IAMA writer/producer The Wire and Treme, George Pelecanos, AMA.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

It helps to read Hard Revolution, which covers Strange in the years 1959 to 1968. But it's not necessary. In What It Was, Strange is 26 years old, a young man living in D.C's most outrageous, fun era. The book is sexy and violent, and it's heavy with music, musclecars, and good looking women. If that's your thing, jump in.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Speaking for me, I hope so. All of those people you mentioned are good actors, but more importantly, they're solid people.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

It has been fun and really interesting to work and live in New Orleans for this show. Our crew is fantastic and yes, you do make many friends and eventually it feels like a family. My oldest son Nick is a PA on the crew and we have a crib together in the Warehouse District. The whole thing has been a journey for me, but you can pretty much say that about any series you work on. It's a nice way to make a living.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

David and I had met only once. One day we were at a funeral for mutual friend and he asked me for a lift to the wake. On the way there he told me about a pilot, called The Wire, that he had sold to HBO. He said he had read one of my books, The Sweet Forever, and he was wondering if I'd like to write a script for Season 1 of his show. I was familiar with his work on The Corner and Homicide, so I knew his talent and I knew where he stood. I said, Why not?

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Treat writing as you would any job. Get dressed in the morning and go to work, whether you want to or not. When I'm writing a book I write seven days a week, day and night shifts. Even on bad days, I put something down on paper. If you do that, there is no such thing as writer's block.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Nick's Trip and Suckerman were both developed, but are dormant for now. I am still trying to move Right as Rain and Shoedog along. As for Elmore Leonard, shoot, I'll read anything he writes. Guy is a gentleman, too.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

No readings. Headed back to New Orleans this weekend, where I'll be working, mostly, until May. The book is doing fine without me making public appearances and gumming up the works. If y'all liked Shoedog--I see there are those who do--you'll be into What It Was. it's got the same kind of feel.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

We haven't started yet. Still trying to get the last pieces of financing in place. In the meantime, I just keep working on other projects. But I hope to get it done. It's my Seven-Ups.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

One day Ed Burns and I were having a meeting in the basement of a church in Canton, and one of our security guys brought Felicia by to meet us. We went outside and talked to her in the middle of the street for about five minutes. After she left, we looked at each other and said, "We've got to put her in the show." Her first scene, we gave her a couple of lines, and we knew. She was all in.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

I think the White People book is funny. Season 3 of Treme will reflect what was happening in New Orleans in late 2007, early 2008. So, yeah, you'll see more about the climate of corruption in the police department down there. We're ramping up the conflict. As for your last question: it depends on the rules.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Not anymore. I used to work at The Bootlegger, selling women's shoes, at Wisconsin and P across the street from the market. Bought my smokes at Neam's in the morning, back when I was a Marlboro Menthol man.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

I like Game of Thrones. too. David Benioff, who writes the show, is a friend of mine. And he's married to Amanda Peet. Some guys just get the golden horseshoe.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

No, but my friend Anthony Hemingway, who I worked with on The Wire and Treme for the past ten years, directed the film. It was good to see some of the actors from The Wire in Red Tails as well. Congratulations to all of them. Though I don't know if I'd let Bubs work on the engine of my plane.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

So far so good.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

We had five stories to tell, and to their credit HBO kept us on the air to do it. In truth, the ratings did not justify keeping us further, but the aftermarket sales in video, domestic and international, made the show hugely profitable for HBO. We would have liked to look at the Latino culture in Baltimore, and tackle immigration, but we ran out of time. It's funny, Ed Burns wanted to do a season about horse racing, the track, and organized crime. It's all connected in Maryland, but again, no time. Now, David Milch has done it with Luck on HBO. I watched the first ep, and I think it's fantastic.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

I would love to do that. It's on my list. There's a Western revival going on right now on television, and hopefully that will help my case.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

We worked it out together in the writers room. A lot of discussion and sometimes arguments. When it got heated, it came from a place of passion, and I think it was reflected in the final product. Yes, often times I had to fight for what I thought was right in a script. And sometimes David stood firm and saved me from my own worst instincts. I was given the penultimate episodes--the ones where bad, violent shit happens--because David thought I did a good job of similar scenes in my books. I did not write the celebrated chess scene; that was David, I believe. I wrote the deaths of Wallace, Frank Sobotka, Stringer Bell, and Snoop. Also, I wrote the scene in the park between Bunk and Omar. That, and the rooftop scene between Stringer and Avon, are my personal favorites of what I actually wrote. There are others, like the paper bag speech written by Richard Price in Season 3, that I'm still in awe of.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Thank you.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

My personal opinion is that we were at the top of our game in Seasons 3 and 4. I feel like there was good work done in all the seasons, but those two were where we most successfully accomplished what we had set out to do.
Most people don't use the expression "cop" in Baltimore. They say "police."

georgepelecanos · 3 months

We knew that Stringer was going to die at the end of Season 3. It was a natural end for the character and it fit our thematic concerns. We didn't know how he was going to get to his final destination, or how Avon would fit into the betrayal. All of that got pounded out in the writers room as the season progressed. David Simon, Ed Burns and I worked out the beats, and I wrote the script. It's the same way many novelists, myself included, figure out their books. if you try to pre-outline every facet of the work, it often comes out stillborn.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

What It Was is based on a real-life guy, Cadillac Smith, who went on a crime spree in the summer of '72 in D.C., when Watergate broke. Police and the Mob were involved in trying to bring him down. I took the seeds of his story, called him Red "Fury" Jones, fictionalized the details, and threw Derek Strange and Frank Vaughn into the mix. Careful readers will notice that I planted the fable of Red into my book The Night Gardener several years ago. It's a cool story, set in my favorite time period, and I always intended to give Red his own novel.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Pretty ambiguous, I admit, but then we always made viewers work to figure out the show. Lester Freamon is going to leave the force on his own terms. McNulty returns to Baltimore because he can't quit it, even with its flaws.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

When you read it back, the dialogue should feel alive to you. But do keep in mind that actors, directors, and other craftsmen who work on the movie or show are going to elevate what you've done. Have faith in your work. You know when it's good, and also when it's not working.

georgepelecanos · 3 months

Probably the night we shot the scene between Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale (Episode 311, Middle Ground), on the roof, when they talk about their friendship and childhoods. They have betrayed one another but there's real love there. It was a beautiful night in Baltimore and the actors and the director, Joe Chappelle, really brought their game. It's my favorite scene of the series.

georgepelecanos

TROPHY CASE

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