JULY 27, 2007
PSY VS. PSY

Okay, so here's the thing, they say that one of the biggest fears for most people is public speaking. In fact it rates higher on the fear scale than even the fear of death. I think it's only logical then to assume that public WRITING has got to be somewhere pretty high up on that list. I mean a lot of people are going to be reading this blog and that is scary. There's a common piece of advice they give to people faced with public speaking and that is to imagine everyone in the audience naked or wearing just their underwear. In honor of that, please keep in mind that at this exact moment, in order to relax my fears, I am writing this dressed only in a pair of boxers. (Cotton ones of course; "it's the fabric of our lives.")

So here we go..."Psy vs. Psy"...This week's episode. A little background on how the idea was first conceived. I'd like to think it was a case of "great minds think alike" but both Steve Franks and myself had come up with ideas for an episode in which Shawn competes with another psychic. My original idea had Shawn being sent to a Police Psychic's convention where inevitably a crime unfolds and Shawn is forced to compete with several other "real" psychics to solve it. Steve's idea involved more of a one on one competition.

Either way I think both Steve and I were equally excited about the idea, but Steve, who never stops surprising me with his generosity, was gracious enough to let ME write the episode. So let me just take this chance to say, "Thank you Steve, that meant a lot to me." That being said, I can't say there wasn't a tremendous amount of fear on my part to "get it right." Wow, there's that "fear" thing again. (I just looked down at myself in my underwear...wait now I'm sickened and filled with an overwhelming sense of self-loathing and sadness.)

The whole fun of the episode for me was to create a situation where Shawn is "put on tilt." How interesting would it be to introduce someone on the show who was going to challenge Shawn and keep him on his toes? Be one step ahead of him, make him work for it? The character of Lindsay Leikin had to be twice as confident as Shawn, and Shawn is at least twice as confident as anyone else. So you do the math. That's a lot of confidence. Bianca Kajlich (Rules of Engagement) played the role with the perfect flair of cool sexiness. And it didn't hurt that she has maybe the best hair in the business. (Next to James Roday of course.)

Special Agent Lars Ewing was a character that I had originally written into "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops...He's dead" but sadly he was cut out of an early draft. I brought him back to life for this episode because I thought he'd make a perfect foil for Lassiter. The idea of him lusting after Juliet came later. But the thought of unleashing on Lassiter a God-like hyper cool version of himself who embodied everything he aspired to be seemed interesting, but then to make that character dislike Lassiter, but pine for Juliet, seemed like a really fun dynamic.

Writing Ewing's lines were some of the most fun I've had yet on the show. But now here's where that elusive marriage of writing and casting come together perfectly. When you are writing, you definitely have a picture in your mind and a voice in your head of how you want the character to sound and look. The clearer that voice is, the easier it is to write. But the moment the role is cast; whoever is actually going to play the character brings their own sensibility to it. It can never quite be the same as how you imagined it during the writing process, but if you are lucky, what the actor brings to the page exceeds your expectations.

That was definitely the case with Lou Diamond Phillips. This guy is a consummate professional. He was excited to play the role and never stopped working to find subtle nuances. In between takes he would come to me and pitch ideas for stuff he could add or to ask if I was happy with his performance. How many bona fide movies stars do THAT? Perhaps his enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that this role was a comedic departure from the intense dramatic characters we've come to know him for. In fact I think he is as funny as he is in this episode, and the comedy worked, BECAUSE he played it as straight as he does in movies like Courage Under Fire and Young Guns.

I can't say enough how grateful I am to Lou for bringing to life the character of Special Agent Lars Ewing and for being such a warm and generous guy in the process. I was only afraid of him once, and that is when he took his shirt off in the fake dream sequence at the end. (A sequence he fought to keep in by the way.) When I told him it might be cut out he protested. "It HAS to stay in." I didn't understand why he was so adamant about it until I finally saw him walk onto the set sans shirt. Lou Diamond Phillips has pecs the size of dinner plates. (I guess waking up every morning and working out at the hotel gym before coming to the set paid off.)

But this episode is really a love letter to Mel Damski, our Co-Executive Producer and the director of this episode. He is really the captain of the ship up in Vancouver and has the weight of the show on his shoulders up there. He wears that weight very well by the way. (He is a former college football star from Colgate.) I have so much respect and love for this guy. He is an amazing director and maybe one of the nicest guys in the business. I had been waiting since last season for him to direct one of my episodes so that we would get to work together.

There were a lot of directorial challenges to this episode. Namely, almost every scene had seven characters in one room talking to one another. I know Mel wasn't happy about this, but he found so many creative ways of shooting these scenes. I am very proud of this episode. I laugh when I watch it. However, for me what I will most remember about this experience is how much I laughed while being on the set with Mel. You know, I think that's why I write. It's all in anticipation of those moments of seeing the words meet the actors and the combination of those two to be brought to life by the director. But mostly it's to laugh a lot. So thank you Mel.

Hmmm, that's weird. Suddenly the fear is gone. I feel fine. Guess it's time to put some pants on.