[Photo: courtesy of Aquarius PR]

I have had a wonderful afternoon so far today. I just got to talk to a very fun and interesting actor named Scoot McNairy who has been a guest star on Bones twice already. We talked about his recurring character on the show and what he’s up to these days.

You will probably remember the character that Scoot has played on Bones as the quirky informant named Noel Liftin. He was in The Man in the Outhouse, early in season 4 and also in The Secret in the Soil during season 3. You might also remember the character Scoot played in the movie Mr. Fix It, another time when he worked with David Boreanaz.

The production team for Bones has discussed the possibility of Noel Liftin returning in more episodes to help out Booth & Brennan, so if you want to see the character on the show again, be sure to leave a comment for Hart Hanson or the writing team to let them know!

[Photo: courtesy of Aquarius PR]

He has several new movies coming out and we talked about those too. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of Scoot McNairy! He had a lot of interesting insights into working with the cast of Bones, so here’s our conversation:

Q: Do you think you’ll ever come back and work on Bones again?

Scoot McNairy: Honestly, I’m hoping I’ll come back. I love working on the show. I love working with Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. They’re two awesome people to work with. But I think it’s up to them. They’ve been talking about bringing me back on the show for future episodes, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Q: So you would return if they asked you?

McNairy: Oh, yeah! I did a movie with David Boreanaz called Mr. Fix It. I don’t think he knew that I was coming on the show and them when I did, we had a good time working together. I think it was him that decided to bring me back. So they intertwined the character back into the show. So I’m hoping to see more of that. It’s kind of up to the fans. [Hint: if you want him back, be sure to comment.]

Q: So what do you remember the most about your time on the show?

McNairy: How great the director was that I worked with. It was the same director on both episodes. And working with the cast – it’s just a very, very creative environment. They let the actors have some artistic freedom, to add things or to bring a character on to the show. They’re open to characters and it’s a really great environment because some shows don’t really allow you to do that. But all in all, it was just a really warm group of people that have obviously been working together for a while and it’s a bit like clockwork to them. It’s really nice to hop on a show and have the two leads on the show go over the top to be nice to you and to make you feel welcome and comfortable. That doesn’t happen on many shows. Emily and David are just exceptional actors and really cool people. I mean, if you could get to be a guest star on a show, especially a recurring on a show, you want it to be with those two people because they’re just so nice.

Q: Do you have any good stories about working with them?

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

McNairy: Emily is fun because she laughs at everything I do. It’s nice to sit there when the cameras are on me and to add a couple of things and to watch her crack. I think the last scene I was doing, in the cafe, I said, “This will pay for enemas.” And then to see her laugh, you know? Any time you can make someone laugh, it just brings you joy inside. It’s great fun to think that this person thinks this is funny so they can’t stay in character.

Q: So what about working with David on Mr. Fix It. Do you have any stories for the fans?

McNairy: He was just an unbelievable person to work with. He’s fun and he’s all over the place. He loves sports and he’ll be chatting you up about baseball or hockey, then they’ll yell, “Action.” And he’ll just pop right into character. He’s one of the most professional people I’ve worked with.

Q: Is there anything else about working on Bones that sets it apart from other guest roles you’ve done?

McNairy: The character. I love that character. He’s totally aloof to the FBI and… In the beginning, they catch him, but when he comes back in the second episode, he kind of feels like the FBI needs him. It’s a great character to play because clearly, Noel Liftin is an idiot. But in his mind, he thinks the FBI needs him, so he’s important. He thinks, “I’ll be hesitant about the information I give out because I’m in control here.” And he has no control whatsoever.

And I love that Booth has no patience for my character. He just asks for the information. There’s a nice back and forth there with David and it’s really fun to play with. I think I just threw out some nonchalant line to him, just playing around and he looked at me as if to say, “Hey, I’m Booth. Stop messing around.” They cut a lot of that out, but it was fun to throw a wrench at him and see how quickly he responds, in character. He’s just a really sharp actor.

Q: Ok, so tell us what you’re currently working on. I know you have several movies in production and things are busy for you.

[Photo: courtesy of Aquarius PR]

McNairy: Yeah, I’ve got a movie called Far From Home that comes out in March of 2010. It’s a high-budget thriller about a couple that’s stuck down in Central America in the year 2020. All of Central America has been quarantined because of an infection. These two people decide to hike through the infected zone to get back to America. My co-star is Whitney Able.

And I have another movie called The Beautiful Letdown. It’s supposed to be shot in the next two months in Austin, Texas. The director is Jeffrey Travis. Right now, the only person that’s attached to it is Tony Hale, and they’re just in the process of getting the nuts and bolts in order.

I’m co-producing a film called Frank & Cindy and we’ve been working with John Malcovich’s company, Mr. Mudd in order to get that project off the ground. And I have another film that I’m producing that I’m doing with Amy Acker who was on Angel, Alias and now is in Dollhouse.

There’s also In Search of a Midnight Kiss, with Sara Simmonds and it’s about a guy who places a personal ad and finds a girl intent on finding a guy to kiss on New Year’s Eve.

Q: What about the movie Wreckage?

McNairy: That one I worked on with my good buddy, Aaron Paul and Cameron Richardson. We shot it about a year and a half ago and think there’s a re-shoot they need to do before they put the film out there. It’s got an unbelievable cast attached to it.

Q: And it looks like there’s one called Everything Will Happen Before You Die?

McNairy: Yeah, that’s a movie that was shot for a very low budget. Brian McGuire that I worked with on In Search of a Midnight Kiss, he wrote it and produced it. And Bret Roberts, who is the lead in Midnight Kiss, has the lead in that too. It’s a really ambitious film, reminiscent of a Jim Jarmusch film. It’s really out there and it has a great cast attached to it. There on the cutting floor right now, so hopefully that movie will hit the festival circuits later on this year.

Q: You’re going to be everywhere, aren’t you?

McNairy: Well, I’m trying. [laughs] I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, making independent films and doing my thing.

But let me ask you this. Are Bones and Booth going to hook up?

Lynn: Yes, they are. At the end of the season. And when I interviewed the writing team, back in August, they told me that Brennan will want Booth to be the father of her child.

McNairy: Oh! No way! Well, I just hope there’s a possibility that Noel Liftin will be the Godfather of those kids!

Lynn: It could happen…but Booth would kill you!

McNairy: Either that, or Liftin spied on them!

So, even though I wasn’t that aware of Scoot McNairy specifically before our conversation, I can now tell you that I’m a fan. He’s a very nice, funny and cool guy! And as much as I like indie films, I know I’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future. And, I’d really like to see Noel Liftin come back on Bones. How about you?

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

As promised, here’s the transcript of the conference call interview that took place yesterday with John Francis Daley, who plays Dr. Lance Sweets on Bones. You’ll be able to tell that he is vary charming and hade some cute jokes during the discussion too. I hope you enjoy it:

Question: I’m just wondering if your current role is basically Sam all grown up.

J. Daley: One might argue that. I think Lance is definitely more book smart than Sam was and I don’t know if Sam would have gotten into psychology, probably the same thing that Paul Feig got into since the character is 99% based on him. But definitely some similarities in the geekiness and general likeability and handsomeness in both characters.

Question: I enjoy the show very much and I liked Freaks and Geeks, too, but I’m just wondering if Sam would have made a really challenging patient for Dr. Sweets.

J. Daley: Yes, I think it would have been many sessions to get past this year’s bullies.

Question: So in the episodes that aired a couple weeks back we learned a little bit about Sweets’ sort of family background, including that he apparently comes from carnie folk. When they gave you that information did you ask what use you were supposed to make of it as an actor?

J. Daley: I had to take a step back and sort of rethink my whole character. No, honestly I’ve no idea what they’re intending to do with my character in terms of that, but I’m very interested to see because not many times you can say that you have a character that comes from a family of carnies.

Question: What other information do you have about Sweets’ background that is going to be disseminated in the episodes to come?

J. Daley: I know that we do sort of learn a little more about his growing up in foster care and of whatever happened to him before he was adopted. I can’t really go into specifics because it’s ultimately speculative on my part as well. But from what I can gather from the upcoming episode I think we are going to learn where he came from and what secrets he’s hidden along the way.

Question: Readers would like to know more about what you’re working on outside of the show, for example what’s happening with your band Dayplayer and the screenplay you’ve been working on?

J. Daley: The band I’m with is, we’re starting up again this year. Everyone was out of town in various countries traveling the world and learning whatever they need to learn to become better musicians. I was just working on Bones. And in terms of the writing, they’re going to actors and directors right now with our magician movie, Bert Dickinson. We’re doing a rewrite on The $40,000 Man and in development with the Hours of Fun movie that my writing partner Jonathan Goldstein and I are working on for Disney and Scott Rudin. So they’re all in just various stages of development or pre-production as it were. So fingers crossed that one of them will become an actual movie.

Question: Also since your father’s a veteran of Broadway, has that influenced your career in any way?

J. Daley: I feel like it absolutely has. When I was young and living in New York, over the weekends I would go with my dad to where he worked, whatever show it would be. I’d be backstage basically doing my homework in that amount of time and so I was surrounded by it at a very young age and it was something that I had immediately become fascinated with and wanted to learn more about until that fateful day when I was nine years old and asked my parents for an agent. That’s sort of where it all started.

Question: One of the running jokes of the show has been your incredibly young good looks. Can you talk about it? Is that something you just roll with, because you are young, obviously, but do you just roll with that or are there roles that you’ve missed out because people just said you look twelve?

J. Daley: I’m still not getting any roles for anyone’s grandfather or father, for that matter unless I have some weird Benjamin Button condition. But, no, so far the roles that I’ve been going out for are basically my age or a little younger. I definitely still have the youthful look, which many actors are thankful for and I am as well.

Question: I was wondering if there’s anything new coming up in Dr. Lance Sweet’s character that you could tell us about in the next few episodes?

J. Daley: Absolutely. My character helps the team find out who the Gravedigger is in this next episode where Booth gets captured. And I profile, when they do find out who it is, I profile that person and help them to find information that will set Booth free. And I also have a fun little session with Dr. Brennan where she basically asks me to teach her how to interrogate people in the interrogation room.

So I help her detect the subtleties of human emotions and expressions and teach her the simplest things that most people already know, but because Dr. Brennan thinks in a sort of different way, it’s all new to her. I teach her when someone is being angry or sad or submissive and hilarity ensues.

Question: Is there a lot of Sweets in you and a lot of John in Sweets or is it almost like when you play the role you’re putting on a Sweets costume?

J. Daley: In some ways I am. I feel like Sweets is one of those characters where he’s very intelligent and has managed to work his way up the career ladder at an incredibly rapid pace, but at the same time he’s still 22 or 23 years old so we see traces of his youthfulness in the psychological mumbo jumbo that he’s usually spouting. So I would say that in those glimpses of his youth that is where I sort of come out as just myself.

