Grey's Anatomy: Grey Matter

“Great Expectations” for Eric Buchman (and his blog)

Original Airdate: 1-25-07

I got a call at midnight last night from my Mom.  From the East Coast.  So it was 3am where she was.  She watched the show. Went online. And waited. And waited. And waited. And called.

She wanted to know where my blog was.

She called again this morning.  No blog.

Just got an instant message from her 15 minutes ago from her. Asking about the blog.

My point… I know ya’ll are a little frustrated at the lack of a blog. But no one is more frustrated than my own mom, so you don't need to worry about punishing me because I’m surely going to be grounded the next time I get back to Florida.

The thing is, I just don’t know where to begin.  There’s just so much I want to say.

Do I start by saying how thankful I am for this opportunity? I just can’t thank Shonda enough for this. And many, many thanks to Krista, Mark, Allan, Tony & Joan for guiding me through the process with such care.  To Stacy for being such a rock on set. To Debora and Kip and Zoanne and Harry & Gab for their input in the script.  To Carolina for easing all my fears and offering such great advice.  Television is a very collaborative medium, and I’m so fortunate that my first time was with such a talented and generous and considerate writing staff.

Or do I start with what a hypocrite I am?  I’m the guy who posts the blogs the writers write, so I’m the guy who harps on all them for not getting in their blogs in a timely manner.  And even though I've done two blogs in the past (this one and this one), this IS my first time writing about an episode with my name on it.  And I finally get where their brain freeze is coming from.  (but don’t worry, I’ll still harp on them!)

Or do I start with the stuff I know you all want to know about?   You see, for the first two seasons, I was the guy who read every comment.   Every. Single. One of them.

And I know what you really want to know…

And you don’t want a recap of what just happened in last night’s episode.

You want to know what happens next. 

You want to know how Cristina and Callie respond.

You want to know if Derek finds out about all the proposing and is inspired to ask Meredith to marry him.

But you know I can’t tell you that. Because as you can see in the above, I love my job.  And if I told you, I’d get fired.  My parents threatened to disown me if I didn’t tell them.  And… I still didn’t tell them.  I’ll be eating take-out for Thanksgiving this year. But at least I’ll still have my job.

Anyways…  I can’t really start out with any of those things.

So I’ll start with… sex.

Let’s talk about George having a lot of it.  We needed to show George grieving in a new way for Grey’s.  We didn’t want to repeat any beats of Izzie’s grief.  And because we knew we had to build to that proposal, we wanted to have George burying his grief in Callie.  And in a way that would bother his best friend Izzie.  We also wanted Callie to feel some remorse.  She finally got George, but not in the way she wanted. She’s gotten his body, but the underlying relationship isn’t there anymore.  So what does all that add up to?  Make George a sex machine and it’ll bother his friends, pain Callie, and be VERY different from Izzie’s mourning.

Let’s talk about the fact that Cristina and Burke are probably still having a lot of sex, despite their silent situation. In early versions of the script, we actually wanted to show just that -- Burke and Cristina having great sex, but not saying a word. Silent sex. It works in theory, but in execution (on broadcast television) how the hell do you show two people having sex, and know they’re enjoying it if it’s completely silent. You can’t have silence on television.  Unless it’s for dramatic effect… waiting for a verdict on Law and Order.  Or for comedic effect. The awkward but brilliant silence of The Office.  But silence during sex? On TV that usually conveys boredom.

Wait a second, I just remembered something. I can’t start with sex after all.   My mom is reading this.

So let’s start with…

Richard and Adele.  Richard finally goes to the board and officially got his retirement going. Which gets the race for chief going.  Which gets all our attendings acting like children.  Which gets the Nazi back.  Which leads him back to Adele’s… only to be turned away at the door.  Poor, poor Richard. Does this mean the race is over?  All that was for naught? Wait – I can’t talk about the future.  Crap.  Okay, moving onto the next topic…

So let’s start with…

The fact that this was my first time.

And how thankful I am that I did it with people who were so gentle and considerate, and wanted to make sure I was completely satisfied by the experience.

