MIA's "Interview With The Vampire Creator" : Trevor Munson
Posted: February 9th, 2008, 6:14 pm“Interview With The Vampire Creator”
Trevor Munson, the creator of Moonlight, answers questions about the birth of Moonlight, the development process, his thoughts on Season 2 and more in this small Q&A!
As the owner of a fan site dedicated to a popular genre series like Moonlight ( http://moonlight-archive.com ), I receive a number of inquires about the series on a regular basis. Some are easy to satisfy but with others it’s best to go right to the source. So that’s what I did. Armed with questions from loyal users of The Blue Whale Pub (our discussion Forum), I recently had the chance to exchange them for answers from the extremely creative and generous Trevor Munson, creator of the character we now know as Mick St. John in the series Moonlight.
So, without further delay, read on as we jump right into the Q&A.
---
John/MIA: What was the dynamic in terms of putting the show together? Can you provide a little history prior to getting the greenlight?
Trevor:
Getting Moonlight made was a long journey that started in 2004 when I first had the idea to create Mick. I had just finished reading some chandler novels and had reread Dracula, and I got the idea to create a sort of hardboiled bloodsucking Phillip Marlowe named Mick Angel who lived in present day LA... I wrote that novel on and off over the next two and a half years, finishing it while traveling in Thailand. While I was finishing it, I had a thought as to how I could effectively adapt it into a feature, so when I got back that's what I did. I sent the feature out that spring in search of new representation and ended up at Endeavor. For awhile it looked as if the script would be made with Bruce Willis as the lead, and then Gerard Bococcio, Joel silver's TV exec read my script and he got Joel on-board with the idea of turning it into a television project. It took some convincing, but eventually I found myself intrigued. Someone gave the script to Nina Tassler at CBS who happens to really like vampires and liked the idea of creating a sort of vampire romantic thriller. She and Endeavor paired me with Ron Koslow and together the two of us figured out how to take my script and turn it into a television series. We pitched it in October... sold it... then Ron and I wrote it through the fall and shot it that spring.
When it was finished, CBS decided they wanted the tone to be a little lighter, and they wanted to replace some of the actors. That said, they agreed to pick the show up, so we recast, Ron and I wrote a new script that would serve as episode one as well as the pilot and we were off... It was a bumpy road at the beginning because so many people had different ideas about what the show should be, so it took a little time to figure it out and hit our stride, but I think the show has really managed to find its voice over these first twelve episodes...
John/MIA: What was the main goal in recasting and reshooting the pilot and how did it change your original vision of the show?
Trevor:
Like I said, the goal was to lighten the show up a bit from what Ron and I initially conceived... Mick was more of (a) brooder in my novel and script, which is fine for a time, but might get tedious over the course of several seasons... the studio and network also wanted to make it a little younger and hipper... all of which I think we accomplished...
John/MIA: What personal themes and topics 'float your boat' and how are they likely to have an impact on the stories we see?
Trevor:
The basic idea for the vampire I set out to create, was a guy who was tortured by what he was and wanted to transcend and be better than his basic nature would dictate. This is something that I seek to do in my own life, and I was writing the novel at a difficult time in my life when I felt the need to reaffirm that.
John/MIA: How many 'voices' are involved in putting together the stories on a day to day basis?
Trevor:
It depends... often as a staff we go into the writer's room and toss ideas around in the attempt to break the story... anyone with a good idea speaks up and we put it on the board. Then we see if we can make it work as a team... other times, we break into twos or threes and see what can be done... changing the dynamic and the number of people and personalities can be an effective when you run into trouble...
John/MIA: What kind of TV/movies or books do you enjoy? Any recommendations?
Trevor:
TV and movies I like... let's see...
TV- Sopranos, Deadwood, 6 Feet Under, Lost, Battlestar Galactica (I'm new to it, but it's pretty smart and cool), Freaks and Geeks, Seinfeld, Taxi, Cheers, Kingpin, The Shield...
Movies- True Romance, Shawshank Redemption, Angelheart, Pulp Fiction, LA Confidential, Run Lola Run, Braveheart, Alien, Aliens, United 93, Bad Santa, Fargo, Raising Arizona, Little Miss Sunshine, The Wizard Of Oz, The Matrix, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, the first three Star Wars, Lost Boys, Payback, Being John Malkovich...
I generally like most dark stories about flawed characters...
John/MIA: Moonlight has had an exhilarating pace as the story-lines and relationships progress, the obvious question is; do you expect to keep up that pace? Moonlight seems to hit certain benchmarks, especially between Mick and Beth, that other shows in this genre take ages to reach.
Trevor:
I would like to keep the pace up and keep the surprises coming... what I'm most interested in is revealing more and more back story and more mythology in ways that will surprise and hopefully thrill the viewers... of course it's all a negotiation... much of what will come in the future if and when we are put back to work will be decided the next time we all get into a room together... however, I do look forward to it... it is a very nice thing to get to go to work with a bunch of smart and creative people every day of your life...
John/MIA: How much of the show is 'mapped out' and how much of it has been an 'organic chemical reaction' - building naturally off watching the actors realize their characters, etc?
