New York Times - June 8, 2008

Focus, People! There’s Work to Do


From left, Bret McKenzie, a star and writer of “Flight of the Conchords”; a fellow writer, James Bobin; and Mr. McKenzie’s co-star and a co-writer,
Jemaine Clement. Credit...Stephanie Diani for The New York Times

By Elizabeth Jensen
June 8, 2008

Writers' rooms are as idiosyncratic as writers themselves: a system of organization has to be devised to keep track of plots and characters. Some writers prefer lots of stress relievers to play with during their usual marathon script-writing sessions; others like to stay as focused as possible. Food — what's permissible, when and where it can be eaten — has to be negotiated. And often the sensibility in the room ends up being reflected on screen in the finished show. Here's a look inside the rooms where the staffs of five of this season's acclaimed series ply their trade.

"Flight of the Conchords"

NO standard dry-erase boards for the three writers of HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords”: James Bobin, who is an executive producer and director as well as writer, said they prefer colored index cards, hundreds of them. “I’m worried I’ll erase something and forget about it,” Mr. Bobin said.

On the 20-foot wall in the writers’ room, he said, is “every idea we’ve ever had in the last six months.” Plot outlines, character arcs, notes about old music videos the writers like and have looked up online. The comedy series, starring Mr. Bobin’s fellow writers Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement as the real-life New Zealand folk parody duo for whom the show is named, “would be impossible to make without YouTube,” Mr. Bobin said. “We spend our entire time iTunes D.J.-ing each other’s lists, doing a ‘Name That Tune’ sort of quiz.”

The room is done up like a gentleman’s club, with an old dining-room table, oil paintings and a sideboard, to make the writers feel at home. When they do get down to actual writing, the process is like a three-way conversation. “Someone has an initial idea, the second person takes it further, and the third person writes it down” in a computer plugged into a large screen on the wall, Mr. Bobin said, adding that the typist changes during the day.

Mr. Bobin said the arrangement resembles the system in his native England more than the American writing room, which has “20 guys in a room all telling jokes at a time.”

“Three is a good number for writing,” he added. “The third person breaks any tension, and there’s always someone who can pick up the slack.”

Source

Jesus tapdancing Christ, that board looks ridiculous! Those boys put writers everywhere to shame. What I wouldn't give to take a look a closer look at those ideas....

And completely random and unrelated...is that a black MacBook Jemaine is working on? If it is, then that alone could be the deciding factor in him being my true soul mate.

Oh my god!  This is amazing!!  Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much for posting this.  I love seeing the geniuses at work!  


ALSO: Bret's wearing his batman shirt!  He looks so cuuuute (but when does he not look cute?)  

sunnyringo wrote:

The room is done up like a gentleman’s club...to make the writers feel at home.

did anyone else notice this?!?!.........lol

seriously tho, viry cool to get an inside look!!! thanks for posting this sam!!  

hellomyfriend wrote:ALSO: Bret's wearing his batman shirt!  He looks so cuuuute (but when does he not look cute?)  

yes, the batman shirt gets me every damn time!! lurrrve it!!!

Wow thanks Sam!

It's so nice to get a look at the writing side of them.. what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in that room when they're at it.  

that looks like my ultimate fantasy room for ideas.
aw it's so nice to see them like this! love it.

they look so focused.... i love it.. yay hopefully season 2 will be here soon!!

Amily wrote:Wow thanks Sam!

It's so nice to get a look at the writing side of them.. what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall in that room when they're at it.  

they call it a fly because it takes you up to heaven! lol

this is seriously like one of the coolest things i've ever seen....i'm always really curious about people's artistic processes, and to get a glimpse into that for fotc is pretty amazing. a fly on the wall indeed....

AHHHH!  thanks for posting this!

i love getting a glimpse into behind the scenes stuff! that board looks amazing  

[gah where is the house paragraph?! i can't find it....]

thank you for posting this in here too Sam! I was soo excited when I saw this in your blog...and I just thought...wow! that's really cool to see...it freaked me out kinda...like this is real...the guys are ACTUALLY writing a new season! WHICH IS GREAT!!!   LOL

omg! I just realized that this was featured in the NY Times! you've got to be kidding me! these guys are getting big!

I see Jemaine sending out comments on Myspace when he should be working LOL!


oh and i see that bret is telling him he forgot to send me my comment yet again  

step0nmi wrote:omg! I just realized that this was featured in the NY Times! you've got to be kidding me! these guys are getting big!

I check the NY Times website several times a day, and the morning after their NY show, an article about it was *the TOP front and center story on the webpage*!!!! It was like they were the biggest thing going on in the entire world! I sent the guys a comment about it because I was so excited for them! It didn't last for long of course;
the site's always changing with new news coming in, and something else quickly took the front and center place. But I thought that was so cool. I was so proud of them!

I love this picture. Look at all those index cards! The second season is really happening! I can't wait!!!! Bret and Jemaine both look very cute here. Loving that Bret's rocking the Batman shirt again--want to go together to see The Dark Knight when it opens, honey?

This is the best!! I love to see them being creative geniuses!! It almost gives us a different point of view on them.

Man...it would be so friggen fun to be in that room with them!!!!! *only in my dreams!*

Wow...when I pictured this room...I didn't picture the board of ideas to be that neat lol

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!! Bret looks delicious!

Is it wrong of me to picture myself infront of Bret and he is reaching for...well...I don't think I need to finish that thought lol

this pic is actually begging to be made into a lolconchord, but it's nearly 5am so i'll leave it for someone else to take care of  

Man, the things that I would do to get into that room...  
Thanks for posting this! I truly loved it. It's actually pretty neat to have a look into the boy's inner writing chamber! Also, Jem with his bed head and 3-day beard.... gahaoit akjshdgfwwaefn af .

I.want.their.jobs.now.

I love any 'behind the scenes' info on any creative process.

Lookie how organized and precise that story board is!  They even have a color-coded system in place.  They must pay a great deal of attention to even the slightest details.

Very cool of the NYT to do this.Also,  "gentlemen's club"!? lol  Where is the stripper pole?