1.01 Pilot Commentary

Lawrence, Kansas
22 years ago
PJ: Hi, this is Peter Johnson. I produce Supernatural, whatever that means. And with me, uh, to my right, is David Nutter who is the preeminent pilot director in the history of the medium. David.
DN: Hi, very nice to, uh, meet everybody here. And, uh, I also want to introduce, of course, the creator and the inspiration of Supernatural, and the man who made it all possible, Eric Kripke.
EK: Well, thank you very much, and it's... a dream come true to be here giving commentary on, uh, this show. And, uh, thanks guys for buying or renting the DVD.
DN: Exactly. Well, one thing here we want to-want to let you guys to know is when you watch the opening scene here, we're going to do a little quiz - it's count the babies.
PJ: (chuckles)
EK: (laughs) Count the different babies!
PJ: Count-count the babies' hairlines.
EK: (laughs)
PJ: Exactly.
DN: They were triplets, but they look like they weren't related at all.
EK: Well, the thing I remember most about those babies is how absolutely difficult it was to get them to cry on cue. And, I kept sneaking up behind David and whispering like, "Just pinch it! Pinch the baby!" And... he looked at me like, I was crazy... and possibly criminal, and he was right to do so.
PJ: It was quite an experience, this entire project. It was an opportunity to do a Pilot in Los Angeles. We had a great crew that put this together for us and a wonderful cast, and it was something that was really meant to be.
EK: Well, meant to be, once David Nutter came on board and saved all of our asses.
PJ: (chuckles)
EK: Um, Peter and I through the development of this script had, you know, a lot of different versions. There was a whole other version of this show that got thrown out entirely. This script was the second version of the show. And we always loved it and believed in it, but it wasn't until Dr. David Nutter came on board to direct it that we got our green light, and David really took it to the next level, and uh,
PJ: I'll never forget that breakfast.
EK: Yeah, totally!
PJ: There was a moment when David looked at us, winked, and said, 'I'm in'. I just looked at Eric and went, 'We're on the air.'
EK: Yeah, totally! And-and well, we just went... in... within 5 seconds we went from just development script hoping our pilot got picked up to - I remember David walked up and I turned to you, 'Not only do we have a go pilot, we have a go series!'
PJ: Yeah.

Mary: Hm.
Ominous music plays. More flickering light is coming from downstairs: Mary investigates.

PJ: What's funny is speaking of winking is the mom here, Samantha Smith, she, uh, read for us. As soon as Samantha finished her read, for some reason I winked at her, and she winked back like I was, being forward, but-
EK: (laughs)
PJ: she like had the part. I knew she had the part. She was great.
EK: Yeah, she was.

Upstairs, Mary screams. John wakes up.
John: Mary?

EK: Jeffery Dean Morgan is Dad, whose...
DN: And this, of course, is a situation where the downstairs was a real house, the upstairs was all stage cause we had to - needed that for all the effects that were happening. We were all over, uh, Los Angeles shooting this pilot.

John pushes down the side of Sam's crib. John is panting from running.
John: Hey, Sammy. You okay?

PJ: There's one version of this where we wanted that baby to be just sobbing. Forget about it - the happiest baby on Earth. Despite clapping in back of him.
EK: Right, right. I kept wanting to, uh... pinch it.
DN: Yeah, it was funny, We'd, uh,I'd-I'd get the grip on the set and have them walk over and make a face at the baby, and the baby wouldn't do anything.
EK: (chuckles)

John collapses onto the floor, staring at Mary.
John: No! Mary!
Mary bursts into flame. The fire spreads over the ceiling.

DN: This is a great idea. This is the kind of thing that really turned this show into something - turn it into a great tease, and we got some great effects from the people over at Ampiety(?) did it, a fine job for us, and I think I've already seen six children at this point.
PJ: (chuckles)
EK: Um-hmm.
DN: Six babies.
EK: When I first had this, sort of... version of the Supernatural script, the very first image - number one that came into my head... was... Mom on fire on the ceiling. That was the single - You ju-kinda start scripts with... one image in your head, and-and that was the start of it all.
DN: Was that after some deep analysis I think, Peter?
EK: (chuckle)
PJ: Yeah.
EK: No.
DN: Was that after this session?
EK: For the record,
DN: (chuckle)
EK: my friends call me all the time with, 'What's wrong with you?'
DN: You don't get along with your mom?
EK: (laughs) I love - Mom, I love you. I'm sorry for... burning mothers on the ceiling.
DN: Well, one person I want to thank right away... and, uh, as you continue to watch the show that I thought did a-a fine job as a photographer and really the look of the show was Aaron Snyder. Aaron Snyder is an extremely talented DP and director. He won an Academy Award in 2004 for a short film he directed. And he's just a wonderful visualist, and a great storyteller, and he helped really make this show what it is and give it the tone, the look, the feel, and the atmosphere that really made it special.
EK: He's really buffed, too.
DN: (laugh)
PJ: (chuckle)
EK: (chuckle) He's really yoked. I mean he's got some - big arms. Intimidated me, as a man.

Dramatic music. The camera pans to John and Dean sitting on the hood of John's Impala, John holding Sam. John looks up at the remnants of the fire.
Screen goes to black.

