Post by -|E|- on Feb 22, 2006 8:06:38 GMT -5
FEBRUARY 21, 2006
THE SHIELD
Episode 507 – "Man Inside"
By Emily Lewis
Today's a big day. The last day of shooting for this episode and almost eleven pages of script to film. Oh, and there's a crew party at lunch. I do not envy Dean White, our director for the episode. Actually, I don't envy anyone at the moment. I'm pretty much loving my life because I get to spend 10, maybe 12… okay, probably more like 15 hours with family. That's what this cast and crew is like for me. And this feels like a long-awaited home-coming…
I co-wrote this script with Adam Fierro (Supervising Producer and all around good guy), under the ever-supportive guidance of Glen Mazzara (he's one of the E.P.'s and runs the Writers' Room when Shawn is busy doing one of 20 million other things), and the always present shadow of the maestro himself. This is my first professional (read: paid) writing gig. But I know The Shield like I would my own child, if I had a child... I was Shawn's assistant from Day One of the pilot, when it was called "The Barn." I left after Season 3 because I wanted to be a writer. And here I am, back as a writer. It's pretty damn cool.
And what have I decided to do in this all important script? I've decided to beat the crap out of CCH Pounder (Claudette). I give her a bloody nose, make her fall down the stairs… That's what we're shooting today. The fall down the stairs.
This is the last scene of the episode, and Claudette's journey all season has been leading up to this moment. She's been hiding an illness, trying not to let it affect her ability to do her job. But in this episode, just when she needs her skills the most, her disease is her biggest adversary. Bigger than the serial killer she's trying to catch. That's right. Kleavon, who has danced in and out of episodes for two seasons, is back and this is the episode in which he is supposed to go down. Shawn wants to see Claudette have to make a choice - she can either let her disease get the best of her or she can overcome it to have a career win. We want her to win, but in true Shield fashion, it can't be clean. There are always consequences. "So just write that," Shawn tells me with a grin. Um, okay.
It's time to set up the shot. We haven't been able to walk on the stairs all day because the stunt team, lead by Merritt Yohnka, had to pad the wood and prepare the area for the maneuver. Dean has let Merritt choreograph the fall to ensure safety and believability, and now he wants to see what he has to work with so he can decide how he wants to film it. The stairs are a relatively small area in which to film and there are a lot of crew members who need to see what this is going to look like so the lighting and camera focus will be right. It's going to happen fast. But first, Merritt is going to walk the stunt woman, Petra Sprecher, through a slow-motion fall. She looks a little like a partially deflated dough-boy; she's wearing padding but underneath it she's completely ripped. I bet she doesn't visit the craft service table much.
The slow-motion fall is wild, like one of those trust games where you fall backwards and hope to God everyone's paying attention and has their hands up to catch you. Petra falls into a backward, spinning somersault and Merritt lifts her off the ground on her way down the stairs. Even at this speed, with the spotting and all the padding, it looks like it's gotta hurt. Good.
Back at Video Village (where all the monitors and directors' chairs are camped), we're ready to shoot it. Dean hunches over the monitors, turns into a conductor with all the companion gesticulations and grimaces, calls "Action!," and we watch as "Claudette" flies down the stairs and lands in a motionless heap. Perfect. Now all I can hope is that CC doesn't hate me for putting her beloved character through all this, and that you, the audience, enjoys the show. Personally, I couldn't have planned a better return visit to the Shield if I'd written it myself.
edit: bold formatting