May 12 2008
Post Your Questions For “Dummy” Writer Peter Ocko
If you missed any of Pushing Daisies, this is your chance to watch the show online and talk to the writers of your favorite show! Head on over to ABC.com to check out Episode 1.02 “Dummy” and then come back to this post and leave questions for writer Peter Ocko in the comments section.
*Only “Dummy” specific questions will be presented to Mr. Ocko so please stay on topic. Remember, you can ask as many questions as you want but only one comment per question to make it easier for the writers to answer. Have fun gang!
[…] Submit your questions about Episode 1.02 “Dummy” for Peter Ocko here. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepiemaker.com%2Fexclusive-pushing-daisies-writers-answer-your-questions%2F’; addthis_title = ‘Exclusive%3A+Pushing+Daisies+Writers+Answer+Your+Questions’; addthis_pub = ”; […]
This is really awesome! I can’t think of any questions off the top of my head but I’m sure the other fans will.
Gah, I love this show and everyone involved with it!
That’s why we’re encouraging folks to head on over to ABC.com! It gives new and old fans the chance to experience the magic again. Then you come up with some great questions!
They don’t offer the viewing outside of the US, unfortunately (I’m Canadian), but I’m putting faith in you American fans! Do us proud!
Hi Mr. Ocko! I loved Dummy and was particularly impressed with the way you included bulimia without making the plot seem preachy or upsetting. 1) What inspired your decision to make it an aspect of the character and was it difficult to keep it lighthearted? and 2) When/why was it decided that Chuck would be very eccentric? It seems like in nearly every episode, we find out she has a hidden talent or quality (speaking various languages, knowing legal jargon, morbid ideas about death, etc.)
Thank you so much!! I loved Dummy and Pushing Daisies is absolutely incredible all-around.
Here’re a couple…
How did the idea for this episode come about? Did the Dandelion car or the dummy come first?
This episode, like so many of the others have a lot of sight gags in them. Are those, like Olive dropping the mirror and slamming into the side of the building and the “green” CEO driving the Hummer, written into the script or do some of them develop while filming?
Along the same lines, this show is obviously very visually beautiful and this episode has some great examples of striking images (the overhead view of Chuck and Ned laying on their beds), how much of that is written into the script and how much is left up to the director?
We got to see lots of new sides of Emerson in this episode. For instance his knitting when he’s upset. It seems preposterous when you say it but it works so well. How did the idea for it come about?
This is the first time we see Olive sing… was it fun to be able to give that scene to Kristin?
(Ok, ok, I’m shutting up now and leaving some questions for other people.
)
Look at Margaret asking a serious question and me just being nosy!
Oooh. Why the dandelion? Why not some other flower instead? Was it just because of the great visual possibilities the dandelion offers or was there another reason for it?
PS: Sorry for not following the directions there. I didn’t see the “one per comment” part. You can slap my hand if you want? Or I can copy ‘em and you can delete and I’ll resubmit separately.
*slap* Rae
Did you have any other song ideas for what Olive would sing before you got to “Hopelessly Devoted to You?”
Hello Mr. Ocko! First of all, let me say I really enjoyed the episode. Here’s my question:
Bernard’s message to Jeanine from promotions (”tell her I love her”) is never delivered. Was that on purpose or did it just never make it to the screen?
Thank you Mr. Ocko for the fantastic writing.
Especially that early in a series, do you consider the particular actors and their quirks/talents (beyond the more obvious ones, like singing) as you write, or do you try to focus exclusively on developing the pre-established characters?
Hello Mr. Ocko
This is my question:
Do they ask you to put some special things in your writting like the idea of separate the front seats of the car which it was very cleaver and very important for the rest of the episodes, or was it your idea?
Same in the case of the kiss trough the body bags which is Ned & Chuck’s first kiss.
Do they ask you to figure how they could kiss?
thank you
how did the concept of the show come about?
and…
is there any chance of getting a signed copy of a photo from Lee Pace? i live in Australia, and have watched each of the episodes AT LEAST 5 times and i am completely entranced by Lee Pace..his height, his fun aura and most of all his attractiveness!!!
xoxo
Regarding DUMMY…where was it filmed? and where would i be able to find a nig dandilion!!! LOVE THEM!!! especially when Ned wipes the ‘drool’ off of Janine’s mouth!!! AHHHH I LOVE NED!!!! nah i LOVE LEE PACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My 1 question (ok maybe a few in a protracted sequence !):
How did you decide to develop the main characters from the pilot 1.1 to 1.2 seeing as there were was such a long time inbetween shooting each episode ? Or were both episodes written close together and they retained the same character development scenario you envisaged when writing to that included in the shooting schedule ?
This is such an honor! Thanks, PieMaker.com!!
Oh, Mr. Ocko, what an envious job you have! I would absolutely eat my own toe on a cracker to hide under the table in the PD writer’s room.
My question is this:
How did you write this episode? Were you an outliner or do you start immediately with dialogue? And if you start with dialogue, whose do you start with: Ned? The Narrator? Chuck?
Thanks so much for this opportunity!
[…] Pull out your tapes/DVR or head on over to ABC.com and watch the episode. Then mosey on over to the designated post at The Pie Maker and leave your question for writer Peter […]
I love Dummy!!! I remember watching the clip of Olive singing and just totally getting hooked on this show. So here’s my question (and I have quite a few):
Though the target audience of Pushing Daisies is obviously not children, the show brings in many aspects of childhood (i.e. the flashbacks at the beginning to Ned and Chuck’s lives when they were children, the unusually bright sets, the overall “fairy tale” take of the show). How did you come up with such an idea and how did you incorporate it so well into an 18-25 age group targeted primetime show?