Otherwise I think that he is definitely trying to restrain that side of him and try to stay the most professional, respected person as he can be because it’s the only way he can get his colleagues to listen to him seriously.

Question: Is it true that a lot of the little remarks that Booth hurls at Sweets in therapy is stuff that just comes out of David’s brain on the spot?

J. Daley: Oh, yes. But I would say that for most of the scenes that David’s in. He definitely has a knack for that, rattling off new and interesting things.

Question: Not just your lines, but everybody’s lines.

J. Daley: I would say so, yes, absolutely. It always makes doing scenes with David really fun because I think people are encouraged to not ad lib so much as give their own sort of flavor to the character and sometimes that involves ad libbing, doing things you wouldn’t normally expect from the character.

Question: Can you give me Sweets’ psychological assessment of the Gravedigger?

J. Daley: I don’t want to give too much away, but I know the Gravedigger is a very tough nut to crack.

Question: There’s a good comedic vibe between Sweets, Booth and Brennan. In addition to that, what do you like about the character?

J. Daley: Aside from that vibe where he’s constantly trying to get through to these people that don’t seem to take him very seriously, he is someone that is very, very stubborn and determined to be proven right even if he’s wrong. And that makes it funny because you see that this character is really willing to do anything to get respect and usually when someone is willing to do anything for respect they lose all respect to begin with.

Question: So if you’re willing to do anything for respect, can we expect to see some upcoming episodes where he gets his eyebrows singed off?

J. Daley: A la Kitchen Confidential? You never know. With this show you never know…

Question: Is it a matter of Sweets trying to get that respect that he’s pushing Booth’s buttons so hard over the last couple of episodes?

J. Daley: He also sees something in Booth that hasn’t yet been revealed at least to him and he is waiting for Booth to basically let it all out. And if that means Sweets getting punched by Booth so be it, but I think that it’s definitely something that he will not give up on. He’s going to constantly push and push to get what he wants out of Booth.

Question: Wanted to ask you about how your role sort of grew to become one of the regular ones on the show and what that process was like for you?

J. Daley: I started as a guest star on the show. The first episode that I read was the one where we first see me in my office talking to Booth and Brennan and basically learning about their chemistry for the first time. And it was a very interesting episode for me because I’ve never played anyone with such a demanding profession before. I’ve played a chef and a leader, but never someone that works for something as elite as the FBI.

So it was interesting to have that combination of high stakes with his still coming into maturity and have to deal with all that as a 22 year-old. That’s something I was immediately attracted to and I heard that there was interest in having me come on as a regular. When I heard about that I was very pleased because I’d immediately gotten very attached to the cast and the crew, such an amazing group of people to work with and very rarely can you say that completely honestly these days. But everyone is just a delight.

So when I did find out that I was going to be a regular I was happy to know that I would be continuing to work with these people that are just so great to work with.

Question: What do you think it’s going to take for Sweets to gain Booth and Brennan’s full respect or do you think that can ever happen?

J. Daley: I think it’s always possible. I think they do even respect him, but they have never told him to his face and I don’t know if they ever will. But it would have to take something like him taking a bullet for them probably to gain their full respect up front.

Question: I’m calling from Chicago. I read that you were born in suburban Chicago.

J. Daley: Yes, Wheeling, Illinois.

Question: How long did you live here?

J. Daley: I lived in Chicago for only two years before my dad joined the national tour of Cats. That got me traveling all across this nation of ours until finally ending in New York. But I still have family out there. My mom’s side of the family is still out there so I visit every year. It’s very dear to my heart.

Question: I was wondering if you’re ever going to get to use your Kung Fu skills on the show?

J. Daley: I’d love to before they completely leave. It’s been a while since I’ve practiced, but it’s something that I think, it’s like riding a bike, you can get back into it. I can be a deadly killing machine yet again.

Question: If you ever get out into the action.

J. Daley: You never know. We’ve had glimpses of him sort of joining in these adventures in later episodes so I’d say it’s a great possibility. It would be a lot of fun for me.

Question: Then I was wondering if Sweets and Brennan are ever going to sort of connect because of the foster care thing.

J. Daley: That’s what it seems like might happen because they do share that and I don’t think we’ve seen necessarily a major connection between the two of them on an emotional level in terms of their past experiences. So that definitely seems like something that the writers will explore in later episodes.

Question: Since you started playing this role do you find yourself analyzing friends and family?

J. Daley: Probably no more than I already did. Yes, you definitely start to hear yourself repeating phrases that you use on the show and I know that can’t be very fun for my friends. But the more annoyed by me as a person they are, the more it will help my character. So it’s all for the work.

Question: An actor once told me that one of the things he looks for in a character is a great name and that once he has a great name he’s already halfway home in figuring out what his character is about. Do you feel that way with a character named Sweets?

J. Daley: It is about the goofiest name, character name, that I’ve ever had or the goofiest until I do some cartoon. Yes, it definitely puts an image of a person in your mind I would say. When you say the name out loud and I think that my character has probably his entire life tried to display the exact opposite of that image that you think of when you think of that name. It’s probably something that he’s been teased about all his life and hey, maybe the name is what got him into psychology to begin with.

Question: Readers are very curious about whether Sweets will ever try to get Zack out of the mental hospital now that Zack has admitted he didn’t actually kill anyone. Do you know if there’s anything like that in the works?

J. Daley: I honestly have no idea. I haven’t been told about what will happen with Zack, but that would be very interesting if he did and I know that Sweets probably has some grief in terms of keeping that incredibly heavy secret to himself that Zack in fact didn’t kill anyone.

Question: Just wondering if Dr. Sweets is able to relax by playing the piano like the actor who portrays him?

J. Daley: You never know. I don’t know yet if that will come to be, but I know that Hart [Hanson], the creator, does know that I play and knowing how he uses peoples’ actual abilities outside of the show in the show it would not be something that would be unlikely.

Question: Do you think that would be a special pleasure, a special delight for your mom?

J. Daley: Absolutely. It would be like the biggest recital in the world.

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Q: With the family coming – Booth’s brother and Bones father coming in; every time we get a nugget of Booth’s past or the Bones and Booth relationship, people seem to go crazy. How do you kind of keep that from snowballing? I mean how do you really keep a reign on that because isn’t there a part of you that just wants to kind of just blow it all out?

H. Hanson: Oh, yes. That whole dynamic is the trickiest thing about Bones and I mean I guess the easiest way to say it is you’re torn between the case and the character. If one or the other takes over. I mean we cannot become just a soft soap opera, a character piece and we cannot become a procedural.

So to varying degrees of success, I think, we bang back and forth between the riverbanks on that. It’s discussed at every, every story, every outline and every draft. When I’m doing my final pass on drafts, it’s always the thing that’s in my mind. It’s on a per scene basis too where you go, “All right. Should we laugh in this scene or find out that it was a bronze bullet that killed this person?” It’s the pain in the ass that is Bones. It’s there all the time.

Q: I wanted to ask you; in August, I did an interview with your writing team of Bones – Karine Rosenthal and Liz Benjamin and the whole crew. At the time, they gave me a scoop that still hasn’t come to pass. They said, “Brennan would like Booth to be the father of her child.”

H. Hanson: That’s true.

Q: Is that still in the works?

H. Hanson: It is still in the works. It’s exactly like the previous question. What case can we be in that resonates with Brennan suddenly deciding she wants to have a child and that Booth would be the perfect father for it? That has not come up yet. It will before the end of the season.

There’s one that’s horribly obvious, but we don’t want to do that. We try not to do that in Bones, which concerns a group based on, a little bit ripped from the headlines, on a group of girls who decide to have children. I think it was Gloucester, MA that that actually happened in, that 16 girls or something. So, we’re doing our take on that.

That was just a little too on the nose for us. So, it was in there for a bit and it’s come out, but it will happen. You have a good memory.

Q: Well, everybody’s been wanting to know that reads my site. One thing to follow-up with that; a lot of people have said that we don’t want to get the Booth and Brennan characters together because that would be the repeat of the Moonlighting debacle. What if we were to approach them as a Nick and Nora from Thin Man? Would that make it more palatable?

H. Hanson: That’s a great question. Around here, we’re very flattered by the Moonlighting reference, but we actually look at it as the Nick and Nora thing. But of course, they’re not together in that way, but very much of their relationship is seasoned. They have kind of a seasoned relationship now.

I am not flip about getting Booth and Brennan together. It’s another of the things that we discussed at great length. But, the fact is there’s a great engine, a great energy that comes from two people who are not together and people want them to be together romantically. When you take that engine away, you’d better have something else there to provide fuel.

You can say, to grossly simplify it, I hope, the science versus humanist. But, we have that and in a relationship that is not brought to fruition, we have to have a game. When we make that change, we have to have the next thing between them in place and there’s a whole bunch of things we don’t want it to be and a couple of things that might work. But, we’re just going to be very certain of our decision to do that because it’s a dangerous one.

Q: Well, what about a baby? Just a thought.

H. Hanson: [laughs... but is not going to address it directly] I read your site. I see that stuff.

Q: I’m sure because of his work on Angel and everything. I wanted to ask you; I noticed that the description for the November 12th episode talks about Brennan learning stuff about Booth from his brother and you also mention that we get to meet his grandfather. I was wondering if you can tell us ahead of time anything about what we might learn about Booth and his past.

H. Hanson: Well, what we find out; I think it’s okay to say that what we find out in the November 12th episode is that Booth’s childhood was very tough. It was very tough and it’s hard even for him to say it or admit it to anyone. The story with Jared makes them both confront what happened in their past.

I think it’s also fair to say that Booth’s relationship with his dad is not good, but he has a very good relationship with his grandfather. We always had in mind that since David is so much, in our minds, like James Garner, that that would be a very cool piece of casting as his grandfather.

But, I don’t yet know when we’re going to see Booth’s grandfather. It will be this season and we are coming into the last third where we are. So, it’ll be in the last third of the season if all goes well.

I will tell you that soon we see Booth’s apartment and there’s the wreckage or part of the wreckage of Booth’s grandfather’s jet – he was a jet fighter, a fighter pilot – in there as kind of an homage to his grandfather.

Q: I don’t have another follow-up question, but I wanted to thank you for the show and also I was a big fan of Snoops. I read that you worked on that. I was very annoyed when they canceled that.

H. Hanson: Thank you. I actually quit Snoops, you know.

Q: Oh, I didn’t know that. …Ratings weren’t that bad. So, I was like, “What?”

