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Post by Patcat on May 11, 2005 23:41:18 GMT -5
And a few more from me.
Again, thank you for this.
In his commentary on the show's DVDs, Mr. Balcer notes several literary detective's influences, including Sherlock Holmes, Maigret, and others. Do you have have influences along these lines?
LOCI has several "experts" as advisers, including NYPD officials and psychologists. At what stage are they involved in the writing process? Have elements of your scripts been changed by them?
Patcat
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Post by blucougar57 on May 12, 2005 0:05:56 GMT -5
Just a quick one from me - this is a fantastic opportunity, but I feel caught totally on the hop and can't think of anything else at the moment. LOL
Do the writers ever read any of the fan fictions on the Net?
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Post by romulanavatra3 on May 12, 2005 3:56:55 GMT -5
her are couple of more questions. will eames and goren ever have any implied or otherwise romantic connection on the series as like the whole subtle claire/jack thing on the original( oaky may silly question but what the #). will bishop reappear in any future episodes. will they be more court room scenes in futre episdoes that allow carver to show his stuff. just a small nagging question but do you have any infomation on when the season 2 dvd will be comming out. how long does the filming for each season take and do you split the filming into more than one part. what is your favourtie part of being inlvoved with this series, wirting the episodes or watching the end result. what is dick wolf like as a boss. what is the cast like to work with. reagrds rom.
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Post by Techguy on May 12, 2005 13:27:10 GMT -5
I have been offline for a few days, and I must say the news about the Stephanie Sengupta interview is one of the most pleasant surprises I have ever encountered. Thank you, Ms. Sengupta, for being so gracious to do this, and thanks also to the moderators for making this happen.
The questions other members have already asked are awesome, but after thinking about this for a while, I have a few more to offer:
1--Some CI episodes are more successful than others in not only telling a compelling story, but in providing a satisfying resolution given all the facts and information provided in the episode. What do you feel makes for a "successful" CI episode in terms of the creative process you go through to create new characters, weave them into an established crime drama, and complete the story arc?
2--If you were given the assignment to bring the Nicole Wallace storyline to some kind of final resolution, how would you approach this project given what has already been established for this character?
3--How do you approach writing a "ripped from the headlines" story, and writing a completely original story not based on any news headline? Are there similarities or differences in writing both types of episodes?
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Post by Cassie on May 12, 2005 15:15:04 GMT -5
3--How do you approach writing a "ripped from the headlines" story, and writing a completely original story not based on any news headline? Are there similarities or differences in writing both types of episodes?Yes, I was wondering that too. Also do you and the other writers ever speak with the survivors or family members of the real cases? Do you ever hear any responses from them after the show has aired? Thanks again for spending time with us!
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Post by NicoleMarie on May 12, 2005 15:20:46 GMT -5
Thank you Ms. Sengupta for this opportunity! 1) Which episode was the most difficult to write and why? 2) Do these "message boards" influence you when you are writing future episodes? 3) How will your storylines be affected by Logan's addition to the show? To clarify, will you write with Logan in mind, or will his presence have no bearing on your writing? 4) Do you see Eames taking a larger role in solving the crimes? Thank you again for taking time to do this. It is much appreciated!
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Post by goreneames on May 12, 2005 23:51:45 GMT -5
Just a couple more:
Have you ever been pleased with the way a script turned out, but then disappointed in the way an episode came out?
And, related to that, have you ever had an interest in directing one of your own scripts?
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Post by LOCIfan on May 13, 2005 20:08:33 GMT -5
Could you settle a long-standing debate concerning my favorite episode, THE FAITHFUL? There's been a great deal of speculation about whether or not the moment where Goren steps onto the church pew to show the photographer the shot he wants of the body. I'm wondering whether or not that was something you wrote into the script or whether it was improvised by Mr. D'Onofrio.