Stanford University
Present Day
"Gasoline" by Ginger begins to play.

DN: So this actually was a scene that was kinda rewritten for us, wasn't it? We did an opening scene that didn't really work out, and we rewrote it. And the first thing in my head was, 'What's the thing I want to look at most when I walk into this first act?' And it was Adrianne.
EK: Yeah, Adrianne Palicki, Jessica, Sam's girlfriend. But, yeah, but we shot this about, uh, a month maybe two months after principal photography on the pilot.
DN: The set of the OC. We shot this on the set of the OC, that sequence.
EK: Yeah.
DN: And the first day
EK: on the... And the main point of it was to introduce, in a better way, our hero here Sam Winchester, Mr. Jared Padalecki. Who has been... knocking it out of the park for us, week in and week out on the show.
PJ: And also to connect Mr. Padalecki to, uh, the parents, visually.
EK: Yeah. Realize this was the kid... from the baby from the Pilot. But he's been great. And I don't know, Dave, when we've been talking about casting the man, and uh, he's been uh -
DN: Oh yeah, it's a wild casting experience we had in casting both Jensen and Jared. Jensen had come into the room and we loved Jensen so much and we're said, 'You're Sam, man. You're going to be a great Sam and this is fantastic.' And then we saw Jared, and Jared came in. And then Eric had the great idea of 'OK, now, Sam is Luke... and... Dean is Han Solo. So then I called Jensen up - I know Jensen from Dark Angel and Smallville - and I say, 'Man, wouldn't it be much more fun to play Harrison Ford? And not Luke Skywalker? So you're the Harrison Ford guy, now. How about that? Play that option?' So we had talked him into it. He loved it and it's been a real ehh... really great.
EK: It's worked out great. They both have such great chemistry. But it's true, I forgot about that. We originally brought in Jensen to be Sam.
DN: Right.
EK: It wasn't until later on that we just realized he had such that... smart-ass attitude that he's meant to be. Born to play, Dean.
DN: and actually what's interesting there too was that there was real chemistry with these actors. You-you have to have-have the chemistry. These are two young guys from Texas. They're close, they understand this. They've both played second and third fiddles on television shows and this is their opportunity to be the guy on - they're really wonderfully supportive of each other.
EK: Umm-hmm.

Sam waits. A man walks past the strings of beads at the far end of the hall. Sam moves to another part of the apartment and waits.

DN: This is a little sequence that we put in the show to kinda show these guys are tough guys. So this is when they get to see each other.
PJ: You see the boys really go at it here. What's fun is there's literally like a 90 second to 2 minute version of this fight. Which goes on and on and feels like... Jet Li meets the Matrix.
DN: But it does establish that they're tough,
PJ: (chuckles)
DN: and they know what they're doing.
EK: Sure does!

Dean: Whoa, easy, tiger.
Sam breathes hard.
Sam: Dean?
Dean laughs.
Sam: You scared the crap out of me!
Dean: That's 'cause you're out of practice.
Sam grabs Dean's hand and yanks, slamming his heel into Dean's back and Dean to the floor.
Dean: Or not.
Dean laughs. Sam taps Dean twice where Sam is holding him.
Dean: Get off of me.
Sam rolls to his feet and pulls Dean up.
Sam: Dean, what the hell are you doing here?
Dean: Well, I was looking for a beer.

DN: This is a perfect example of some of Aaron Schneider's work of the light and dark.
EK: Umm-hmm.
DN: He's so... wonderful at doing this stuff to just go dark-dark-dark and we turned it that way.

Jess turns the light on. She is wearing very short shorts and a cropped Smurfs shirt.
Jess: Sam?
Sam and Dean turn their heads in unison.
Sam: Jess. Hey. Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica.

DN: I think I have to give some credit to Bobby Mannix, our costume designer for this outfit.
EK: It was gonna be a Scooby Doo shirt, but I'm glad we went Smurfs.
DN: Yeah.
EK: With the integrity of keeping with the Smurfs.
DN: Yes, exactly.

Jess: ...something on.
Jess turns to go. Dean's voice stops her, as he is shaking his head no.
Dean: No, no, no, I wouldn't dream of it. Seriously.
Dean goes back over to Sam without taking his eyes off Jess. Sam watches him, his expression stony.
Dean: Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business. But, uh, nice meeting you.
He points at her with a smile. She gives him a half smile back.
Sam: No.
Sam goes over to Jess and puts an arm around her.
Sam: No, whatever you want to say, you can say it...

EK: I'm - I am so thrilled with... Jensen Ackles performance as Dean Winchester through the run of this series. I mean, I- exactly what David said. That it's - We needed Han Solo, and... it's very hard to find... When you set out to find young Harrison Ford who's an incredible action... you know, hero, and... funny at the same time. And that is just a very difficult piece of casting, and it just really worked out with both these guys.
DN: Both these guys, they were born to play these roles and these attitudes completely.

Sam: I mean, come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you.
Dean: You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing.