Trevor:
I wouldn't say that the show was very mapped out in the beginning... we were late getting started, late shooting the pilot, and then we had to rework the show at some basic levels, so we never really got to build a map for the season. Much of what we did was merely attempt to create a fun, interesting, exciting story arc from gut instinct... however, if there's a next season, one of my goals is to sit down with my co-writers and really map a few big landmark events out in advance...
When the actors get involved, you can't help but begin to write toward their speech patterns, line deliveries, and strengths... it's an interesting phenomena... when an actor comes to a role, he or she attempts to realize the writer's vision of the character, but then eventually the actor owns the character more than the writer does, and so, you begin to write with them in mind...
John/MIA: Moonlight has occasionally made use of 'flashback' scenes, notably to when Beth was kidnapped/rescued and when Coraline was branded, do you think we might see more in-depth flashbacks in the future to help fill in the 'backstory' on these characters? It seems like Josef might have a really rich and varied past.
Trevor:
One of the ideas in our initial pitch for the show was that we would make great use of the long lives of the characters and hop times in episodes. That is always a goal, however, making the past look real and creating period stories is expensive, so we haven't been able to do as much of that as we might have wanted... however, I would love to go back and reveal more of the pasts of these characters. For me, that is what it's all about. I love it when you think you know a character, and then you pull back another layer and you find out you didn't really know them at all... it's what I find so intriguing about Lost...
John/MIA:There's been much 'fantasizing' among fans about possible twists and turns we might see in season 2 of the series. Might we eventually see something along the lines of Beth being turned (or under the influence of B.C. again) or a 'dark' side to Mick?
Trevor:
I haven't talked shop with many of my cohorts since the strike began, but I have a few thoughts and tricks up my sleeve if and when we get to go back. I really like doing the unexpected with the characters and if I have my way there will be some big surprises and reveals in the new season... fingers crossed that we will have one...
John/MIA: Okay, I think that's it! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions and I hope you haven't had to answer the same ones too many times prior to this.
Trevor:
Really good questions... hope I've given some decent answers in return...
All best in the new year... vampire solidarity and all that... rah, rah, rah...
Trevor.
---
...and that’s all for now, folks. Keep checking back at the Moonlight Info Archive and in our forums for more fresh content in the coming months.
Note: Do NOT copy and post this interview in whole or in part to other sites, blogs, or in print without permission. Please, link back to this forum post or USING THIS MIA LINK to the entry instead. Thanks, John.
Special thanks to Snarkle Motion for inspiring the "focus" of the Q&A.
Trevor Munson, the creator of Moonlight, answers questions about the birth of Moonlight, the development process, his thoughts on Season 2 and more in this small Q&A!
As the owner of a fan site dedicated to a popular genre series like Moonlight ( http://moonlight-archive.com ), I receive a number of inquires about the series on a regular basis. Some are easy to satisfy but with others it’s best to go right to the source. So that’s what I did. Armed with questions from loyal users of The Blue Whale Pub (our discussion Forum), I recently had the chance to exchange them for answers from the extremely creative and generous Trevor Munson, creator of the character we now know as Mick St. John in the series Moonlight.
So, without further delay, read on as we jump right into the Q&A.
---
John/MIA: What was the dynamic in terms of putting the show together? Can you provide a little history prior to getting the greenlight?
Trevor:
Getting Moonlight made was a long journey that started in 2004 when I first had the idea to create Mick. I had just finished reading some chandler novels and had reread Dracula, and I got the idea to create a sort of hardboiled bloodsucking Phillip Marlowe named Mick Angel who lived in present day LA... I wrote that novel on and off over the next two and a half years, finishing it while traveling in Thailand. While I was finishing it, I had a thought as to how I could effectively adapt it into a feature, so when I got back that's what I did. I sent the feature out that spring in search of new representation and ended up at Endeavor. For awhile it looked as if the script would be made with Bruce Willis as the lead, and then Gerard Bococcio, Joel silver's TV exec read my script and he got Joel on-board with the idea of turning it into a television project. It took some convincing, but eventually I found myself intrigued. Someone gave the script to Nina Tassler at CBS who happens to really like vampires and liked the idea of creating a sort of vampire romantic thriller. She and Endeavor paired me with Ron Koslow and together the two of us figured out how to take my script and turn it into a television series. We pitched it in October... sold it... then Ron and I wrote it through the fall and shot it that spring.
When it was finished, CBS decided they wanted the tone to be a little lighter, and they wanted to replace some of the actors. That said, they agreed to pick the show up, so we recast, Ron and I wrote a new script that would serve as episode one as well as the pilot and we were off... It was a bumpy road at the beginning because so many people had different ideas about what the show should be, so it took a little time to figure it out and hit our stride, but I think the show has really managed to find its voice over these first twelve episodes...
John/MIA: What was the main goal in recasting and reshooting the pilot and how did it change your original vision of the show?
Trevor:
Like I said, the goal was to lighten the show up a bit from what Ron and I initially conceived... Mick was more of (a) brooder in my novel and script, which is fine for a time, but might get tedious over the course of several seasons... the studio and network also wanted to make it a little younger and hipper... all of which I think we accomplished...
