MFT: It looks like the cases are getting bigger and more serous in this season. A lot of questions were raised in season one about why the program was developed. Do we learn more about what the Stitchers program is really going to be used for?
Jeff: Yes we do. We find out fairly early on. But…It’s like all our facts, it’s a little ambiguous and from a source where you go, “Is that really true or is that another cover story, or…” So it’s kind of left up in the air but, if it’s false, it’s a great “mislead” and if it’s true it’s almost as great as a deliberate mislead.
MFT: Yeah.
Jeff: Because it’a like, “Well okay, where does that go?” It’s pretty cool kind of thing where we were trying to find the undeniable version of what the program is all about. We always knew that it could lead in a couple of different ways and we are really happy with how it works out.
MFT: Now Cameron and Kirsten, especially after that season finale, they are, in my mind, a done deal as far as relationships go.
Jeff: Oh do you now? (laughs)
(This either means I am miles off or spot on. Despite this worrisome note, I solder on…)
MFT: In my mind they will end up, as the sun sinks in the west, as a couple. Which leaves Camille, Linus and Damon’s character. Obviously she and Fisher are gravitating together since Linus was such a toad about the stitch pilot thing, so…
Jeff: (Laughs) Well Camille kind of helps Fisher get back on his feet after being shot and there is a sort of natural connection between the two. She realizes that “hey” people are getting shot so maybe I need to learn how to protect myself. Fisher, being a big hunky sort of guy helps, he has a punching bag in his garage and they get close that way. It starts off feeling that it could be romantic and then it’s a little like brother and sister but then sort of feels like it could go romantic… More so her, but a little bit him so it feels like there could be a little something there.
MFT: This brings me on to Camille again, where it seems like she “forecasts” things in the episode. For example the physic episode where she looks at the gem and goes what a rock and of course the woman is murder with a rock. Then, in the finale, before she joins Kirsten in the ladies room, she tells the waitress, about Fisher, that “this guy needs a shot…maybe two.” And what happens? He gets shot twice! Is that going to continue?
Jeff: (laughing) That’s funny. I was sitting in post [production] see the goes back to the Cameron/Kirsten question and you saying they’re a done deal… I don’t think I’m unusual in this but I kind of set up the world and then as you write, I don’t want to sound like some “new-age” kind of guy here, but the characters will often let you know where the story should go.
MFT: Yeah.
Jeff: Not that we don’t have the episodes planned out and stuff with what their interactions are and their interests and you get into the character’s head and you kind of lose the line between real and the character. So you go, “Oh that’s interesting.” Then stuff comes out that you didn’t even know was there and then you go, “Oh that’s funny.”
I wrote a screenplay once where in one scene the character has Coca-Cola in a glass and he salts it to release all the CO2 and after he does it, he begins fanning it toward a flower on the table at this diner. Another guy looks at his and says, “What are you doing?”
The guy answers, “I’m feeding the flower.” And I go, “Oh, he’s a compassion nazi!” The other guy replies, “It’s a plastic flower” and he says, “It doesn’t matter.” And it was one of those moments that I did not plan to put on the page, but it totally defined the character. So in terms of Kirsten and Cameron getting back together or not…
I’d kind of like them to but they have not told me yet. Going back to the Camille thing, the “one shot maybe two,” I was sitting in editing for that episode and we’re watching that scene and we were “music spotting” which means that we have the editor, the composer, the post production supervisor, a couple of assistants, we’ve got me…
I mean the room was full of people. Suddenly I went, “Hold it, hold it. I think Camille ordered the hit on Fisher.”
MFT: (Laughing)
Jeff: Did she do that? I think she may have.
MFT: Going back, yet again, to Cameron and Kirsten I felt that that bond was what caused her to turn away from the guy I called “Mary Poppins Man” (as he was practically perfect in every way) and he turns out to be a plant. Now, is he coming back, since he called for instructions for a “plan B?”
Jeff: Yeah we do. Of course Kirsten with her temporal dysplasia in season one started dating him cause that’s what you do, you date. If she had not progressed in the storyline, she probably would have married the guy because that’s what you do, you get married at this age. That sort of flat look at life.
MFT: In terms of getting in touch after progressing so far this means that a whole new bucket of worms has opened up for Kirsten.
Jeff: Oh yes, poor Emma had to play Kirsten right in the middle, in terms of human emotional range she has a lot more emotions that she can convey. This gives everyone else something to play off of and you can also see what a good naturalist actor Emma really is.
MFT: I’ve asked everyone else and now I’ll ask the one man who can answer the question, “Where do you see Stitchers going in season three?” You know if Freeform come down and says yes for a third season.
Jeff: Okay. If season one is about creation of family and season two is now that we have a family how do you deal with it. You know their ups and downs, the good parts, the bad parts. When do you flee, do you flee or do you fight it out. So season two is about how messy family is and season three is “how far do you go for your family.”
MFT: Right.
Jeff: So that is sort of the direction of season three. We go out of the season with, I was just counting them up, I believe five loose threads and cliffhangers. Each one will, one way or another, test our characters commitment to relationships and being together and family. At least that’s the current plan.
The interview with Jeff Schechter finished with Mike’s Film Talk rounding up that things that made the show such a favorite and after a long winded dissertation by the interviewer, Jeff responded with:
If you liked that, there is a bit in season two episode one where your head may explode.
Having now watched Stitchers 2.0 I can confirm that my head did not explode. Although it was a close thing. The show starts back up on March 22 and all I can say is that it was well worth the wait. Set your DVRs and clocks so you don’t miss it. In the mean time, I have to start brushing up on my pop culture references for that challenge.
