David_Chase

8/7/2019 David_Chase

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DavidChase,TheSopranos , andTelevisionCreativity

Dav id Lavery andRobert J . Thompson

Bonnie : L i v ia , ever hear the o ld I ta l i an say ing my aunts used: col tempo la

fogl ia , d i gelso d ivenaseta .

Carmela:What does that mean, Bonnie?

Bonnie : T imeand pat ience change the mulberry lea f to s i l k .

From46 Long on TheSopranos, wri t ten by Dav id Chase

Dav id Chase s mulberry leaves were many , h i s pat ience

extraord inary , h i s c reat i ve ach ievement decades in the

mak ing . A precoc ious ch i ld , a devotee of Freud in h igh school ,

where he authored a b lasphemous story in which somebody sp ies the Apost les sneak ing Jesus body out of the tomb, r i ght

before they go Oh, my God, he s resurrec ted. Chase longed

as a young manto be a f i lmmaker or perhaps a rock and ro l l

mus i c ian . An Eng l i sh ma jor in co l lege ( f i r s t a t Wake Forest ,

l a ter a t NewYork Univers i ty ) , l i ke contemporar ies and near

contemporar ies Franc i s Ford Coppola , Mart in Scorsese , and

George Lucas , Chase then went on to a t tend f i lmschoolat

Stanford . The p i lot for TheSopranos, however , would not be wr i t ten unt i l he served

twenty seven re luc tant years in te lev i s ion , beg inn ing as a wr i ter in 1971 .

Desp i te a d i s taste for network te lev i s ion he makes no ef fort to h ide ( I loathe

and desp i se a lmost every secondof i t ) , money had kept Chase in the industry ,

wr i t ing , and eventua l l y produc ing , for such sundry ser ies as TheNightSta lker (1974

75) , TheRockfordF i les (197680) , I l l F l y Away (19911992 , NorthernExposure (1993

95) , and d i rec t ing an ep i sode of Al f red H i tchcock Presents (198586) , but he a l so

turned downmany other opportun i t ies as wel l . Thoughgreat l y admired by b igger

names l i ke Rockford creator Stephen J . Cannel l and D ick Wol f , he remained la rge ly

anonymous in a s t i l l most l y author less medium. Off the Minnesota Str ip (1980) , a

made for te lev i s ion mov ie he wrote , d id earn h iman Emmy, and he st i l l remembers

proudly the ambi t ious Almost Grown(November 1988 to February 1989) , a short

l i ved ser ies about the s i xt ies and sevent ies mak ing use of a rock and ro l l soundtrack

and extens ive f l ashbacks that gave h imh i s f i r s t opportun i ty to c reate and produce


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The Col lected Works of David Lavery 2

hi s ownshow. But he cont inued to wr i te mov ie sc r ipts that never got madeand to

dreamof l eav ing te lev i s ion for feature f i lmmaking .

Chase reca l l s howexc i t ing the ear l y 70s were to h imas an asp i r ing f i lmmaker ,

an era in which mov ies were start ing to be ca l led f i lm and were beg inn ing to be

taken ser ious ly as a r t , and nonHol l ywoodmodel s f romEurope and Japan insp i red in

Chase and h i s generat ion newconcept ions of the medium. A sc reen ing of Fe l l in i s 8

at Wake Forest in the 60s le f t a l ast ing impress ion .(Fe l l in i , Chase observes , insp i red

h imto incorporate I ta l i an themes into h i s

s tor ies . ) The f i lms of Po lansk i and Buuel

would not be forgotten. Chase began to

dreamabout mak ing persona l f i lms that

d id not seemto have beenmassproduced.

TV, on the other hand, ru ined the mov ies ,

or so Chase be l ieved.

Thoughhe admi ts to lov ing

te lev i s ion as a k id , the a f fa i r d idn t l a st . I

fe l l out of love wi th TV probably a f ter The

Fugit ive went of f the a i r [1967] . And then when I had my f i r s t network meet ing , that

d idn t he lp . Chase v i r tua l l y i gnored TV in the s i xt ies and sevent ies except for an

add ic t ion he ca l l s absurd to Medica l Center (196976) and an in fa tuat ion wi th I Spy

(196568) , a ser ies whose wr i t ing (espec ia l l y in i t s l a st twoseasons) he great l y

admired . I hated everyth ing that corporate Amer i ca had to of fer , Chase te l l s A l len

Rucker . I cons idered network TV to be propaganda for the corporate s ta tethe

programming not on ly the commerc ia l s . I mnot a Marx i s t and I never was very

rad ica l , but that s what I cons idered i t to be . To someextent , I s t i l l do . . . . Even a

qua l i ty ser ies l i ke Northern Exposure , a showhe wrote for in i t s f ina l twoseasons ,

was for Chase propaganda for the corporate s ta te . . . . i t was ramming homeevery

week the message that l i fe i s noth ing but great . Amer i cans a re great

and heart fe l t emot ion and shar ing conquers everyth ing . I t should not

surpr i se us that Chase th inks of h imse l f as The f i r s t countercu l ture . . .

person in hour drama . He has remained an in house renegade.