Wait a second. Sounds like I’m talking about sex again. Um... Okay then… moving on…

So let’s start with…

The Amish. Yeah, we had Amish characters fly on an airplane. But I’m told that’s okay under such dire circumstances. Their daughter is 3000 miles away and she’s sick! But wait – I don’t want to upset any Amish people reading this, so I probably should move on…

(possibly interesting tidbit: first day of shooting, a member of the crew, Ryan Blank, walked up to me to say that his father was Amish, and that he just happens to be in town for a few days… an amazing coincidence. we immediately set up a meeting with his father and our researcher and director and that’s how the Pennsylvania Dutch wound up in the episode. Mr. Blank made a CD of him saying the lines, and the actors memorized it and rehearsed it on their own. And I think they did a great job… even though I still have no clue what they were saying)

Okay. So let’s start with…

Meredith and Derek! 

Finally.  They're a topic with no more taboos. I possibly can’t ruin when they’ll get back together, because they got back together 5 episodes ago. (or 6 depending on how you count “back together”).   On the surface, their story in this episode isn’t very complicated.  They had a fight that -- compared to past Meredith and Derek fights -- was barely anything.  I mean, remember when Derek basically called Meredith a whore?  But this was their first fight as a real, honest-to-goodness couple.  And even though it was a minor fight, it’s very revealing for Meredith.  She’s not used to fighting with someone and having them come back.  We know how things are with her mom. We know her dad left even before she had a chance to ever fight with him.  We can now picture every boyfriend she ever had leaving after just a couple weeks, if she didn’t leave first.  This is probably the longest relationship she’s ever been in.  And the first with someone she feels a genuine connection with.  We might know Derek will come back – but she doesn’t. The scene at the end between them is actually a milestone of sorts for her. She has to admit just how new to all this she really is.  The woman with a habit of getting drunk and having sex with inappropriate men – is finally in virgin territory. 

You know, that’ll be good title for a novel. “The Virgin Whore” I wonder if that’s been done yet…  Just googled it. Crap. It’s not a book, but it’s a cocktail made with vodka, tequila, cranberry and apple juice, food coloring, and lime kool-aid.  And you know what? Meredith might actually like that, considering her fondness for tequila.

Okay, I’m off on a tangent… That’s not a good sign. Means I need to pick a topic with more going on… hmm… 

Let’s start with…

Alex and Addison. Ouch.  That’s all I can say.  I watched the episode with a group of friends, and when Alex says “you’re my boss, what was I supposed to do?” (when he explained why he kissed her back in the last episode) – it stung the entire room. We all felt what Addison feels in that moment.  But what’s most painful about that scene? Not that Alex effectively shut Addison down in such a cold and direct manner. But that it seems like such a waste of chemistry.  When they went into that closet, the last thing we wanted to see them do is pour water on their fire.  Okay, I’m getting frustrated just thinking about it.  Not a good topic for me.

So let’s start with… Well, what’s left? 

Mark Sloan? 

Can I just say that Eric Dane, who plays Mark, is like the nicest guy ever?  During the read thru for the episode, he paid me my first compliment ever as a writer (from a professional actor).  Sara Ramirez got to a line I wrote in the Izzie-Callie hallway scene (a line that never made it to air actually), and she totally sold it.  And Eric looked up and said “way to go, Bucky.” And what had been an incredibly nerve-inducing experience, all of a sudden became very relaxing. My nerves went away. I was able to enjoy the remainder of the read thru.

Hopefully the excised line will wind up on the DVD. I can’t tell you what the line was, though, because ABC Standards and Practices requested its removal. In fact, I can’t really talk about those network matters at all, so I guess I should choose another topic…

So…

Let’s start with… the opening credits!

Did you notice that Marti Noxon is now in the opening credits!!!  Yes, Buffy fans, THE Marti Noxon.  Or as we like to call her. TV’s Marti Noxon.  And you know what’s even better than having her here as a consulting producer for the rest of the season?  Her writing an episode.  And you know what’s even better than her writing an episode? Her writing and episode WITH Shonda.  And you know what’s even better than all that? (wow, I’m beginning to sound like game show host slowly revealing some big prize)  Them writing an episode you can see in less than a month!  Wait a second – Shonda is telling me that I’m revealing too much. I can’t say anymore, and I’ve already said too much.

Darn…okay then… I guess there’s only one thing left for me to say…

So let’s just start with the closing. 

Thank you all for watching last night’s episode.  Thank you for reading this blog. I hope you enjoyed the episode almost as much as I enjoyed working on it.

