AUGUST 6, 2006
VORTEX

Hi there. Back again with another blog.

The cool thing, I thought, about "Vortex" is that it had a sort of balance. On the one hand, it was a classic DEAD ZONE episode in terms of it being a sympathetic human story: a mother and daughter in danger and Johnny just trying to help them, to save people. On the other hand, I loved how there was like a dueling prophets theme that came up. I was amazed that this leader's God Complex expanded to fit Johnny into it. And I really liked how Johnny had to react quickly and without a plan once they'd recognized him. He, basically, had to come up – off the cuff – with the fact that he'd been having visions of them. He sort of played into the whole mass hallucination or "group think" about the end of the world and their spiritual leader being a spokesman for God. Johnny pretended to come in looking for guidance and they embraced him. Johnny used his fame to infiltrate this Waco-like compound and ended up going head-to-head with this David Koresh guy. It was a great way in for Johnny to have to play this character while trying to figure out what was really going on. That was a fun thing, for Johnny and Bruce to go undercover.

And I really dig this episode's nonlinear structure. To me, this was a great way to do a mythology episode that didn’t necessarily advance the scope of the mythology but had really nice character interaction between Johnny and Stillson. Stillson tries to use this opportunity to discredit Johnny; he uses a hearing to get back at Johnny and take him out of the way, trying to make Johnny seem responsible for the disastrous outcome of one of his predictions going wrong. The hearing then allows us to go into the story and see how it actually happened, slowly unraveling how Johnny and Bruce get involved and, ultimately, how Walt was there. Eventually, it reveals how all of the characters ended up at that place, that they had hit rock bottom in their lives. They were desperate and in need of help and were attracted to this charismatic leader in this cult. And you could see how good people that are desperate can get caught up in something that just gets out of control. Everyone's looking for deeper meaning and a bigger vision for life.

I think everyone's fascinated with the Waco of it all and wonders how it really went down with the FBI. Obviously, I think we all know that the FBI overreacted and that those people didn't have to die like they did. We always think: what about the innocent people in there? Not all those people were crazy or bad. What about the children? So, I think it was important to tell this story, to show that in every tragedy, in every disaster there are always innocents caught in the middle. And we always wish there could be someone like Johnny who could step in and save the day. I think that's the fun of THE DEAD ZONE and this is, again, a kind of story only THE DEAD ZONE can tell.

First-time director Alexandra LaRoche did a great job directing it. It was a huge show and she was up to the task. Alexandra has been the script supervisor since Season One. She worked on the pilot and has really been with us on every episode. A lot of people talk about directors and producers and actors as being the backbone of the show, but, in some ways, the script supervisor is really the first line of defense against most of the major mistakes or plot errors. They're really there to back up the showrunner, interpreting the script and making sure the director and the actors understand its intent. Everyone usually goes into a shoot having a lot of choices and a lot of notes in their script. They're really deciding how they're going to go and attack and play every scene. There are always different directors that come in and different guest stars but, really, the people that are there week-to-week are the director of photography and the script supervisor. And the script supervisor is so important in the process – especially on a show like THE DEAD ZONE, because there are so many visions and so many different realities that you have to have to have somebody that really understands the visual language of the show, the backstory of all the characters, and someone who is always keeping in mind the big picture as well as the small details of each scene.

So, when Alexandra told me in Season 2 or 3 that she had aspirations of directing, I was very supportive. She had saved my ass and saved the show's ass so many times! She's just a very smart, detail-oriented person. And, being a woman and a mother and a fan of THE DEAD ZONE and knowing the show so intimately as she did, I thought she brought a fresh perspective as well as a veteran perspective to the show. I really, in some ways, felt more comfortable with her being first-time director than I did with other first-time directors coming in. She knew the show so well and I knew that everybody loved her and I knew that everyone would back her up and support her. A lot of what I did was to say, "You know what? Just relax, have fun. You know how to do this, just shoot. Let someone else worry about the details. You worry about the story." So, this episode was her first episode ever of directing television and I thought she just did a fabulous job. It was also, I think, the second biggest show of the year. (Also-first-time-director Chris Bruno's "Independence Day" was the biggest, most expensive show of the season.) "Vortex" was the second most expensive show of the year because of all the explosions, the big visual effects sequences, being shot primarily on location (using very few of our standing sets), and having a lot of actors. And we built the whole interior common room (basically, the cafeteria and dining hall where they also held chapel) on stage where we did the frozen array shots that came out so well. I was just very, very proud of Alexandra and it was really cool to see her succeed and to see how much everyone liked the episode at the end of the day.

The excellent script had a balance of theme, strong personal and emotional character beats (along with some cool Stillson/mythology beats) and a story that was primarily about Johnny. Michael Taylor is our veteran writer. I think he's written the most episodes of THE DEAD ZONE of any writer that we've had on staff. He always brings so many different layers and levels of storytelling to every one of his shows that you really have to shave it down to the core essence and, when you do that, you really find the crux of the story. But then you find you always have these offshoots, these sub-stories, little things that he's condensed and so you end up having different supporting characters that feel rounded. For instance, Johnny's just sitting at the table and they're passing around the lettuce and you really get a sense of who all these people are. In one little scene, in one little shot, he defines who the second in command is: he's the guy that was going to commit suicide, the alcoholic and rich banker, and you get that he had hit rock bottom. And then Johnny sees this young woman doing drugs and she had hit rock bottom. In just a little vision – and that's the thing that's great about THE DEAD ZONE is that you can learn so much about the backstory of a character very quickly. With just one touch, you understand the rest of the story. It really informs it.

"Vortex" writer Michael Taylor also wrote "Shadows" that was the first DEAD ZONE episode I ever directed. As a director, it was really great working with Taylor because he's a real writer's writer, he's a big fan of feature films, and he's an encyclopedia on so many things. So, you can talk with him about shots, you can talk about character, you can talk about plot – he doesn't really have a weak spot in terms of his skill set or his background. Michael comes from journalism, he used to be a reporter, and he really attacks every story like it's a newspaper article. He does a lot of research and sort of starts from the macro, the really broad, and sort of slowly narrows it down and whittles away. For me, I find that the development process, by the time I get the script, is really trying to simplify things, to combine things even more. The same thing happens when you shoot. That's the way I like to shoot and that's the way I like to edit. I like to try to wrap my arms around the story from a visual sense and then slowly narrow it down to the core story. Trying to get it to time and tightening it, you find it only makes the story better and better. I don't find there's a lot of waste in that. I just find that, through the process of discovery and trial and error, you get the best out of the story and the footage. So, I really enjoy directing Michael's scripts, he's such a talented writer. And I think Alexandra did a great job of directing this one.

Until next week,

Shawn Piller
Executive Producer

Past Entries:

• (7/30) Symmetry
  
• (7/23) Lotto Fever
• (7/16) The Inside Man
• (7/9) Articles of Faith
• (7/2) Panic
• (6/25) Independence Day
• (6/18) Forbidden Fruit