February 2, 2007
FROM NOTION TO SCRIPT

by Andy Berman

Hello everyone, and by "everyone" I mean anyone who's a big enough PSYCH fan or desperate enough for inside scoop that they would bother to read a writer's blog. I mean maybe I can make this more interesting by every once in a while throwing in a tid-bit about how dreamy James Roday's hair is or how Dul� Hill is far cooler than any of us regular people could ever hope to be.

Quickly, I'm gonna steal this opportunity to thank creator Steve Franks and executive producers Kelly Kulchak and Chris Henze for hiring me on PSYCH and giving me one of the best writing gigs in all of TV-land. I don't want to make you too jealous, but I get paid to eat Twizzlers, tell jokes and think of new ways that people get murdered, kidnapped, drugged and stabbed.

Now I was asked to write a blog for my first episode 9 LIVES, but I never followed through and yes, I do feel guilty about it. I heard that little voice in my head say, "Come on Andy, don't be lazy. Sit down and write some thoughts, share an anecdote!" But then I soon realized that it wasn't a voice in my head at all, it was Tory Walker, our writer's assistant, shouting at me from her desk.

So, for those of you who wondered about the behind-the-scenes goings on of that episode, I will give you some background.

When I came in for my first meeting to get staffed on the show, I pitched out a couple of ideas of things I thought would be fun to explore. Okay, the word IDEAS is a bit of a stretch. They were splinters, notions at best. One of them was a one sentence thought, "What would happen if the only witness to a crime was a cat?" Well, I found out after that meeting that I got the job and on top of it was told, "Hey remember that idea you had about the cat?" I did remember, but I was quick to point out that it wasn't an idea really; it was just a "notion." They looked at me, "Well, okay, sure, a 'notion' whatever you want to call it ... that is going to be your first episode."

So somehow, I was gonna have to take that "notion" and build a whole episode around it. As a former actor turned writer, I found more than a little irony that the largest guest role in my episode was going to be played by a cat. And to think, I got into writing in order to write better roles for actors. I didn't let it discourage me however. I decided to take it quite seriously. I'm an animal lover after all and by the time I finished my first draft, I was very attached to the cat in my story, nay, I LOVED the cat.

I spoke to Steve, volunteering to fly to Vancouver to audition just the right cat. It was soon explained to me that the audition process would be very short. "How short?" I asked. "It's done." Turns out, trained cat actors are not very plentiful up north. There was only one. A beautiful long haired Calico. And YES, I know calicos are always girls and YES, I know that James referred to the cat the whole episode as "boy cat." But come on people, give it a rest, "boy cat" is funnier than "girl cat." Matt Shakman, maybe you remember him as the adorable kid actor, "J.R" on "Just The Ten Of Us?" Well he's all grown up now and he's turned out to be a very accomplished director and I think did a wonderful job with the episode. There's a lot more I could say about the episode but if you want to know more, you should just call me. Seriously, just call me. Especially really early in the morning. I just love that.

In the spirit of actors-turned-directors, the esteemed Tim Matheson of ANIMAL HOUSE fame (and about 1000 other things, just IMDB him ... I dare you) directed this week's episode, HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT, HE LOVES ME ... OOPS, HE'S DEAD. This episode was a blast for me. It had such a fun premise. What show on TV explores aliens, speed dating and Leprechauns all in the same episode? Everyone in the cast brought their "A" game. I had many laughing attacks sitting behind the camera on the set. One time I even laughed so hard I ruined sound on a take. Thankfully, I was not banned from the set.

I have to give a special shout out to Canadian actor Malcom Scptt who plays the NAKED GUY who shows up in the police station. Although he was only naked on camera for a few seconds, he was actually naked on the set for hours as we filmed that scene. He was a trooper and gave the ladies (and a couple of the guys) a real thrill. Usually on sets, a robe is offered to the actor to cover up between takes, but not for Malcom. No modesty there. He declined one out of a commitment to the "character." Borat would be proud.

For those of you who are reading this and finding yourselves drawn to me and are dying to know what I look like, I do make a cameo appearance in the episode. I play the "creepy" guy in the final scene that James gets to give up his seat. Not a crucial role, but as the saying goes, "there are no small parts, just small actors." Which, by the way I always thought was a dig against just me. Come to think of it, I hope I didn't ruin the show. Wait, now I'm depressed. I'm gonna go have a Twizzler.

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