H. Hanson: I know all those shows from back then that got canceled the ratings look pretty good now. Thank you.

Q: I have a question for you and it’s kind on behalf of the Boneyard. I asked them what they wanted to know and there’s kind of been some discussion. They’re very annoyed that FOX is changing the order of the episodes. What’s your reaction to that, and what can fans do to maybe keep that from happening and keep the consistency of the plot lines going?

H. Hanson: Well, God bless the Boneyard people. I mean those people watch with… They have a detailed eye. They are assiduous human beings watching that. We knew this was going to happen. So, I have to give credit to the network for warning us that this would happen. It’s awful for us in a way.

What we had to do was do four episodes that around here we call them the limbo episodes. They were shot before the English opening, the season opener, the two-part English season opener, but they had to air after and not in any particular order and not in order with the things that we were shooting anew. Was that confusing enough for everyone?

And so…time in our series stood still in them, which is very hard for us and hard for the actors and obviously, noticeable to the audience. I think it’s a one-time thing because of the… Again, it was trying to get as many episodes out. The network wanted the maximum number of episodes they could after the strike and not knowing when… We were actually shooting before we knew when we were going on the air and if we were going to England and what was going to air in Season 3 and what was going to air in Season 4.

So, it was just a complicated dog’s breakfast, a mishmash of horror that we’re almost through. We’re almost done showing things out of their proper order.

It happens all the time, by the way. They will decide that they like one episode better than another and put it where they want. Last year, the worse example, I think, was for a while, they wanted to show our Christmas episode in February. That was upsetting, but they didn’t do it. They went back on it. So, they’re the best they can.

I’m delighted that you noticed, by the way. But, I don’t think it’s something that endemic. It’s not going to always be like that, but it has been. That’s a large number of episodes to be written, shot and shown out of any order.

Q: I’m just wondering if you could talk about casting Brendan for Jared and why he was right for the role.

H. Hanson: Oh, it was one of those things. God, it is so hard to find somebody who is, in fact, a leading man caliber who isn’t on a show. We needed somebody that we thought the character of Booth would care about deeply, but had a dark side and bore at least some physical resemblance to him. I said while we were doing it, “Oh, that’s it. I’m not casting any more family members. It’s too difficult” and then in came Brendan who I knew from Roswell. He’s also a nice Canadian boy, you know.

He has grown up nicely. He has some wisdom on his face, some experience on his face and he’s a very good actor. It didn’t hurt a bit that he and David had conflict on the ice. They both play hockey in the leagues and they’ve had some conflicts on the ice that comes into their relationship in the show. He just knocked it out. He came in and I think it was two days before we were shooting and we had to change some air dates because we just weren’t going to go with somebody who wasn’t right and he was very good. He was very impressive to us.

Q: Just one other thing; can you talk about how you came up with the idea for the body in the “Passenger” episode? Was that ripped from the headlines or anything?

H. Hanson: The story of solving a crime – that’s a great question; solving a crime on a flight where Brennan had to solve a crime, Brennan and Booth had to solve a crime on a flight before it landed has been pitched every year. It was something we wanted to do. I think that it was our co-exec producer, Carla Kettner, who had the idea of cooking the body in a giant microwave so that it would be within Brennan’s field of expertise finally gave us the way into the story. We just had failed five or six times to make that story work and she came up with that and the story fell into place. So, I have to give her credit for that.

Q: Jumping ahead to the December 3rd episode, I just had to ask you; is “Double Trouble in the Panhandle” where Booth and Brennan go undercover as a knife thrower and his assistant?

H. Hanson: That is correct.

Q: Is it as ridiculous as it sounds because it sounds like a fantastically hysterical episode? Is it more funny than the normal episodes?

H. Hanson: It is more funny than the average episode and then oddly, because it’s more funny, more touching for them. Andy Richter is in that as the ringmaster and he’s an incredibly good actor. So, it’s one of those situations where we went for… Every once in a while, we go toward the comedy of our show and the fun and Dave and Emily are so willing to go there. In fact, they push for it constantly and it was very funny. But in the end, I have to admit, it was actually more touching than I had foreseen.

So, it does sound like a whackadoodle episode and it is one of our odder ones, but I hope the audience goes with us as to why they would go undercover in a circus. It is one of my favorite episodes.

Read Part 1 of the Interview

Read My Conversation With Hart Hanson

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Here’s the entire conversation with Hart Hanson. (I did take out the “hello” and “thank you” parts at the end and beginning of each person’s questions.)

Hart teases us about meeting Booth’s grandfather and gives us a lot of information about why certain people were cast for certain parts. Well, you’ll see, it’s just a fantastic interview:

Q: I have to wonder: Booth’s brother; is that a card you’ve been wanting to play for a while?

H. Hanson: Yes. We were originally going to have Booth’s brother appear in the ill-fated Season 3…ill-fated because of the writer’s strike. We were looking forward to bringing Booth’s family more into Bones in Season 3 toward the end of the season. But, that was one of the decisions we made when we came back for such a short period of time is to let that play out better in Season 4. So yes, we’re excited about it.

Q: Now, is Jared’s primary function to shed light on Booth’s murky background and it’s just a glorious side effect that it might push Bones and Booth together finally?

H. Hanson: Yes, those two and there’s a spark between Brennan and little brother Booth, as is the way things go on Bones. Since she, in her own mind can’t have the older Booth, maybe this younger one is a good…copy. It turns out not to be true, but it gives us some fun with them, but, mostly to shed some light on Booth who was a guarded character for all his… You don’t actually find out much about him. So, it’s another way into that and it’ll be some fun.

Q: I did an interview with Michaela a few days ago. I love her. I thought I’d ask you since you’ve been writing for her, working with her for several years now, what was it that made her stand out for you when you all were casting the part? Does she still have the capacity to impress you and surprise you as an actress today?

H. Hanson: Yes. The answer to part two is that I think– Well, the first thing that appealed to me and the rest of us when we were casting was her– She’s a very experienced actress. So, she has great chops, and she’s obviously extremely beautiful. But, she’s also funny. She has a lot of range. We were looking initially for that best friend who could be a sympathetic ear and she has that in spades, that really warm side to her.

We have found out that she is funnier than we thought as well. Not only has she still got what we were looking for in the first place, but now that we’ve sort of, for the time being at least, split her from Hodgins, she gets to be a little bit more of the free spirit Bohemian that we were after in the first place and she’s just even better at it.

It’s funny you ask that because in the last three or four episodes, in post, we’ve just been saying, “Wow, look at Michaela. Look at Michaela go.” I think she’s really come into her own in the fourth season.

Q: What motivated you to give her…at this time? Is it kind of like thinly veiled male fantasy on your part?

H. Hanson: It could be that, couldn’t it? It was like you get to watch Michaela kiss another really beautiful woman. That’s not the worse thing in the world. But, I don’t think that’s why we did it. We did it to… You want to jolt a series every once in a while and remind people that anything can happen. We wanted to go back… A series of events happened where she broke up with Hodgins. We met her ex-husband. She’s the offspring of a rock star. We just wanted to give a little jolt to the Michaela character, to the Angela character to reset, just reset that anything can go anywhere.

It worked quite well. The actress who was playing her ex-girlfriend, perhaps girlfriend again is Nichole Hiltz and she’s very funny and very warm. Also, if we do this right, and you’ll let us know, it’s not played very prurient. It’s pretty matter of fact. This is who she is. This is who she was for a while and who she could be again. It’s just tossing that salad a little bit.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about what the revolving Zack replacements have done for you guys in the writer’s room this year and sort of being able to do that and how long you think you can play out that gambit?

H. Hanson: Great question. It has been really fun for us, notwithstanding everybody’s deep affection for Eric Millegan and Zack. What it has done for us is we’ve been able to invent a series of characters that make more stuff happen at the lab. It kind of gives “B” stories to the “B” story, to get some character and humor out of the lab. We found this group of people; we found actors that have just been delightful. It’s been amazing for me how good these people have been at coming in and integrating and being on kind of a revolving door.

Initially, I thought, “Oh, we’ll look at four to six people and then pick someone who is great and have them come in.” We have a couple of more ideas now that we’d like to pursue with these grad students. It’s no longer a case, at least in my mind, of finding someone to replace Zack, but, as you say, figuring out how long we can do this and how long it serves the show.

Frankly, our biggest problem now is that some of these people are very good and we could lose them if we don’t book them as recurring characters. And so, it’s a little scary. They’re very good and people are going to see them and snap them up for pilots and things.

But, I think we’ll do this for a while. I can’t say right now how long it will go on, but I think we’d like to do it for a while.

Q: Is there a danger to it becoming sort of a Murphy Brown secretary kind of thing where even the writers become tired of it after a while?

H. Hanson: Oh, yes, absolutely and I think what we would do is… I mean Murphy Brown did it every single week and it was kind of a gag that they pursued. We’re actually not interested in having an infinite number.

For example, a couple of times, some very interesting casting ideas have come to me as to whom we might have come in as an intern and no character suggests itself. They each have to be different. It just can’t be someone with a quirk each week. I think that would become very tiresome. But as long as we’re interested in looking at each one of these people as characters, then it will work for us and hopefully not become a gag that will annoy people.

There are a lot of people watching the show. I don’t mean just audience, but we’ll start to hear from the network, studio, writers, directors, the other actors when that feels old and hopefully we’ll be before the curve. But right now, it still feels like something that everyone is into and interested by.

Q: Let me put you on the spot quickly. If you had to guess, where [in the weekly schedule] do you think you guys [will be] airing, come January?

H. Hanson: Oh, I am not withholding any opinion from you at all. I will tell you I have no idea. I don’t know what their plans are. I know anything is possible. I think not Friday. I’m pretty confident we won’t be on Friday, but I don’t know what they’re going to do with Idol. I don’t know what they’re going to do with Dollhouse. Your guess is as good as mine. For a while, I thought Mondays; they’d put us on Mondays. For a while I thought, “Oh, my God, maybe they’ll,” which I would love, “pair us with House on one of the nights that Idol isn’t on.” But, I don’t even know, I don’t think anyone does – well, they do at the network – when Idol is coming on. That, of course, will change everything.

Q: Let’s go back to the interns actually. I see that Clark is coming back for an episode. Is there any chance that Michael Badalucco will come back? He personally was my favorite intern of the group.

H. Hanson: Wasn’t he great? Yes, we’d like to have him back again. He is on the list of people we would like to have back. He’s really fun. Every once in a while, the feeling you get from the network, although they’re pretty good at not jamming it down your throat, is that they want youth. Then every once in a while you get someone like Michael or Stephen Fry that just turns everyone on their heads.

Yes, we’d like to have him back. It’s a great character to have, the ultimate “Dad.” He’s the middle-aged man who actually does know everything. It could be my own bias there as a middle-aged man. But yes, we’d love to have him back.

