1 00:00:26,207 --> 00:00:30,200 Well, we used to write for animation. I guess that's where we got started. 2 00:00:30,287 --> 00:00:33,836 We wrote, did some producing, 3 00:00:33,927 --> 00:00:38,796 and developing shows for animation, and story-edited, as well. 4 00:00:38,887 --> 00:00:42,880 In fact, we met in a creative writing class. 5 00:00:42,967 --> 00:00:47,006 - (Paul) Not a screenwriting class, though. - Short stories. 6 00:00:47,807 --> 00:00:50,879 It's not all that interesting, I'll be honest with you. 7 00:00:50,967 --> 00:00:53,640 That story was going to be really interesting. 8 00:00:53,727 --> 00:00:59,563 We wrote a feature together, then Paul was going to do his PhD in Toronto. 9 00:00:59,647 --> 00:01:01,444 (Paul) That's not true. 10 00:01:01,527 --> 00:01:05,406 That's what you were gonna do if you weren't gonna be a writer. 11 00:01:05,487 --> 00:01:07,239 Cut. Start again. 12 00:01:07,327 --> 00:01:10,842 (Joseph) You were going to. Isn't that what you planned to do? 13 00:01:10,927 --> 00:01:13,760 (Paul) I was gonna do a PhD, but it wasn't in Toronto. 14 00:01:13,847 --> 00:01:18,159 - (Joseph) You mentioned Toronto. - There was nothing definite. 15 00:01:18,247 --> 00:01:22,365 I studied history, and I was going to do a PhD. 16 00:01:22,447 --> 00:01:24,642 Joe was going to become... 17 00:01:24,727 --> 00:01:29,562 - An astronaut. That was top of my list. ...a high-school teacher. 18 00:01:29,647 --> 00:01:32,286 He was well on his way to becoming a teacher 19 00:01:32,367 --> 00:01:34,722 when we had an idea for a script. 20 00:01:34,807 --> 00:01:40,916 A kind of science-fiction action comedy. 21 00:01:41,007 --> 00:01:44,044 Pizzaman, 2017. If he's not there in 30 minutes, he's dead. 22 00:01:44,127 --> 00:01:47,722 - That was the pitch. - That was the log line. 23 00:01:47,807 --> 00:01:50,605 No one has ever made that script, and never will. 24 00:01:50,687 --> 00:01:55,556 - But it got us... - It opened a lot of doors for us. 25 00:01:55,647 --> 00:01:59,276 That's what got us our first job on a show called Student Bodies, 26 00:01:59,367 --> 00:02:03,360 which I'm sure many of the fans are familiar with. 27 00:02:04,287 --> 00:02:09,407 We were producers, and ended up writing a third of the episodes produced. 28 00:02:09,487 --> 00:02:14,003 (Paul) And the same script got us, 29 00:02:14,087 --> 00:02:18,922 through our agent, connected to Robert Cooper. 30 00:02:19,007 --> 00:02:24,525 He and Brad, at the end of season three of "Stargate", were looking for writers. 31 00:02:24,607 --> 00:02:30,557 They read our spec script, and liked it enough to get us to pitch for the show. 32 00:02:30,647 --> 00:02:33,639 This is too weird. 33 00:02:33,727 --> 00:02:37,117 OK. Get it all out of our system. 34 00:02:43,367 --> 00:02:46,677 We've written approximately 35 episodes for Stargate to date. 35 00:02:46,767 --> 00:02:48,359 - Really? 35? - Yeah. 36 00:02:48,447 --> 00:02:50,039 (Joseph) We wrote... 37 00:02:50,127 --> 00:02:55,679 For the first three years we worked on the show we wrote scripts together, 38 00:02:55,767 --> 00:03:00,045 but this year, just because we've been so pressed for time, 39 00:03:00,127 --> 00:03:03,915 and we've had to, essentially, produce 40 hours of television, 40 00:03:04,007 --> 00:03:07,238 for the first time we've been writing scripts separately. 41 00:03:07,327 --> 00:03:13,721 First draft separately, and then doing passes on one another's drafts. 42 00:03:13,807 --> 00:03:15,763 Before, we used to... 43 00:03:15,847 --> 00:03:21,285 It was good creatively, because we would bounce ideas off each other. 44 00:03:21,367 --> 00:03:25,440 Just kind of run dialogue with each other, and things like that. 45 00:03:25,527 --> 00:03:28,724 That was good. This year, we've been splitting the workload, 46 00:03:28,807 --> 00:03:31,082 because the workload has been so heavy. 