According to CSI:Miami story editor and co-writer of “Death Eminent” Brian Davidson, making an episode of television occurs in five stages -- story breaking, writing and rewrites, pre-production, production and post-production. In the most recent blog entry, supervising producer and co-writer of “If Looks Could Kill” Barry O’Brien focuses on the writing stages, while Davidson entertains with a walk through what comes next.

O’Brien has an extensive background in television writing and is able to offer insight into the differences between sitcom writing and writing for CSI:Miami. Miami involves an element of solitary writing, which is bliss for him. The idea for “If Looks Could Kill,” insurance fraud within the Machiavellian world of male modeling, came from Ann Donahue. The story was “broken” as a group into four acts. The beats are laid out and a detailed outline is written. This episode was assigned to O’Brien and Ildy Modrovich. They divided the script down the middle and each wrote half. Then they shared their writing and rewrote each other, doing a final pass together. From there, the staff got together and gave them notes. O’Brien and Modrovich used the notes to do a second draft.

Davidson’s background is a little bit different than O’Brien’s. He began as the script coordinator the first season and was promoted to the writing staff this season. He co-wrote “Death Eminent” with Corey Miller. After the episode was written, they distributed it to the 200 people in Production and a Concept Meeting was scheduled. Davidson expected that Miller would tell him to watch and learn during the meeting as Miller is a veteran writer and Davidson is new. No such luck. Miller had him go it alone. During the Concept Meeting, every department head is present and every word is put under a microscope. They aren’t there to judge, but only to figure out what everyone is supposed to do. Each word is analyzed. What does a character’s “dirty little life” entail? What is the cost of obtaining a Barcalounger and what color should it be?

Meeting after meeting follows. Tapes from Casting have to be reviewed to find the perfect actor for each role. Locations have to be located. Legal issues have to be addressed. None of the names used can belong to anyone living in Miami or Florida. Same for business names. Davidson provides a humorous view on each of the post-writing stages of television.

To read the blog entries in their entirety, visit the CSI:Miami Blog

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!