Q: Speaking of Zack, I mean it seems like you definitely left the door open for him to return. I’m just wondering; what are your plans for Eric for the rest of the season?

H. Hanson: Well, I don’t want to say too much about it. We’re not done with Zack. Zack is a fun character. We left a big hanging chad with Sweets, that Sweets knows that Zack didn’t do what he is thought to have done. He has a problem, an ethical problem on how to deal with that and we will deal with that. That’s an ideal episode in which to have Millegan come back again; Eric Millegan come back and play Zack again.

I think it’s okay for me to say that I’m looking into Stephen Fry’s availability because I think he would be the ideal person to help Sweets figure out how to deal with that.

But, Zack is still in our minds. His name is hanging up there on the boards in the writer’s room as to what cases he would be useful in, that he could organically fit into. Also, it’s funny how things come up. You realize when Zack wasn’t there every day that he and Hodgins are pretty good friends. They were a pretty good friendship, an Odd Couple friendship on TV that you miss. So, there are those things that mitigate toward him coming back.

Q: My question dips into your crew and the crafts people that put the show together. There’s such amazing hard work and I really notice it, the look of the show. I was curious to know if you were ever tempted to see if Caleb Deschanel was ever available to be a DP on one of your shows or even direct.

H. Hanson: Well, he has directed one show and he was booked for another… First of all, thank you so much for asking about our crew. The show looks great. The show really looks wonderful and we are not one of the highest budgets on television and we look as good as anything else. I mean the difference in budget between us and, say, Fringe – it’s dramatic. It’s because of the crew that we’ve amassed in the last three years. They’re amazing. I’m constantly astounded by the vigor and creativity of our crew.

We have a lot of elements too and I hope it’s sort of seamless to the audience. But, there are a lot of elements in the show that have to be perfect. Just scheduling our show, because of the dead bodies. The dead bodies have to be made. That’s a real skill. And so, they’re not available towards the beginning of the shoot. They’re available more toward the end. We are constantly in shackles as to when we can shoot. We don’t have a lot of flexibility.

The crew does an amazing job and I think people don’t realize how amazing they are because it just looks like good TV, but it is amazing. So, thank you for asking that.

We did have Caleb direct a show. It was “The Glowing Bones” episode back in first season. He got bumped during the strike and we are looking to get everybody who was bumped during the strike back on the show again. It was a lot of fun to have him around, and it was really a lot of fun for our DP Gordon Lonsdale. He was so happy to have Caleb Deschanel there and he was so pleased that Caleb respected his work.

Q: I was curious to know who does the prosthetics. What shop do you use? I mean who does all the prosthetic body work?

H. Hanson: The bodies are done by the Yaghers, Chris and Kevin Yagher, who have been with us right from the beginning. I think we got them because Barry Josephson knew them from feature film world. They are amazing. They’re also the sweetest, most innocent looking guys. They look like nice college boys and they bring us the more horrific things. Their bodies are amazing.

Really, last year; I told the story last year that – I wasn’t kidding. We had a severed head that they made that looked just like the actress. To be funny, I leaned over to pretend I was going to kiss the severed head just to be a funny guy – not that funny – and it made me barf a little bit. It just was so… They’re very, very good.

Continue Reading, Part 2

Read My Conversation With Hart Hanson

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

Question: I read somewhere that you might be directing an episode this season. Can you tell us something about that?

D. Boreanaz: Yes. I’m actually directing one. It’ll be over the Thanksgiving break. I don’t know the storyline yet or the breakdown of it. When I do, I’ll let everybody know about it, but I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to putting on a different hat, sure.

Question: Have you done any directing at all?

D. Boreanaz: Yes, I have. I’ve directed in the past, yes.

Question: So, this will be not totally new for you.

D. Boreanaz: Not totally new, but definitely new because it’s a whole new show and a new environment. When you work day in and day out with these guys, it makes it a little bit easier.

Question: Just a quick thing; you mentioned Moonlighting. I was wondering if you’re ever worried that maybe if they carry the romance between the characters a little too far whether it’ll have the problems that Moonlighting had.

D. Boreanaz: Yes, I know. I hope that it doesn’t. I think that the more we can keep the characters away the better. I do believe that you don’t want to give too much away.

Question: I know you and Emily are both producing on this show and I was just wondering what involvement you both are having really in the storylines and suggesting new things for the writers and producers.

D. Boreanaz: Well, again, we bring in a lot of our improvisational moments and character stuff. So, all this character stuff and improvisational stuff that you see is our ideas. It really is a moment of reworking scripts, dialogue and changing some things here or there and going through Hart and telling him about it and saying, “We have an idea for this,” or “We’d like the scene to kind of develop this way rather than this way.” So, it’s really a lot of character stuff and ideas that we have that we implement into the storyline and/or into a script.

Question: I love the bit in the season premiere where you’re trying to crack the Queen’s guard, like trying to getting him to smile or something. Was that your idea, or was that something that was written in the script?

D. Boreanaz: Well, at first, it was written a certain way. It was a much longer scene than it was, actually, the way it came out. The idea of the way it was written first was that kind of stare down and me trying to break him, but what we wanted to do was we worked the scene where it was more or less me trying to catch him breaking and actually thinking I did break him when he blinked and all that stuff. So, just turning it around and making it a bit more of a non-predictable scene, because at first– I mean Booth would know who he’s messing with and I think the scene was originally saying like he doesn’t know who he’s messing with. It’s stuff like that that we change around.

I know he’s a Queen’s guard. I know that I can get in trouble. I understand that, so I explain that in the front of the scene rather than me not saying anything at all about that. There are things like that that we just change around.

Question: This might be premature, but have you thought about beyond Bones, like when the series does come to an end many years down the line? Do you want to stay in TV, or do you have your eye on film? What are you thinking?

D. Boreanaz: I focus primarily just really what’s happening in the moment. Obviously, I always like to plant seeds. I planted some seeds, whether that’s developing a show myself to take to a network, getting on board that way. To me, it’s always been something I’d like to do. It’s exciting – develop a story and an idea for a show.

Obviously, film work would be fantastic. It’s just finding time. It’s developing into a leading man that I’m doing right now. So, I’m comfortable with that.

Question: Just switching gears a little bit, what were your favorite TV shows when you were growing up and the kind of guy that you watched on TV?

D. Boreanaz: Well, growing up, it was like Starsky & Hutch, Planet of the Apes, Chico and the Man, Soap… I mean that’s for like the early days when I remember watching television, stuff like that. Those are the things that kind of influenced me.

Question: What about those characters like totally got you as a viewer?

D. Boreanaz: Well, I mean Starsky & Hutch, it was just two guys. They were really cool in a car that just did stuff. Chico and the Man was an unorthodox kind of comedy and Freddie Prinze was just an amazing talent; Soap, a great humorous dialogue. Then also like all the Norman Lear stuff. I mean his dialogue is priceless. You couldn’t even show some of that stuff today the way that was written. I mean to me, that’s the best stuff ever put out there. You can’t touch that stuff. Even today if you aired some of that stuff, it would be too much for network television. I mean that’s just way smart and not being able to identify it at the time, but being affected by it obviously because I remember it now. That’s stuff I inspire to. So, things like that.

Question: Yes, it had a lot of social commentary. Earlier you mentioned wanting to sort of emulate the Moonlighting character. Bruce Willis obviously had a brilliant career. Are you still looking toward movies and kind of following the arc of his career path?

D. Boreanaz: I’d love to, yes. I actually bumped into him I think it was the second season of Bones and I bumped into him and he couldn’t have been nicer. If I had to model anything, it would be like kind of a list of him or the way his career has unfolded and getting a really good action piece, to really jump into something that I love to do. I mean I think one thing the show misses out is using more action stuff with me. I think they used maybe 3% or 4% in the past three years and I know Hart is going to focus more on doing more action sequences that help that in this area because I mean it’s just one area that I love to do. I love doing that kind of stuff.

James Garner too was big. He was fantastic.

Question: What did Bruce say about the series or did he say, “Hey, I saw”–

D. Boreanaz: No, he was very cool. He’s like, “Yes, I know the series.” He said, “You’re doing a great job.” I said, “Well, I’m trying to follow in your footsteps, following your lead because I have such high respect for you” and he couldn’t have been nicer.

Question: I was curious; how does he London version of Brennan and Booth do the job compared to Brennan and Booth? Do they do it different?

D. Boreanaz: I don’t think they did it differently, but they did it similarly, just with a different tactic. One of our focuses going into the London show that we worked on specifically was when we were around them, seeing the two of them, we kind of mirrored them. We looked at them and said, “Wow, that’s really us.” That kind of helped with our connection, our relationship with them.

Question: Earlier, you mentioned that you take Zack out of prison for some help and then you put him back in.

D. Boreanaz: Well, I don’t take him out of prison. He escapes. I’ll just say that.

Question: Does that mean that the Gormagon storyline comes back?

D. Boreanaz: God, I hope not. Gee, I hated that.

Question: I thought that was awesome.

D. Boreanaz: Gormagon or whatever. Yes, I was out on that one. I’m not a big fan.

Question: So, you don’t know if that’s coming back or not.

D. Boreanaz: I don’t think it is, no.

Question: Sorry, this is going to touch on Gormagon again. Is there any fall out from how Seeley sees himself as an agent from that whole experience because this was someone you saw all the time?

D. Boreanaz: No, not really because I think things will be explained a little bit deeper when Zack comes back for an episode.

Question: I understand that Grave Digger is making a reappearance.

D. Boreanaz: Yes, that’ll be good. That’s something that we kind of kept open ended. That show was originally shot as a closed show and then they recut the ending and it’s become a fan favorite. So, we should definitely have a visit from him again.

D. Boreanaz: I just want to thank everybody for responding to our show and supporting us for the past few years. We look forward to a really good fourth season and some good surprises ahead.

[Note: In case you are interested, I highlighted my own questions in navy. That way, those of you who asked me those questions will know that I was thinking of you when I asked David about them.]

Read Part 1 of the Interview

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

This is the transcript for the conference call interview with David Boreanaz that took place on September 2…just before the Bones season premiere. So some of the “spoilers” are now no longer secrets. But I thought you might like to read through it anyway. There are a lot of fun things David spoke about and some of the spoilers have not yet happened. I hope you enjoy it:

Question: My question is actually about Zack and the big reveal from the season finale. I was wondering if you could shed any light on how soon and under what circumstances we will next see poor Zack.

D. Boreanaz: Well, I don’t think we should call him “poor Zack.” I think he obviously was a choice of character that obviously needed to be kind of changed up or put somewhere else. I mean Zack’s not really going anywhere. I mean we will see him again throughout Season 4 in certain circumstances. We just actually shot an episode where he got out and actually helped us solve something and I had to put him back into prison, which was pretty funny, but I think where he is right now as far as his character or his concern benefits the show in some ways.