47 00:03:35,367 --> 00:03:37,039 Favourite episodes? 48 00:03:37,127 --> 00:03:40,836 There are some good episodes in season eight. "It's Good to Be King" 49 00:03:40,927 --> 00:03:44,806 finds Harry Maybourne on the planet that the Tok'ra dropped him off at. 50 00:03:44,887 --> 00:03:50,245 It's kind of a fun scenario. I've always liked those more humorous "Stargates". 51 00:03:50,327 --> 00:03:54,798 Usually, any one that involves Maybourne is a pretty good episode. 52 00:03:54,887 --> 00:03:59,324 (Paul) I liked "Point of No Return" a lot. Was that our first season? 53 00:03:59,407 --> 00:04:01,796 Season four or five? 54 00:04:01,887 --> 00:04:09,077 For some reason, that one just turned out almost exactly the way I imagined it, 55 00:04:09,167 --> 00:04:12,125 which almost, well, in fact, never happens. 56 00:04:13,007 --> 00:04:17,478 Not to say that's a bad thing. A lot of times, things turn out a lot better. 57 00:04:17,567 --> 00:04:21,401 But that one, right down to the tone of the dialogue, 58 00:04:21,487 --> 00:04:26,322 to the delivery, to the guest cast, 59 00:04:26,407 --> 00:04:31,401 everything just fell together so perfectly that it just stands out in my mind 60 00:04:31,487 --> 00:04:36,561 as a rare example of our vision really just coming out 61 00:04:36,647 --> 00:04:40,242 exactly the way we thought about it when we were writing it. 62 00:04:40,327 --> 00:04:43,603 Writing for sci-fi in general, I think, is difficult 63 00:04:43,687 --> 00:04:48,124 because, as open-ended as science fiction is, 64 00:04:48,207 --> 00:04:54,203 there are certain areas of science fiction that are standard. 65 00:04:54,287 --> 00:04:57,359 I don't want to say they're clichés, I don't want to diss it, 66 00:04:57,447 --> 00:05:03,158 but there are things like time travel, and clonings and robots and things like that 67 00:05:03,247 --> 00:05:07,957 that are just standard vocabulary, if you will, for science fiction. 68 00:05:08,047 --> 00:05:12,757 They're used by all the different science fiction shows that are out there. 69 00:05:12,847 --> 00:05:17,762 There are a lot of shows out there, and science fiction fans watch all the shows. 70 00:05:17,847 --> 00:05:22,238 They know there's a big weight of stories 71 00:05:22,327 --> 00:05:28,004 that have been told since TV started, cos science fiction has always been around. 72 00:05:28,087 --> 00:05:34,606 What we do is make it particular to our Stargate universe or our characters. 73 00:05:34,687 --> 00:05:37,645 "Window Of Opportunity" was our first episode. 74 00:05:37,727 --> 00:05:40,764 We pitched it out as a time loop. I remember Brad saying: 75 00:05:40,847 --> 00:05:44,442 "We can't do this episode. This is like that episode of "Star Trek", 76 00:05:44,527 --> 00:05:46,802 "where they're in the time loop." 77 00:05:46,887 --> 00:05:50,004 So we had to make it particular to the "Stargate" universe. 78 00:05:50,087 --> 00:05:55,286 We had O'Neill and Teal'c caught in the loop. It's actually these two guys who... 79 00:05:55,367 --> 00:05:58,359 Usually, Daniel's the one who's translating the text, 80 00:05:58,447 --> 00:06:01,007 or Carter's figuring out the scientific angle, 81 00:06:01,087 --> 00:06:06,445 but since they're not in the loop, it falls on O'Neill and Teal'c, 82 00:06:06,527 --> 00:06:12,796 as the unlikely go-to guys in this event who have to figure out the translation, 83 00:06:12,887 --> 00:06:19,406 or figure out the scientific explanation and explain it to Carter. 84 00:06:19,967 --> 00:06:22,435 Excuse me. George. 85 00:06:22,527 --> 00:06:24,802 Colonel, what are you doing out of uniform? 