Interviews
Executive Producers Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath Discuss THE BLACKLIST
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In a recent press conference call for NBC’s The Blacklist, executive producers Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath talk about the creative process behind the hit series and answer more questions about working with James Spader (Red Reddington). The Blacklist airs on Mondays at 10/9c.
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Question: What is it about The Blacklist that makes you want to just wake up, get out of bed and go to work? What is it about this show that makes you want to write or produce?
John Eisendrath: Well, wow, that’s a good first question. I think that – what’s a good answer to that question? I think that one of the answers is and I think one of the reasons that it’s a success is that it’s got a great character at the center. And he – writing for Red is an incredibly fun thing to do.
And, you know, we spend a lot of time crafting the stories and the procedural beats and the bread and butter of the show but nothing makes us laugh more than when we’re trying to figure out what Red would say in any given situation.
Jon Bokenkamp: Yeah, to me all of my past experience has been in feature films where they take six years to go from, you know, an idea or something on the page to an actual movie if they ever do.
And here things happen so quickly. And something that, you know we have an idea or like John said, something makes us laugh or we have something that surprises us, we put it on paper and very quickly it’s on air. And to me that’s sort of a fascinating and really exciting process.
Question: Is there a certain place where you go to be inspired? Do you have like an office or go some place that – where you really – your thinking juices really start working?
John Eisendrath: Well we do have offices on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. But when we actually have to write, we frequently – there is a restaurant that Jon and I do slip away to.
Jon Bokenkamp: The food is absolutely terrible.
John Eisendrath: But they let you sit there all day and all night and they don’t bother you. So there is a particular restaurant in Los Angeles that we hide out in and write.
Jon Bokenkamp: We did – our record was 17 hours one day. We were there when they opened at…
John Eisendrath: 9:00 am.
Jon Bokenkamp: …8:30, 9:00 and we left at like after 2:00. The staff and the kitchen staff had all come out and they were having their evening meal and cleaning up and we walked out with them. So they know us quite well.
Question: Can you talk a little bit about what it’s like to write a mystery show like this? How do you determine when and how to do your major reveals? Which characters in the show actually know?
Jon Bokenkamp: Yeah. Well, you know, it’s difficult. It’s hard to know and we’re constantly asking ourselves that question that you just asked about when is too soon, you know, are we giving away too much, are we burning through story too much. It’s also sort of a difficult balance of, you know, the show is a sort of strange hybrid serialized and standalone episodes. We have a case of the week each week.
And so, you know, we want to service that and we want to have cool different unusual black listers. But at the same time we want to come back to our central characters and the larger questions that are, you know, raised by the show.
And so, you know, we just try to gut check each other in the writer’s room and try to slow down I guess as much as we can because the instinct is to, you know, move quickly.
Question: What was the determining factor in the Red reveal so early in the season?
John Eisendrath: Well I guess you have to ask whether he revealed the truth or not, right.
Jon Bokenkamp: We also – we don’t want to go on – we do have the answers to these, you know, to many of these questions and don’t want to tease too much. And, you know, we felt like it was a sort of bold move to do that and to lay out some answers.
So what we don’t want to do is continually be teasing the audience and not answering the questions that we’re raising. And so, you know, we’re doing that as best we can. Hopefully that’s satisfying. And we’ll continue to hopefully surprise ourselves in how and when we answer those questions.
Question: What has been the most difficult scene to shoot and why?
Jon Bokenkamp: Well I think the one that comes to mind for us is the bridge sequence in the pilot where, you know, there’s a car crash and lots of gunfire. And the thing that made it the most difficult was simply that we were on a bridge in New York and it was absolutely freezing and we had, you know, people in the water and crazy winds blowing. And it was just physically a very challenging shoot to days.
John Eisendrath: I would say that that was the very difficult one. But again, we are in Los Angeles now. So there are – many of them are incredibly difficult to – on our end to write. But it’s easier to write them than have to actually do them.
Question: What would you guys say James Spader has brought to the project?
Jon Bokenkamp: You know, I think he’s brought the sort of strange sense of humor that the character has, that the show has and I think that’s sort of – that’s something that he – he tells me he saw that in the original pilot script. And I didn’t see it as much.