Also, I’m sure people are upset about that, but that is really a decision and something to ask Hart [Hanson] about as far as what his ideas are for what they’re going to use him for, how long they will use him for and to what extent.

Question: My follow-up is just about the popularity of Bones over in England where you were shooting. Did you get to travel around in any greater degree of anonymity, or are they just as on top of things as over there?

D. Boreanaz: It was a bit chaotic and crazy in London. Just Europe in general for me is a bit kind of hairy, more so there than it is over here in the States in certain areas to walk out your door or go to certain places. There is definitely a following with the show and the presence over there of shooting and knowing that you’re over there and the people coming up and the fans following you around. They were very supportive and very friendly.

It did make for crazy moments. I know when I would leave my hotel room or go out for a run, it was a bit nuts. But other than that, it was okay.

Question: Can you talk about the season ahead for Bones and Booth? I mean just give us a taste of what’s coming.

D. Boreanaz: Yes, I mean right off the bat, it’s really focusing on their relationship and how that affects how they solve crimes or how they move forward in whatever case they’re working on. Again, we honor and we really support the character work and that’s what we strive for on the show and which kind of makes us different from other procedurals out there. It is character stuff and we love doing that kind of stuff.

We balance it out with the procedural and the case. Again, the characters will get closer and then far away. I know Hart has some ideas for some fantasy episodes and getting the two of them in bed to some extent and how that will happen and what will happen. I think that’s how the fantasy episode will play out as far as that is concerned. It’s just really working on our relationships and really supporting each other and maybe going into Booth’s past a little bit, seeing where he came from and seeing how that affects his relationship with her.

Question: Fantasy? How might we see that?

D. Boreanaz: I don’t know. I think that’ll come more and more towards the end of the season rather than the forefront.

Question: It sounds like you’re going to be teasing us a lot.

D. Boreanaz: Well, I mean I think that’s the whole point of the show is the give and take. You want to really give back to the audience what they’re asking for, but at the same time, you have to do it smart without tipping your hat too much. I think the beauty of it is that we’re allowed to do that and put the characters in circumstances that dictate that, even in London. I mean the fact that we’re out and she’s with someone and I’m with another woman, “Inspector Pritchard.” It brings up all this stuff. It brings us closer; I mean farther apart. It puts things in perspective for the characters.

Question: I want to congratulate you, obviously, on the show’s success. It’s one of my favorite shows and I’m glad that it’s so prominently featured in the Fox line up. I guess your two previous series really were more cultural and favorite hits than ratings juggernauts. How does it feel to have Bones be so widely viewed and really so widely accepted?

D. Boreanaz: Well, I don’t really necessarily think of it; I don’t think Bones– I think what’s great about Bones is it’s been embraced by the critics and it’s been embraced by a following of people that have really supported us from the beginning, which in retrospect is the same with the other shows that I was on. I mean you have to look at in perspective and what network it was on and how well it was and what it did for that particular network at that particular time.

We pretty much remain still under the radar. I mean I still believe that there’s a lot of growth for our show as far as not becoming too popular, but maintaining a really nice steady climb not only in the ratings, but also with the new fan base that comes on every year for us. In fact, we were able to get it to TNT this year and expose it to even more people and get them excited about Season 4, which I think will be big for us.

I think the beauty of the show has been its gradual increase and not really going straight to a top number one show. I mean, where you can go from there? I mean there’s something to be said about that for the writers and something to be said about the production team and something to be said about the actors that put forth their time and their effort in order to create a character and see that develop rather than have it become so quick because it hasn’t been an overnight quick thing for this show.

Question: Last season, I thought the addition of Sweets to the whole Booth/Brennan dynamic was really sort of inspired. Talk about how your writing staff and your creative team really did a great job of mixing the action and the comedy.

D. Boreanaz: It’s a very fine line. I mean there are a lot of moments that I’m always like, “Oh, David, you’re playing Booth a little bit too much over the top or a little too goofy.” I mean those notes come to me sometimes because I bring in like at least 150% energy into scenes. It’s a lot easier to bring them down… Again, it comes from the work that we do with our acting coach, Ivana Chubbuck, who is fantastic. She’s an academy award winning coach and she allows us the ability to give us ideas that we take and give to the show and work in the moment. We work in those improvisational moments. We get scripts that don’t have specific moments or things that Emily and I will put in and that makes sense because really, it’s the characters that kind of pop and create the show today and makes it better and fun to watch because of these moments.

Whether that is with a therapist and bring someone in like Sweets and having him on as a full time regular; I mean giving someone couple’s counseling to deal with themselves in the workplace is phenomenal. I don’t think you’ve ever really seen that in television. I mean it was very groundbreaking for us for the last year. It was a big plus for us. And to use in this Season 4 with criminology and an investigation/interrogation scenes and him helping us out, it just adds a whole other cog or piece of the puzzle for our show.

But for us, it’s really about our relationships and our moments that we find that we bring to the table and that’s how they get developed.

Question: All your fans, I think, love watching you flirt, I certainly do, with Emily. Was the chemistry between the two of you immediate?

D. Boreanaz: Well, they seem to have thought so. When we first did the test, we had one woman in mind for the role and I thought was going to get the role. I went in and read with her and another girl and then Emily too. After Emily tested, and she did her test for the network, they had seen something actually in that test that was very– something sparked and they were like, “That’s the girl.” So, that happens, obviously. When you see, then you develop it and then you work at it. It’s great to be able to have someone that is– I’m very fortunate to have somebody who wants to work at it together and that’s what we do.

Question: What do you think draws these characters to each other? What do you think they find sexy about each other?

D. Boreanaz: Well, they’re very much alike in a lot of ways, but they’re also very not alike. So, I think that there’s that little kid inside Booth that she really enjoys because maybe she lost part of that as far as her character is concerned because she is so straight and serious and very literal. So for him to kind of shake that up, I think there’s a part of her that enjoys to see that, but it’s also frustrating because it annoys her at times, but she does the same to me. I think that’s the balance.

Question: You were hinting at a fantasy episode. Will we see a next step for them in reality?

D. Boreanaz: That evolves. For me to say when that’s going to happen, it’s difficult because what’s the beauty of our show is as we work on each episode and we find moments, that’s where it really evolves because I could say, well, the next episode that we’re shooting next week when we coach, we could find a moment that works. I think the job as an actor is to really bring that to the table because when writers see that or our show writers see that, they get excited about it and they explore that avenue. It’s a moment-to-moment thing for our characters.

Question: In the London episodes, Booth makes it pretty clear that he’s a serious James Bond fan. Is that yet another thing that the character has in common with you? Are you a 007 fan?

D. Boreanaz: I’m not a big 007 fan. That’s not to say I’m overly crazy. I mean for me, Bond was like a really big Roger Moore because that was my Bond that I grew up with at the time that I really got into James Bond. I do like the new James Bond. I think that they’re really kind of aggressive, kind of a little bit darker than the other ones, but I’m not like a huge fan of them. That was just a character thing. It’s just like the Walther PPK thing was something that, “Well, we’re in London, so we might as well play that up.” It was just something that was played on.

Question: Has your involvement in the show made you something of an armchair detective? When you see an unfortunate crime story on CNN or what not, do you find yourself trying to solve it with your limited FBI knowledge?

D. Boreanaz: I really don’t. I think I’m more interested in the character work with Booth than I am about the straight-laced performance of breaking and entering or entering a building, although I do enjoy the aspect of working with Mike Grasso, who is our tech on the show, and going out and shooting with him, using firearms responsibly and tactics and stuff like that. I mean that I enjoy.

I think just his gut and his instinct is where he gets his je new sais quoi, so to speak, as far as being a detective is concerned and figuring out a crime.

Question: That’s fair enough because when I think back over past episodes that I’ve enjoyed, it’s not about the crime, who was murdered, how it happened, it’s about the characters that are the regular characters and the funny things they say to each other and the banter they do. It’s not really about the dead body stuff.

D. Boreanaz: It really isn’t. Someone said it was a reference to Moonlighting this past week that really excited me because that’s what I’ve been striving for since day one. Now, I just really, really want to embrace that and look forward to adding a little bit more action into some of these episodes, which should be fun.

Question: I write for searchingbones.com. and some of my readers have wanted to know how Booth will evolve as a character this season.

D. Boreanaz: I mean it really kind of get back into Booth’s past. We’ll see his apartment. We’ll see where he’s living this year, how he lives. One specific idea that I have in general that I really want to exploit is Booth is, on the outside, very charming. He has all of his shields up. But, here is a guy who was an Army ranger. He was a sniper and we touched on it in the first episode. In the season, that came out he was tortured and he got hit in the shins. It would be nice to see Booth; see how he gets ready in the morning, how difficult it is for him and how we give a little bit more vulnerability towards this character, to see him kind of start the day and see how hard it is for him because when you do see him, he’s always on the move. He always has all of this stuff that protects him, but what really lies underneath all that is good stuff. I think we’ll exploit that this year.

Question: I’ve also had a couple of people ask me since we haven’t seen the “cocky” belt buckle in any of the promo photos. Have we seen the last of it?

D. Boreanaz: No. That’s still on. I mean the photos probably depend on how– I haven’t noticed it. I’ve always been wearing it, so I don’t know.

Question: Are there any other aspects of Booth that you’d like to see developed more that there are no plans for at this point?

D. Boreanaz: Getting back to his dad and his grandfather maybe just to figure out his family history, where he kind of gets that kind of lethal threat. There’s something lethal about Booth that’s really intriguing to me that we haven’t really seen, a bit of a dark side to him that I really kind of would have enjoyed to exploit this year. I do think he’s the type of guy that can switch on and off pretty quick. If you really get him angry, he can snap and people would fear him pretty easily.

Question: Like shooting clown trucks?

D. Boreanaz: Yes, I mean very much almost kind of like a “Lethal Weapon,” Mel Gibson kind of face for him is something, I think, in the cards.

Continuing Reading Part 2

Searching Bones: I have a very important question to ask from one of my favorite Searching Bones readers. Her name is Annie and she lives in Sweden and she often sends me tips and messages. She’s also deaf. She asks about the possibility of including more deaf, blind or otherwise disabled people in the show in the future. Do you think there might be a possibility of that?

Answer: We think that’s a very good question and it’s something that we will talk about. We’ll have to see, but we might have some opportunities for that.

Searching Bones: could you explain just a little bit more about how much of your own creativity enters into writing the episode and how much comes from the group?

Craig: We’re all nodding. The writer comes in with an idea saying that they want to do an episode about this.

