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The puzzle-box show has had an underwhelming run in the last decade.
I dont get nervous answering questions, Fazekas said.
Because I always trust that Tara and I and our writers room can come up with more cool shit.
What made you want to take on a show like this?
Michele Fazekas: So, this is how we decide on what our next project is going to be.
Were cribbing from a process the Disney Imagineers do.
They have this really cool way of promoting creativity within groups of people and generating ideas.
Then you say, What do these things have in common?
But its also a challenging pop in of show, right?
Many sci-fi mystery shows have not worked as well as they could have.
Fazekas: If its a mystery show thats not done well, you just end up frustrating your audience.
You canfeelit when theyre just delaying something or stretching something out.
So how we approached this show was, Were going to have answers.
The other thing is that Tara and I love combining genres.
We liked the idea of combining a genre mystery-thriller show with a family.
Tara Butters: And the question was, how do you do something different with a family genre?
To have the drama still happen within the family.
But those choices then raise their own particular challenges.
How do you structure the show to balance the family element with the mystery element?
Butters: That balance is one of the hardest things about the show.
First of all, we know the answers.
But its also really important to not just make it about turning over those cards.
Even at the end of episode three where you learn that this is, somehow, an AI kid.
What does that mean?
Id read this study about AI.
Half the people in the study listened to the robot!
Thats the core of what you want the show to be, right?
Its actually about parenting an AI kid.
But theres almost none of that in the first episode or the promo materials.
Was it hard to decide when to reveal that idea?
Fazekas: You have to start at a baseline.
What we love about the Spielberg influence is that its regular people who something extraordinary happens to.
I love Jo as a character.
I love how Allison plays Jo.
But we did want to tell a story about, Here are normal people.
This extraordinary thing happens.
How do they react?
We had to have some believability that theyd have a connection.
What are some of the other big pitfalls of making a show like this?
Im as interested in those stories as I am in the greater mystery.
Or its going to be, Why are we talking about normal stuff when theres a giant conspiracy afoot?
Having connections between the worlds is super helpful.
Not being afraid to give answers.
Fazekas: Its not a 22-episode show.
On a web connection-TV schedule, you start your writers room and six weeks later youre shooting!
You have no time, and were going to be chasing our tails until the end.
Butters: Thats one of the biggest challenges for us, the online grid schedule.
What are the biggest debates in the writers room?
Fazekas: The would you keep Piper?
debate is really interesting.
People are like, I would never have that in my house, get rid of it.
And some people are like, There would be something ethically wrong with just killing it.
I love that debate.
Do you feel like you have a responsibility to the audience to provide answers quickly?
In the past, similar shows have had baggage about whether the audience will feel satisfied.
Fazekas: I dont.
I think thats a creativity killer.
You have to operate like youre gonna tell plenty of stories.
Of course I dontwantto leave people hanging, but I dont have control over that.
Butters: Our very first show wasReaperfor the CW.
We left season two on a cliffhanger because we were still hoping for a season three.
We did not get one.
But it was the right thing to do, to leave it on the cliffhanger.
Fazekas:I dont think it does anyone any good to hedge your bets.
Like, Maybe were going to get cancelled, so lets wrap up the story just in case.
Theres no point to that.
What lessons have other shows taught you?
Either shows youve watched or shows youve worked on?
[X-Filescreator] Chris Carter used to bring me in to jot down up rewrites for him.
He would explain to me why he was doing something.
He said that everybody has to be smart, even bad guys.
Its a cheat to make the good guys smarter than the bad guys.
That was a really good lesson.
The other one is making sure you understand at any given point what your characters point of view is.
A really big thing onThe X-Fileswas, Where is Scully coming from at this point?
Where is Mulder coming from?
It needs to be really clear and it needs to be logical.
You cannot make your characters be a slave to plot.
The plot has to come from the characters.
Youre gonna get screwed by that.
It seems so simple, but people forget that.
Is that something youre aware of?
Is it something you make a run at ignore?
Butters: Were very aware of it.
Fazekas: We did doAgent Carter, which was similar.
Butters: Its more the sci-fi.
You know, female lead [or] male lead, I dont really care.
Its very much where humans are the monsters.
Fazekas: Were basically creating something to murder or rape it.