Oh, and thanks, Mom, for being so patient!
(even if you’ve been IMing me all day while I’m busy taking notes in the writers’ room)

Krista Vernoff on life, death, and "Six Days, Part 2"

Original Airdate: 1-18-07

The card at the end of this hour of TV that read “In memory of Bob Verne” was a tribute to my father. He died six years ago at the age of 56 after a very short battle with esophageal cancer. He called me one day at my office at Charmed and told me he thought he had the flu. A week after that he had surgery on a massive tumor at the base of his esophagus.   Before the surgery he was laughing and celebrating with family. He had a profoundly positive attitude. After the surgery, he had a massive scar down his belly and was intubated and pale, and upon seeing him,  I, who thought of myself as quite strong and educated and capable of handling that moment, started to shake and then hyperventilate and had to be helped out of the room.   

During the week we waited for him to recover, we learned that kidney function was of the utmost importance and I became obsessed, absolutely obsessed with his urine output. I checked that urine bag like 50 times a day. 

At one point, the doctors gathered the family to tell us that my Dad had a kink in his breathing tube and that they might not be able to get a new one in. They told us we needed to prepare ourselves for the possibility that this was it. We stood out in the hallway and waited, holding our breath, terrified. There was another family there in the hallway, the family of a 16 year old boy who’d been shot on the street on his way home from work in what was feared to be gang related violence, though his family insisted that he was a good kid, that he wasn’t in any gang. They were as scared as we were as they waited for news of condition. We talked to them for awhile, made small talk, then fell silent. And after a long, pregnant pause, one of the teenagers of the family looked over at a member of my family with a very disturbed look on his face. And then he said “Dang. Somebody just farted. And I think it’s this old white guy right here.” My family laughed harder than we have ever laughed in our lives.  And my dad lived through the reintubation.

He lived for three more days. 

When the surgeon sat us down to tell us that it was time to let him go, he explained that Dad had come to him – behind our backs – on his way into the OR actually – and begged him to proceed with the tumor removal no matter what. My Dad believed, truly believed, that he could fight that caner, that he could live, if only they would remove the tumor.  The surgeon did as he wished. And I have yet to completely forgive that surgeon for that decision. Because my dad’s body was riddled with cancer. Plus he had a liver condition and a heart condition. There was pretty much no way for him to recover from a surgery that traumatic. And the surgeon knew that. I believe in forgiveness, I do. I’m a fervent and avid believer that resentment, unchecked, leads to illness and spiritual misery. But I also believe that that surgeon cut my dad in half because he wanted the practice. It wasn’t the right call. He knew better. My Dad didn’t. The scene in which George yells at Bailey and Richard – that scene didn’t happen in my life. Writing and shooting that scene was wish fulfillment for me. What happened in my life is, we went into my Dad’s ICU and put our hands on his body and sang him Beatles songs while the nurses turned off the machines.  When they pulled the intubation tubes from his mouth, my sister and I put our faces to his mouth so we could feel the last of his breath.  And then he died. And I became a member of the Dead Dad’s club.

I know you didn’t want us to kill Mr. O’Malley. Believe me, I know that. He was funny and warm and kind and too young and too happy to die, just like my Dad.   He had children and a wife who loved him and needed him, just like my Dad.

Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes, surgery sucks. (By the way, because Bailey and Richard are Bailey and Richard, I don’t think they did what they did for anything but the highest reasons. I believe they were persuaded by Mr. O’Malley’s plea. I believe they felt they had a responsibility to honor his wishes even if they thought it was the wrong decision. But still, sometime surgeons and surgery suck.) It’s been hard for me sometimes to work on a show that by its very nature idealizes Western medicine and surgery. I believe in both, but only as a last resort.  Because I fervently believe (and statistics support) that surgery often does more harm than good.   So, one of the reasons I haven’t written an episode since 302 is because I called dibs on this one. I knew which story I wanted to tell.

I’m sorry it was so hard to watch – but I believe that where there is darkness there is light. I believe that from death comes life. I believe that in the face of great pain, families become closer. Friendships become deeper. Life becomes sweeter. And I believe it’s important to be reminded of the loss of love so that we will value and honor the love we have while have it.

I hope you do that.

I hope, that if you were impacted by this episode, you will use it as inspiration to call your Dad or your Mom or a Grandparent or a sibling or a friend or a teacher and thank them for being in your life and tell them what they mean to you.

If you weren’t impacted by this episode, and you just want to write me hate mail that’s okay too. That’s your choice. We all get one life to live. Or, maybe we get reincarnated a lot of times, I don’t know. But like Burke, in my experience science isn’t enough. For me it’s about faith. Some kind of faith.  Any kind of faith.