Liz: I guess they sort of lead the discussion on their own episode so they have a little more say. It’s definitely a group effort, but they do have a little more influence. And when we leave the room with the story beats worked out, those are plot points, they’re not the full plot. We fill it out and open it up and give the characters life. It grows and it’s definitely affected by each writer’s input.

Craig: In terms of the long arch like characters that are going to be new characters and be on multiple episodes. That comes from the mouth of Hart. He will sit at the head of the table and tell us the major elements. We don’t now how they are going to be incorporated, but they are the elements that have to be incorporated into the stories for the season. So while you are coming up with your stories, you look for places where those can fit.

Liz: We’ve been joined by one of the Co-Executive Producers, Scott Williams.

Scott: *laughs* Yes, I’ve stepped won from the mountain and here I am.

Searching Bones: Thanks so much for joining us!

Scott: You’re in very good hands here without me.

Answer: He came in for snacks! *laughter*

Searching Bones: Have any of you ever written a scene and when you saw it on screen you felt it had been interpreted differently than you had intended?

Answer: No. We often write scenes and they never see the light of day because they get cut before they get to the set, but I think it’s always a surprise that the actors, the directors and everything bring so much to the scene that it’s sometimes surprising. But it never is completely off.

Once a script is sent to the set and they’re shooting it, Hart has a policy of “No changes.” So no big changes happen unless they are run by him. So the script that is shot is the script that was approved. And Hart really talks to the director about what the scene is supposed to be. So really it would be very unlikely that something would get shot that was completely unintended.

Answer: There’s almost always a writer on the set as well to see the rehearsals and the beginnings of the scenes. So we know how it’s going to run before it’s actually shot.

Answer: And the process from when a script goes into production is a whole other thing. We have heads of departments here; the scenic department, the costume department, props. Even every computer you see in the lab that has a visual on it – that has been discussed in meetings and the writer and producers have been present so there are no surprises.

Scott: Because of the time and money involved as well. If they want to make a change, they have to come up with another solution and that takes time. When you’re on the set, the clock is ticking and there are only so many hours in the day.

Searching Bones: Speaking of the computers on the set. I’ve had several people ask about the Angelator – the 3-D rendering of the victims. People miss it and wonder why there isn’t more of it in the show.

Answer: Talk to Hart. *laughs* It’s expensive to do.

Answer: Tell them we will take that up with Hart.

Searching Bones: As for each of you, what experience did you have that helped you get to be a part of the team that creates Bones?

Scott: It tends to vary. Each of us write TV, film, plays – so at the end of the day, what you are writing is interpersonal relationships. And it certainly helps, for example a law show will have a few lawyers on the writing staff. We don’t ask everyone here to be a forensic anthropologist, by any means. We have very good researchers and we do a lot of very good research on our own as well. We don’t “fake” the Dr. thing, we try to be as accurate as we can be. But at the end of the day, writing a law show or a show about firemen or a show about forensic anthropologists, it’s all sort of the same. You get your technical stuff down and you use it as accurately as you can, but at the end of the day you’re still just writing good interpersonal drama.

Liz: The experience that brought us all here is that we were all writers who had demonstrated with some of our sample scripts that we could do the type of scenes and tone and voice that Hart was looking for.

Liz: I am a playwright and I’ve written for two seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and I know that Hart had read one of my Law & Orders and some “kooky, artsy-fartsy plays” (he says) that I wrote. Then we had a nice meeting. Then I got a call from my agent.

Generally, everyone has to submit samples of their writing and have meetings with the executive producers. Then they have to get approval on the writer.

Searching Bones: So if Bones fans – and there are many, by the way – who aspire to be television writers like you, how would they go about it?

Craig: You have to write a script…and not a Bones script. Don’t write a script for the show that you want to get on.

Answer: They’re called spec scripts.

Craig: There are different philosophies about this. You can write an original play, an original screenplay, a pilot that shows what your voice sounds like and the kinds of stories that you want to tell. Then you’ve got that hunk of 50 pages in your hand and you just try to get it to agencies or people you know or anything you can. If it’s good and somebody reads it they can turn it into… It’s a bit of a meritocracy, you know? If it’s good, it will find its way into the hands of somebody who can do something with it.

Answer: And some people go to school, to writing programs and network through them.

Answer: I would have to add to what Craig said about the importance of doing an original piece, but personally feel that it’s important to do samples based on shows that are already on the air. It’s a little bit different, but I feel that when you’re joining a television staff, you are trying to emulate a voice that has already been created for the show, so I think it’s important to show that you can watch a television show and read the scripts and absorb a different voice of the characters and how the scenes are done. You should demonstrate that you can do that. Because Bones is a different show than, say Grey’s Anatomy but a professional writer in TV should be able to write on different types of staff.

Answer: And also when you do that, go online and find a sample script of the show you are going to write an episode of – and not a transcript – but a .pdf of a sample script and make your script look exactly like that, in the same format. Or write with a screen writing program that will put it in the right format. You don’t want to get knocked out because somebody opened the front page and it didn’t look like a professional script.

Answer: There are some really, really good books that address just that technical aspect. But also getting your ear trained by watching as many episodes of the show you want to write. Getting your ear trained for the characters to be able to think of things that they would do. Because that’s what you would do when you got on a show.

Craig: Also, when we talk about writing a script… I know a lot of actors, for instance, that say they want to get into writing and they’ll write A script. It’s a bit of a slap to people who actually write for a living because all of us have written, I won’t say hundreds, but lots of scripts before we ever even get a sniff. Don’t just write a script, write many scripts and keep writing. Because you’ll have a lot of scripts that will never see the light of day, that are never going to be produced before you get that first script that’s going to get you on the road. It’s definitely an art that you want to practice and practice and practice and re-write and re-write. Good scripts aren’t written, they’re re-written, so it’s not a matter of writing a script for television and you’re a writer and you send it in they put you on a show. It really comes from a cumulative effort over time. You write a lot of scripts before you even approach mastering the craft enough to even start looking for work, frankly. All of us are working toward mastering it, really. It’s one of those things, like playing gold. Your game can always get better. That’s what we always tell young writers to do. If you aspire, just keep writing.

Searching Bones: I have a couple more questions for you and then I’ll let you get back to writing.

Answer: We actually have a spoiler to share with you after you ask the rest.

Searching Bones: Great! OK, the Bones fans want to know from each of you what is your most challenging part of writing and what is the most rewarding part?

Answer: Rewarding is being on the set and seeing the actors bring life to the script. It’s pretty thrilling and I don’t think that ever goes away.

Craig: And having people watch your episode and say they were moved by it.

Answer: The most challenging is the re-writing – trying to incorporate everyone’s notes and trying to figure out how to put it in your own voice…or put it in Hart’s voice. *laughs*

Searching Bones: Will any of you be taking part in the commentary for the DVD of season 3?

Answer: We don’t know. We really don’t have any information about or control over the DVDs. We might, but we haven’t been approached for that yet.

Answer: We were part of a special edition of a DVD that came out for Best Buy. It was their in-store promotion only for their copies of the Bones DVD and they did a feature, inside with the Bones writers for season 2 and how the show works. We were interviewed quite heavily for that.

Searching Bones: I had maybe 50 people ask me to see if you know when the season 3 DVDs will be out.

Answer: We just don’t know. Since we’re not on the business side of things we just don’t get information like that.

Craig: It’s all up to Twentieth Century Fox Television home video department. They have the budget and schedules and they know when things might time. That’s all they do is figure that stuff out, but they don’t tell us.

Searching Bones: OK, that’s all from me, but now I know that everybody’s going to want to hear the spoiler.

Liz: Brennan would like Booth to be the father of her child. That’s something to look forward to this season. That’s our big spoiler. We know that Hart gave quite a few spoilers at Comic Con. He promised that Booth & Brennan will be naked in bed together

Answer: Which is still on, by the way!

Liz: You will be seeing Zack again. You’ll be seeing Brennan’s dad Max and not like you’ve ever seen him before…but not nude. We can’t promise that. *chuckles* Any other spoilers we were trying to think of, Hart had already given away.

Answer: We’ll be seeing Angela’s ex-girlfriend from college. Roxy would be making an appearance. Because of an investigation, she comes back into her life. We’ll be exploring a little more of Booth’s family life.

Searching Bones: Wow! That spoiler is going to have people jumping out of their seats!

Liz: You can thank Hart Hanson!

So you see, dear Bones fans, this was a chunk of stuff to type up!! And with a family emergency that took me out of town for most of the weekend, I’m terribly late getting this to you. I truly apologize for making you wait!

Just know that all of the people on the call were so nice and they were making little jokes and laughing. It was easy to tell that they enjoy working together. I didn’t ask all the specific plot questions because they asked me to send over a list of all the questions ahead of time and they would know what to prepare. They did give us the brand new spoiler, and they reiterated the ones we had already heard, so they gave us a lot. Besides, we don’t really want to know everything that happens ahead of time, do we? That would take all the fun out of watching the show!

But I know that many of you hope to someday write for TV and perhaps their advice can help.

And for the rest of us, we now have some insight into what happens to create the show. We can now better understand how the characters and the stories are written and how they are brought to life. And it is interesting to me to find that even though each episode is primarily written by one person, they all have the same feeling to them when they are finished and on the screen.

I hope my questions meet with your approval. I truly did my best to get the information that you said you wanted. And thanks so much to all of you who left questions in the comments or sent me questions through email. You are all terrific!!

Be sure to read the first half of the interview!

On Friday, I was honored with an exclusive interview with the writing team from Bones. They were all together in a conference room and we talked on the phone at length about their jobs writing for Bones and what it’s like working on the show. I wanted to try to keep track of exactly who was answering each question, but I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of the conversation by constantly asking who was talking. So I hope you’ll all bear with me. While typing this up, when I was sure who the speaker was, I indicated them, and when I was uncertain, I made it a generic Answer. I’ hope you won’t mind.

First, I had a great time with them. We started the conversation with four writers (Craig Silverstein, Liz Benjamin, Karine Rosenthal & Janet Lynn) and were later joined by co-executive producer Scott Williams. They were all so open and easy to talk to about all the subjects we discussed and as you may already know, they ended the interview by giving me one gem of an exclusive spoiler. I hope you have even a fraction as much fun reading the interview as I had doing it. Here’s what we all discussed:

Searching Bones: Could we start with a short introduction and please tell me your titles and what you do for the show?

Liz Benjamin: Sure, I’m Elizabeth, Liz, Benjamin and I’m a Producer. Everyone on the show has different titles, but we all basically do the same type of work, which is we write our own scripts. We brainstorm the stories together, then we go off and write the scripts alone. That’s how the process works. I’ve been with the show from the beginning, since season 1.

