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Let’s get right to ‘em, shall we? Here are this week’s Friday Questions.

Carol Winter starts us off:

Hey Ken. I loved your work on M.A.S.H. and Cheers! You, and other writers on M.A.S.H., have frequently mentioned how you had a Doctor as a Technical Advisor on the show to make sure the actors were holding the scalpels correctly and the writers were accurate on the medical jargon. They were also a source for some story ideas from what I remember.

My questions is did you have a Military Technical Advisor on staff that you could use as well? If so, do you recall any episodes or stories that they contributed to? How about a Technical Advisor for Cheers (bartending and baseball)?

No advisors on CHEERS although Ted did go to bartending school and I believe Woody did as well.  There were enough writers who knew baseball to cover that aspect of the show. 

At MASH we did have a Military Technical Advisor and he was a trip. He would furnish all the necessary names for forms and procedures. But he would also pitch insane story ideas and occasionally call my partner and I “sweetie.” Imagine if Colonel Flagg wanted to be a director.

From Gary:

What are the written (or unwritten rules) for adding parenthetical descriptions to a character's line? For instance, (excitedly) or (angrily.)

Is it an encroachment on the actor's reading of the moment and character or is it a helpful aid as to what the writer intends? And does it differ for TV, movies, and stage?

Many actors do find interior direction an encroachment, but personally, I don’t care. As long as I don’t do it excessively or give indications when the intention of the line is already crystal clear, I employ them a lot.

My main purpose is to communicate to the reader my intention. And if there is any way that lines can be mis-interpreted or ambiguous I clarify with internal direction.

And here’s the other thing – for the most part your script is to be read. It’s not the actor you have to service; it’s the reader. So the clearer I can make things for the reader, the better.

I would say it's more of an issue in the theatre but that's because dialogue is so much more important in the storytelling process.  

With baseball season underway, Michael has a question about announcers:

How common is it for announcers to switch between radio and TV during same game these days? Both New York teams have had separate radio and TV teams for years that don't cross over.

It’s very uncommon. The Giants do some form of this.

A few teams however rotate announcers between radio and TV but between games, not innings. The Pirates and the Royals have that policy.

There is also some crossover with the Reds, I believe, as well as the Mariners.

And finally, from Glenn:

Ken, you directed the Pet Cemetery episode of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, right? At the end, Ray is outside digging the hamster’s grave in the rain. What's it like to shoot extended scenes in the rain for sitcoms? Are the logistics an issue?

We shot that on the stage in front of a live studio audience. A rain effect was rigged so it just rained when we were shooting. For the most part, during the week I rehearsed without the rain effect.

Fortunately for the actors, they knew all their lines and we didn’t have to redo scenes more than once or twice.

I love being able to shoot rain scenes where I don’t get wet.

What’s your Friday Question?

from By Ken Levine https://ift.tt/2uzFz2Q
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