But I do think he, you know, I mean Spader himself has a very strange perspective on the world, you know, and is a funny – a very funny guy. And so, you know, in speaking with him and getting to know him and starting to get to know his voice sort of allows us to think in terms of what would this guy say, what would he do, what would he think is moral or not moral.
And so I do think that that sense of humor and that voice is something that he’s been helpful in sort of filling out.
John Eisendrath: And I would just add that Jon mention it – morality. We have a lot of conversations John and I and then with James as well about, you know, what would Red – where would he draw the line, where – what is his view about good and evil, right and wrong.
And I think he’s very determined that the character not, you know, he’s not a psychopath. He’s not someone who, you know, has no sense of right and wrong. I think in viewing him with a sense of right and wrong really protects his character from just becoming evil. And I think he’s very aware of that and that is another thing I think that perspective is something I think he has helped to bring.
Question: Is there a definitive answer to the question of what the relationship is between Red and Liz? And are we likely to find that out this season or down the road?
John Eisendrath and Jon Bokenkamp (together): Yes and no.
Jon Bokenkamp: Yeah. That’s – yes. We – there is absolutely a definitive answer and it is something that we’ll take hopefully many years to answer. But it will certainly not be something that we will, you know, lay out right upfront here.
John Eisendrath: But we will, you know, as I feel like we’ve done the first ten episodes, we’ll continue this year to give concrete answers to that and other big questions. They may not just be the final answer.
Question: James Spader, to my understanding, was signed just days before the pilot started shooting. And how with the announcement of Season 2 – how is the writing or the direction or anything going to change over the seasons to fit more for Spader? Are you going to adjust things – did something work or shift things that didn’t quite work because of who he is as an actor? How are you going to approach that?
John Eisendrath: Well I just think, you know, shows that succeed in large part, you know, they unfold in a way so the show tells us where to go as much as we tell the, you know, the stories. You know, we – there’s an organic sort of unpacking of a TV show that’s working.
So, you know, we’ve got the luxury of now, you know, a second season and 22 more episodes. And I think partly, you know, the thing to do in trying to figure out the direction of the show is just to be open to sort of where it takes you.
There’s no version where John and I could have anticipated half or a quarter of the stories and the directions that we have gone in if you’d had that – if you’d asked us that question four months ago. The show sort of takes a direction. It has a life of its own. And we try and sort of ride it in the direction we feel like it’s going.
And I think that that – if you’re open to that, you know, you’re – you’ll be able to find the stories that are best for the show rather than saying okay, here’s where we’re going. This is the roadmap and we’re sticking to this because you just can’t do that. You have to be open-minded and let the show sort of speak to you.
And Spader, you know, you know, his character is going to take him and us in directions that none of us can anticipate.
And so – look, it’s all a bit of a combination, you know. I mean we have drafts of stuff. Even with the stuff that we’re shooting now, you know, we have an idea for a set piece – a big action set piece and then production comes back and says it’s way too cold. Nobody’s jumping in the water. We don’t have time for that.
And so we tweak it and adjust it. And that’s the same thing with those kinds of scenes, you know. I mean oftentimes James will have an idea that works great with the character.
Question: Will the series continue in its procedural storytelling of cases of the week or will there be more of an emphasis on serialization in the future kind of like what we got with the midseason finale?
John Eisendrath: No. I think the midseason finale, you know, is more an exception to the rule where the personal stories just, you know, bubble up to the surface and all come together in a way that are, you know, unavoidable and take over the episode.
But, you know, The Blacklist will be, you know, there’ll be a name on the Blacklist, you know, ever episode. I think that’s part of the fun of the series. It can provide unique and different kinds of bad guys that the team can go after. So that is definitely a big part of the show.
Campbell Scott
Question: Are there any upcoming guest starts that we should know about and look forward to see?
Jon Bokenkamp: The only one that we can definitely confirm is Campbell Scott is in an episode coming up in the – two episodes from now. I’m trying to think if there’s anyone else we know about. I think that’s it at the moment.
Question: Do you have a definitive idea on how many episodes the show is going to go and is there a (finite) number on The Blacklist that you have in your head right now?
John Eisendrath: Well I think that’s – the audience gets to decide how many members of the Blacklist there are.
John Eisendrath: They keep watching the show, there’ll be more. It’ll not – it won’t run out until the audience runs out of interest.
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