Sadly I’m Canadian too, so I can’t access the episodes on ABC.com, but I was just going to start a PD-athon this coming (long) weekend! I’ve been missing my Ned and Chuck, and seeing Lee Pace in his old series, “Wonderfalls”, has made me miss PD and want to re-view it again.
I don’t have an “intelligent” question for Mr. Ocko, but I did want to know what inspired the bodybag kiss? Is this something each writer comes up with, or is it Bryan’s vision of having different ways for Ned and Chuck to “touch without touching”??
Okay, second one!!!
I’m so biased, but my favorite part of the episode was Olive singing. I think someone’s already asked how you came up with “Hopelessly Devoted to You” as her song, but I was wondering how the blocking went down for that scene (especially the people coming in to interrupt–SO FUNNY)? Was it written in or did Kristin come up with a lot of it herself?
So that was two questions, but they’re kind of related!!! *runs away*
Oh, and I was also wondering…the bodybag kiss seems kind of awkward in context, but it totally works on the show for Ned and Chuck. But is that totally awkward to shoot?
Ok, another question, which kind of builds on a few already posted:
When you were writing Dummy, did you leave room for improvisation / actor feedback (the Emerson and Olive interactions?), or did your original script reach the screen largely as it was written?
Thanks again!
I’ve gotten my hands on a few Pushing Daisies scripts (I’m writing a spec) and I was curious how the narrator’s dialogue formatting came about? I love that it’s bolded in the script, because it really pops and distances that voice from the action around it, but I was wondering if it was a production necessity or if it originated with the writers?
Thank you, and excellent work!
Hello,
Were you aware that in the UK ITV skipped this episode, so that they only had eight episodes to air which apparently fitted in with their schedule? And if so, or even if this is the first you have heard about it, how do you feel, and what five words would you use to summarise the episode so that Brits don’t feel like they have missed out?
Another question:
Since writers/behind-the-scenes people don’t get as much play as they should, I was wondering if you could chat a bit about how one segues between the duties of being a writer and being a co-exec producer?
The scene with the body bag kiss between Ned and Chuck is a huge relief of the intense sexual tension. Do you ever feel that the scene was a bit premature for such a new show or was it a way to pull audiences in who didn’t know how they would overcome the whole “no-touching” thing of their relationship?
I know, I know. Stop it with the questions, AbbyKate, but I can’t.
This episode has quite a bit of narration. Do you script the MOS dialogue the actors say while the narrator is speaking or do you let them just wing it?
One more and then I’m done, I swear.
Though PD is a show about a guy who wakes up dead people, it’s central focus is not the afterlife. In fact, one of my favorite things about this show is its stance on the afterlife…i.e. there isn’t really an afterlife unless Ned touches you.
In this episode, you have a Buddhist wake up and comment about how if this is heaven, something’s amiss. How fine is the line you as a network-television writer have to walk between Sublte and Over-Statement when it comes to this and similarly touchy issues??
I absolutley love that PD is not preaching to me about anything except that this one life - - the one we’re all living - - is the one that counts so we better make it the best thing we can.
please please can someone tell me were i can buy the strawberry wallpaper featured in episod one or two please, i think it was in someones kitchen, thank you x
As someone has already mentioned, us Brit’s unfortunately had to miss out on this episode due to the 8 week slot…
Do you think it was the right episode to miss out (ie. was there anything vital in it that would prevent us from properly understanding the rest of the series)?
Hey Daisies lovers, we’re going to cut questions off tomorrow (Wednesday - May 21st) at 11:59pm.
We’re hoping to have the questions answered by Peter and posted in about a week!
Get those last “Dummy” questions in!
I was remiss in not saying this earlier, Peter, but this truly is one of my favorite episodes. I find all PD episodes worth watching more than once but “Dummy” is one of those that I keep re-watching over and over again. So thank you for giving me hours upon hours of
procrastination materialentertainment.This question is probably a variation/combination of a few others but not one specifically asked about it and it’s something I’ve been curious about. Can you talk a bit about the scene where you have Mark Chase (shout out to the wonderfully talented Patrick Fabian for his awesome job with that role) doing the typical bad guy exposition but you flip it on its side by making it so not only does the audience not hear (or his audience, Ned, Chuck, and Emerson) him but nor do we really care since our attention is taken by The Kiss? I’m curious about a few things like 1) was everything Patrick was saying there scripted, 2) did you go into it wanting to find an unique and refreshing way to do the exposition (where we hear the parts that are really important but miss all the rest), and 3) how many times does a scene like that have to be blocked and filmed since we’ve got so many different POVs going on (Chases’ as he’s pacing and telling his story, Ned/Chuck as they watch him but also do their thing, Emerson as he works his needles out and frees himself, etc.)?
That’s funny, I was just about to ask something similar here. The whole scene with Mark Chase explaining his evil plan but no one being able to hear him is like a failed deus ex machina, and personally I loved it. How did you come up with that?
Another one:
How did you come up with Emerson’s knitting hobby? Was it just for the fun of it, or was it intented specifically to give them a way out of the body bags?
Yet another one:
How much of the final product is the original script and how much is changed on set during filming?
Last one I swear!
What’s your favorite line or scene from the episode and why?
It’s only 11:30 p.m. here on the West Coast, so I hope my questions squeaks under the May 23rd deadline.
How much of an outline were you given for “Dummy” and how much did your final draft change when it went through Bryan Fuller’s typewriter before being filmed?
Thanks!
Did you come up with Emerson’s knitting as a hobby for this episode or was it a character trait that had been developed earlier in the creative process?
when does season 2 start?