WHEN YOUR PROTAGONIST BECOMES REAL

Happy Monday, everyone.  It's Alafair Burke here.  It's my pleasure today to welcome guest blogger April Smith, whose beloved Ana Grey series is being adapted as a televised movie by TNT.  She was kind enough to write about that experience for Murderati.  In April's own words:

We all carry fantasies of the day Hollywood will shine its beacons of money and fame on our poor shambling protagonist  and she will be transformed from a lifetime of knocking on doors and laboriously piecing clues together, to a brilliant larger-than-life-but-still-true-to-your-vision sensation. 

“Who do you want to play Ana Grey?” fans tweeted with great excitement when TNT announced it was going to film GOOD MORNING, KILLER as part of its new Mystery Night Movie franchise of two-hour TV movies based on mystery/thrillers.  Sure, I had files bursting with actresses from multiple attempts to bring Ana to the screen, but it had taken so many years to actually get the green light, the names were hopelessly out of date.  They had either passed the industry age limit on females for starring roles  (44, except for Helen Mirren) or had been plastic surgeried beyond recognition (except for Helen Mirren).

FBI Special Agent Ana Grey first appeared in NORTH OF MONTANA in 1994.  At the time, the idea of a half-Hispanic, half-Caucasian female FBI agent as the mainstay of a thriller was threatening.   I was advised by well-meaning supporters that if I wanted my books to sell to film, I should create another mystery series featuring a male protagonist.  Few actresses are powerful enough to “open” a movie, and worse, according to Hollywood savants, the character of Ana Grey was simply not castable, because there were not enough skilled, big-name Hispanic actresses to fill the role.   At the time it was unthinkably un-PC to cast an ethnic person of the wrong persuasion to play another ethnicity.  This never made sense to me (Australian theater’s beloved Robyn Nevin is about to play King Lear), but so it remained for seventeen years.

When TNT cast Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander in Muderati blogger Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles, it was clear they had already created a hit.  They know their brand.  So when I learned the network was wild about Catherine Bell to play Ana Grey, I had a good feeling, probably for the first time in thirty years in television.  I had written the teleplay and was executive producer as well as the author – a lot at stake.  Catherine was very impressive in JAG and ARMY WIVES, but because everything was moving so fast in pre-production, there was no opportunity to meet her before we began shooting.   

Catherine Bell (FBI Special Agent Ana Grey) and William Devane (who plays her grandfather, Poppy)

The first time I saw my leading lady was at a funky production office tucked away in a shipyard in Vancouver, B.C..  “Catherine’s arrived,” everyone whispered, and there she was in a tee shirt and jeans, just off the plane after traveling with her one-year-old; tall, lithe, beautiful, with huge empathetic eyes and tousled dark hair, ethnically ambiguous (Catherine is actually half Persian), strength, leadership, and kindness just radiating.  We hugged as if we’d known each other forever.  Eighteen years later, Ana Grey was born again.

We are now editing the film, and I can tell you Catherine’s performance is terrific. Pitch-perfect, as far as I’m concerned.  But I’d love to know what you think. GOOD MORNING, KILLER airs on TNT Tuesday night, December 13 at 9 PM.  Contact me at www.aprilsmith.net  For the full lineup of TNT Mystery Night Movies go to http://www.tnt.tv/title/display/?oid=146349.

April on the movie set

It's Alafair again.  Thank you so much, April, for sharing your experience with the Murderati gang. 

April's most recent Ana Grey novel, WHITE SHOTGUN, recently launched to rave reviews from People, the LA Times, Booklist, and on and on.  In his substantial review exclusively for Amazon, Robert Crais said, "Let’s cut to the chase: I love Smith’s work. She is one of the finest, smartest, most gifted writers working in crime fiction today, and White Shotgun is her best novel since the justifiably celebrated NORTH OF MONTANA. ... This is the real deal."

Please join me in welcoming and congratulating April.  We can't wait to watch the movie and read what you write next!

THE KILLING

By Allison Brennan

It’s not a secret that I love television.

