PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: PALEYFEST 2019: 9-1-1 {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's 36th William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. Held this year at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, the festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television and is dedicated to television's creative community. This PALEYFEST 2019 seminar celebrates "9-1-1," the drama series about police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and dispatchers in Los Angeles who cope with the pressures of being first-responders.
Host Rene Reyes (executive in charge of production, The Paley Center for Media) offers opening remarks and thanks the festival's various sponsors. Reyes then welcomes Tim Stack (senior writer, Entertainment Weekly) to the stage. He introduces the episode "New Beginnings," which is then screened in its entirety. (For synopsis and credits, see ACCNUM 135941.)
Following the screening, Stack moderates the following panelists: executive producer/creator Tim Minear; and cast members Angela Bassett (Athena Grant), Peter Krause (Bobby Nash), Jennifer Love Hewitt (Maddie Kendall), Oliver Stark (Evan "Buck" Buckley), Aisha Hinds (Henrietta "Hen" Wilson), Kenneth Choi (Howie "Chimney" Han), Rockmond Dunbar (Michael Grant), and Ryan Guzman (Eddie Diaz).
The panelists touch on such topics as: why Minear felt passionately about getting involved with the show; the physical training which cast members underwent to play first-responders; Bassett's surprise at becoming an action hero and learning to shoot a gun; Hewitt experiencing whiplash after her storyline required her character to be punched by an assailant; if the cast members become squeamish from the plots' grislier aspects; how creator Ryan Murphy ensured that the series wouldn't become a generic cop show; the way in which Bassett's work on "American Horror Story" led her to join "9-1-1"; Krause being drawn to the show's eclectic, genre-jumping nature; Hewitt's learning to box for the role; why Stark insists on doing his own stunts; how Guzman and Hewitt were lured to the show for its second season; how Hinds having been shot as a teenager was incorporated into her character's history; the feedback which Dunbar continually receives, after his character came out as gay, from those who co-parent in a fractured family; Guzman's reaction to playing a single dad whose son (Gavin McHugh) has cerebral palsy; how Pixar's "Up" inspired an episode about the stages of a gay couple's relationship; Choi's reaction to Hewitt having insisted to Minear that their characters fall in love; the difficulties of filming an episode focused on an earthquake and its aftermath, and how it compared to filming an episode about a plane crashing into a large body of water; the logistics of location filming, as on busy highways; changes that were made to the show after real-life first-responders complained about inaccuracies; and plotlines from the show that are based on real incidents, many of which were filmed on YouTube.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics, among others: Hewitt's reaction to her real-life husband (Brian Hallisay) playing her character's abusive ex-spouse; Bassett and Hinds' desire to return to the stage to perform the works of "new voices"; the unexpected manner in which Dunbar's character will interact with the other principals; whether training was required for Guzman to closely interact with an actor with cerebral palsy; and the trick to Hewitt and Krause having juggled roles in so many TV shows without getting stereotyped.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 1999 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:40:15
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 135927
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Rene Reyes … Host
- Tim Stack … Moderator
- Angela Bassett … Panelist
- Peter Krause … Panelist
- Jennifer Love Hewitt … Panelist
- Oliver Stark … Panelist
- Aisha Hinds … Panelist
- Kenneth Choi … Panelist
- Rockmond Dunbar … Panelist
- Ryan Guzman … Panelist
- Tim Minear … Panelist
- Brian Hallisay
- Gavin McHugh
- Ryan Murphy