Post by -|E|- on Jan 25, 2006 12:44:45 GMT -5
Episode 503"Jailbait"
POSTED BY: Scott Rosenbaum
JANUARY 24, 2006
*The comments and opinions expressed below are solely those of their respective writers, and not those of FX Networks, LLC, Twentieth Century Fox, or their related and affiliated entities.*
THE SHIELD
Episode 503 – "Jailbait"
"Anatomy of a Scene – Death by Chi-Chi"
By Scott Rosenbaum
Episode 503, which I co-wrote with Glen Mazzara, began with a unique premise: the Strike Team, knowing Lemonhead was wearing a wire and was being listened to by IAD, had to successfully solve a human trafficking case and at the same time figure out a way to get Lemonhead and their team out from under the IAD investigation. There's one scene in the script that I felt captured the essence of the episode best, so I've decided to discuss this scene in particular to give some insight to people about the process of writing the show and how individual scenes are created and executed.
The scene I'll refer to in this blog is Scene 7. The scene number means nothing to any of you but if you've seen Episode 503, you might remember it as the "Death by Chi-Chi scene" (the joke Shane tells over the scene). The premise behind the scene is that Lemonhead is wearing a wire for IAD. Vic and the Strike Team know this, however they must communicate with Lem in order to find out what IAD's plan is, who's behind it, and what IAD does or does not know about them. The Strike Team knows they are being listened to yet can never let IAD in on this secret. Scene 7 is critical because it must set up the stakes for not only the episode, but the entire season. The question was how to do this. Shawn Ryan, who loves to challenge us, started by talking about how Joss Whedon (who Shawn worked for at "Angel") once wrote an episode where the characters had to communicate but could never speak to each other for a majority of the episode. All Shawn asked me to do was figure out one lousy scene where the Strike Team had to do this. How easy, right? No.
Anyhow, I decided to center the scene around a dirty joke. I always got a laugh out of the Chi-Chi joke and had never heard it on TV before. It was the kind of joke that sounded like it could come out of the Shane character's mouth so I gave it a go. Now I had the smoke screen figured out, the question was how to get the important information. Shawn had it in his mind to use a computer keyboard so that question was solved. The scene was finally written, now we had to shoot it.
Shooting the scene was a pleasure as well as a lesson in great acting. The important part of the scene was not the joke or really even the information that was typed. The scene would live and die with the silence in between all of this. The looks between the characters as the information that one of them was wired and that IAD was investigating them was the money, and thanks to wonderful acting from Michael Chiklis, Kenny Johnson, David Rees Snell and most of all Walton Goggins, shooting went smoothly. Special props to Walton, who had to memorize three pages of dialogue, wrestle with an emotional rollercoaster as the information was laid out, and all the time tell the joke like he was sitting at a bar drinking beers with his buddies.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the scene as much as I did writing it, the actors had acting in it, and Stephen Kay did directing it.
POSTED BY: Scott Rosenbaum
JANUARY 24, 2006
*The comments and opinions expressed below are solely those of their respective writers, and not those of FX Networks, LLC, Twentieth Century Fox, or their related and affiliated entities.*
THE SHIELD
Episode 503 – "Jailbait"
"Anatomy of a Scene – Death by Chi-Chi"
By Scott Rosenbaum
Episode 503, which I co-wrote with Glen Mazzara, began with a unique premise: the Strike Team, knowing Lemonhead was wearing a wire and was being listened to by IAD, had to successfully solve a human trafficking case and at the same time figure out a way to get Lemonhead and their team out from under the IAD investigation. There's one scene in the script that I felt captured the essence of the episode best, so I've decided to discuss this scene in particular to give some insight to people about the process of writing the show and how individual scenes are created and executed.
The scene I'll refer to in this blog is Scene 7. The scene number means nothing to any of you but if you've seen Episode 503, you might remember it as the "Death by Chi-Chi scene" (the joke Shane tells over the scene). The premise behind the scene is that Lemonhead is wearing a wire for IAD. Vic and the Strike Team know this, however they must communicate with Lem in order to find out what IAD's plan is, who's behind it, and what IAD does or does not know about them. The Strike Team knows they are being listened to yet can never let IAD in on this secret. Scene 7 is critical because it must set up the stakes for not only the episode, but the entire season. The question was how to do this. Shawn Ryan, who loves to challenge us, started by talking about how Joss Whedon (who Shawn worked for at "Angel") once wrote an episode where the characters had to communicate but could never speak to each other for a majority of the episode. All Shawn asked me to do was figure out one lousy scene where the Strike Team had to do this. How easy, right? No.
Anyhow, I decided to center the scene around a dirty joke. I always got a laugh out of the Chi-Chi joke and had never heard it on TV before. It was the kind of joke that sounded like it could come out of the Shane character's mouth so I gave it a go. Now I had the smoke screen figured out, the question was how to get the important information. Shawn had it in his mind to use a computer keyboard so that question was solved. The scene was finally written, now we had to shoot it.
Shooting the scene was a pleasure as well as a lesson in great acting. The important part of the scene was not the joke or really even the information that was typed. The scene would live and die with the silence in between all of this. The looks between the characters as the information that one of them was wired and that IAD was investigating them was the money, and thanks to wonderful acting from Michael Chiklis, Kenny Johnson, David Rees Snell and most of all Walton Goggins, shooting went smoothly. Special props to Walton, who had to memorize three pages of dialogue, wrestle with an emotional rollercoaster as the information was laid out, and all the time tell the joke like he was sitting at a bar drinking beers with his buddies.
Hopefully you all enjoyed the scene as much as I did writing it, the actors had acting in it, and Stephen Kay did directing it.