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September 16, 2005
Ho hum...
Big Sci-Fi Friday. On SG-1, you’ll see Prototype and The Fourth Horseman. Next week on Atlantis you get Aurora and The Lost Boys. Lots of episodes tonight… so I’m just going to throw out some behind-the-scenes information I’ve discovered. Yes, it’s all scandalous. Pay attention.
Prototype was the first script written by the newest writer in the Story Department here, Alan McCullough. I just had a fireside chat with Alan, who was a little nervous talking to me considering my reputation as a scandal-breaking journalist. Alan made me promise not to talk about his recent wedding or his prior career as an actor. Whoops.
Anyway, here’s a primer on how you get to be a writer on Stargate SG-1 (using Alan as a typical example). Step 1: You’re a talented writer. Step 2: You get an agent. Step 3: Your agent has a working relationship with Robert Cooper, the SG-1 Showrunner. Step 4: Stargate is looking to hire a writer. Step 5: Your agent pitches you to Rob. Step 6: Rob meets with you at a Toronto coffee shop, tells you a bit about the upcoming season 9 and the direction of the show, and you impress Rob with your good table manners and self-deprecating humour. Step 7: Nerve-wracked, you pitch several story ideas to the Executive Producers on a conference call. By all accounts it goes well, because they ask you to write an outline for one of your ideas. Step 8: They like the outline, ask you to write a script. Step 9: You get copious notes on how to re-write the episode you wrote. You suffer from feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. Step 10: They like your re-write, and hire you as a staff writer! Hurrah!
Alan’s take on the process was that this was the most difficult script he’s ever written. On pitching Stargate, he said it’s really tough because the show has been on for so long it’s hard to find new ideas. By the way, the episode had a couple of other names before Prototype, specifically “Paternity” and “Ricochet”. Once you see the episode you’ll realize why.
The Fourth Horseman is the first of a two-part cliffhanger. The General’s speech in this episode was going to be given by (actual) General Jumper of the USAF, but he was called away and couldn’t make it, so we had our fictitious General Hammond give the speech. But the speech was written by General Jumper and staff at the USAF (and tweaked by our own Joe Mallozzi). So it’s the real deal.
On Atlantis, Carl Binder wrote Aurora, and told me it was the first Atlantis script he’d ever written – even though Condemned aired first. Carl said writing Aurora was excruciatingly difficult, but I think he just said that to make Alan feel better.
In The Lost Boys, you’ll see the return Rainbow Sun Francks as Lt. Aiden Ford. Nope, can’t tell you more, except Ford’s story arc is one of the more inventive I’ve ever seen. And he does a great job with it. Brad Turner directed The Lost Boys, which was his last Stargate show of this year. He’s moved on to direct Prison Break and the new season of 24.
ATL
Posted by Alex Levine at September 16, 2005 08:35 PM