86 00:06:24,887 --> 00:06:28,800 - Handing you my resignation. - Resigning? What for? 87 00:06:28,887 --> 00:06:31,959 So I can do this. 88 00:06:36,087 --> 00:06:41,036 You have to be careful not to just toss off clichés and treat them like clichés. 89 00:06:41,127 --> 00:06:46,247 You have to play with them a little bit, and make them fun and interesting and new. 90 00:06:46,327 --> 00:06:48,238 That is always a challenge. 91 00:06:48,687 --> 00:06:54,125 Essentially, what happens in this story is the Tok'ra come to us. 92 00:06:54,207 --> 00:06:57,438 The Goa'uld's about to win the war against the System Lords. 93 00:06:57,527 --> 00:06:59,802 The System Lords are gonna be wiped out. 94 00:06:59,887 --> 00:07:05,280 As a means to seek sanctuary, they check out all the old abandoned planets. 95 00:07:05,367 --> 00:07:09,042 One of these planets is the planet where the Tok'ra left Maybourne. 96 00:07:09,127 --> 00:07:12,563 So SG-1 goes to meet the natives, who don't want to talk. 97 00:07:12,647 --> 00:07:16,720 They say, "You come meet the king." So SG-1 goes to the king's chambers. 98 00:07:16,807 --> 00:07:21,005 We reveal the king, who is none other than Maybourne. End of tease. 99 00:07:21,087 --> 00:07:24,841 First act, we find out how Maybourne has set himself up as king, 100 00:07:24,927 --> 00:07:27,043 he takes us to these ruins. 101 00:07:27,127 --> 00:07:29,766 It turns out the ruins are written in Ancient, 102 00:07:29,847 --> 00:07:34,921 and one of the tablets is a repository of the history of this planet - 103 00:07:35,007 --> 00:07:36,884 past, present and future. 104 00:07:36,967 --> 00:07:41,597 Essentially, what Maybourne has done is he's predicted things like a flood, 105 00:07:41,687 --> 00:07:44,565 and made various prophesies. He's won over the people. 106 00:07:44,647 --> 00:07:47,878 He saved the village. They made him king. He lives the good life. 107 00:07:47,967 --> 00:07:52,757 SG-1 says, "We gotta get out of here. We're not staying to fight these Goa'uld." 108 00:07:52,847 --> 00:07:56,886 Of course, Daniel being Daniel, he wants to stay and check things out. 109 00:07:56,967 --> 00:08:00,164 Carter says, "Check out the ruins, we'll come back for you." 110 00:08:00,247 --> 00:08:03,603 Daniel translates the ruins, finds out what this is. 111 00:08:03,687 --> 00:08:06,804 It's the ground station for an Ancient time-travel device. 112 00:08:06,887 --> 00:08:13,042 Hidden beneath the brush is the Puddle Jumper, an Ancient time-travel device. 113 00:08:13,127 --> 00:08:18,042 O'Neill arrives on the scene cos we need an Ancient to operate the Puddle Jumper. 114 00:08:18,127 --> 00:08:20,960 He takes it out for a spin and ends up crashing it. 115 00:08:21,047 --> 00:08:25,040 He says, "Abandon it for now, we've got to go. The Goa'uld are on their way." 116 00:08:25,127 --> 00:08:28,642 They end up surrounded by natives who don't want their king to leave. 117 00:08:28,727 --> 00:08:31,719 Picking up in act three, SG-1 is in a cell. 118 00:08:31,807 --> 00:08:35,595 Maybourne feels bad, but he doesn't want to leave his people, his rule. 119 00:08:35,687 --> 00:08:40,920 His wives. So O'Neill says, "There's no guarantee you'll survive this attack." 120 00:08:41,007 --> 00:08:45,319 Maybourne gives in. He gives a big speech to his people and says goodbye. 121 00:08:45,407 --> 00:08:47,477 He and SG-1 head to the Stargate. 122 00:08:47,567 --> 00:08:51,242 By the time they get to the Stargate, the Goa'uld are stepping through. 123 00:08:51,327 --> 00:08:55,479 They're too late. Top of act four, the Goa'uld come, they meet Maybourne. 124 00:08:55,567 --> 00:08:59,480 They make demands of him. O'Neill and Teal'c are disguised as commoners. 