So maybe, while you’re calling your families or sending me hate mail, I’ll put forth a little effort and try, once again, to forgive my Dad’s surgeon…

All my best,  Krista   

(p.s. those of you who keep writing and begging for dirty, gratuitous Mer/Der sex? I have one word for you: porny. You have porny, porny minds. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing… : ) 

(p.s.s. Aren’t you glad little baby Laura is okay? I am. Because as you know I’m expecting a daughter on March 17th. And another thing that’s hard for me about our show is that by necessity, we tell a lot of traumatic baby stories and birth stories.  I read a book that helped me undo a lot of the fear those stories had instilled in me – it’s called “A Guide to Childbirth” by Ina May Gaskin. If you’re pregnant or know someone who’s pregnant or are thinking of ever getting pregnant, you should read it. It’s so so so great. Okay, now I’m really done. Bye.)

Krista returns with answers to your questions...

As promised, here are the first five questions answered. And, because I have a boatload of work to do and am not in the mood to do any of it, I answered a few more of the frequently asked questions. Enjoy!

Who is your favorite Greys character and why?

Hmm. I don’t know. I think I would have to say that George is the person who reminds me most of the people I choose to hang out with in my life. He’s smart and gentle and kind and y’know , a little messed up and passive-aggressive, but he deeply cares about his friends and family. I like him a lot. In terms of writing, my favorite character to write for is Bailey. And that’s because of her rhythms – she speaks in long, almost poetic speeches (we call them Bailey” arias”). She’s also funny and sharp and pointed and direct at the same time. I think she could’ve been a preacher if she hadn’t become a surgeon. Anyway, her arias are really fun to write.

How different is this season to what you had originally planned?

In some ways, with some characters, it’s exactly as we planned. With others it’s vastly different. I can’t talk about too much of it , because a lot of the stuff we had planned that fell away might come back as future story. But to give you an example of how and why things change, I will tell you that when we planned the season we had not planned to bring Izzie back to work nearly as soon as we did. But what happened is this: we were watching the early episodes and what we found was that we desperately missed having Izzie at the hospital, hanging with to the interns. She has such a unique spirit, such a unique energy, and the interns felt (to us) out of balance without her. Tony and Joan and Zoanne wrote SIX DRAFTS of an Izzie arc for episode five this year (“Oh, the Guilt”) -- and none of them were working. And they are terrific writers and so what we realized is that the reason the stories didn’t work, is because we were tired of having Izzie out of the hospital, separate from her friends. So three days before that episode was set to shoot – we had to completely re-break and rewrite it. It’s the one where Izzie goes to the hospital to clean out her locker and ends up seeing the Denny Duquette M and M and then hangs out all day and sees Cristina doing a running whip stitch and knows she wants to come back to work. Can you imagine how much work it was to integrate Izzie into that episode that late in the game? Again, our writers are rock stars. Cause the thing is, when we pulled that story thread, it wasn’t just that episode that unraveled. There was an episode set to start prep three days later, there was an episode in script stage, an episode in outline stage and an episode on the board in the writers’ room. ALL of those episodes were affected by that decision. It was a MOUNTAIN of work – many, many 12, 13, 14 hour days. But it was worth it because it was the right call. I don’ t know if that answers your question – but hopefully it gives you a little more insight into the process which I think is what you’re looking for.

Why was the old Addison elevator scene from Yesterday showed in this episode? I was like WTF!

Wow. You have an incredibly good eye. This question is referencing the montage in act six – in which we stole a shot of Addison from Season 2 (“Yesterday”). The reason is that, again, making this episode into two parts was like guerrilla filmmaking – on the fly, and just kind of insane. And that montage wasn’t scripted until late the last night before the last day of shooting. Greg Yaitanes, the director, and I were talking and we were frustrated because we didn’t feel we had a satisfying ending for part one. And we came up with the montage idea. And I frantically called Rob Corn, our line producer and begged him to make it possible. And then I cut a scene that was supposed to shoot the next day and ran back to my office and scripted the montage and Rob rearranged the schedule and made it happen cause he’s a miracle worker like that. And the one shot we were unable to get in the way we wanted on that last day was Addison. So we stole footage from an old episode (which, by the way, we have done more than once before.) And you totally busted us. Welcome to TV – this is how the magic happens.

Why is this episode called "6 days?”

