By ANN FARMER<\/p>\n
Brooke Kennedy sits in her director\u2019s chair on the set of\u00a0The Good Wife<\/em>\u00a0one morning in late February. The wind outside is billowing sheets of rain. But no one pays any heed as the cast and crew intently block a courtroom scene for an upcoming episode that is partly based on an actual rape case involving a victim championed by online \u201chacktivists.\u201d Kennedy stares at the three television monitors in front of her, each dedicated to a different camera in the next room. All three monitors exhibit a similar effect\u2014the foreground and background of the shots are deliberately blurry. Only the middle ground of the frames is clearly in focus. The shots feel crowded and oblique, giving the impression of a prying eye\u2014exactly what Kennedy wants.<\/p>\n \u201cOK, lots of good stuff,\u201d she says, striding onto the courtroom setup at the conclusion of the take. \u201cYou\u2019ve got too much shoulder,\u201d she tells one camera operator. \u201cLess shoulder next time.\u201d To another, she says, \u201cYou know what? That was perfect. Do something different next time.\u201d To guest actor John Glover, playing the defense attorney, she says, \u201cJust a little bit more of a surprise,\u201d referring to his reaction at a sudden turn of events in the courtroom (no spoilers here).<\/p>\n After she\u2019s finished giving notes and slips back into her seat, Kennedy, who is also an executive producer of the series, explains that to coax the cast and crew\u2019s best work, \u201cThe less words I use, the better. They come to this business because they want to contribute to storytelling, not be told what to do. I try to convey my narrative and let them run with it.\u201d It is a collaborative approach she wants from all the directors. \u201cEverybody brings a talent,\u201d says Kennedy. \u201cAs the director, you try to orchestrate the talent.\u201d<\/p>\n The directors\u2019 skill at conducting these episodes is one of the reasons the series succeeds in being more than just another legal drama. Co-created by executive producer-writers Robert and Michelle King, the cast and series (now in its fourth season) have earned a Peabody Award and 25 Emmy nominations. Its deft scripts demand serious comic chops from the directors, and the show\u2019s elegant mien requires their skill at composing shots that push the storylines while maintaining a classical look.<\/p>\n The series has also gained a reputation as a smoothly run operation, for which Kennedy must take a chunk of credit. Brought on at the start of the first season, she serves as the primary liaison between the East and West Coast branches of the operation. The Kings live and work in Los Angeles, where the series is written and edited. To accommodate its star, Julianna Margulies, who resides in New York, the show is shot at Broadway Stages in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where Kennedy largely supervises the production for the Kings. \u201cI\u2019m their General Patton,\u201d jokes Kennedy, who is known for caring enormously about the show and staff, while being unafraid to make tough decisions. \u201cI make sure the war is won.\u201d<\/p>\n Kennedy, who serves on the DGA\u2019s Eastern Directors Council, began her career almost 30 years ago as a unit production manager on\u00a0Miami Vice<\/em>. She subsequently produced numerous primetime series, most recently\u00a0Fringe<\/em>. She estimates that she\u2019s prepped 250 directors over the years, including Michael Zinberg and Rosemary Rodriguez, who have directed the most Good Wife<\/em>\u00a0episodes to date. (A few dozen directors have rotated in that slot.) Kennedy says, \u201cI expect leadership, first and foremost,\u201d in particular, their ability to walk onto a new set, quickly read the room, and take the reins without offending anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about prep,\u201d she says, explaining that directors get seven days to prepare for their nine-day shoots, beginning with a bicoastal concept meeting on day one that unites the writers and post-production supervisor on the West Coast with the production team on the East Coast. \u201cThat\u2019s when we hopefully have deep conversations about what the script is about,\u201d says Kennedy, \u201cand how to accomplish it.\u201d To facilitate the long distance exchange, a Polycom teleconferencing setup allows everyone to see everyone else. Together they pinpoint any obstacles or concerns about the script\u2019s logistical demands. \u201cYou try to put as many variables out on the table as you possibly can,\u201d says Zinberg, a veteran director whose career began with\u00a0The Bob Newhart<\/em>\u00a0Show<\/em>\u00a0and spans at least 80 other television series.<\/p>\n After that, the director goes to work with the various department heads, including props, casting, and costumes. Foremost is the need for locations that support the sophisticated, high-end look of the show and satisfy the camera and lighting requirements. The 1st AD breaks down the scripts and generates schedules. Denis Doyle, who alternates with the other 1st AD, Colin MacLellan, explains that once they start shooting: \u201cI run the set, and I give it some direction so that the director can concentrate on the more creative aspects. I keep things moving.