I gave it up for three years when I first started seriously writing. At the time, I had three kids and a full-time job—the only time in the day to write was after the kids went to bed. The only time I watched television was what the kids were watching. Rugrats, Spongebob, Lizzie McGuire, and whatever was on the now-defunct TV Land. (My two oldest, now 15 and 17, were probably the only kids in their generation who’ve seen most episodes of Little House on the Prairie, the Brady Bunch, and Bewitched.)

When I started watching tv again, I was highly selective. First, I couldn’t stand to sit through commercials. Other than during the Super Bowl, I don’t think I’ve watched a commercial – unless it was something on a kids show. I started buying DVD sets, then got an Apple TV when I moved and love it.

TV has gotten so much better over the last few years. I recently blogged about the BBC program LUTHER which I loved. Edgy, different, with fantastic characters. They only had six episodes, but each was riveting. They’re producing two two-hour episodes for the fall.

It’s no secret that I love JUSTIFIED, another amazing show with a cast full of talented actors who bring these flawed characters to life. The season finale? Wow. Just … Wow. I am so frustrated that I have to wait nine months for Season Three . . . but I’m thrilled to get a third season, especially since LIFE (another favorite show) was cancelled after only two.

I can’t remember where I heard the recommendation, but I decided to buy season one of THE KILLING.

I don’t know whether I love it or hate it.

With LUTHER, I had a complex, character-driven police procedural in an unfamiliar world (the UK) that tackled the issues of justice vs vengeance. John Luther himself is an intriguing character who bends (and breaks) the law for justice. Lots of shades of gray.

With JUSTIFIED, I had an over-the-top adventure with a hero you love and criminals you both love and hate. Boyd Crowder is one of the greatest characters created, a villain who was redeemed in so many ways that we begin to root for him, so when he starts down the dangerous road, we’re still on his side.

LUTHER made me think; JUSTIFIED kept me on the edge of my seat.

THE KILLING made me cry.

My crying in movies isn’t new—FINDING NEMO at both the beginning where the mother clown fish and all her eggs are eaten by a shark, except for Nemo who Marlin protects to the extreme until Nemo rebels and Marlin’s worst fears are realized. And again at the end when Marlin finds Nemo again and thinks he’s dying. I cried in TOY STORY 3 at the beginning when the mom sees Andy’s empty room and tears up because he’s going to college … and again at the end when he gives his toys to another child as he’s leaving for college. But I never, if ever, cry in television shows. They don’t seem to have that power over me . . . until THE KILLING.

It’s a crime show like the others. It had complex and very real characters. More real than the others in so many ways. It’s edgy. It has a political component I spent 13 years working in the California State Legislature, and the nuances of the political subplot are so true-to-life I suspect one of the writers has worked in politics as well. I’ve only watched the first two episodes (so far six have aired) but I couldn’t turn away. Even when I wanted to.

It’s not graphic or violent like JUSTIFIED. It’s not even that fast-paced. In fact, it’s quite methodical. I’m not saying it’s slow, because it’s not, but it doesn’t rely on the “high stakes” speed that other crime shows incorporate.

What captured me—and repelled me—is the emotion. There is so much emotion in each scene that I can’t turn away. But the emotion that hits me isn’t a feeling I want to have.

Fear. Grief. Heartache.

The victim is a 17 year old girl, Rosie Larsen. She goes missing on a Friday night. Her parents are on a camping trip, she’s a good kid and they trust her. They thought she was staying with a friend. No one realizes she’s missing until after school starts on Monday.

The parents begin to expect something when the detective, Sarah Linden, finds the father’s credit card near the victim’s bloody sweater. She doesn’t yet know the identity or fate of the victim, but pretty quickly realizes that it’s Rosie, and she’s likely not alive.

Starting with the parents absolutely believable reaction—worry and anger—followed by the father seeking answers, starting with Rosie’s ex-boyfriend and going to his house to drag Rosie home, only to learn the woman in the ex’s bed isn’t his daughter. I could see me playing out the same reactions, inwardly scared to death that something happened but holding onto the hope and anger. 

But what really did it to me emotionally was when Stan the dad turns up at the location where Rosie’s body is found (through his own, increasingly frantic search) and while talking on the phone with his wife when a car is pulled out of the lake he demands answers. He’s nearly arrested until Sarah comes over and she doesn’t have to tell him the person in the car is Rosie. She turns and walks back and he breaks down sobbing in rage and pain while his wife is on the phone hearing it.