EK: We're about to walk into the single most
PJ: (chuckles)
EK: rewritten scene in the history of this series. This particular scene, which was sort of li-the mission statement about what these boys are and their backstory. I've easily... the drafts of this label in- number in the 20's or 30's and this was all this about the... backstory and everything. And,
PJ: Yeah, comin' out the Teaser, we had this unbelievable series of challenges Here's what we've been doing for the last twenty years. Here's what our childhood was like. Here's what Dad's been up to. Here's why we fight evil. Here's the kind of evil we've been fighting. And... here's what you've been doing, Sam. I've been out on the road - Dean. You know, lots and lots of stuff. And lots of trims, by the way, when we get to, uh, this version.
EK: Yeah, there'd be - believe it or not, there's even a longer version of this scene where they go into more detail about what what their childhoods were like. And then on top of all that
DN: Who's up on the top bunk and all that kind of stuff.
EK: Yeah!
DN: It just-
PJ: (chuckle)
DN: (chuckle)
EK: And on top of all that Dad's missing and you gotta help me find him. And... it was very challenging and quite frankly I almost - I still wished that to this day we'd had - I-I could've used another month to rewrite that scene to get it... unnn- a little more subtle. But it sold the show, and it sold the concept and it did what it needed it to do, and...
DN: And a lot of times in situations like that we always say faster is funnier so if you can say it with conviction and passion and-and strength they did it great, and it was writ-it worked beautifully in their mouths.

Sam: ...And that's what I'm doing.
Dean: Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already. I can feel it.
Sam is silent.
Dean: I can't do this alone.
Sam: Yes you can.
Dean looks down.
Dean: Yeah, well, I don't want to.
Sam sighs and looks down, thinking, then up.
Sam: What was he hunting?
Dean gives Sam a look before opening the trunk of the Impala, and then the spare-tire compartment.

PJ: Oh, here's my favorite shot, here.

It is an arsenal. He props the compartment open with a shotgun and digs through the clutter. Sam is off to the side, looking in.

PJ: There it is - the opening the trunk. That's where it all
DN: Again, too - Again, too, we were creating it visually by telling you that these guys are tough. This is a late night in UC Campuses [sic] and there are lots of police cars and - and -
PJ: Helicopters.
DN: uh, helicopters, it was a pretty, uh, rough hood we were in.
EK: So most production fun I've ever had, was sitting... with you David, and working through props? And figuring out exactly what went in that trunk.

Dean: They found his car, but he'd vanished. Completely MIA.
Sam reads it and glances up.
Sam: So maybe he was...

DN: These are the prop guys - the pictures? Those are the two prop guys on the show.
EK: Yeah.
DN: And... the-the people who worked on props and put their pictures in. Which will happen a lot of times is when you watch a show you get names and pictures of people. Now, normally the people who work in the office, and... that kind of stuff to really, uh, get a chance to show off.
PJ: But Eric, this aesthetic here, it's just - right on the money. It's kind of blue collar, greasy, weaponry.
EK: Yeah, we always set out that we... really... wanted to... unnn... the whole kind of Harry Potter vibe, was really not our vibe, and I always said that our boys would... beat up Harry Potter. And this was meant to be a very blue collar.
PJ: Low tech.
EK: Blue collar, low tech guys and their weaponry should be blue collar, greasy, worn down. It's always been really important to me. I'm mean - I'm just - I'm from a small town in Ohio, and you know, it's always been important to me that these guys just be, you know, Motorheads... and... love classic rock... and know how to handle a chainsaw, and that was to me, more interesting than - spells and magic. And... even to this day in the writer's room they always bring that stuff up, and I'm always like, 'Forget it! Where are the chainsaws?'
DN: So, Eric, how did you get the inspiration for this, uh, this story?
EK: Uh, Well, originally it was, I wanted to do a series about urban legends in American folklore. And... ghost story - American ghost stories. I think we just have this really great American mythology, that I always thought was really rich territory for... a series. And... I tried to pitch this idea for years and years-
DN: A year earlier Eric came to my office and we'd worked together before and we had a great relationship, and he had this wonderful passion for this story and I said, 'Eric, you're gonna find it, and it's gonna be great.'
EK: Yeah, I came to David and said, 'David, here's a great idea. It's a reporter who hunts ghosts
DN: (chuckle)
EK: across the country, and he works for a tabloid - you know - paper.' I had this whole story worked out, and... that obviously went away. And thankfully a year later rrr-re-approached David with, I think a much cooler way into this story which is to do it as Route 66. As two boys on the road, driving in and out of a different horror movie every week. And that, you know, sorta kinda 'Have Gun Will Travel', and that's a much more effective way to drive in and out small towns and in and out of American ghost stories.

Sam: I'll make the interview.
Sam scoffs.
Sam: This is only for a couple days.
Sam goes around the bed. Jess gets up and follows.
Jess: Sam, I mean, please.
Sam stops and turns.
Jess: Just stop for a second. You sure you're okay?
Sam scoffs again.
Sam: I'm fine.
Jess: It's just...
She takes a breath. Sam is smiling, shaking his head.
Jess: you won't even talk about your family. And now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend a weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is...

PJ: We all kinda stop sometimes when we're watching Adrianne. She's so attractive, but she's in this show I think she's got some really - so very believable. Of course, when you know what happens in the end, it makes it even more tragic.
EK: And just to give a shout out - and from my hometown in Toledo, Ohio! What up, Toledo?
DN: Exactly.