125 00:08:59,567 --> 00:09:05,881 Cut to the forest where Carter and Daniel are working on the Puddle Jumper. 126 00:09:05,967 --> 00:09:09,164 O'Neill and Maybourne decide at the big feast tonight, 127 00:09:09,247 --> 00:09:14,526 Maybourne's gonna plan to sort of knock out the Goa'uld by poisoning their drink. 128 00:09:14,607 --> 00:09:18,441 Happy ending. Back in the forest, the Goa'uld discover the ruins. 129 00:09:18,527 --> 00:09:22,202 Daniel sees this. Carter has fixed it. She says, "We gotta test it." 130 00:09:22,287 --> 00:09:25,677 They contact O'Neill. Cut to Maybourne with Teal'c, 131 00:09:25,767 --> 00:09:29,760 and the Goa'uld arrive on the scene. They found out about the plot. 132 00:09:29,847 --> 00:09:34,841 They discover Teal'c in disguise, and they decide to kill Maybourne and Teal'c. 133 00:09:34,927 --> 00:09:40,559 So this is where you, the fans, come in. This is the make-up-the-fifth-act contest. 134 00:09:40,647 --> 00:09:44,276 Unless you have a really good idea. 135 00:09:47,807 --> 00:09:52,722 We oversee all aspects of an episode's production. 136 00:09:53,327 --> 00:09:56,080 We get the script, we'll do a pass, 137 00:09:56,167 --> 00:10:02,276 we oversee the concept meeting where all the department heads get together. 138 00:10:02,367 --> 00:10:05,723 The art department, Props, Visual Effects, et cetera. 139 00:10:05,807 --> 00:10:11,120 We go through the script, scene by scene, and decide what we want to do. 140 00:10:11,207 --> 00:10:16,076 And then we take meetings with the various individual departments. 141 00:10:16,167 --> 00:10:21,525 We'll cast the episode, and then we'll have the final production meeting - 142 00:10:21,607 --> 00:10:24,724 the meeting right before we actually shoot. 143 00:10:24,807 --> 00:10:28,038 We'll look at dailies, and once the director's done his cut, 144 00:10:28,127 --> 00:10:31,563 we'll go in and do our pass, and do our producers' cut. 145 00:10:31,647 --> 00:10:33,877 So it's basically all prep and post. 146 00:10:33,967 --> 00:10:37,801 We don't really do anything during the actual shooting of the episode. 147 00:10:37,887 --> 00:10:42,756 Usually by that time we're writing an episode down the line. 148 00:10:42,847 --> 00:10:45,964 We do all the prep. We have a week of prep, officially, 149 00:10:46,047 --> 00:10:48,959 although we'll start earlier for a bigger episode, 150 00:10:49,047 --> 00:10:52,244 get the art department going on sets, and things like that. 151 00:10:52,327 --> 00:10:56,286 As he said, we run all the meetings with all the different department heads, 152 00:10:56,367 --> 00:11:00,883 then they shoot for a week, and we do nothing except watch the dailies. 153 00:11:00,967 --> 00:11:04,801 Once they've got all the film in the can, 154 00:11:04,887 --> 00:11:08,163 we go into the editing room and start working again. 155 00:11:08,247 --> 00:11:13,640 Cut the show. This is all a collaborative process with Brad and Robert. 156 00:11:13,727 --> 00:11:16,924 We get notes from Michael Greenburg. 157 00:11:17,007 --> 00:11:20,761 I don't want to make it sound like we're making all these decisions. 158 00:11:20,847 --> 00:11:27,639 We run these meetings, and do the cut, but with the contribution of other people. 159 00:11:27,727 --> 00:11:31,037 It's a very collaborative process. 160 00:11:31,127 --> 00:11:36,247 Once we cut it, it goes off to various postproduction things, 161 00:11:36,327 --> 00:11:39,160 like visual effects, sound, music. 162 00:11:39,247 --> 00:11:42,603 Then we get mixes back. We watch those. 163 00:11:42,687 --> 00:11:46,760 Give notes on any possible problems with the sound and the music. 164 00:11:46,847 --> 00:11:50,044 We see the visual effects through their various stages. 