Billy Finkelstein (NYPD Blue, Law & Order, LA Law) discusses a career in writing and producing myriad legal dramas and police procedurals for television
We Talk About:
- The make-up of a writers’ room and what goes on in there
- Creating a legal drama for an international audience
- The difference between writing and producing (showrunning)
- Writing Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans for Werner Herzog
- Growing as a writer and learning from experience
- Creating the world of a television series in the pilot
- Fusing music in Cop Rock and understanding conflict in a scene
Quotes from the Show:
“The process of writing is where you discover, “Who is this character?” and you have ideas of who that character is, a sense of him or her, but I think sometimes that there’s, in an effort to explain the thing, or sell the thing, before you write the thing, you’re cut off from the actual learning curve that a writer goes through in developing a show and bringing it to life.”
“I don’t necessarily consciously think, “What is the conflict?” but I think you get so that you just sort of know that’s an intrinisic component of any kind of drama.”
“It’s a tricky balance (writing versus producing) because you know what you want, and you’re charged with coming in with that. The powers that be, they’re dealing with you, and you promised a certain show.”
“You can rip apart a movie and you will understand why every scene is there and why it’s where it is.”