Jericho, California
"Speaking in Tongues" by The Eagles of Death Metal plays. A young man, Troy, is driving down the highway, talking on his cell phone.
Troy: Amy, I can't...

DN: Shall we talk about the A story in this little uh -?
EK: Why yes! It's - he - We are walking right into... the first mention of... The Woman in White. Um, which is a... combination of... two very famous urban legend [sic]. Uh, urban legend slash folklore. One of which is... the story of the vanishing hitchhiker, uh, which we're seeing re-enacted, uh, live here, uh, which is basically picking up a ghost on the side of the road, taking her home. You don't realize she's a ghost and then you look to - once you take her home, you see that she's vanished. And that's combined with a-a-uh hispanic piece of folklore called "La Llorona", uh, The Weeping Woman, which we'll get into more later. But for now, let's just enjoy Sarah Shahi.
DN: Well I have to say, you know, when we were casting this project we're like saying to ourselves, 'We got to find this perfect... actress to play this role.' And it was so funny, it was on a-a... Monday morning we were started - we were involved in casting - about day-day six or seven of casting, and on Sunday evening I'd just watched the seas -second season premiere of "The L-Word" that I, uh, tend to Ti-Vo, once in a while.
EK: (laughs)
DN: And, uh,
EK: I just have to say here
DN: yeah, right.
EK: He's a HUGE fan of "The L-Word". Like (chuckles) I've never met anyone who's like, 'Oh, and then on that episode of "The L-word" when you did this and this and this.'

She looks at him mournfully, seductively. He gives a nervous laugh, smiling at her hesitantly. She pulls her skirt up over her thigh.

EK: It's like I've never met such a fan of "The L-Word" in (chuckles) all my life!
PJ: By the way, that last shot, Eric and I were like, looking at the monitors - 'What is - What is Nutter doing here?'
EK: (laughs)
PJ: 'We're never never gonna use that shot.'
DN: Well, I've heard that told-said to me before. But you know, once in a while, it does stand. But -
EK: The man - The man knows how to shoot.
DN: Exactly, but what's important here is the fact that this girl's such a fine actress. And she's really sharp and what happened is that I saw her on "The L-Word" and this great introduction. And then Monday morning she walks into the casting session. And I looked up at her and I said, 'I have to tell you one thing. Dreams do come true.' She had the job when she walked in the door.
EK: Yeah, she sure did.
DN: She's a great actress and she's so sexy and hot, but also has this seductive quality about her which is so very important to play in this role. And, also a woman that carries a lot of pain. She had all those dimensions that I thought worked beautifully.

They pull up to an old abandoned house at the end of a road. The woman stares at it sadly.
Troy: Come on. You don't live here.
Woman: I can never go home.
Troy: What? What are you talking about?

PJ: This is probably, what? 4:30 in the morning here? Freezing cold.
DN: Yep.
EK: This was a long couple of days up at this house.
PJ: Long couple days.
DN: This is a house, it's actually a Hollywood House, now up at Disney Ranch. And it's a place that I've used before on other shows. It's not a real, uh, house. But, it-it worked perfectly for what we needed and came off great.

Troy: You want me to leave?

EK: So, we're heading into... one of the most effective jump scares... in this entire episode.
DN: And how this-how this jump scare kinda happened was the fact that we were out on the tech scout. And on the tech scout we were saying, 'Well, we do this, and do this, and do that.' And then, you know, Eric and I talked about throwing in as many fright pieces as possible so when we're this tech scout. I'm standing at the doorway and they go, 'And then he comes to the door and then this bird's gonna fly out!' And then someone said, 'That's not in the script!' I said, 'Yeah, well, we'll-we'll do something like that, and we'll kinda (chuckles) have that' and uh, and it ended out working out beautifully.
EK: Yeah, it was all David's idea. It wasn't scripted.

Troy peers through the hole in the screen door. A bird flies at his face, scaring him into falling over. He yells, leaps to his feet, and runs back to the car. He gets in and drives off in a hurry. A shot of the house is seen.
Troy looks behind him-no one is there. He is panting slower, calming down, before he looks in the rearview mirror. The woman is in the back seat. Troy yells, jumps, and drives straight through a "Bridge Closed" sign.

DN: This is a great "Bridge Out" in, uh, in a uh -
EK: Piru.
DN: Piru. Lake Piru. And, uh, we had a-a great location here, and uh,

Blood spatters the windows.
DN: Uh... We gave it a little bit of blood.
PJ: That's actually a misfire of the, uh, blood there.
DN: But you know it's meant to be.
PJ: Yeah, that's good.
EK: It's all meant to be. And also in that script that blood wasn't in there, it was - that was a last minute addition, because Network actually asked for more blood and gore, which we were happy to uh-
DN: standing by. Absolutely.
EK: We were happy to give it to them.