Answer: Liz is the only staff member other than the creator on an executive producer who has been with the show since the pilot. She knows everything. *chuckle*

Craig Silverstein: My title is Consulting Producer I came onto the show about halfway through the first season as Co-Executive Producer and left the show before the end of the first season because I had my own pilot at FOX called Standoff. That was carried at FOX for a season. Then I worked on some other FOX shows because I have a deal at the studio. Then I came back around to Bones after the writers’ strike because I knew Hart & Stephen [Executive Producers Hart Hanson & Stephen Nathan] and the show. So I’m on in an all-around “Hamburger Helper” sort of role.

Karine: This is Karine Rosenthal and you and I emailed a bit during the strike, I sent you pictures. My title is Producer, but basically the writing staff all have titles that change, the longer you’re in the business and you work your way up the ladder. But you start off by being called a Staff Writer and you get new titles as you move along that used to be much more connected with what the actual work was. In the earlier days of television when you were called a story editor you were given specific tasks to make sure the story was working, etc. But now, they’re just formal titles. Really you just acquire more and more producer responsibilities. That means sitting in on casting and having more of a hand in the creation of the show as a whole.

Craig: And more money.

Karine: Yes, and more money. *laughs*

Janet: And I’m Janet Lynn and I’m the Baby Writer here. I’m a Story Editor.

Answer: *laughs* Not any more! Janet was with the show last year, but now she has to take on more as a writer.

Janet: I’m still the baby of the family here.

Answer: And she’s having a baby. She’s our pregnant staff member. It was Baby in the Bough that did it to her. She spent time on the set…

Janet: Those babies were so cute!

Searching Bones: Where did you find such an adorable baby?

Karine: The day we finished the script, we had a casting day for babies and it was wonderful. We had two sets of triplets and a bunch of sets of twins and they were all super cute and they were crawling around our conference room. Really it was just seeing which ones seemed to be the most open to strangers or were the most adaptable and expressive. The triplets that we picked as our main babies were all just so open and wonderful because their family was so overwhelmed and had to use so much help from extended family members. They were very open to being passed off to whoever put their arms out.

Searching Bones: I’d like to talk next about the process of creating the scripts. We’ve already established that once the storyline is approved, you take it off and write the script individually. But where do the story lines come from? Is it from a brainstorming session or how does that all start?

Liz: There are various ways that we enter a story on the show. A lot of times, we come up with ideas and we run them by the Co-Executive Producers, and if they like them we put them in a pitch form and that gets sent downstairs to Hart and Stephen and if they like it, it gets put in the mix. Then people choose stories that have been approved by Hart & Stephen. Then we come together in a room as a group and we work, one by one to develop the story. Then a person takes that story that’s been worked out with all the story points and all the beats of the story and then they go off and write.

Craig: And just to give you a visual, when Liz is talking about the room, it’s literally a conference room on the second floor of a building of the FOX lot and Hart & Stephen are downstairs.

Liz: Right. And we’re surrounded by dry-erase boards and we have along conference table and lots of snacks.

Craig: Yeah, and coffee! *everyone chuckled*

And then we each have our own offices where we retreat to write our own script.

Searching Bones: How long does each script typically take, from beginning to end?

Karine: It really depends on the script. From story inception, oftentimes we’ll bat around the little nugget of a story for a long time. It’ll reappear and we’ll throw it out. And then we’ll think, hey, maybe we should do something about such-and-such that we’ve talked about. Once we’ve decided together that we’re going to do that story, working together in the room takes anywhere between one to two weeks. Sometimes it’s longer if it’s a really tricky story. And then the writer of that particular episode goes off to write the outline. And generally that takes between one to two weeks. Then the writer will get notes on that. And then it all depends how many changes need to be made to that outline, but once there’s an outline in a finished form, usually it will only take about a week to write the first draft.

Answer: A week to ten days.

Karine: Right. Generally we try to get them done as quickly as possible, so about a week to ten days. Then we’ll get a round of notes so we’ll do another draft. And there may be another draft after that. And always, Hart & Stephen will do a final pass to make sure the script is exactly what they want it to be. So, start to finish for the entire process can be as short as six weeks or as long as three months if it was something that was in gestation for a while.

Liz: Some stories require more research. And when we’re breaking a story in the room together we may have things that have to be researched. We have researchers that work for our show and we reach out to them and we also may reach out to Kathy Reichs for certain questions. We do research ourselves sometimes. We ask a lot of experts, use a lot of Google… *everyone laughs* It’s a process that can take time, along with getting notes from various people along the way. We have to do the filling in with all the research and scientific stuff. There are a lot of pieces that go into doing it.

Searching Bones: So you actually do get input from time to time from Kathy Reichs?

Karine: Yes, especially bone-specific questions, things that are really specific to what Brennan would be doing with a body or how she would determine certain things from the bones. She’s very helpful with that.

Liz: She doesn’t work with us, meaning she’s not a member of the staff that comes in every day. We call her and bother her at the grocery store or looking at a body. Things like that.

Searching Bones: How do you incorporate aspects of the actors when you write for their character?

Craig: It goes something like this. You’re hanging out one day on the set and David Boreanaz will say to Scott Williams that he really likes hockey and asks if we can do a hockey-type episode, for example. So then we think that maybe we could have Booth play hockey because David likes hockey and he’s good at it. Stuff like that.

Liz: Or like Emily’s love of animals. They have personality traits that as they get more comfortable with the character come into the show, but Hart created these characters.

People had seen a lot more of David before this so Hart knew more of what David could do. He knew what he should be writing to for David. With Emily, since this is her first major role, we have seen over time what a good comedian she is. So that’s amped up more opportunities for her to show her great sense of timing. David has that as well, but we all knew that from the get-go. And as we find out skills they have that we didn’t know that have, we’ll try to make sure that those are highlighted.

Answer: Like Eric being on Broadway. You need to use that.

Searching Bones: We did get to see in one episode, David & Emily’s characters in the diner where Emily was eating a salad and they talked briefly about being a vegetarian, and we do know that Emily is a vegan. Have you considered making that more of a characteristic of Brennan?

Answer: Emily’s very good about accepting that this is a character that is not her and the character is going to be doing different things than what Emily herself believes in. But out of respect for things she has very strong feelings about, Hart wanted to have the character at least play with the idea of becoming a vegetarian. I think that is just a given now that the character is a vegetarian. But, knowing Hart, who knows? He could at some point force Brennan to fall off the wagon and eat a big, juicy steak because Hart certainly loves his meat. *laughs*

Searching Bones: Oh, no! He wouldn’t make her do that would he?

In unison: No!!!

Craig: She wouldn’t do it. It would be a long day on the set. *laughs*

Searching Bones: It would have to be a tofu steak, right?

Craig: Exactly.

Searching Bones: Another question from the readers. They want to know if any of the stories are taken from current crimes in the news.

Liz: Yeah, we take story wherever we can get story. We read newspapers, books, articles, watch things on TV. Story comes from so many places and we use them as jumping off points. I have a background with Law & Order. I worked for Law & Order: Criminal Intent and there we strictly took things straight from the headlines and used them as jumping off points. So that’s one of the first places I go when I’m thinking about a new story.

Karine: We sometimes use stories in the news as jumping off points but we try not to be a “ripped from the headlines” kind of show.

Liz: It’s more just for inspiration.

Karine: Yeah, the show has so many more comedy bits and a lighter tone; it would seem somewhat disrespectful if we were doing that with something currently ongoing or a true crime that had just happened. Often there are old crimes we’ll be researching to get an idea.

Liz: I don’t think that if you look back at any of our episodes you could say that it was ripped from the headlines. The only one that we used as a bit of a jumping off point was Woman in the Bay that we took from the Scott Peterson story, but we took it in a whole new direction.

Searching Bones: Bones fans want to know if you ever read any of the Bones fan fiction and if it’s ever an inspiration for your writing the show.

Karine: We actually don’t read any of the fan fiction because legally, we’re not supposed to. Because in case we ever did something that was similar we could be accused of stealing the idea or plagiarism. And often with these characters, of course it could happen easily that people would have similar ideas for fun things that could happen with the characters. So we can’t read any of the fiction. We often read comments and things like that. But we can’t read any of the creative work. But we’re thrilled that they do it. That’s cool!

Searching Bones: I know they’ll be disappointed that you can’t read it, but I’m sure they’ll understand. One of the readers asked what the worst side-effect was that the writers’ strike had on the show.

Answer: We were all exhausted. We were marching outside for so long.

Answer: It was a season that was going along really, really well and then it just got truncated. I would say that the worse side effect was that when we’re working on creating a TV show, we’re all like a big family, all the aspects, like the writers, the actors, the set producers and everyone else. And something like a writers’ strike it really breaks that up for a while and it’s tough because people have different interests during something like that so it causes some pain. It was also for everyone to be out of work, not just the writers, but the entire crew. We wish that all could have happened differently.

Looking back, it was so long. No one expected it to be that long and it really did disrupt the season for so many reasons. It disrupted people’s personal lives and for some, they can’t recover the income that’s lost for our crew members. And there were the stories we had to re-shape this season.

Answer: The rhythm of the story telling was off by the end of the season, I think.

Searching Bones: Just so you know, most of us out here were supportive of your cause.

Answer: Yes, the fans were really wonderful and that was evident on the picket lines. Fans that live in the LA area would come out and be supportive and it really meant a lot.

Be sure to read the second half of the interview!

[Photo: © 2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

I got to take part in a conference call interview with Hart Hanson, the creator of Bones. And I hope you will remember that he actually mentioned Searching Bones in a video interview he did back during the time of the writers’ strike. Well, dear readers, he’s now confirmed for me that he does in fact read this site! If you don’t believe me, be sure to read our conversation below.

Also, I wanted to convey to you just how warm and friendly he is to talk to. He was extremely personable, called each of us by our names and enjoyed making little jokes with us and was laughing (in a totally friendly way) during the entire interview. I felt as if he was someone that would be easy to sit with to share a cup of coffee and have a great conversation about the show and its latest plot twists. I can’t stress enough how nice he is!

Without further ado, here’s what he and I talked about:

L. DeVries: I wanted to thank you for mentioning the site in an interview you did during the writer’s strike.

H. Hanson: It’s a beautiful site.

L. DeVries: Thank you so much.

H. Hanson: I know the actors check in. I certainly look every once in awhile. It’s a very nice site.

L. DeVries: And the readers are such fans, so they will be thrilled that you come and check the site.

H. Hanson: I absolutely do.

L. DeVries: Wonderful. Thanks! I wanted to start by asking one question, to refer back to the Gormogon thing. Can you tell us whether Eric Millegan will be returning as a regular cast member in season four?