\u201d<\/p>\n But before any of that can happen, on the final day of prep, a smaller group on both coasts, most importantly, the director and writers, sit down via teleconference for a critical tone meeting. They comb through every scene to ensure everyone\u2019s on the same page. \u201cOur characters are often very sarcastic,\u201d says Robert King, \u201cand if that\u2019s not coming through, you would lose the irony of the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n ACTING UP:\u00a0<\/strong>Rosemary Rodriguez (top), with Judd Hirsch, likes to research the theme of the episode. \u201cWhatever I can do to make the story come alive, that\u2019s what makes it fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez, who has directed episodes of\u00a0Rescue Me<\/em>,\u00a0Blue Bloods\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Elementary<\/em>, says that a bicoastal series can complicate matters. \u201cIn other shows I\u2019ve done, it can become a battle between New York and L.A.,\u201d she says, explaining that tension can arise when something is written into a script that the production side doesn\u2019t feel is logistically possible. As far as\u00a0The Good Wife<\/em>\u00a0is concerned, though, she says it is \u201call like a dream because we all work so well together.\u201d<\/p>\n Zinberg, a calm, seasoned pro on the set, agrees: \u201cThe Good Wife<\/em>\u00a0is as good as it gets. When you come in as a director on that show, you know that you\u2019re going to be surrounded by an amazing group of people who are genuinely interested in what you have to bring to the party as a director.\u201d<\/p>\n That includes making their mark on an episode. \u201cYou get a script, it speaks to you, and you find a way to make it yours,\u201d says Kennedy, who had an immediate reaction, for instance, when she read the hacktivist script. \u201cI got the impression of a\u00a0Michael Clayton<\/em>,\u201d referring to the suspenseful 2007 feature. That feeling was her inspiration to shoot the courtroom scene with a heightened sense of intrigue suggested by the camera\u2019s probing point of view. \u201cIt\u2019s what\u2019s in the white, not in the type,\u201d says Kennedy, referring to how the scripts provide elbowroom for the director and actors to tweak the drama and, even more so, the comedy, when appropriate.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we\u2019ll play it a little funnier in this take and take a little bit of it away in that take,\u201d says Zinberg, \u201cso there are options in the cutting room.\u201d He says the actors are always game to work a scene. When he was recently directing \u201cThe Seven Day Rule\u201d episode, for instance, he had a lot of fun with Margulies\u2019 character, Alicia Florrick, who was finally offered a chance to become an equity partner in her law firm. To celebrate, she goes on an expensive shopping jag during her lunch hour. She then learns that she\u2019s expected to invest $600,000 in the company. Senior attorney, David Lee, played deliciously by Zach Grenier, stops by her office and casually drops that little bomb, leaving her gasping. \u201cShe\u2019s sitting there pondering it,\u201d says Zinberg \u201cand at exactly the right moment she looks at the bags and says, \u2018Oh my god, I\u2019ve got to return everything,\u2019 and snatches them up. When you have those opportunities to play the timing, I believe it\u2019s the small beats that make the show so special. Finding those gems in the attitudes, in the writing, and in the characters\u2019 relationships makes the show wonderful to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n There is certainly a high caliber of talent to work with on the show, including such guest stars as Michael J. Fox and Martha Plimpton, who won an Emmy for her guest appearance. More often, says Zinberg, \u201cthe challenge is not to direct toward their talent,\u201d but to work counter-intuitively. \u201cNathan [Lane] is an interesting example,\u201d he says, referring to how the comic actor normally gets typecast in flamboyant, bigger-than-life roles. \u201cWe wanted him to be small in this part. We wanted him to be controlled as a character. And man, he hit it out of the park. He\u2019s working small, big, if you know what I mean,\u201d says Zinberg, adding that he learned an important early lesson directing Bob Newhart: \u201cNot to be afraid when you recognize something as funny. Don\u2019t run away from the comedy. And a good comedic moment, inherent to the scene, will only add to the scene, not take anything away.\u201d<\/p>\n CHURCH AND STATE:<\/strong>\u00a0Series creator and occasional director Robert King (above left), with Matthew Perry and John Cullum, says he loves collaborating with the show\u2019s directors. (below)\u00a0VETERAN STYLE:<\/strong>\u00a0Director Michael Zinberg helped create the show\u2019s Altman-esque look, \u201ca symphony of conversations\u201d with the camera following one person out of one scene into another<\/p>\n King still recalls the time he watched coverage of a scene being directed by Rodriguez and his angst when an actor flubbed the humor in a line he\u2019d written. \u201cThere is nothing closer to having your heart cut out and stomped on in front of you than to see your joke poorly told,\u201d he says. Then he watched as Rodriguez walked over and leaned into her ear. On the next take, the actor delivered it perfectly. \u201cRosemary is a great performer\u2019s director,\u201d says King. \u201cWith a whisper and not too much direction she can whip a shot into shape.