The opening to episode two has the parents identifying the body and that scene also had me in tears even though there was no rage or tantrums, just a quiet truth and grief. The parents, played by Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton (from JUSTIFIED) made me believe that was their daughter in the morgue. That was followed by separate interviews where they are in shock, particularly the mother, speaking in monotones, knowing the truth but still not believing it.

Worry. Anger. Pain. Grief. Guilt. Sorry. None of these are violent, but they are all powerful emotions.

THE KILLING is one of the best shows on television today because it taps into the deepest fears a parent can have. And it probably affected me more than the average viewer because I have a seventeen year old daughter.

And because it explores these raw fears so truthfully, I almost hate the show. Almost. I can’t stop watching, but I can’t watch one episode after another. I need a break to recover. Maybe watch an episode of JUSTIFIED. Just as riveting, without the emotional pain.

Has a television show, movie or book ever affected you so deeply that you were emotionally wrung out after the experience?

The Golden Globes

by Alafair Burke

Some TV events have to be viewed with a group: the Super Bowl, big series finales, political debates, and award ceremonies.  Last night, I watched the Golden Globe Awards with a group of friends.

After several years of falling very behind on movies, I am somewhat in the loop this year, thanks to a Saturday morning matinee routine with fellow author and neighbor Jonathan Hayes.  As such, I can actually follow what's going on this award season.

Here are a few (somewhat random) thoughts about last night's winners, losers, and bystanders.

The Host: Anyone who's seen Ricky Gervais in The (original) Office and the sublime Extras knows he is the master of delicious awkwardness.  His jokes at the expense of Scientology and the Tourist really kicked things off on the most uncomfortable note possible.  I have to admire someone who doesn't mind being hated by his audience in the name of comedy.

TV:

Best supporting actor: Chris Colfer from GLEE.  Loved his speech; would've been even better if he sang it.  (More seriously, times really have changed.  Bravo, world!)

Best actor (drama): If only Brian Cranston and Michael C. Hall could have won as well, but I do love me some Steve Buscemi.

Best actor (comedy): I am the only person in America who has never seen Big Bang Theory, so I could only groan when some guy who looked like a baby Alien beat Alec Baldwin.

Best TV comedy: Glee won but should not have in light of its weak second season and tough competition from 30 Rock and Modern Family in this category.  (Big Bang Theory and The Big C were the other nominees.)

Best TV drama: The absence of Breaking Bad was a robbery.  Dexter, even after the slow start, probably still deserved to win in this category, but Boardwalk Empire can use the boost.

Movies:

Best supporting actor: The Fighter is one of the only buzz-y films I haven't seen yet, plus Christian Bale strikes me as a nutjob, so I have a hard time cheering for him.  I was pulling hard for Jeremy Renner, but THE TOWN seems destined to lose in every category, even though it was one of my favorite films of the year.  (I suspect it has something to do with Ben Affleck's Gigl.)  I do love Melissa Leo, though, so was happy to see her win (but Helena Bonhan's Carter "WTF" look at the end of Leo's acceptance speech was absolutely classic - did you catch it?).

Best Animated Movie: Toy Story 3 was a no-brainer.  Such a wonderful story, my husband and I still can't believe it was rated G.  It was one of the darkest movies of the year.

Best Actress (Comedy): I thought Julianne Moore was more deserving to be nominated for this award than Annette Bening, but was happy to see her recognized.  Robert Downey Jr. shoud get an award for best presenter.  So should Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

I love Matt Damon dearly, but his tribute to Robert DeNiro was almost as uncomfortable as the Ricky Gervais bits, and not intentionally.  And then Robert DeNiro turned up the discomfort volume to a 10.  Whatever happened to earnestness?

Best Actress (Drama) - Natalie Portman, no surprise.  Baby bump, an added bonus.  And best speech of the night.

