Terrence Winter Comments on In Camelot at Slate.com

1
slate.msn.com/id/2098696

Terrific stuff in his commentary that will be of comfort to those, who like me, loved this episode.

This passage about how the show is written was particularly interesting:

<span style="color:navy;">And to clarify, we do write the episodes individually. It works like this: At the beginning of the year, David comes in with a broad-stroke outline for the entire season, including story arcs for each of our main characters. The five writers (David, Robin, Mitch, Matt, and me) then sit around a conference table as a group, pitching additional story ideas and fleshing out David's story arcs into episode outlines, which consist of one- or two-line explanations of what happens in each scene. (Reading this back, I realize I'm making the process sound too easy?it often takes several weeks for us to come up with just one story outline, with endless debating, second-guessing, arguing, and joking about how a particular story should be laid out.) When we finally agree and produce an outline, one of the writers will take it and go off and write the script. It's at this point, in the actual writing of the dialogue, that the characters come alive.

After the writer turns in a first draft, David will give his notes and the writer will go off for a second pass. When it's going smoothly (the story works, the writing is sharp) there aren't a lot of notes, and David lets the writer handle all the rewrites. On the rare occasion when the opposite is true, David will step in and take a pass himself. In addition to supervising the writing, there is nothing in the entire production of this series that escapes David's eye?and I mean down to the smallest detail, be it a single word in a line of dialogue or the color of an actor's socks.</span>

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub132.ezboard.com/bsopranolandf ... fisWall</A> at: 4/19/04 4:51 pm

writing staff

7
That explanation is pretty much how I figured they wrote the episodes. Its pretty standard across the whole industry (though for network TV the execs probably stick they're noses in to tone down sex/violence/language and insist on simple black & white, good vs evil plots).

Although most shows use the same working practice amongst the writing staff the best shows usually have a creator/executive producer who creates an atmosphere conducive to creativity and the writers form a close group so that they almost think as one. I figure that David Chase and the rest of the staff have this sort relationship

</p>
Post Reply

Return to “Episode 5.07: In Camelot”