165 00:11:50,127 --> 00:11:53,164 They do temp visual effects. They show them to us. 166 00:11:53,247 --> 00:11:57,206 We'll tweak them here and there, make suggestions for changes. 167 00:11:57,287 --> 00:12:01,997 They'll keep bringing us more versions that are closer to the final product, 168 00:12:02,087 --> 00:12:04,681 and then, eventually, you've got an episode. 169 00:12:21,207 --> 00:12:25,962 They have a lot of leeway, especially Richard Dean Anderson. 170 00:12:26,887 --> 00:12:30,960 I mean... Consider the script a blueprint, really. 171 00:12:31,047 --> 00:12:36,280 We've heard stories from actors or writers who have come to work on Stargate, 172 00:12:36,367 --> 00:12:40,565 and told us that they're amazed at what the actors will get away with. 173 00:12:40,647 --> 00:12:42,922 Cos on network shows, and things... 174 00:12:43,007 --> 00:12:46,477 I mean, Chris used to work for ABC on a show, 175 00:12:46,567 --> 00:12:52,802 and he's told us if they wanted to change a single word it was a big deal. 176 00:12:52,887 --> 00:12:57,677 You have to call down to the producers, and they would discuss the change. 177 00:12:57,767 --> 00:13:00,679 We're a little bit more open-minded here. 178 00:13:00,767 --> 00:13:05,204 It's occasionally a pleasant surprise to watch dailies and see: 179 00:13:05,287 --> 00:13:07,960 "Hey, that wasn't the line we wrote." 180 00:13:08,047 --> 00:13:10,686 We love it when they do that. 181 00:13:10,767 --> 00:13:15,204 They always bring some fresh new angle to it that we never expected or never saw. 182 00:13:15,287 --> 00:13:21,157 We're always pleasantly surprised. We think, "I wish I'd written that." 183 00:13:29,327 --> 00:13:32,637 - (Paul) Good question. - (Joseph) Those loveable Furlings. 184 00:13:32,727 --> 00:13:37,164 Boy, so many times we've tossed around ideas for the Furlings. 185 00:13:37,247 --> 00:13:42,367 It never gets much past the idea of little bears, dancing in the woods. 186 00:13:42,447 --> 00:13:46,440 - That's his impersonation of a Furling. - They're dead, though, sadly. 187 00:13:46,527 --> 00:13:50,486 We have no idea what the Furlings look like. We imagined little bears. 188 00:13:50,567 --> 00:13:55,004 They could be eight-foot tall, very gaunt, skeletal figures. 189 00:13:55,087 --> 00:13:59,444 - It doesn't sound like it from the name. - We were going to touch on the Furlings 190 00:13:59,527 --> 00:14:02,644 in an episode called "Paradise Lost". 191 00:14:02,727 --> 00:14:05,321 Maybourne and O'Neill are stranded offworld. 192 00:14:05,407 --> 00:14:11,357 They discover the remnants of a people, who... 193 00:14:11,447 --> 00:14:16,282 In the first draft, I think it was suggested they were the Furlings. 194 00:14:16,367 --> 00:14:20,997 - What happened? I don't remember. - It didn't survive. So... 195 00:14:21,087 --> 00:14:27,435 I guess... Think of the Furlings like the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. 196 00:14:27,527 --> 00:14:29,483 It will always remain a mystery. 197 00:14:29,567 --> 00:14:33,037 Those Care Bears of outer space are out there somewhere. 198 00:14:33,127 --> 00:14:35,561 Who knows? Maybe season nine. 199 00:14:42,887 --> 00:14:47,119 I remember mentioning this once, and I was raked over the coals on line. 200 00:14:47,207 --> 00:14:49,198 They were like, "Of course it exists." 201 00:14:49,287 --> 00:14:53,200 I don't know what they said it stood for, but Brad and Robert made it up. 202 00:14:53,287 --> 00:14:57,485 Originally, the acronym was NRD - "Not a Real Department", 203 00:14:57,567 --> 00:15:03,085 and the changed it to NID, because they felt it sounded better. 204 00:15:03,167 --> 00:15:04,361 So... 205 00:15:04,447 --> 00:15:08,042 NID - the National Intelligence Directorate. 