I th ink i t i s a sad commentary on the l ast twodecades of

te lev i s ion , Stephen J . Cannel l wr i tes , that th i s man, whowas wel l

knownto a l l the networks for a lmost twenty f i ve years , cou ld not get h i s f resh ,

tota l l y un ique ideas past the guard ians of our publ i c a i rwaves ( read network


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execut ives here) . Instead of TheSopranos, wemore of ten got mind less c lones of l ast

year s semi h i ts , whi le Dav id madeh i s l i v ing running other people s shows, unable to

se l l h i s own. Howhe d id f ina l l y manage to se l l h i s own i s a s tory of ten to ld . Chase

has aga in and aga in ins i s ted that luck was perhaps the major contr ibut ing fac tor ,

and a cursory cata logu ing of the extraord inary and d iverse components that

contr ibuted to the mak ing of TheSopranoswould seemto conf i rmthe observat ion .

Eachandevery one of the fo l lowing ingredients had to be addedto the mix in order

for TheSopranos asweknow i t to come into ex i s tence.

The fa i th of L loyd Braunof Br i l l s te inGrey Product ionsthecompany that had deve lopedTheLarry SandersShow for HBOthat Chase had a great

ser ies ins ide , which led Chase to beg in recons ider ing and reconf igur ing for

te lev i s ion i deas that had long beenon the back burner .

Chase s longt imeobsess ion wi th gangster f i lms. He was a great admirer of Wi l l i amWel lmans Publ ic Enemy (1931) whenhe f i r s t saw i t , terr i f i ed , a t the

age of e ight or n ine , and a fan of te lev i s ion s TheUntouchables (195963) ,

which he watchedwi th h i s fa ther . At Stanford he even madea s tudent

gangster f i lm. TheRise andFal l of BugManousos, Chase reca l l s , was about

a l ienat ion . I t was about a guy dr i ven c razy by the chees iness ,

sanct imoniousness , and fakery of Amer i can soc iety . He was f rustra tedhe

shotgunnedh i s TV set . And what got to h imwere the commerc ia l s , the

astronauts , and the fac t that whi te bread N ixon ians ru led Amer i ca . . . . And

he dreamedof becoming a gangster , an o ld fash ionedgangster in a p in

st r iped su i t , and he got h i s w i sh . He got k i l l ed in the end, but the f i lmwas

poor ly thought out . The sta te of the post Godfather , post GoodFel las

gangster genre a t the t imeof TheSopranos germinat ion le f t Chase nowhere

to go except into the fami ly , g roundwhich proved to be fert i l e indeed.

The idea , encouragedby Robin Green, a wr i ter on Almost Grown, and others ( inc lud ing h i s w i fe ) , o f te l l ing s tor ies about h i s ownu l t ra negat i ve

mother .

Chase s own longrunning therapy . Chase speaks revea l ing ly of the great in f luence A l i ce Mi l ler s br i l l i ant but deeply t roubl ing Dramaof theGi fted

Chi lda book that a rgues that many c reat i ve adu l ts were abused ch i ldren


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hadon h i s ownmindset . He jokes that w i th TheSopranos a l l the money he

has spent on therapy has f ina l l y begunto pay of f .

Theconce i t o f a mobster see ing a psych ia tr i s t , the ser ies germina l idea , as Chase exp la ined to Peter Bogdanov ich :

The kerne l o f the joke , o f the essent ia l

joke , was that l i fe in Amer i ca had gotten

so savage, se l f i shbas ica l l y se l f i sh , that

even a mobguy cou ldn t take i t any

more. That was the essent ia l joke , and

he s in therapy because what he sees

upsets h imso much, what he sees every

day . . . . he and h i s guys were the ones

who invented se l f i shnessthey invented

me f i r s t ; they invented i t s a l l about

meandnowhe can t take i t because the rest of the country has

surpassed h im.

Thecommiss ion ing of the p i lot for Fox , which would , o f course , turn i t down.

Chase s inc l inat ion never to purpose ly c reate comedy . Comedy just occurs , Chase be l ieves , natura l l y acc ru ing whena wr i ter i s fa i thfu l to th ings as they

a re . ( I s i t too much to say that TheSopranos i s the funniest shows ince

Se in fe ld ?)