DN: This, uh, a great scene. We had a lot of fun picking up music for this one.
EK: Yeah, and I-I was always so scared that we would end up cutting this scene - because it's just a character scene, it doesn't advance the plot. And I always said to David I'm like, 'We can't cut the scene, David.' We're - and, you know, David's, 'Don't worry, we'll never cut it. It's important.' Because to me, this is sort of what the brothers were about. It was about the bantering, it's about... this family with credit card scams. Most importantly, I so... wanted classic rock in this show. It was so important to me. This was all the music I still listen to to this day. My friends call me "old Man Kripke" because of all the classic rock I'm always listening to. And I so didn't want what was sorta the music that was kinda typical for the Network - which is kind of current, ballad kind of stuff. I wanted hard core classic rock. So, I wrote it into the script, so we had to use classic rock in the sound track. And, I think I even wrote in the exposition of this script - 'Cue music here and you can take your anemic alternative pop and shove it up your ass.'
PJ: It's one of the most gratifying things we- I think we ever did, was when we tested this pilot. We had all these kind of - typical WB viewers, who raved about this kind of - loved this kind of-
EK: Loved AC/DC, and classic rock, and it was - It's really become a real character and voice for the show. It makes us sort of - it sets us apart from a lot of shows on TV. Um, and I'm just proud of it, 'cause it's-it's the music that I... I love. You'd be surprised, how much of it's affordable.
PJ: (laughs)
DN: (chuckles) Uh, very much so.

"Back in Black" by AC/DC is playing. Sam leans forward for a closer look. Dean pulls over. They take a look before Dean turns off the engine.

DN: This again, back out at Lake Piru, and uh,
PJ: Same bridge.
DN: And always situations with pilots you always have no time to do anything. So you have to choose, choose, and pick and choose, what you've get [sic] to do and when you're trying to get shots such as this with low sun, and you don't have low sun and so forth and we, uh, You know, a lot of times it's about... being lucky, and we were, uh, definitely very lucky.

On the bridge, the lead Deputy, Deputy Jaffe, leans over the railing to yell down to two men in wetsuits who were poking around the river.
Jaffe: You guys find anything?
Man: No! Nothing!

PJ: (chuckles)
EK: (laughs)
DN: That's - that's Alan Graph, one of the top set unit directors in Hollywood and he was a friend with my A.D., John G. Scotti. He worked with him, and he traded us up for a little (chuckle) guest spot.

Hein: ...It's almost too clean.
Jaffe: So, this kid Troy. He's dating your daughter, isn't he?
Hein: Yeah.
Jaffe: How's Amy doing?
Hein: She's putting up missing posters downtown.

PJ: Jensen... hits this scene perfectly. His moxy - his hands (chuckles) behind his back as he rounds the car.
DN: And of course, see this was really the outrun of what the show's going to be.
PJ: Yep.
DN: These guys are going to end up... portraying this guy and this guy and they got to be smart and they got to be good, because they are not going to be dealing with bumpkins all the time.
EK: Right. I think what makes these guys... so fun, is that they're basically outlaws. I mean, they're very subversive. They're con men. They make their money through stealing... pool hustles, and credit card scams. You know this was the first of... many times we'll see throughout the series of them taking on aliases and lying, and and that kind of makes them fun because they're not... very square. They're kinda hip, and down with cuttin' corners.

Dean: ...out of you guys.
Sam stomps on Dean's foot.
Sam: Thank you for your time.
Sam starts to walk away. Dean follows.
Sam: Gentlemen.
Jaffe watches them go. After a few steps, Dean glances back to make sure they aren't being watched.

EK: And I love this.
DN: And-and this next one right here is something, I thought it was a great moment in the script and people kept saying 'No no no don't do it don't do it' but Eric just had a great idea, and we held with it and the audience loved it. Which is a moment you're going to hear in a second from another show that I worked on a little while back, but it was very fitting for this.

Sheriff: Can I help you boys?
Dean: No, sir, we were just leaving.
As the FBI agents walk past Dean, he nods at each of them.
Dean: Agent Mulder, Agent Scully.

PJ: And there it is - the handoff.
EK: Yeah, and thank you for saying that David, because we had to fight at times... multiple times, to keep that in the show. So, we're happy it stayed in.
DN: Yeah. This scene worked great. We wanted to do a scene that gave us attitude but also is daytime. Shot in the daytime and how do you have attitude in the sequence? And Aaron Schneider had a great idea of, 'Why not play it up against this chain?' And also shoot it into the light, and turn it into a scene about silhouettes, which I thought it was brilliant.

Sam: ...we're kinda asking around.
Another young woman, Rachel, comes up to Amy and puts a hand on her arm.
Rachel: Hey, are you okay?
Amy: Yeah.
Sam: You mind if we ask you a couple questions?
Another poster that says MISSING TROY SQUIRE flaps in the breeze.
Amy (voiceover): I was on the phone with Troy.
The four of them are sitting in a booth, Dean and Sam opposite Amy and Rachel.
Amy: He was driving home. He said he would call me right back.

EK: David, you give such great mood and atmosphere, to the simplest of scenes. I mean, even this - even this diner scene. Because I even remember saying to you, I'm like, 'Shouldn't we put some extras in, shouldn't people be eating lunch?' And you turned to me and you were like, 'That's not scary, dude.'
EK: (chuckle)
PJ: (laugh)
DN: (laugh) This again, to another one of those expositions of the classic scene that you hear about in the ring, and so forth. Miriam Korn and Elizabeth Bond did a great job here, just kinda setting the stage of what the evil's all about, and it kind of sent our guys off in the direction of hunting it down.