\u201d<\/p>\n A snap zoom, a deliberately jerky cam, even a Steadicam move at the wrong moment \u201ccan kill a joke,\u201d says King. Which is one reason that the show\u2019s producers prefer directors who are adept at conveying a smooth, cinematic style that\u2019s in keeping with the suave, heightened reality that these characters exist in. It\u2019s set in a Chicago law firm \u201cwhere everyone is in six-inch heels,\u201d says Kennedy, \u201cand look as good at ten at night as they did at seven in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n To convey this, the directors are expected to compose elegant compositions that flow from one scene to the next. \u201cI love collaborating with the directors,\u201d says King, who has directed three episodes. Too often, he says, courtroom scenes in legal dramas are shot with a lot of predictable cutting back and forth between the prosecution and defense. \u201cMichael Zinberg,\u201d King says, \u201cis the one who provoked us to create this Altman-esque\u00a0Nashville<\/em>\u00a0sense of moving from one conversation to another.\u201d In an early episode he \u201ccreated a kind of symphony of conversations, where the camera would follow one person out of one scene into another,\u201d influencing the look of all the episodes that followed.<\/p>\n King also admired the way that Rodriguez shot the \u201cBlue Ribbon Panel\u201d episode, which presented Florrick as an outsider and the only woman on a citizens\u2019 review panel investigating a police shooting. \u201cShe was very smart at using the camera to show someone as an underdog,\u201d says King, describing how Rodriguez effectively blocked the scene with Margulies positioned at the edge of the frame, sitting at the tail end of the half circle of male civic leaders and looking almost invisible to them. Until she asked a politically charged question and all the men\u2019s heads turned, a synchronized wave of them, to take her in. \u201cI thought it was brilliant,\u201d chuckles King.<\/p>\n Although many scenes take place inside courtrooms, Kennedy says it\u2019s not especially important that the directors fully grasp all the legal protocol. However, she recalls with amusement one director who had never been in an American courtroom and kept asking for tablecloths to spread on the judge\u2019s table. But part of why directors direct, says Kennedy, \u201cis they like going into a world they would not normally go into.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez always bones up on her episode\u2019s theme. If it\u2019s a story about predator drones, \u201cI immediately Google predator drones,\u201d she says. She had never heard of the Blue Ribbon review panel, which she discovered actually exists and shared that information with the cast. \u201cWhatever I can do to make this story come alive, that\u2019s what makes it fun for me. And it\u2019s better when everyone knows the stakes involved.\u201d<\/p>\n To save time, the directors will often resort to block shooting where they light and do all the wide, medium and close-up shots in a scene from one character\u2019s perspective. Then the crew will swing around and shoot the scene from another angle. This avoids the seesaw of having to re-light and re-position the cameras so much. During \u201cBlue Ribbon Panel,\u201d Rodriguez took the tactic one step further. She asked the actors to do quick costume changes and continued shooting scenes from other days in the same direction to pick up even more time. Thus, parts of scenes were shot out of sequence. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy for anyone to keep track of,\u201d says Rodriguez, who, along with the script supervisor, is responsible for monitoring the actors\u2019 performances so that all the cuts edit seamlessly.<\/p>\n Kennedy says all the directors on\u00a0The Good Wife<\/em>\u00a0must be adept at making adjustments on the fly. \u201cDirecting is easy when it goes right,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s when it goes wrong,\u201d when a light doesn\u2019t work, or an actor can\u2019t get his lines, or a location goes up in smoke. \u201cIt\u2019s all about when it goes wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodriguez had one of those days when she was geared up to direct Archie Panjabi, who plays private investigator Kalinda Sharma, in an action sequence that Rodriguez had painstakingly plotted as one long take. Rodriguez\u2019s game plan was for Panjabi to stride up to a colleague\u2019s vehicle with a bat and shatter each of his car windows, one at a time. \u201cI was explaining, she\u2019s going to do this one and this one and come around and do that one,\u201d says Rodriguez, who even had Panjabi test wield her bat on another car window first, \u201cand boom, it just smashed right away.\u201d<\/p>\n For some reason, though, when it came time to do it for the cameras, no matter how hard she swung, Panjabi could not get the windows to break. \u201cWe tried different things,\u201d says Rodriguez, who found out later that these particular windows were made of a super strength glass. \u201cWe kept trying to put different things on the end of the bat. We just kept trying; it was really frustrating. It was very disappointing for me not to get it exactly how I wanted it,\u201d says Rodriguez, who finally came up with a solution. Panjabi first slammed her bat against a window and then a stunt man would come in behind her and finish the deed. \u201cWe jumped around a lot in the editing room.\u201d Later she learned that the scene became a fan favorite. \u201cIn the end,\u201d says Rodriguez, \u201cshe looks kick-ass, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJUSTICE SERVED:<\/strong>\u00a0Executive producer-director Brooke Kennedy says she expects episode directors to show up prepared to make their case and assume a leadership role..<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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