206 00:15:09,047 --> 00:15:11,242 He's lying. It is a real department, 207 00:15:11,327 --> 00:15:14,399 we're just not at liberty to tell you what it stands for. 208 00:15:23,207 --> 00:15:27,405 I'm not sure what you mean, Raeshele. "Hook up 'in that way"'? 209 00:15:27,487 --> 00:15:30,126 Well, they kissed. 210 00:15:30,207 --> 00:15:34,200 There were many time loops that we didn't see all the details of. 211 00:15:34,287 --> 00:15:37,836 Lots of stuff could have gone on, I don't know. What do you think? 212 00:15:37,927 --> 00:15:41,761 I really don't have an opinion, one way or another. 213 00:15:41,847 --> 00:15:45,237 - That's a question for Amanda. - If it did happen, 214 00:15:45,327 --> 00:15:48,000 he made sure to retire from the air force first. 215 00:15:48,087 --> 00:15:52,842 Because otherwise, that would have been breaking regulations. 216 00:16:02,167 --> 00:16:06,399 To be honest, even if ideas are dismissed, 217 00:16:06,487 --> 00:16:10,196 they're really shelved, and they are usually... 218 00:16:10,287 --> 00:16:14,803 Every idea we've ever had has found its way into one episode or another. 219 00:16:14,887 --> 00:16:19,677 Just because we've been here for so long, we've done so many episodes, 220 00:16:19,767 --> 00:16:23,840 that everything that we pitch out... I can't think of a pitch that we... 221 00:16:23,927 --> 00:16:27,966 The musical I've been pitching hasn't really been picked on. 222 00:16:28,047 --> 00:16:31,517 Season nine. Don't blame us if the musical doesn't happen. 223 00:16:31,607 --> 00:16:36,556 We'll do the musical episode the same season 224 00:16:36,647 --> 00:16:42,119 that we do the telepathic dog episode that I've been pitching out. 225 00:16:44,887 --> 00:16:47,355 Thanks. Thanks for watching season eight. 226 00:16:47,447 --> 00:16:52,123 Thanks for picking up this box set and keeping us employed. 227 00:16:52,207 --> 00:16:56,405 We need jobs after this. Please, if you have any recommendations. 228 00:16:56,487 --> 00:17:01,242 I mean, I've done a bunch of stuff. I might be going to cooking school afterwards. 229 00:17:01,327 --> 00:17:05,161 I haven't decided yet. I'm just thinking about it. 230 00:17:06,247 --> 00:17:11,037 Get in touch with me on line, whatever. Willing to travel. 231 00:17:11,127 --> 00:17:16,565 The fans love this kind of stuff. The thing fans requested most is producer outtakes. 232 00:17:16,647 --> 00:17:19,639 Hi, and welcome to Outlining 101. 233 00:17:19,727 --> 00:17:24,676 You have to have an actual outline of story, 234 00:17:24,767 --> 00:17:26,758 which in this case is problematic. 235 00:17:26,847 --> 00:17:29,281 So we won't go there. We need a black marker. 236 00:17:29,367 --> 00:17:34,680 Green, reds, can do the trick, but they're not really as good. I would avoid yellow. 237 00:17:34,767 --> 00:17:40,125 This is when you come in. You're fresh in the morning, you start writing. 238 00:17:40,207 --> 00:17:45,884 It's around the middle of the second act when you realise it isn't working, 239 00:17:45,967 --> 00:17:50,677 and you've done this for nothing, but you just forge ahead and make stuff up. 240 00:17:50,767 --> 00:17:54,442 "Oh, my God. None of this is gonna work. I have to write bigger." 241 00:17:54,527 --> 00:17:56,995 We just came back from the Saturn Awards in LA. 242 00:17:57,087 --> 00:18:03,606 We won for best cable-syndicated series and-or spoken-word album. 243 00:18:03,687 --> 00:18:05,917 It's covered in Saturn. 244 00:18:06,007 --> 00:18:08,396 - Best... - Where do you want these? 245 00:18:08,487 --> 00:18:11,126 Shall we just put it...? That was wrong. 246 00:18:12,007 --> 00:18:15,283 Is something wrong with this water? 247 00:18:15,367 --> 00:18:18,723 - Sorry. I'm ready. - He's trying to ask some questions. 248 00:18:18,807 --> 00:18:19,319 ENHOH