Thecast ing of v i r tua l l y a l l the ro les , most l y w i th NewYorkbased ac tors , espec ia l l y James Gandol f in i as Tonyanepocha l dec i s ion compared by some

to hav ing Mar lon Brandop lay Stan ley Kowalsk i in E l i a Kazans AStreetcar

Named Des i re (1951) .

Theducks , whocometo ho ld such meaning for Tony f lown in f romRockfordF i les TV mov ie producer Juan i ta Bart let t s ownswimming pool .

The fami ly dynamics drawn f romChase s own fami lyminus the curs ing . Theshoppingaroundof the ser ies to a l l the networks and i t s complete re jec t ion .

Theopportune successfu l p i tch to HBO, heav i l y committed a t the t imeto the deve lopment of new, or ig ina l ser ies . Hav ing the ser ies on HBOpermi t ted


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Chase to use nudi ty , v io lence , and profane language in ways that would have

been imposs ib le on network te lev i s ion , great l y fac i l i ta t ing i t s ver i s imi l i tude,

but perhaps more important ly i t enab led the un interruptedbycommerc ia l

construct ion of hour long narrat i ves .

HBOs commitment to on locat ion f i lming in NewJersey .

Luck was wi th Dav id Chase , as wel l , whenhe and h i s product ion teamdec ided

against someother poss ib i l i t i es , a l l ser ious ly cons idered, and a l l o f which , in

retrospect , would have beengrave , i f not fa ta l , mistakes .

Making the ma in character a te lev i s ion producer w i th an uneasy re la t ionsh ip w i th h i s mother .

Hav ing the whole ser ies be to ld by Tony in f l ashbacks in Mel f i s o f f i ce . About ha l f o f the p i lot does make use of such a narra t i ve technique, but the

idea d id not surv ive the p i lot .

Using a newsong for each ep i sodes c red i t sequence. In a d i scuss ion of the opening c red i t sequence wi th Bogdanov ich , Chase reca l l s that i t had

beenh i s w i sh to use a d i f ferent song every week and had protested

unsuccessfu l l y HBOs ins i s tence that Tony s dr i ve f romNewYork to New

Jersey a lways be choreographedto A5 s WokeUpTh i s Morn ing . He admi ts

that he or ig ina l l y cons idered a s ing le themesongastap le of te lev i s ion

programfor decadesbourgeoi s .

K i l l ing of f Tony s mother , L i v ia , a t the end of the f i r s t season. Nancy Marchands superb performance conv inced Chase and h i s co l l aborators to

keep the character a l i ve .

Cast ing Steven Van Zandt , Bruce Spr ingsteens gu i ta r i s t , whohad never ac ted before , as Tony . At the t ime, Chase reca l l s , I was see ing [The

Sopranos ] more l i ke a l i veac t ion S impsons. I t would have beena gangster

show, but someof the more tortured aspects of Tony would probably have

gone away . Wi th Steven, i t would have beena l i t t le broad. Wewould have

p layed i t more for l aughs .

Not hav ing Tony k i l l anyoneon sc reen (as he does , for the f i r s t t ime, in Col lege , garrot ing a mobt ra i tor ) , fear ingasHBO i tse l f very s t rong ly

d idthat the aud ience might lose a l l sympathy for i t s ma in character .


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ThoughChase i s knownas the master cy l inder by the cast and c rewof The

Sopranos, i t i s important to remember that , l i ke a l l f i lmic and te lev i sua l enterpr i ses ,

the ser ies i s a co l l aborat i ve e f fort . Chase has wr i t ten or cowr i t ten on ly e ight of the

th i r ty n ine ep i sodes so fa r produced, and he has d i rec ted on ly twoep i sodes . As

Chase i s the f i r s t to acknowledge, TheSopranos has brought together a regu lar team

of ta lented wr i ters and d i rec tors , w i th occas iona l guest d i rec tors a t t rac ted by the

shows prest ige . But , l i ke many te lev i s ion producer/c reators , Chase gets to do f ina l

rev i s ions (uncred i ted) on a lmost a l l sc r ipts and has part i c ipated in the ed i t ing of

each and every ep i sode.

