EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Charlie Jade Headwriter Alex Epstein
It's no mystery that I'm a huge Charlie Jade fan. I don't write those insanely long and detailed recaps on a show relegated to the 2am time slot for fame and fortune, that's for sure. What is a little surprising is how I came to know and love the show.
Like many others, I'm an aspiring screenwriter. In some ways it's harder to break in today because there are more competitors for the few available slots; however, we have resources that weren't available even five or ten years ago. There are dozens of accomplished writers blogging about their experiences as staff writers, writers' assistants, and show runners. Some write from decades of experience and some give us play-by-play as they learn on the job. One of the longest-blogging writers out there is Alex Epstein, who keeps an ongoing conversation with fans, newbie writers, and others at Complications Ensue. I've been reading Alex's blog for at least two years now and also own his book "Crafty TV Writing". If you want to write for television, I highly recommend it.
Once I started reading Alex on craft, I realized this was a guy who not only could teach me a lot, but who had similar sensibilities to mine. Odds were high that stuff he did, I'd like. And having seen a decent-sized chunk of his work now, I can tell you my instinct was right. Alex frequently discusses Charlie Jade, even using it to demonstrate how to break and beat a story in "Crafty TV Writing". I've got to tell you, when I read about Charlie hopping dimensions, I knew this was a show for me.
If you've been watching and following my recaps, you know that the first eight episodes took a while to get up to speed. There was an awful lot of world building going on, particularly in episodes three and four, and a lot of it felt like the writers were spinning their wheels just a little bit. Some conflicts between the show's creator, Robert Wertheimer, and the writing staff led to a separation. Starting with episode nine, "Betrayal", which will air next Tuesday morning at 2am on Sci Fi, a brand new writing staff took the reins, led by Alex.
Alex was nice enough to answer a few questions for us about the switchover and the show. There are a few spoilers in here for upcoming episodes; I'll do my best to indicate them for those who want to remain pure.
Also, Alex is going to be doing a couple of the episode Podcasts coming up, so if any of you have any questions you'd like to ask in general or about specific episodes, you can contact Alex through his blog, or write them up in comments here and I'll pass them along. If you want to check out the episode Podcasts, you can find those over at Charlie Jade Verse.
Pop Critics: So how did it happen that you got this job? Did you get a call from Robert Wertheimer one day and end up on a plane the next, or was there more to it?
Alex Epstein: I'd chatted with Bob maybe a year before Charlie Jade started shooting, but he was still developing the series conceptually. After that I was working on the comic drama I created, Naked Josh. I'd pretty much forgotten about CJ when I got a call from the late Robin Spry. He had optioned a fantasy series of mine, and I'd developed a robot series for him.
"How would you like to go to work in Cape Town for four months?" asked Robin.
"Sounds interesting, Robin. When?"
"How about Tuesday?"
"I can't do Tuesday, Robin, I have a meeting. How about Wednesday?"
Apparently there had been a long painful falling out between the writing staff on the one hand, and Bob Wertheimer and Diane Boehme on the other, and the staff had been sent on their merry way, or quit, or a bit of both. So we parachuted in during the production with no time to prep.
The show was in a bad situation - behind schedule, over budget, with the storyline wandering, and no real template. Ironically, that meant that we couldn't screw it up. All we could do is help Bob bring the show back on track. If we succeeded, we'd be heroes. If we didn't, it wouldn't be our fault. I think I probably had more fun than anyone else on that show. Bob had to figure out how to juggle the budget and the financing. I just had to sit in a swell conference room above one of the best restaurants in Cape Town drinking coffee shakes with Denis and Sean, and talking science fiction stories.
PC: Did you put the team together back in Canada and fly it out as a group - I know Denis McGrath joined at the same time as you - or did you fill it out with local South African writers? How big was the writing team and what was its breakdown of Canadian to SA writers?
AE: The writing staff was Denis McGrath, Sean Carley and I. We had independently "auditioned" for Bob and Diane, our exec for CHUM, and given our "take" on the show. I met Sean on the plane; I met Denis the next day.
We were originally working with an assortment of South African free lancers, but we weren't at all happy with the results. Still we had a co-production requirement that roughly half of the scripts had to be South African. So we brought on the best freelancer we could find to work on staff in the later episodes. That was Dennis Venter.
You can read the rest of the interview here: http://www.popcritics.com/2008/07/exclusive-interview-with-charlie-jade-headwriter-alex-epstein/ share