Best Film (Comedy or Musical) - The Kids Are All Right, a bit of a slam dunk in light of the other nominees (Red, Burlesque (yes, really), Alice in Wonderland, and The Tourist)

Best Film (Drama):I went in feeling torn between The King's Speech and The Social Network.  Both took potentially dry subjects and transformed them into gripping drama.  Ultimately, though, my fondness for The Social Network is primarily due to Aaron Sorkin's fantastic screenplay (which did win - yea!), so I pulled for The King's Speech. But when Social Network won, I defended it to the many critics in our room.  Best line of the year: "I'm 6'5", 220, and there's two of me."

The (even more) wholly superficial:

Nicole Kidman - What has she done to her face to make herself look so much like Renee Zellweger?

Kelly green dresses- I lost count but I saw at least four just on the red carpet, including on Angelina Jolie (who seemed eerily clingy with Brad Pitt; I suspect tabloids will be conjecturing). 

Tina Fey - I'm amazed that she still manages to rock that nerdy-and-only-secretly-attractive persona even as she's transformed herself into such a gorgeous superstar.

If mutliple marriages were legal, my husband would have to learn to be brother-husbands with James Franco, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Downey Jr. (with drug testing).

(Most Of) The Other Awards:

Best Actress in TV drama - Katey Segal (Sons of Anarchy), over Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs), and Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer).

Best Actress in TV comedy - Laura Linney (The Big C), over Toni Collette (United States of Tara), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Tina Fey (30 Rock), and Lea Michele (Glee).

Best Actor (film comedy) - Paul Giamatti (Barney's Version), over Jake Gyllenhaal (Taylor Swift, I mean, Love and Other Drugs), Johnny Depp (times two), Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack - never heard of it).

Best Actor (drama): We had a generational divide in our group between Colin Firth and Jesse Eisenberg.  Colin Firth takes it (and was suprisingly funny)!

Best Director:  David Fincher (The Social Network), over Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), Christopher Nolan (Inception), and David Russell (The Fighter).  Still no clue as to why TRUE GRIT was locked out of everything, because I think it was probably the best film of the year.

My apologies to our regular readers who are wholly uninterested in the Golden Globes.  We'll be back to our regular programming tomorrow.  As for the rest of you, what were your most memorable moments of the Golden Globes or this year's movie and TV seasons?

One of My Favorite Times of Year

by Brett Battles

One of my favorite times of year has always been the fall. Not because of the weather and beautiful colors (though I LOVE them), and not because it’s football season (go 9ers, despite the slow start). It’s because it’s the start of the new network television season.

Now, things have been changing for a while on the television front. There was a time when there was just the three big networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC), and they would go ALL OUT to get viewers attention for their fall lineups. They’d do huge image campaigns, use catch jingles (often based on older song…anyone remember “Still the One” for ABC?), and otherwise pull out all the stops. This kind of all out blitzkrieg marketing pretty much stopped sometime in the late 90s. I actually worked on one of the last ones for ABC…it was the one where we had these giant As, Bs & Cs that the cast members of the various new and returning shows could play on and we filmed them. It was fun, but, honestly, there’ve been better campaigns and worse.

Anyway, campaigns weren’t what I wanted to talk about, the point I was trying to make was that the disappearance of campaign happened because the networks were no longer the only game in town, and the networks fall lineups lost some of their luster because there were so many other choices out there.

Why? Cable, of course. At first channels like FX and TNT and SY FY (then SCI FI) were just places for old movies and network returns, but then cable channels started branching out and running first run programs on their own. And they did this with zero regard to the usual show launch season.

The Fall.

That really changed things.

Nowadays shows are launched year round – January, May, June, whenever a show is ready to go (that’s not completely true, but close enough).  

But while the networks might have lost some of their edge, they have hung on to their fall tradition (admittedly with some spring shows thrown in and an emerging summer season). And since this still represents a majority of new show debuts, I still look forward to it.

You see, to me, there are few things on television more interesting than the pilot episode of a series. This is the episode that sets everything that follows up. And, quite honestly, is often the worst episode of the whole run. That said, I love to watch pilots. I love to see how the show’s creators set up their worlds, how they introduce their characters, how they set the tone and pace for the series.

I think watching these is a great exercise for writers no matter what genre or type of writing you might do. It’s a quick way to see multiple creative efforts to bring new realities to life in a relatively short period.