Ke l ley | Sork in | Fontana

Recent ly i t has becomefash ionable for the c reators of more ambi t ious TV

ser ies to take persona l contro l over the i r shows authorsh ip . Dav id E . Ke l ley (The

Pract i ce, Al ly McBeal ) , Aaron Sork in (The West Wing) , and TomFontana (Oz ) , for

example , a re somet imes g iven sc reenwr i t ing c red i t for near ly every ep i sode of the

programs they produce. A l though th i s assures a greater degree of aesthet i c

cont inu i ty and a l lows a te lev i s ion ser ies to exh ib i t the samek ind of s ing le v i s ion that

weassoc ia te w i th more t rad i t iona l a r t forms, th i s methoda l so inv i tes the burnout of

the auteur and the exhaust ion of the narrat i ve premise .

Dav id Chase , on the other hand, has returned to a more o ld fash ionedway of

de legat ing author ia l duty , but w i th on ly th i r teen ep i sodes per year to make, he i s

ab le to do i t much more ef f i c ient l y . By reta in ing h i s ro le as the f ina l rewr i ter of

every Sopranos sc r ipt , but fa rming out most of h i s ep i sodes to other wr i ters , Chase

has chosen a dramaturg i ca l model that may be the most e f fec t i ve one for te l l ing

a r t i s t i ca l l y mature s tor ies in a cont inu ing ser ies . TheSopranos i s enr i ched by the

subt ly d i f ferent vo i ces that var ious wr i ters br ing to the ser ies . Chase s re fusa l to hog

a l l o f the sc r ipts for h imse l f prov ides a degree of mul t i va lent complex i ty to the


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universe he has c reated. At the samet ime, Chase s s tewardsh ip assures that the

showtakes advantage of the un ique ab i l i ty of a te lev i s ion ser ies to te l l s tor ies that

deve lop character and accrete deta i l over long per iods of rea l and narrat i ve t ime.

TheSopranos i s not so mucha te lev i s ion nove l wr i t ten by a s ing le author , as i t i s a

co l lec t ion of short s tor ies wr i t ten by a company of authors and un i f ied by character ,

theme, and the carefu l contro l o f a s ing le ed i tor . Chase s model maximizes the

potent ia l o f the ser ia l formwhi le protect ing h i s showf rombecoming a t rad i t iona l

te lev i s ion ser ia l .

WhenHi l l S treet B lues debuted in 1981, i t ca ta lyzed a w idespread upgrade of the

dramat i c te lev i s ion ser ies . The c reat i ve and commerc ia l success of the show insp i red

twodecades of programming that was more sophi st i ca ted, more complexindeed

better than what had gone before . But Hi l l StreetB lues d idn t have muchof an ac t to

fo l low. I t was introduceddur ing one of the most a r id per iods in the h i s tory of the

dramat i c ser ies , a formthat had never rea l l y matured.

L i ke Hi l l StreetB lues , TheSopranos i s another monumenta l work in the

deve lopment of TV drama. Whi le Hi l l StreetB lues was responding to a te lev i s ion

t rad i t ion that inc ludedsuch gener i c contemporar ies as CHiPS and T .J . Hooker ,

however , TheSopranos a t t rac ted c r i t i ca l acc la imamidst a schedule r i ch w i th

qua l i ty ser ies l i ke Law&Order , NYPDB lue, and The Pract i ce.

Judg ing by the number of magaz ine covers they insp i red , twote lev i s ion shows

seemedto dominate the Amer i can imag inat ion , or a t l east the imag inat ions of

enterta inment wr i ters , a t the turn of the

century : TheSopranos and Surv ivor . Both shows

may have succeeded for someof the same

reasons . A f ter ha l f a century of s i tcoms, and

cop, l awyer , doctor and detect i ve dramas,

v iewers may have beenready for someth ing

complete ly d i f ferent . Rea l i ty TV and The

Sopranos both prov ided th i s , though in very

d i f ferent ways . Surv ivor and the other shows in

i t s genre of fered rea l i ty through the use of

nonac tors and the introduct ion of improv i sed and serendip i tous dramat i c ac t ion;

TheSopranos o f fered rea l i ty through i t s extens ion of the pa let te of l anguage and i t s


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break wi th someof the t rad i t ions of TV dramathat tone downandc lean up any

sub jec t matter .

Perhaps i t wasn t just the ways in which TheSopranos was d i f ferent f rom

other TV that made i t work , however . Dav id Chase madetwoc ruc ia l dec i s ions ear l y

in the deve lopment of the show. The dec i s ion to p lace Tony Soprano into therapy

a l lowedthe v iewer access to the inter ior psych ic work ings of the shows lead

character , thereby coopt ing the too l s of wr i t ten l i tera ture wi thout resort ing to the

contr i vances of narra tors or so l i loqu ies . More important ly , however , was Chase s

dec i s ion to merge the ep ic of the urban f ront ier that had beenexp lored in The

Godfather and GoodFel las w i th the nonep ic of the suburban fami ly that has been

one of the bas i c un i ts of enterta inment TV f romthe very s ta rt . What may have

seemeda lud i c rous gener i c oxymoronnowseemsto have been inev i tab le .