Sam: ...if you believe in that kind of thing.
Dean: Okay.
Dean slaps Sam on the back.
Dean: Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries.
Dean takes his arm off the back of Sam's seat and leans forward.
Dean: Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything...

EK: It was always meant be... you know, this scene of - a show that's about American legend and folklore, this line here. 'People talk', and it's about 'They say', and I heard things 'From a friend of a friend'. It's sort of how urban legends spread, and telling these local ghost stories it's sort of the core of kind of what this universe is about.

Rachel: ...like decades ago.
Dean looks at Sam, who watches Rachel attentively.
Rachel: Well, supposedly she's still out there.
Sam nods.
Rachel: She hitchhikes, and whoever picks...

DN: These guys listen so well, they played off each other beautifully, as uh... as if they'd been doing this... all their life.

Dean is typing on a computer in a library. Sam is sitting next to him, watching.

DN: I think this is the first sequence. We shot this sequence here, isn't it? In the library?
EK: It sure was.
PJ: It's the opening at the elementary school, correct?
DN: of the... Absolutely. And again too, you'd walk into a library and say, 'How will you give this a mood and tone?' So basically Aaron Schneider said, 'Let's turn off the lights, ladies and gentlemen.' And we did just that, and it turned out beautifully.
EK: And you are watching the first of 10,000 library research scenes
PJ: (chuckles)
EK: in the history of the Supernatural series.
DN: Because even though these guys are low-tech, they have the knowledge of the high tech.
EK: (chuckles) That's for sure.
DN: They are very versatile, which is an important thing. Because you have to also, in telling a story about myths and ancient things and so forth, you gotta utilize what you got and utilize the weapons that are available to you. And these guys are sharp enough that way.

Sam: ...Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river.
There is a picture of Constance; it is the woman who killed Troy.
Dean: Does it say why she did it?
Sam: Yeah.
Dean: What?
Sam exhales.
Sam: An hour before they found her, she calls 911.

DN: And even moments where we always talk about those brotherly moments that we thought were very important on the show, and uh, you know the hitting of each other, and the ki- then when he stepped on his foot and so forth, just to play it so it's different, so it's not just... two cop detectives doing this stuff. So, it was really great to kinda play that, and these guys knew how to play it off very well and would add so much to it.
EK: Umm-hmm.

A shot of the bridge at night, with the river flowing peacefully underneath.

EK: Gorgeous shot.

Dean and Sam walk along the bridge, then stop to lean on the railing and look down at the river.
Dean: So this is where Constance took the swan dive.
Sam: So you think Dad would have been here?
Sam looks over at Dean.
Dean: Well, he's chas-

DN: Then again, too, this is that emotional overtone between the two brothers. Where, before it was just exposition, now you are going to get into the emotional reasons of why they did what they did. Not what they did, but why they did it.
EK: In many ways that relationship in the brothers is the entire core of the show. Because, look, every week we have a different story and sometimes people dig the stories and other times they don't. But the thing that always carries it through, is that you love these two guys. But most importantly, that... y-y-you love them as brothers. It's almost that they're each their own person, but they're stronger when they're together when it's about these two brothers, and this real - we tried really hard and that's one thing I'm really proud of - is that the brothers have a very... realistic... relationship. Both in the way they punch each other, but also in the way that they argue. And I think that's the core of the show and I think we'd be... unnn... dead without it.
PJ: Well, back when we even pitched it to the WB, I mean, one of the core elements that we talked about the show has, or described it as, it's kind of a dysfunctional family show,
EK: Right.
PJ: with all this other stuff. The big mystic stuff going on and the scares every week, but estranged brothers and a missing father and a troubled past with their mother, obviously.
EK: Yeah, we always said if Buffy was at it's core, a show about high school, and that high school is hell. Our show is a show about family, and family is hell.

Dean releases Sam and walks away. He sees Constance standing at the edge of the bridge.
Dean: Sam.
Sam comes to stand next to Dean. Constance looks over at them.

DN: This is - we had, uh, actually Sarah was up on the side of the bridge here and she was very afraid.
EK: Mmm-hmm.
DN: And of course we wired her and tied her up and so forth but she was quite fearful. And of course here, uh, here I want to introduce, um, the stunt coordinator in our show, Eddy Donno. And he's basically behind the wheel here. He's quite a short guy, but he drives like ... like Mario Andretti.
EK: He's a living legend.

Dean pulls the keys out of his pocket and jingles them. Sam glances at them. The car jerks into motion, heading straight for them. They turn and run.

Sam pulls himself up onto the bridge, panting, and looks around.
Sam: Dean? Dean!