More times than not these newly created realities fail quickly and are yanked from the schedule. But even for the ones that do succeed, often it’s despite pretty sucky pilots.

But, as they say, you sometimes learn more from the bad than the good. So pay attention and take notes because a bad pilot is likely to have any or all of the following: cliché characters, cliché settings, cliché set-ups, and, well, just clichés, also story logic issues, undervaluation of view intelligence, poor casting choices, and just plain bad dialogue. What’s not to learn from that? (I was kidding about the taking notes part. Well, half-kidding, anyway.)

Perhaps the show pilots that have the hardest are the ones for series where each episode is basically a one-off story. In other words, what happened last week has no baring on what’s happening this week. In those cases, show producers (or, most likely, network executives) feel the necessity of establishing the ground rules of the series (who, what, where, when and why…with the occasional how thrown in) right in that very first episode. That means their shoehorning in a TON of information they seem to think you need to have now.

Sitcoms, in particular, are subject to this. And when you shoehorn something in, something else has to go. And when you shoehorn in a lot of somethings there is little room left for the show to be what its creators had envisioned. Don’t believe me? Choose a favorite series, then go back and watch the very first episode and you’re likely to see what I mean. Everything that comes after is more natural, because the show is able to breath.

Perhaps the pilots that have it easiest are the ones for series that have continuing stories, so that they don’t feel pressured to get everything out right away. In fact, some of my favorite pilots are in this category: LOST, Twin Peaks, Arrested Development, Band of Brothers…just to name a few.

But no matter how good or bad, I love pilots. They’re just…interesting to me. If you’re a writer, or just a fan of how stories are put together, I urge to watch as many of these pilots as you can. In other words, I give you permission to watch TV all week.

So, what’s your take on the first episode of a new series? Have you watched any of the ones this fall? Any loves or hates so far? And what have you learned?

Character TV

By Allison Brennan

Sometimes, I really hate following Alex. She's so sharp when it comes to story analysis, that I feel inadequate. And while I've seen most of the popular movies, truly, I'm a television addict.

It's true. I love TV. So when I gave it up for three years to write (because I was working full-time, had five kids, and the only time I had to write was in the late evenings) it was a huge sacrifice.

But ultimately, it was a sacrifice that not only showed me how much I love television, but made me cognizant of what I watch and appreciate the good shows.

My television time is still limited, because writing and the kids come first, and now I will not tolerate commercials, so all TV is viewed either on DVD or my AppleTV. Most shows are 40-45 minutes, so at the end of the evening, when everyone is asleep, after I've put in my writing time, I watch an episode of whatever series I'm on.

Maybe I don't write the high-concept big books because I think in terms of episodic television and not two-hour movies. And high-concept movies are, ultimately, about plot. That's what sells them. The "big idea", the fear, the universal understanding. Television is about character. Sure, there's a general structure to the storyline, but television that works (at least for me) is about the characters who tell that story.

It's the same way with books. I like a good, twisty plot, but if the character isn't there--if I don't care what happens to them, if I don't really know them, if they're not three-dimensional and complex--then I don't really like the book. I might appreciate the plot or writing, but I won't love the book.

Some of my favorite television shows of late aren't the popular shows. I don't watch reality TV, or the singing and dancing shows. I hear about them, I know what's going on, but I can't sit and watch them, and I don't want to DVR them or buy them. I'm just not interested. Few of the shows I watch are on network television. I always thought I had very popular-and populist-taste in modern culture, but maybe I'm just a bit off. After all, after only two seasons network television cancelled one of my all-time favorite shows LIFE, a brilliant story about an LA cop who's wrongfully convicted of murdering his partner and spends 12 years in prison before his sentence is over-turned and he's paid $50 million in restitution . . . and given back his old job, which he uses to find out who framed him. Though cancelled, the network let the creators wrap up the show, so it's worth watching the two seasons. The character study of Detective Charlie Crews is amazing. Hmm, I might need to watch the show again.

(Another show that should never have been cancelled was VERONICA MARS, which I believe was on the WB, but I've blogged about that before. It's essentially a modern day, edgy Nancy Drew and was amazing on all levels. It, too, was largely character driven but had the added ingredient of contemporary problems for teens.)