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Post by Observer2 on May 14, 2005 2:14:57 GMT -5
Ms. Sengupta, thank you so much for taking the time and interest to answer these questions for us. It’s wonderful to hear that you are a fan of the show, as well as one of the writers!
Other posters have already asked many of the questions that I was thinking of, but there are some others that I would love to hear the answers to, if you have time.
A scene from one of your episodes – Semi-Professional – is what got me hooked on this series to begin with. It was the first Criminal Intent scene I actually watched with full attention, and it happened to be the scene where different concepts of loyalty and integrity come to a head, as the Judge says, “I thought I could trust you, Ron!” and Carver says, “I thought I could trust *you,* judge.”<br> To my mind, there is still no other scene that so vividly illustrates the basics of Carver’s character.
It seems to me that three of your first season episodes were the ones that most established and defined Carver and his relationships with the detectives – especially Goren.
In the Faithful, there’s the scene where Goren puts Carver in the position of knowing that information material to the case is being withheld... something that, it seems to me, not only makes Carver walk the very edge of ethics as far as his duty goes, but also, if the case were ever reviewed for any reason, might have a significantly damaging effect on Carver’s career. He does it, but warns Goren, in no uncertain terms, never to put him in that position again.
In Semi-Professional, the judge shows us the limits to which Carver will *not* go – Carver may be willing to walk the edge of the law in the service of justice; but if you ask him to break it in the service of your own self interest then, in his eyes, you would have broken the bonds of trust and loyalty.
In Maledictis we see what I think may be the first, and for me is still the most classic, instance of Carver entering into the detectives’ charade – in order to get the sister into a separate car, and then, of course, just happen to take a wrong turn, to give Goren a chance to question the suspect alone, in the suspect’s childhood home.
When you wrote those first season episodes, did you have a particular interest in Carver’s character, and in helping to establish and define it? Or was that something Rene Balcer asked you to do? Or was it something that just sort of presented itself to you out of the particular crimes you were assigned to write about and how those stories naturally evolved?
When you work on a script that really defines some aspect of a character or a relationship between characters, do you talk with the actors, either ahead of time or through story conferences as the script evolves, and incorporate something of their sense of the character? Or is it more something you work out with Balcer and hand to the actors as a finished product?
Another thing that was striking about Maledictus was the scene where Goren was sitting alone in one of the little side rooms, staring at all the pictures of the crime scene. It remains one of the best visual images for the fact that Goren is not only brilliant in the “left-brained,” deductive logic, Holmesian style, but also brilliant in the “right-brained,” gestalt, pattern-recognition style of thinking – the kind of brilliance that produces what some people (who only track linear logic) complain about as his “leaps” that they think have no logical basis. Was that moment of non-linear brilliance something you brought to the script, something Balcer put in, or some combination?
I know LOCIfan asked about Goren’s maneuver, stepping up onto the church pew in The Faithful, and Balcer has talked in interviews about Vincent D’Onofrio coming up with many of Goren’s more unusual actions – writing his own stage directions, as it were. If the pew maneuver came from D’Onofrio, and/or if there have been other scenes in which he added physical behaviors in scripts you had written, were those added in story conferences, with you actually writing in the changes? Or did they happen at a later point in the process?
Are you (and other Criminal Intent writers) generally on the set when scripts you have written are being filmed? If so, are late changes to the stage direction and/or dialog discussed with you at that stage, or simply approved by the director/producer(s)? Are you sometimes asked to do last minute rewrites after filming has begun? If so, would you be at liberty to tell us about some of those?
When you have been assigned a particular “headline” to turn into a script (if that is still the system for deciding who writes what), does Balcer give instructions about how close to keep it to the original crime, or is that left mostly up to the individual writer? Do the writers then come up with a basic story before the first meeting with Balcer, or do you work together to come up with the story in a meeting? Once you know the beats do you write out a full treatment, or go straight to writing the first draft of the script? Or does that vary from writer to writer, with no requirement for a treatment, but some writers preferring to write one?