After publ i c ly threatening to end the ser ies a f ter on ly four seasons , Chase agreed in

the summer of 2001 to a f i f th , but he has warned f romthe beg inn ing that i t should

have a very l imi ted run, and for goodreasons:

The fac t i s , I don t knowhow long th i s th ing wi l l

cont inue to a t t rac t v iewers . There a re so many

p i t fa l l s in ser ies te lev i s ion . There a re so many

th ings about the st ruc ture i t se l f that can lead you

to c reat ing sh i t . The need to repeat yourse l f

beyondthe po int of exhaust ion , the fac t that there

a re cont inu ing characters and noth ing rea l l y can

happento them. You re boxed in so many ways . I

don t want to see the showbecomethe wa lk ing

dead, a zombie of i t se l f . I was the one whoasked

for the fouryear cap. (Peyser )

"The model for . . . gangster p i c tures . . . Chase i s wel l aware , has a lways beenThe

Rise andFal l of . . . . Our showdoesn ' t have a r i se and fa l li t ' s l i ke TheGoingAlong

of TonySoprano . But wedo knowthat he ' s invo lved in a l i festy le that ' s dangerous ,

i l l ega l and dehumaniz ing . How long can that go onrea l i s t i ca l l y?" (quoted by Curt i s ) .

Somet imes I ca l l the showthe Mi r space sta t ion , Chase to ld Newsweek . I t wasn t

des igned to be up there for f i ve years . That he has nowagreed to a longer run

would seemto suggest , however , that he has env i s ionednewmeans to ma inta in the


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proper a l t i tude, to prevent degradat ion of TheSopranos orb i t and inc inerat ion in

the a tmosphere .

In h is cynica l andbr i l l iant Bonfire of theHumanities:

Te lev is ion, Subl i teracy, andLongTermMemoryLoss, Dav id

Marc , one of the mediums acutest scholars , observes :

The TV industry may in fac t be fu l l o f wonderfu l l y c reat i ve fo lks

possess ing the remarkab le ta lents necessary to br ing l aughter ,

tears , and in format ion to the great mul t i tudes of the i r fe l low

c i t i zens . But so fa r I haven t bumped into any of that c rowd,

only dangerousgangsters whoyou wouldn t want to meet in a

dark corr idor of power . (my emphas i s )

Marc s dark v iewof the industry to which he has devoted h i s l i fe s work i s certa in ly

one wi th which Dav id Chase , another l i fer who, in h i s est imat ion , had for three

decades pr ior to TheSopranos not even r i sen to the rank of st reet boss in the

bus iness , would concur . But Chase , one of those wonderfu l l y c reat i ve fo lks Marc

ev ident ly never met , w i l l , should the i r post Sopranospaths nowc ross , have a th ing

or twoto te l l h imabout the nature of the gangster . Not a l l o f themwork to ma inta in

te lev i s ion s s ta tus quo. In the r i ght hands , gangsters may even prove usefu l in

subvert ing everyth ing that corporate Amer i ca [has] to of fer .

Genius , underground f i lmmaker James Broughton once sa id , i s not hav ing

enoughta lent to do i t the way i t has beendonebefore . Boredom, too, i s a fac tor :

You get bored, Chase has admi tted , and I don t know i f you can te l l i t f rom

look ing a t TheSopranos, but I had just had i t up to here wi th a l l the n i cet ies of

network te lev i s ion . I cou ldn t take i t anymore. And I don t mean language and I don t

meanv io lence. I just meanstoryte l l ing , invent iveness , someth ing that rea l l y cou ld

enterta in and surpr i se people . I just cou ldn t take i t anymore.

Nowthat he has had h i s way , nowthat that great te lev i s ion ser ies L loyd

Braunpresc ient l y sensed he had bur ied wi th in has comeout , what i s to becomeof

Dav id Chase? Twomore years of TheSopranos remain . Wi l l he leverage h i s Sopranos

fame in order to rea l i ze h i s longhe ld dreamof l eav ing TV for the mov ies? Chase , i t

should be noted, no longer th inks so h igh ly of f i lmas he once d id . Or w i l l he s tay in


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The Collected Works of David Lavery 10

te lev i s ion , desp i te h i s f requent ins i s tence that he cou ld never return to network TV,

w i l l ing nowto work in a mediumtransformedby h i s loath ing of i t?

David_Chase

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