John/MIA: What personal themes and topics 'float your boat' and how are they likely to have an impact on the stories we see?
Trevor:
The basic idea for the vampire I set out to create, was a guy who was tortured by what he was and wanted to transcend and be better than his basic nature would dictate. This is something that I seek to do in my own life, and I was writing the novel at a difficult time in my life when I felt the need to reaffirm that.
John/MIA: How many 'voices' are involved in putting together the stories on a day to day basis?
Trevor:
It depends... often as a staff we go into the writer's room and toss ideas around in the attempt to break the story... anyone with a good idea speaks up and we put it on the board. Then we see if we can make it work as a team... other times, we break into twos or threes and see what can be done... changing the dynamic and the number of people and personalities can be an effective when you run into trouble...
John/MIA: What kind of TV/movies or books do you enjoy? Any recommendations?
Trevor:
TV and movies I like... let's see...
TV- Sopranos, Deadwood, 6 Feet Under, Lost, Battlestar Galactica (I'm new to it, but it's pretty smart and cool), Freaks and Geeks, Seinfeld, Taxi, Cheers, Kingpin, The Shield...
Movies- True Romance, Shawshank Redemption, Angelheart, Pulp Fiction, LA Confidential, Run Lola Run, Braveheart, Alien, Aliens, United 93, Bad Santa, Fargo, Raising Arizona, Little Miss Sunshine, The Wizard Of Oz, The Matrix, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, the first three Star Wars, Lost Boys, Payback, Being John Malkovich...
I generally like most dark stories about flawed characters...
John/MIA: Moonlight has had an exhilarating pace as the story-lines and relationships progress, the obvious question is; do you expect to keep up that pace? Moonlight seems to hit certain benchmarks, especially between Mick and Beth, that other shows in this genre take ages to reach.
Trevor:
I would like to keep the pace up and keep the surprises coming... what I'm most interested in is revealing more and more back story and more mythology in ways that will surprise and hopefully thrill the viewers... of course it's all a negotiation... much of what will come in the future if and when we are put back to work will be decided the next time we all get into a room together... however, I do look forward to it... it is a very nice thing to get to go to work with a bunch of smart and creative people every day of your life...
John/MIA: How much of the show is 'mapped out' and how much of it has been an 'organic chemical reaction' - building naturally off watching the actors realize their characters, etc?
Trevor:
I wouldn't say that the show was very mapped out in the beginning... we were late getting started, late shooting the pilot, and then we had to rework the show at some basic levels, so we never really got to build a map for the season. Much of what we did was merely attempt to create a fun, interesting, exciting story arc from gut instinct... however, if there's a next season, one of my goals is to sit down with my co-writers and really map a few big landmark events out in advance...
When the actors get involved, you can't help but begin to write toward their speech patterns, line deliveries, and strengths... it's an interesting phenomena... when an actor comes to a role, he or she attempts to realize the writer's vision of the character, but then eventually the actor owns the character more than the writer does, and so, you begin to write with them in mind...
John/MIA: Moonlight has occasionally made use of 'flashback' scenes, notably to when Beth was kidnapped/rescued and when Coraline was branded, do you think we might see more in-depth flashbacks in the future to help fill in the 'backstory' on these characters? It seems like Josef might have a really rich and varied past.
Trevor:
One of the ideas in our initial pitch for the show was that we would make great use of the long lives of the characters and hop times in episodes. That is always a goal, however, making the past look real and creating period stories is expensive, so we haven't been able to do as much of that as we might have wanted... however, I would love to go back and reveal more of the pasts of these characters. For me, that is what it's all about. I love it when you think you know a character, and then you pull back another layer and you find out you didn't really know them at all... it's what I find so intriguing about Lost...
John/MIA:There's been much 'fantasizing' among fans about possible twists and turns we might see in season 2 of the series. Might we eventually see something along the lines of Beth being turned (or under the influence of B.C. again) or a 'dark' side to Mick?
Trevor:
I haven't talked shop with many of my cohorts since the strike began, but I have a few thoughts and tricks up my sleeve if and when we get to go back. I really like doing the unexpected with the characters and if I have my way there will be some big surprises and reveals in the new season... fingers crossed that we will have one...
John/MIA: Okay, I think that's it! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions and I hope you haven't had to answer the same ones too many times prior to this.
Trevor:
Really good questions... hope I've given some decent answers in return...
All best in the new year... vampire solidarity and all that... rah, rah, rah...
Trevor.
---
...and that’s all for now, folks. Keep checking back at the Moonlight Info Archive and in our forums for more fresh content in the coming months.
Note: Do NOT copy and post this interview in whole or in part to other sites, blogs, or in print without permission. Please, link back to this forum post or USING THIS MIA LINK to the entry instead. Thanks, John.
Special thanks to Snarkle Motion for inspiring the "focus" of the Q&A.
Yeah John! Terrific interview, great questions and answers. Thanks! 
Hail the Master Vamp 
Must agree with you there, JTF --- Bruce Willis?! Not that I've anything against the man, but I'd MUCH rather drool over/look at 
Alex O'Loughlin .... Never drooled over Bruce, not evem in the old 'Moonlight
