon. If any of you will be there, make sure to stop by BOOM! Booth #1313 on the main floor and say hi.
Time has not been a friend of mine this week, but I do quickly want to discuss the concept of the "gun on the mantlepiece." Playwright Anton Chekov said that if there is a gun on the mantlepiece in ACT 1, it must go off in ACT 3. This little tidbit of literary wisdom is known as (obviously) Chekov's Gun (like the Wiki article says, this concept is often confused with foreshadowing. Personally I think they are distinctly different. I see foreshadowing as more of an abstract hint of things to come whereas Chekov's gun refers to more tangible objects or events).
Chekov's adage makes perfect sense. If you're going to show your audience something as profound as a the metaphorical gun, it better have some relevance to your story. There's nothing quite so frustrating as a story that is all set-up and no payoff.
I am terribly fond of Chekov's gun. However, I tend to misuse the concept (or perhaps just misunderstand). Whereas Chekov was referring to something that is obvious to the audience, I like things that aren't immediately obvious to the audience. They're little things that read as throwaway lines or pieces of scenery solely there to decorate the background. It isn't until the climax of the story that all these little fragments come into place.
The wrtiers of Dr. Who use this to wonderful effect.
*SPOILERS BEGIN*
Take for example, Season 4. The declining bee population, the missing planets, the Medusa Cascade, even the more obvious Rose Easter Eggs. They all act as breadcrumbs throughout the season until they coalesce in the final episodes.
*SPOILERS END*
What I love about these little "bullets" is that noticing them isn't imperitive to enjoying or understanding the story, but it adds a layer of enjoyment for audience members who like to delve a bit deeper. It also increases the enjoyment of a second viewing/reading as you notice clues and hints that seemed irrelevant before. This also makes future stories more enjoyable by encouraging the parsing of scenes and language for hidden meanings.
For a brief example, watch the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that Mark Waid posted on his site. Then go back and watch it again, keeping an eye out for all the clues. I'm sure there will be a couple of times where you'll slap your forehead and say, "Duh!" But notice what happenes. You've just watched a show TWICE, the second time being equally enjoyable yet for a different reason. To use a bad metaphor, you already know the punchline, but you're watching it for the joke.
I've done this with my own writing, specifically with Fall of Cthulhu. There is one specific bullet that I have been leaving on the mantlepiece since the very first issue that won't go off until the very last (next month as a matter of fact). The goal is to not only make the story enjoyable during the first reading, but to compel the reader to read the story a second time. Whether it works or not is something you will have to tell me.
On a separate note, we'll be skipping Guitar Friday this week since I'll be in New York for the New York Comicon. If any of you will be there, make sure to stop by BOOM! Booth #1313 on the main floor and say hi.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Behind the Scenes
Speaking of the season finale, all the shots in this portfolio were done as we were shooting the two-parter.
LEVERAGE Season Two
Annnnnnnd it's official.
TNT Renews Popular Drama Series LEVERAGE for Second Season
Acclaimed Series, Starring Oscar Winner Timothy Hutton, Ranks as Ad-Supported Cable's #1 Entertainment Program in the Tuesday 10 p.m. (ET/PT) Timeslot
Series Averages 3.2 Million Viewers and Scores Big Growth Through Time-Shifted Viewing
TNT's critically acclaimed hit series LEVERAGE will be back for a second season, according to an announcement today by Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). TNT has ordered 15 new episodes of the popular, high-octane series, which stars Oscar winner Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, Nero Wolfe), Gina Bellman (Coupling), Christian Kane (TNT's Into the West), Beth Riesgraf (Without a Trace) and Aldis Hodge (Friday Night Lights).
LEVERAGE currently airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), with the second season slated to begin later this year. The series is produced by Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment. Dean Devlin (Independence Day, TNT's The Librarian movie series), John Rogers (Cosby) and Chris Downey (The King of Queens) serve as executive producers.
LEVERAGE ranks as ad-supported cable's #1 entertainment program in the Tuesday 10 p.m. (ET/PT) timeslot among viewers, households and adults 25-54. The Dec. 7 premiere was watched by 5.6 million viewers and scored TNT's best original series telecast ever in delivery of adults 18-49 during the regular broadcast season. Through its first nine episodes, LEVERAGE has averaged 3.2 million viewers and 1.4 million adults 18-49 in Live + Same Day viewing. The first six episodes scored strong growth when comparing Live to Live + 7 numbers, with total viewership rising 33% to 4.1 million and adults 18-49 rising 42% to 1.9 million.
"We're thrilled that audiences and critics have responded so positively to LEVERAGE and made the show a solid hit," Wright said. "We look forward to another great season of fun and exciting storylines brought to life by the outstanding cast, led by Timothy Hutton, and the incredible production team, headed up by executive producers Dean Devlin and John Rogers."
LEVERAGE follows a team of thieves, hackers and grifters who seek revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize people. Hutton stars as a former insurance investigator whose son died as a result of corporate greed. He now puts his energy, quick mind and keen intellect toward securing justice for society's underdogs.
"We had an amazing experience shooting the first season of LEVERAGE with such a talented cast and crew and with the full support of TNT behind us," Devlin said. "We can't wait to get to work on season two and take viewers on another adventure with Nate and his team."
Some day soon I'll tell you how we officially found out, which is one of the cooler stories of my entire misbegotten career.
Now sod off, I'm typing. After what we did to them in the season finale, how the hell ...
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