DN: The funny part here was - originally it was scripted that both of the guys went into the mud.
EK: No.
DN: It happened - They both fell, right?
EK: Oh, yeah, right - They both were to fall in the mud.
DN: Uh.. And what's funny is that the, uh... we had a mishap with the script supervisor and the costume people and they brought the wrong thing and we had - we messed up and we couldn't do it. So only one of the guys - we came up with the idea that I thought with that one of the guys go into the mud. And actually, it ended up
EK: Coming up -
DN: that was the way it should've been.
EK: It was so much funnier, uh, this way, without Sam getting dirty. (chuckles) It's just so funny (chuckles) watching them sit next to each other.
PJ: Well, Jen-Jensen, I mean, what a sport. This is again, about 3:00 in the morning.
EK: Crawling in the mud.
DN: The last sequence of the night.
PJ: He was-was dumping freezing cold water on himself to get the mud a-a particular consistency.
DN: Cletus Young.
EK: Cletus Young, ladies and gentlemen.
DN: (chuckles) Exactly. What a face! It's not really his voice... but what a face! (chuckles)
EK: Yeah.
DN: But no -
PJ: We have different pronunciations of Aframian, by the way.
DN: (laughs)
EK: Exactly!
PJ: Close to Affarnian.
DN: (laughs) Affarmainan.
PJ: Affarmainan.
DN: (chuckles)

Dean is just outside, playing lookout, until Sam reaches out of the room to grab his shoulder and yank him inside.

DN: But what was great here was this - this is the great Raiders of the Lost Ark moment when he pulled him into the room. But, uh, this is a situation that Eric and I talked a lot about is, 'How do they connect with their dad, and not be with their dad?' And um,
EK: Yeah, this was-
DN: This worked out great.
EK: Yeah - David was invaluable to developing this script, and David and I worked together for weeks on the script and this was one of many, but one of David's innovations. It was not mine, which was...he- they gotta walk into a place where Dad has been, and that's what gave birth to this whole idea of the motel room. Which by the way, the motel room and writing things on the walls - this thing's really has become a signature of the show. And by the way, no set underwent as much...
DN: Scrutiny
EK: Scrutiny and time... and -
DN: and Mike Novotny who was productions on our show - on the show did- just a fabulous job. He was just a-a real... would do it all for us. And he had a great crew and they were just like, very detailed oriented and just were fantastic.
EK: And I'm such an annal bastard - and the fact that they even put up with me is that I keep kinda comin' back and saying, 'Well, would that say "Witch" up there?' and-and 'How can we connect all these tiny, tiny little details that showed up on the walls?'

Sam: Dad figured it out.
Dean turns to look.
Dean: What do you mean?
Sam: He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She's a woman in white.

DN: Check out this woman in the white picture - that little painting? We kept saying to ourself, [sic] 'Well who's the woman in white going to be?' And um, when I was grew up, [sic] when I grew up, I had this picture of the pink lady from the Huntington exhibit was my mom had done it, a picture of it and had painted it. I had this nightmare, this pick lady picture in my-in my mind. And I said, 'Let's take the Pink Lady- the Pink Lady. We'll take it, flip it, and change it around so it would be it's own voice.' And that was a nightmare that I grew up with right there, ladies and gentlemen.
EK: (laughs)
DN: It was The Pink Lady.
EK: Even now, Da-David's crying. (chuckles) Ah, yeah, it's funny, all that horror is, is just all the stuff that screwed you up as a kid,
DN: Exactly.
EK: and you just start talking about it now.

Sam: ...jerk.
Dean: Bitch.

EK: Fans have really kinda latched onto that - 'No chick-flick moments'? Of, again, real brothers. And... that they're not going to have sorta goopy moments. And that they're gonna handle it sort of like, real brothers which, generally for the... run of the series we've been successful with. Once in a while we've had chick-flick moments... but, uh, mostly we try to avoid them.
DN: Now wh- it's-it's about those memorable moments that you created that I think really stand out in our great set pieces.

Dean: ...I'm gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You want anything?
Sam: No.
Dean: Aframian's buying.
Sam shakes his head.
Sam: Mm-mm.

DN: And of course that's a set in...Los Angeles to the hotel location we had. This was a situation where I thought Jensen really shined. He really put that Bruce Willis kind of sensibility righ- to this character that I thought was just great.
EK: Yeah, he has a real, sort-of, d..devil-may-care... sort-of, bad... boy... attitude, that he does with a smirk and it's so hard to-for an actor to pull that off, and -
PJ: He's doing it just 'cause it's real.
EK: Yeah, you just gotta be born with it.

Dean: Uh, they kinda spotted me. Go find Dad.
Dean hangs up the phone as the deputies approach. He turns and grins at them.
Dean: Problem, officers?
Jaffe: Where's your partner?

DN: One person I wanted to bring up - Cyrus Yavneh who was a producer on this project I worked with on Jack and Bobby. This is a thing - this show had to take right off and go. And, uh, he put the crew together and, uh, everything together and made it so simple for me to make this happen that he deserves different recognition. And now he's up in Vancouver, uh, nice and wet and cold and trading himself.
EK: Yeah, especially. Yeah, I mean, he's the producer of the series. And, you know him and Kim Manners up there, who are both geniuses. And the amount we throw at Cyrus that he manages to handle is unbelievable week in and week out - so big props to Cyrus.