Many of us saw a relationship between the crimes in Shibboleth and the BTK serial killer. But it seemed to me that I also saw echoes of a much older set of crimes, which, if I’m remembering correctly, involved that specific method of tying a woman up so that she strangled herself as she became exhausted (there was a minor difference, which I will not specify, in case it was changed to make the technique less effective in the event of copy-cats). It seems to me that the older cases also involved a younger male relative of the original killer seeing images of the earlier murder and being profoundly affected by it, so that he reenacted it years later.
Was Shibboleth based on that older set of crimes, as well as the BTK crimes? If so, what brought those older crimes to your attention? And do you have any concern that having an actual photo of a woman in that position, and giving details of how it’s done, might inspire copy-cat crimes? (Not that they would trigger a normal person to do such things, but that someone who was already disturbed might become fascinated by that image?)
Has a concern about possible copy-cat crimes ever impacted whether an episode was written, or caused changes to be made in one, or affected when one was aired? That last is something I ask about because I particularly noticed that Pilgrim – which involved an attempted attack on a Veterans Day parade – was not aired the day before Veterans Day (which I think with most series it would have been) but instead was aired a week later – too late to inspire any impulsive attempts to imitate it that year.
Do you do minor rewrites of other people’s scripts? Do you have other duties on the series besides writing scripts?
Does Criminal Intent generally accept submissions of spec scripts (or treatments) from freelance writers? If so, do you, or other regular writers for the series, review them? Or who does review them?
Are you the Stephanie Sengupta who co-authored Mandatory Injustice: Case Histories of Women Convicted under New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws? If so, how did you become involved in that project? Do you feel that it has affected your writing for Criminal Intent? If you are comfortable talking about it, I’d be interested in whether you feel it affected you in other ways, as well.
I think someone else has asked how you became a writer for Criminal Intent (if I’m mistaken, please consider it asked) – but, if you did co-author that report, I’d like to know whether your work and interest in the real criminal justice system came before or after your interest in writing about it for fictional television. Again, if you are comfortable talking about it, I’d be interested in what sparked your interest in the criminal justice system in general – whether fictional or real life.
Thank you again for taking the time and trouble to answer these questions for us. As I have said before, Criminal Intent is one of the best dramatic series I have ever seen on television; and for me, personally, it’s the most enjoyable, bar none. My thanks go out to you, and to everyone involved in the show.
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Post by Sirenna on May 14, 2005 6:55:24 GMT -5
Thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed, Ms. Sengupta.
I'd like to know:
1. What is a typical work day is like for you when an episode you've written is about to air?
2. Can you describe the best example of artistic capability, in any medium or form, you've ever come across and what made the work so good or inspirational to you?
3. How did you break into writing for TV and how did you capture Rene's attention to become a writer on L & O: Criminal Intent?
4. How much of what we see on screen is dialogue from you and how much is added by the actors. In other words how true to your screenplay is the final version we get to see and what compromises or concessions are made?
5. What's your favourite episode of LO:ci and why?
Criminalmastermind: I know I missed the Friday deadline, which would never work in Ms. Sengupta's world but please consider these questions anyway.
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Post by Major Hathaway on May 14, 2005 12:21:11 GMT -5
I built in a "last minute" factor; so up until this post - your submissions will be included. If you have anything else to add - you need to pm me directly NOT add it to this thread.
thank you all for your wide-ranging and respectful questions .... I left it wide open to see what would be submitted; and you didn't disappoint.
I don't know how long it will take to get back our answers from Ms. Sengupta; but as I am as excited about this as all of you; I will Rush to share this with you.
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Post by Major Hathaway on May 23, 2005 11:11:49 GMT -5
Ms. SenGupta has returned her answers!
They will be posted soon, we are checking into some new formats and updates.
and the mystery of the Santa Mug is unveiled.
stay tuned, we will work to get this to you as fast as we can but it may be a few days.
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