So what am I watching now or looking forward to?

JUSTIFIED (F/X)

The best show of the year. It seemed to be ignored by the awards circuit, but I've watched the first season twice. (And I rarely watch re-runs, just like I rarely re-read books.) This fact should tell you that JUSTIFIED is a must-see show. (And not just because Timothy Olyphant stars, though that's a big plus!)

Based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, and from the credits he appears to be involved in production as well, JUSTIFIED tells the story of a US Marshall who, after killing a fugitive in public, is forced to take a position in the US Marshall's office in his hometown in eastern Kentucky. His ex-wife is there, his criminal father, and his old friends-and enemies.

JUSTIFIED would be just another cop show if not for the characters. Raylan Givens, the tortured hero with a lot of skeletons in his closet; his ex-wife Winona who had an affair with a realtor and divorced Raylan (OKAY-I just need to state for the record that I don't like Winona, and not just because she was an idiot who cheated on her husband-not only her husband, but her sexy cop heroic husband, with a paunchy realtor!-but because she's a siren, and when she thinks Raylan is falling for someone else, she takes off her wedding ring and . . . well, 'nuff said, you gotta see the show yourself.) Then there's Ava Crowder, Raylan's love-interest, who you think at first is a pretty white trash bimbo who killed her abusive husband, but who has more spine and courage than most women and really, she came into her own about halfway through the season until the finale where she really shined. And Boyd Crowder, arguably my favorite character, Raylan's one-time friend and now a fugitive bank robber, who had an about-face after nearly dying-or did he?

The secondary characters are good, primarily in the US Marshall's office, but they need to be fleshed out more in season two, particularly Jacob Pitts character Tim Gutterson, a veteran sniper who served in Afghanistan. He has a lot of potential. But the show is about Raylan and his past and present colliding.

This series has is courage and character and it's my number one favorite show.

WHITE COLLAR (USA Network)

Essentially, this is CATCH ME IF YOU CAN if Frank Abagnale, Jr. was a cultured art thief and forger who worked in the field for the FBI after he was convicted. This show was on the skids for me at the beginning, and I'd never have watched the entire first season because the plots were a bit predictable and I didn't see potential, except I loved the characters. This is a buddy show, with a smart FBI agent Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay) and a smart con artist/forger Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer.) The stories are hit or miss, but the relationship between this unlikely partnership is terrific. I don't see this show sticking around more than three seasons (I may be wrong; we're in the middle of season two) because the conflict isn't sustainable over time (IMO) but for now, it's a great character study.

THE GLADES (A&E)

I didn't expect to like this show, and honestly, it's not fantastic, but I find myself compelled to watch it every week when it downloads to my AppleTV. Why? Because of the main character, homicide detective Jim Longworth. Exiled from Chicago after being wrongfully accused of sleeping with his captain's wife, he thinks he has the easy life in a small Florida town in the Everglades. But of course, murder can happen anywhere! He's smart, resourceful, sarcastic, and cutting. And he is falling in love with the wife of a convicted felon . . . and she hasn't filed for divorce.

Why is it not fantastic? I don't know . . . maybe it's because it's just five shows. It's getting more comfortable, and I can't NOT watch it, I love the character and his quirks and mannerisms. It's truly a show that works for me because of the actor more than the storylines, because he fits the character so well. So . . . I'll continuing watching it. I bought the first season, after all!

I'll admit, these aren't the only television shows I'm watching . . . there's SUPERNATURAL and THE GATES and LAW & ORDER SVU and RIZZOLI & ISLES and CASTLE (yes, I watch CASTLE, so sue me. Again, character people! Put the bad police procedure aside, because it's all about the characters. And Nathan Fillion . . . )

But these three shows are "off" season, they started mid-season or over the summer, and so they stand out to me.

I have BREAKING BAD on my AppleTV and MAD MEN season one on DVD and those will be up next. But when you only watch one episode a night, it takes awhile to get through the backlog. And then there's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, which I'm watching with my daughters and we've just started season five . . .

What television shows are you enjoying? What shows do you wish were never cancelled? What are you looking forward to the season premiere?  (For me, it's JUSTIFIED . . . can not WAIT until season two . . . )