CRIMINAL MINDS: TALKING WITH ANDREW WILDER

Criminal Minds: Day One Ending: I was very tired by this point in the day. Everyone was tired. While "A" stood in the hallway I stepped into a very small room and sat in the first chair I saw behind the Director and the Script Supervisor. Andrew Wilder, the writer of "Ashes and Dust" came in to sit and watch and I offered him what turned out to be his chair back but instead someone else got up and gave him their chair. I loved talking with Andrew. It was late in the day and he was asking me this and that about what the fans are talking about. Since there was almost nobody in the room and we were whispering anyway I decided to go for it and I asked him every question I have ever had since the show started. We had a great conversation basically matching each other question for question. Looking back on it our conversation was probably the highlight of my whole trip. I shared with him some of my observations about my day and some of the things I had heard and suspected. For about half a minute he tried what Mr. Carroll had tried earlier in the day...he tried to unspoil me. I told him I was more spoiled than cheese in a hot car and that I wasn't stupid and having people all over the building asking me the same exact questions independently of each other certainly had told me everything I wanted to know. I also told him at this point I obviously could be trusted and I can. At this point the real conversation started. It is very clear that Andrew is passionate about the show and especially about the cast. He has written four of our finest episodes to date and he talked to me about his motivation when he wrote them. I told him some things that I would like to see on the show and he explained to me why I would never get those things. The entire time the cameras were rolling and we would stop chatting to watch the different shots they were taking. Next to the Director sits a woman who I had not paid any attention to all day. Because we were in such a tiny space I really was taking notice of how busy she was. She sits there and writes feverishly and her book has literally tons of stickies hanging throughout it. They filmed the same one snippet six times and each time Thomas Gibson said his opening line she would turn to the few of us in the room for clarification of how he was pronouncing one specific location name. The Producer asked for something to be done to one of the cameras and since we had a few minutes I finally asked her what exactly was her job. She is in charge of script continuity. She notes which shots the Producer liked the best, wording problems, basically she is the walking diary of every single shot taken everyday. I would not want her job because it is very hard. She asked me a few questions about the blog and I mentioned that we do discuss continuity and actually my friend Stacy has some concerns. A look of relief came across her face when I told her it concerned Hotchner's backstory and she was very quick to tell me that that is the writers and not her. Andrew asked what the problem was and even asked John E. Gallagher, the Director of "Ashes and Dust" to listen to what I had to say. I explained to them that Stacy had basically charted the dates out and they had really made a big mess. Both of them said that they would take a look at it and see if they could find ways of working fixing it into future episodes. They also were going to share the info with the other writers. Do I believe them? Yes I do. These people are so invested in this show and they are so professional. Nobody wants the show to be great more than they do. Our cast is great but the writers and producers of this show are the very soul of Criminal Minds. Tomorrow I was going to get to have some time with Aaron Zelman but closing my first day talking with Andrew was great. They were still shooting when "A" and I decided to leave. My first day on the set of Criminal Minds was wonderful. :)