Because it spans over six days (whereas an average episode of Grey’s spans over one or maybe two days). You have seen 3 of the six so far – and you can track them by the Mer/Der waking up scenes which start each new day.

You mentioned the decision to extend this episode into a two-parter. How exactly do you make that work, as you say, "without compromising the creativity"? Do you add to existing storylines, or actually add in new scenes? Or, did you alter the original 61 minute editing, and incorporate more of already shot scenes?

We took the story back the writer’s room. We break each episode as six acts. So our task was to take six acts and make them twelve. We made twelve columns on the dry erase boards and put act one on act one and put what had been act 6 on act 12. Then we put all the scenes we had already shot on the board – and we talked about what we could add. We knew we needed approximately 20 scenes and 20 pages of new material. We watched the 61 minute version – the whole staff – and then talked about which storylines could use fleshing out. The other thing worth noting is that we had one day to re-break the scenes, and then I had one day (the next day) to write them. We were here till 11pm that night but by the time we went home we had added twenty new scenes. Did I mention how much the writing staff rocks? I have to say, some of the new scenes are some of my favorite scenes in the episode. Like that scene where Callie tries to start down George while he’s waiting for word on his Dad – that was new. The scene at the beginning where George drops the check on the floor and begs Izzie to deposit it was new. So, at the end of several very long days, I think it worked out well. (By the way, I’m only talking about the writing process here – this was a monumental task for everyone – the actors, the editors, the crew, the director and producers and post – everyone. It takes a village to raise an episode. )

I know you guys have in-house medical counsel (in one of your writers, at least) who consult on the show - is that all you use, or do you use any of the pro agencies that exist? (I know of two offhand, one by the CDC and one by... people's whose name I forget, but I'm sure there are more.)

We use every resource imaginable. The CDC has come to talk to us. So have many doctors and nurses and organizations. Plus our wonderful Director of Research, Elizabeth Klaviter, has several prominent surgeons on speed dial. No fewer than 3 medical professionals comb through and correct every script we write.

Okay, that was five…here’s a few more.

Did George know what really happened in the operating room and how bad his dad really is at the end of the episode because he seemed so sad, especially after the whole scene with Callie.

Very astute question. George is a doctor. He knows how bad this thing is with his Dad and even though the urine output is good which means the kidneys are functioning, he knows these things can turn on a dime. When you have a family member in the hospital, there are high highs and low lows and they come tumbling right on top of each other. George knows that even if his dad pulls through post-op, he has months of horrible chemo and radiation ahead of him. And he keeps a brave face for his family, so when he has a moment alone, he lets the fear creep in. That’s how I see it anyway.

When you introduce a story point (ie Izzy's baby), do you then come up with a plan for when you will readdress the point? I know you won't tell us exactly how or when we'll find out new information, but we will find it out. Right? Please?

We plant seeds. We plant seeds and then let them grow. Some grow quickly, like dandelions, Some grow slowly – like – I’m not a gardener but what grows slowly? Trees? Roses? Anyway, everything comes back around. Everything blooms. And the garden is generally more beautiful for the wait. That’s what the gardeners tell me anyway.

Where have Meredith's voice-overs gone? They were a "Grey's" staple -- and made the show compelling and rich -- and I'm missing them!

The voice-over is not gone from the show – just from tonight’s episode and next week’s. Just as we had George do the voiceover once and Cristina do it once, we decided it would be okay to not have it for once. (And then of course, the episode became a 2-parter and so we won’t have it twice.) The reason I didn’t write one is because I always save the VO for last – I write the script first and then write the VO. When I had written this script, I didn’t feel that I had any more to say. It was a creative decision. Also, I know there was no opening VO on Carolina’s episode awhile back – but she did write one – the problem there was the episode was running long, and we ended up cutting the opening scene and then there was nowhere to place the VO. So, as you can see, sometimes decisions are made for sound creative reasons, sometimes for necessary technical reasons. Anyway, fear not, the VO will be back!

Have you guys ever gotten ideas from fan RPGs? I help run one, and we swear sometimes you guys read it.

I’m so sorry, but I don’t know what a fan RPG is so I think I can safely say we don’t get ideas there.

Whatever happened to Doc's burial? Or is this like Pet Sematary, and Doc's not really dead?

Same thing that happened to Dylan the bomb squad guy’s funeral and Denny Duquette’s funeral. Shonda doesn’t like funerals on TV. She doesn’t think that they can ever properly capture the essence of a real funeral. The writers and I tend to agree. So we leave them to your imagination.

