Heroes Writer Chuck Kim Speaks Out
Matt Richenthal
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Chuck Kim wrote the season one episode ".07%."
Below, the Heroes scribe speaks up about the writers' strike, the aforementioned episode and a number of other topics:
It's extremely boring. I mean, it's really awful. This is the first show that I've ever worked on. One of the very cool things about it is that the crew is on set basically Monday through Friday, sometimes Saturday and Sunday, working on the show. They're there on the set for twelve to fourteen hours a day, and they're still just so enthusiastic about the show.
The camera people, the lighting people, the grips—everybody—they're just so "into" the show. The fact that they can keep up that energy keeps us very excited too. We all feel really awful for those people, too, because not only are we not working, but they're not working as well. Overall, it's just a really depressing situation.
Q: It's hard because I'm sure they all support the cause, yet it's not their fight, though they have to suffer for it. It's not anybody's fault, it's just a really unfortunate situation.
Indirectly, it's their fight, too. While we're fighting for residuals and whatnot, the crew members' health coverage is basically paid for by the studio the same way our residuals are paid for by the studio. If we don't get the same residuals from the internet and downloads, etc., then they wouldn't get that percentage that they would normally earn from the internet for their health coverage either.
Q: It's really affecting more than just the writers.
It is! We're kind of the first group that is facing this. The actors are going to face this and the directors are going to face this. Basically, any other guild that has money tied into the studio that's paid that way (whether it's health coverage or anything like that), it will affect them as well.
Oh yeah, that was amazing! That scene started with Chris Zatta's episode, which was eighteen, and went into my episode, which was nineteen. Shooting that scene where we show Mohinder on the ceiling and we show Peter being choked against the wall and his head being cut open—just that was a day's worth of shooting.
I mean, what was on screen for maybe a minute, oh my God! Normally, we can't take that kind of luxury in shooting it. And we had two directors, and two writers on set because it was a crossover scene. It was a lot of work. [laughs]
Read the full interview now at the Heroes Wiki.
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.
