JUNE 28, 2007

THE BIRTH OF A SERIES

It was in the spring of 2005 that I first got a call from one of my agents about pitching a television pilot. As someone who had worked exclusively in the movie world, my first response was, "Really? TV? I'm allowed to do that?" My agent assured me that I was, and suggested that I come up with some ideas to kick around in the upcoming TV season.

Around the same time, my manager, Mikkel Bondesen, was starting up his Television Production company. He was interested in pitching TV projects as well. I didn't really take it seriously, but I agreed to meet with his development VP, David, for lunch.

I was sure it would come to nothing, but it was a free lunch, and I enjoyed David's company. Hey, it's more fun than writing.

I mentioned this idea for a spy show, and talked a little bit about Michael Wilson, someone I had known for some time who had worked in the private intelligence field. It seemed like a cool arena for a show. We quickly realized that doing a sprawling international show set in the world of spydom was probably not going to work. Saying to a TV studio "It's set in Turkey this week, and in Indonesia the next" is kind of a non-starter.

And so we came up with the idea of grounding a spy, taking him out of the world of espionage and having him use his skills to help "real people." It had been done before in various ways – there was "The Equalizer" and "Magnum, P.I." back in the 1980's, but the time seemed right for an update, and I felt like I had a fresh take on it.

So we went in and pitched the show to Fox TV studios. They liked it, and we took it out to networks. We pitched it three places, and got two "no's" and a "yes." One is all you need, though, and we had a home at USA. That was a looooong time ago. They bought it in late summer of 2005. I turned in the first outlines around Thanksgiving of 2005.

I was swimming with my children the other day, and it struck me just how long it has been. My youngest son, now seven months, was not even conceived when I first pitched the show. My daughter was an infant, and she is now a bright-eyed two-year-old girl who says to me, "Daddy, don't go back to Miami to make Burn Notice. Stay here, with me, or I will cry." Honest, she says stuff like that. My eldest son, now five, was not long out of diapers when I pitched the show, and now he asks me how to spell "Burn Notice" and tells me he wants to make TV when he grows up so he can hang out with Jeff Donovan, his "coolest friend."

It has been an incredible experience. I started this process having never worked in television, having never written a pilot, having never had anything I'd written made (at least, not without me having to write the checks). And now the pilot is airing.

I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject later, but for now, in the wee hours of the morning on the eve of the pilot premiere, I will just say what a great experience it has been and how grateful I am to all of the people who have been involved. It is my fervent hope that people actually enjoy the show, but one way or another it has been a great ride.