Can you clarify the timeline?

Um, sort of but not as completely as you’d like me to. I can tell you that the interns are still interns – which means that less than one year has passed in Grey’s time. I can also tell you that this is TV and if you over-think the timeline and over-study the show, you will probably be frustrated because it probably won’t seem logical that less than a year has passed. But as with all art, sometimes you have to just suspend your disbelief and go for the ride. On Beverly Hills 90210, the entire cast repeated their junior year of high school. Cause sometimes, logic-leaps like that are necessary to keep a show on the creative track you want.

How do you become a writer for a show like Grey's Anatomy? Because I would love to be one. Love. And I have no idea how to do it.

I have gotten several questions in this vein. So I’m going to attempt to answer this in brief – and then I really should go do work.

There are many ways to become a TV writer. You can go to film school. You can do your undergraduate study in screenwriting. I didn’t. I did take two writing classes – one was playwriting with Prof. Jon Lipsky my senior year at Boston University. It was terrific and inspiring and a big part of what made me want to be a writer. The second was a screenwriting 101 class at the New School in NYC right after I graduated college with a prof whose name ai sadly can’t remember. . Both were helpful. But largely, I self-educated. By that I mean, I read a lot of books on how to write for television. And then I watched a lot of television. And then I practiced writing for television. I practiced a LOT. You hear a lot of stories about people moving to LA and never making it as writers and oh the misery and all the years it takes… My theory is that – okay, some of those people aren’t talented – but many of them, most of them, just moved here too soon. They didn’t practice enough before they started sending scripts out and trying to find an agent. Many, many people write ONE script, or maybe two, and then think they’re ready to be seen and read . To me, that’s insane. Because no matter now good you think your first script is, the second one will be better and the third will be better than that. You learn by doing. Write scripts and show them to trusted friends and get notes and TAKE THE NOTES and rewrite and then write more scripts. That’s how you get good. Also, read something good every day – a novel, preferably, something juicy and inspiring. And write every day. Write every day for a good long while. And then, when you’re ready, buy the books that tell you how to get your stuff read in Hollywood. There are a lot of good ones.

Okay. I really do have to go now. Thanks for all your wonderful questions and feedback. We think the world of you, our fans, and appreciate that the feeling seems to be mutual.

All my Best,
Krista

"Six Days" with Krista Vernoff...

Original Airdate: 1-11-07

The first thing I wanna say is, my three least favorite words in television are “To Be Continued.” Truly. I hate it and I’m so sorry to have done it to you. It was not my intention. I wrote this episode as one hour. But we shot it and it came in at 61 minutes and we only get 43 minutes per hour and so we were faced with the choice of either cutting 18 minutes – which really would have just destroyed the episode – or shooting 4 more days and making it a two-parter. It hurt. It was painful and laborious and I was terrified that the decision to go two hours would compromise the episode creatively and it really was such a beautiful episode at 61 minutes… Anyway, we did what we had to do, and I think that in the end, we made it work as two hours and I hope that you don’t hate us too much for making you wait a week for the pay-off.  It’s worth it, I promise.

Here’s the thing though. There’s just not that much I can talk about in this blog without giving away stuff that happens next week. I could tell you how much I love the stuff you’ve seen and how much I think you’ll enjoy where it’s all going but… I’m thinking maybe instead I’ll save any further discussion of “Six Days” till next week and use this time to talk about some questions you guys have been writing us.  (Also,  I  did the podcast this week – so if you aren’t technophobic, like me, and you actually know how to download and listen to a podcast , you can hear me and Susan, our wonderful editor, talk about this week’s episode in detail.)

What I want to talk about first is reruns. Yes, there’ve been a lot lately and I know it sucks. We had been scheduled to air a new episode on January 4th but  when Six Days became a two-parter, it became impossible to write, shoot and edit all the new scenes and get something on the air by January 4th. The GOOD thing about the change is – we were going to air a new episode on January 4th then have another repeat on 1/11. So – yes, you had to wait an extra week for a new episode, but you will now have 7 WEEKS IN A ROW of new episodes. Yeay.  We hope you enjoy each and every one of them.  We do know how frustrating the repeats can be, but if you break down the math – that the TV season is 40 weeks long and that we can only physically produce 24 episodes in a season – well, there’s gonna be a lot of repeats. That’s just the way it goes.