H. Hanson: I shouldn’t tell you that. [laughs]

L. DeVries: Darn! There goes my theory. Okay. I’ll move on.

H. Hanson: Let me say this; we haven’t seen the last of Eric Millegan.

L. DeVries: Great. Because he’s wonderful. We all love him.

H. Hanson: Yes. Well, so do we.

L. DeVries: I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time. What came first, the idea to make a series out of Kathy Reich’s books or the need to find a good idea on which to base a series about an oddly matched investigative team?

H. Hanson: That’s a really good question. I have always been looking for a project that would allow me to do what I get to do on Bones. As in I’ve pitched things similar over the years and I’ve written a couple of pilots that didn’t get done. To be honest – I’ve told this story before – I came to the Bones project because I bailed, I had another project going with the studio and it just wasn’t going to work out and I left them in the lurch. And 20th Century Fox has been very good to me and I felt I owed them a pilot. So they sent me to Barry Josephson because he had optioned actually a two-hour documentary, an A&E documentary on Kathy Reichs. And I did not know her books. If I hadn’t felt beholden to the studio I wouldn’t have done it, because at first blush it looked like they wanted CSI, a forensics show, and that was not going to be my strength.

But as I watched the documentary and felt beholden to 20th, Gary and Dana, that I owed them something for investing in me. So it happened that way. I bent toward the procedural and bent that procedural towards what I liked to do, which is kind of the goofiness and character and humor of Bones, and of course that’s the thing that got made into a pilot, and of course that’s the thing that got on the air. So it was more, sort of like finding David and Emily, it was finding me and this project. I would like to say I did it totally on purpose and had a plan right from the beginning, but really I owed some people.

L. DeVries: Wonderful. We’re so glad you did.

H. Hanson: So am I.

L. DeVries: I’ve read somewhere that you and David Shore from House would be open to a Bones-House crossover somehow, to use Stephen Fry?

H. Hanson: David Shore and I are both Canadians. We knew each other a little bit in Canada. He came down here before I did and then I came out, and our offices on the 20th Century lot are not far from each other. We are great and grand friends, so we talk about these things all the time. I don’t know if that would ever happen. Between our schedules, and more importantly Stephen Fry’s schedule, he is the busiest man on the planet; I don’t know when he sleeps. We would certainly have him being a regular on this show if he were available.

But I know David is very interested in getting Stephen on. And David’s a very, very strong writer. He may not want to borrow someone else’s character to do that. You just never know. But of course, House is a gigantic hit and we are a pretty good hit. It would behoove us to do a crossover, so we would jump at the chance. And there’s something very funny about the idea of having Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, David Boreanaz, and Emily Deschanel in a scene. That’s very appealing to everyone.

L. DeVries: That would be heaven.

H. Hanson: Wouldn’t it be great?

L. DeVries: I would like to say on behalf of my readers, we’d love it.

H. Hanson: So would we. Tell them we’d love it too. I’ll keep bugging David. I see him for coffee about twice a week in the morning. I’ll keep bugging him.

[Photo: ©2010 FOX Broadcasting Co.]

As I told you in the first post, I asked four questions of David Boreanaz during the interview, but there were other journalists that took part too. Some were very impressive! (For example, Entertainment Weekly, Boston Herald and others…) I was totally honored to be able to take part in it. I know you readers want to hear every word that was said, so here’s the rest of the interview. (I absolutely hate reading interviews where the person only gives me a few of their own interpretations of what the person said. I like to know exactly what they said. I hope you agree….)

Q: This was your first year in a production capacity on Bones. Could you talk about how the strike affected you as a producer?

David: Well, obviously with the whole paradigm shift and thinking about the story lines and whatnot, the ideas of having the characters come together in certain circumstances, as far as the actual production part of the show, I don’t really take part in that. As far as the day-to-day line producing budgets and all that. As far as the creativity and the story lines and working ideas internally and not sharing them with any writers but obviously making sense of them and continuously thinking about ideas that I can bring to the table now that I’m starting to do. Things you’ll see in the shows we are shooting now and in the next four or five episodes.

Q: When I talked to Emily a while back, she was a bit cautious about whether or not Booth & Bones should get together. It seems like we keep inching closer and closer to that. What is your thought about them getting together?

David: I think they already are. I don’t think they were ever necessarily apart. The function of the relationship is really the function of the show in a lot of ways. These two characters drive these plot lines, they drive these shows. They put them in circumstances or in areas where they wouldn’t necessarily think they would be in and it brings them together as characters or it pulls them apart. The kiss, for example at Christmas, was a dare and they both knew it was coming and it brought them closer. It obviously won’t affect them greatly but they know that the kiss happened. I think it happened smartly, the way they did it. I think we’ll start putting ourselves in those situations but we’re not going to go to a place where it’s the whole nine. We’ll keep teasing and flirting with the audience. I don’t think that’s a problem at all.

Q: I know that some of the story lines had to be put off and not dealt with this season because of the strike. Could you talk about what we won’t be seeing and is there a thought that we’ll be seeing it next season instead?

David: The whole aspect of the serial killer as far as that story line and what Hart and Stephen wanted to do with it, you would have to ask them more specifically as far as the dynamics of that are concerned. I think obviously that was affected in the way we’ll wrap that up. It’s pretty much a part of a two-parter that we shot before the writers’ strike. We shot a potential season ender that was a big cliff-hanger. It was very dangerous and detrimental to a character and in the second part we finished that up in a way that will keep the audience guessing and will at the same time see how the relationship between these two get better. There were stories that we wanted to tell that we couldn’t because of only getting six episodes in now.

Q: And have you liked this story line this season of the serial killer?

David: No. Not at all. For me, I’ve always maintained that the show is the relationship. I maintain that the show is about the characters and that it’s about the two of us learning through the crimes. It’s the journey that we take is the most important part.

Q: Bones keeps moved around in time slots more than most shows on TV. How do you think it’s affected the show’s popularity?

David: It’s a very successful show. We’re a different show. We’re a cult show that thrives on relationship. And we’ve proven, if we’re on Wednesday or Tuesday or Friday or even Monday, our fans will follow us. I mean, there’s no show out there that has a therapist that has to deal with couple’s counseling to help them deal with each other in the work force. That’s just not on television.

Q: Is it ever hard to keep some of the darker and sadder story lines from affecting you?

David: I think I tap into the relationship again. I just go back to Booth and Brennan and our relationship if it gets too crazy. I think it’s the flip side of the show, the darkness of the show. We show the crimes and how horrific they are and then we cut to the humor of the show. We can go and banter over the crime scene and then it hits that it’s some pretty heavy stuff that we’re looking at. There’s a fine line there and it’s an interesting balance. If it’s anything having to do with children I can’t… It’s difficult, obviously.

Q: Are there moments when you are squeamish about the bones and the bodies?

David: No, not me. I’m so tuned in the relationship with her and the character work that I sometimes forget about where I’m standing. (chuckles) Booth’s perspective is that he’s squeamish to begin with, so that helps. When I have to go there, it does work.

Q: You have great comedic timing. We’ve seen that on your previous work. Is the dialog between you and Emily ad-libbed at all?

David: We work on every episode on the weekends with an acting coach who is very highly respected. She helps us find a lot of those moments. We work on the scripts on the weekends for every scene, for every moment during the week. So we come in with an improvisational arc, knowing where we’re going to add stuff. So by the time we show up and rehearse, and we begin shooting we just throw it all out on the table. I think that’s the beauty of our relationship and our chemistry. It’s really solid and it’s getting better. We did a scene yesterday that was so much fun. We really started pushing each other’s buttons. It was fun to have the ability to go there with a co-star who does that with you. Also to be in the third season where we have the beauty and the freedom as a producer to go to those places that you weren’t allow to in the first season.

Q: Is your therapy going to continue throughout the rest of the season?

David: Yeah, I think that having that other perspective works on a show like this. He fills that void perfectly. We tried before with a couple of other characters and it just didn’t really sing. I think with Sweets, he fits perfectly. In how he affects their relationship, I think it’s a great idea.

Q: Is Booth’s mocking of his age coming from you or is it scripted?

David: That’s me. (chuckles) It’s funny; we’ll do a lot of improvisation while we’re in that therapy. You do have to do one that’s scripted, a little bit. (chuckles again) It’s just so great to be a part of when you’re having so much fun. A lot of those young comments… I have to come up with some new stuff. (chuckles) The new arsenal is coming out soon.

Q: There’s word that you’ll be shooting some episodes in England later. Any plans to do that or bring back Stephen Fry?

David: The will occur somewhere for a couple of shows, and as far as Stephen Fry is concerned, I know we’d love to have him back. He was great to work with and was a great character. And to see him interact with Sweets, if that would be possible, would be great.

Q: You mentioned the season ending that had already shot. Will you be skipping over that and shooting new stuff or will you still be using it?

David: No, we’re keeping that show. And we’re even shooting another part to that show. So actually it serves two purposes. We had that for the possibility of a wash of the season so we could get some fresh episodes in.

Q: You mentioned at the Paley Center about your desire to do some directing on the show next year. Could you talk a bit about what you had in mind?

David: It’s just the opportunity to have fun with an episode. I have a lot of original ideas that I’ve pitched to Hart that I would love to be a part of. I’d like to bring some ideas to fruition or even to put pen to paper and do some writing. Those are opportunities that you have to take advantage of as an artist. You’d be foolish not to. I think if you work in the medium and you have the opportunity to do it, you should go for it.

Q: Do you think you’d have any difficulty directing yourself?

David: I think there has to be a balance, of course. I mean, how does one direct oneself? I’ve tried to do that and it is difficult. I’ve done it before, so I just go and do it and see what happens.

Q: What are some of your favorite things about Booth and what are some of you no-so-favorite things about him?

David: There are a lot of things I do like about him, since I work from the inside on my experiences. There are a lot of things I don’t like about him. His stubbornness can be a bit unattractive at times. His seeing it one way and not the other can be annoying. That’s it for him. He’s a real blue collar guy. He’s always been that type of guy and that’s what I’ve embraced. I keep learning a lot through this character. It’s been an interesting process with him. You know, I embrace the socks because I wear the same socks. (chuckles) I embrace a lot of stuff he does. Booth is a little bit more Catholic than I am. I wish I was more of a practicing Catholic, but I’m not. I guess that would be one thing I dislike about myself sometimes.

After we had reached the time limit for asking him questions, he had this to say to us (proving what I said about him being a nice guy.)

I just want to thank everybody for spending the time with me. Right now I’m in New York, in the NHL building. It’s been fun talking about the show and I’m looking forward to the shows coming up. We’re all very proud of them and we look forward to making many more to entertain you.

Be sure to read my questions David answered in the conference call yesterday too!