JUNE 18, 2006
BEING TOM BALDWIN
by Craig Sweeny
On The 4400, it usually takes about three weeks for an episode to move from concept to outline to completed script. Sometimes, however, everything works beautifully.
A writer comes in with an idea that "lays out" smoothly, the staff burns through a story break in a couple of days, and the biggest problem in executing the script is that the day ends before you've written all the scenes you want to.
This wasn't one of those times. Read on, if you dare, and learn the tortured history of Being Tom Baldwin.
We've always wanted to do an "imposter" story, but we weren't ever sure how to attack it.
Jim Morris and Shin Shimosawa, the writers of the episode, hit on the idea of a young 4400, Boyd Gelder, who was using his ability to impersonate others to try out different lives. These "field trips" would be an escape from his own, less than ideal life as a misfit high school kid.
When we came into the story, Boyd had decided to "try out" Tom for a while. He liked living Tom's life, and so, gradually, decided to abandon his own and take over Tom's. It was a fun story.
We wrote one script, which we decided was too soft.
We broke another story in which Boyd's ability was tweaked. Instead of merely being an imposter, he had the ability to switch consciousnesses with whomever he chose. Obviously, this gag has been seen in countless 1980s body-switching comedies, so we took pains to downplay the jokes and make the story feel like it could really be happening.
This second script was a departure for the series, a largely character-driven piece that climaxed with a conversation between Tom and Boyd in a diner.
I was quite fond of it.
Everyone outside our writing staff hated it.
And that's the way it goes sometimes writing for TV. You think you've tweaked your series format to good advantage ... The people you work for think you've delivered a script that reads like an episode of a different show.
Colorful discussions follow. And then, in this case, we agreed to revisit the original conception of Boyd's ability, and flesh out a story with higher stakes.
The character of T.J. Kim was a casualty of this third approach. She was captured by NTAC near the end of the season premiere, and we decided that the Nova Group would not want her revealing what she knows of its structure to the government. And so they opt to eliminate her using an operative with the ability to impersonate Tom Baldwin.
This obviously complicates Tom's life considerably, and those complications are the meat of the episode.
The third version of the script was a group effort. We simply didn't have time to pass it back to the original writers.
That's another fact of life on a writing staff: every eight days, there's another episode heading into production. Because the deadlines come so quickly, we frequently contribute to each other's scripts.
I hope this glimpse into the sausage factory doesn't affect your ability to enjoy the show. A tortured history doesn't always make for a bad episode. You'd be surprised how many episodes of [YOUR FAVORITE SHOW HERE] have similar backstories.
I, for one, think the final version of Being Tom Baldwin is a fun ride.
A lot more fun than the process of getting there.
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