Second, I want to talk about the process – as in – how and why we do the things we do because a lot of you have been asking.  Here’s how it works: at the end of season two, we spent about 5 weeks discussing season three – really planning out all the arcs for the whole season. Then we went on a 5 week hiatus and when we came back, we started breaking story (which is what we call outlining episodes.) As we break story, we usually veer from what we had planned either a little or a whole, whole lot. Because sometimes things that work in theory do not work in execution and sometimes things that we think are BRILLIANT by 7pm on a Friday seem absurd by 9am on Monday. It’s not a perfect process, it’s not a linear process, it’s a creative process. And that process sometimes involves Shonda sitting up in bed at three a.m. having had an epiphany that completely destroys all of our plans but ultimately works out really well for the season. Or sometimes, we read a script and think it isn’t working and sit and try to brainstorm ways to make it work and we come up with major story points that way.

For example, in "Break on Through" last season, Izzie having given up a baby for adoption was never discussed in the writers’ room. I read the script and felt like it was missing a personal connection and I went to Shonda and the writer of the episode and said “what if Izzie had a baby she gave up for adoption” and they liked it so we put it into the script and put the script out and the writing staff was as surprised as Katie Heigl was because sometimes we get so far behind and so tired we forget to even put out a memo saying, hey, by the way, Izzie gave a baby up for adoption.  (And that, my friends, is what we call a run-on sentence. High Schoolers reading this should NOT, I repeat NOT, try to learn anything from my syntax.)   My point is, we work hard, we plan things and then just as in life, plans change and it’s one of the things I love about writing for TV.  Plus we have a phenomenal writing staff – they roll with the punches and very rarely burst into inappropriate tears when things change at the 11th hour. (Usually, these days, it’s me bursting into inappropriate tears but that’s because I’m very pregnant and wow, those hormones are killer. Greg Yaitanes, who directed “Six Days” parts one and two, stopped calling me Krista and just started calling me “Pregnant Lady.” As in, “Hey, Pregnant Lady, here’s what I’m thinking of doing with this scene.”   One might hear that as patronizing, but after spending 12, 13, 15 hours a day with me for three and half weeks shooting these episodes and watching me burst frequently into inappropriate tears,  I felt he had earned the right. But really – which of you didn’t cry after George saw his dad post-op for the first time and shaking, grabbed Mer’s arm and said “He’s my Dad, He’s my Dad.” ?? The problem is I burst out crying ON THE SET which …y’know…inappropriate.)    Okay, I digress. I was talking about process.   

I have heard it asked repeatedly how much influence you fans have on our storytelling. And I know one of the writers blogged that what y’all have to say carries a lot of weight in the writers’ room. And I think to a degree that’s true. And by that I mean, we read your comments – maybe not all of them but a lot of them – and sometimes we use them as a jumping off place for discussion in the room. Like, “A lot of fans don’t like this character right now. Why is that?” We talk about the character and the things he or she has been doing and where we want to go  -- we also usually discuss the fact that, for every fan who doesn’t like a character, there’s one who does.   That’s one of the things I love about our show – that it is polarizing.  (I used to have an acting teacher who said, “If the audience is on their feet at the end of the play, you’ve done your job. If the audience is booing and  throwing stuff at you at the end of the play, you’ve also done your job. What you never want is to receive “polite” applause.)   If our characters were less flawed, if say, they were just plain sweet and likable, then you would all agree that you liked them and then where would we go? How much growth is possible in a character who never makes bad decisions? How much drama is possible if people are never f**ked up, never bitchy, never raw?  So…our discussions that are prompted by your feedback often lead us down interesting paths, but they never end with us going, “Yeah, some of the fans don’t like that, we should just stop it.” Ever. Because it’s our to keep you on the edge of your seats, it’s our job to inspire you to write us in a feverish rage, it’s our job to sometimes piss you off and hopefully, always, to keep you coming back for more. 

Speaking of coming back for more…I have to go do work now – the writers’ room is calling.  So, because I dedicated this blog to giving you some answers – I will read and answer the first five questions you write me after reading this. (As long as you aren’t asking me to reveal future story points cause you know I can’t do that.)  Okay? And then next week, I promise, I will talk about 6 days, parts one and two in great detail.   Alright then, Happy New Year. I hope this finds you all healthy and happy and loving your lives.

More soon,

Krista 

(oh, and P.S, I wanted to say thanks to those of you who went to see my play in NYC. It was an honor and a privilege to meet some of you and I so appreciated your support!)