Sheriff: ...you realize just how much trouble you're in here.
Dean: We talkin', like, misdemeanor kind of trouble or, uh,

DN: This is another great moment you had the Ted Nugent line.
EK: Yeah.
DN: That I thought worked great.
EK: Just real quick - just watch how his - sheriff's arms - keep moving. They're out - they're in.
DN: We made it very dark on the set, you can't tell that part.
EK: (laughs) Well, we were telling a story about confusion.
DN: Exactly.
PJ: (chuckles)
DN: Exactly right. Very much so. But this is a great - you know Ted Nugent was just the beginning of some of his moments. Where I saw the episode with the, uh, drummer from Led Zeppelin?
EK: Yeah, the references to classic rock,
DN: Yeah, fantastic.
EK: Nigel Tufnel, and...
DN: Yeah, and I thought was great too, it was important to get really great actors for the adult roles and R.D. Call was an actor that worked on things such as Born on the Fourth of July, and did some really top-top movies with Oliver Stone and the likes, and he just b-brought this character to life, and then didn't make him bumbling, but made him smart and strong and powerful, and I think that worked out beautifully.

Sheriff: ...this, too.
He opens the journal to a page that reads "Dean 35-111", circled, with nothing else on that page.
Sheriff: Now. You're stayin' right here till you tell me exactly what the hell that means.
Dean stares down at the page, then looks up with a snarky look.

EK: Scott Nifong?
DN: Yep.
EK: Props who created that journal. And created the trunk and established those... two very important parts of the show, did such an incredible job. And was so great with detail, that it was really impressive and very fun to see Dad's journal, you know, live and in person for the first time. To hold it in your hands was a cool experience, to do that for the first time.
DN: This was a-a really, uh, casting cue. This was a situation where it was so important for us to get a really great actor to play this role cause this was really the moment in the story that, uh, hinges on... performance, because they're just talking about stuff and it's not that exciting. And uh, Steve Railsback I'd worked with on, uh, a movie I directed - who'd been with the X-Files and so forth - and-and we basically sent him the script, he loved it and said, 'Let's do it'. And, uh, I think he really made the, uh, third act of this, uh, of this "Pilot" special.
PJ: This was- was one of our little nods to the X-Files. I mean, this guy's great, in and of himself, but he's also, you know, Duane Barry, classic... couple of episodes he was on the X-Files.
DN: He brings history and he brings also - he-he-he validates this show. And I think that, uh, you guys have really-have really done some great things on the episodes that helped validate it as well. This series shoots in Vancouver which X-Files is from, and I think it, uh, definitely definitely really feels like a, putting on a nice warm sweater when you watch the show.
EK: That is for sure. We just had an episode that was supposedly - supposed to be set in Mississippi, and it was snowing all through the dailies. And so we changed it to Missouri. And on the radio like, "Unseasonably cold weather."
PJ: (chuckle)
EK: Uh, but Van- Vancouver creates such an eerie mood. Uh,
DN: Well, instead of warm sweater I'll say cold wet sweater, clinging.
EK: (chuckles) Right.
DN: And I think also too, uh... uh... it was great to have Jared a chance to give something - someone - a great actor to play off of.
EK: Mmm-hmm.
DN: Uh, see that stuff behind Jared's head? That's walnut dust that Aaron brought onto the show to uh, to give us the atmosphere and so forth that I think really helped give it even more texture and so forth.
EK: And, with Kleenex, I was blowing my nose with walnut dust for about four days after that.
DN: (chuckles)
EK: And so, Yeah.
PJ: Yeah, I think it took a few weeks off each of our lives.
DN: This I have to say was Jared's best performance in the episode. Not only because he really hit it out of the park, because he was working with an award winning actor.
EK: And David, through writing the script and through, you know, shooting and editing, was so careful with this scene, and... made so sure that it was emotionally right. And it became one of the be- what it really is just an exposition scene. It's just about, you know, Constance and the back story. David just turned it into something that's so much more that it's really become... probably the most moving scene in the show. And that's to Dr. Nutter's credit.
DN: But also it is about sympathy. It's about caring for this guy. Not just making him a bad guy. I think that what's important and what's so great about storytelling is the color grey.
EK: Mm-hmm.
DN: And I think that there's a real wonderful experience to work with Eric on this. You know they say that love is lovelier the second time around and I will vouch to that. And something that we definitely wouldn't have to finish each other's sentences and, uh, and it was really great thing and when we did disagree Peter was there to, uh, side with the guy who was right, and that's the way we would go.

Sam sighs.

Dean: I don't know how many times I gotta tell you. It's my high school locker combo.
Sheriff Pierce is still interrogating Dean over the "Dean 35-111" page. Dean leans forward over the table, looking down at the journal page.
Sheriff: We gonna do this all night long?
Dean looks over at the sheriff. A deputy leans into the room.
Deputy: We just got a 911,
Dean and the sheriff turn to look at the deputy.
Deputy: shots fired over at Whiteford Road.

EK: He just said Whiteford Road. I just also want to say as a shout out - every road mentioned in this show are, uh, names of roads in Toledo, Ohio, where I'm from. And there's in-jokes like that throughout the entire series of-of references to my hometown and my friends, and people I know. And it ju- amuses me and two other people.

Dean sees a paper clip poking out of the journal. He pulls it out, and studies it, as his lip twitches.

PJ: One of the first push-ins. It's actually a paper clip, that actually ended up working pretty good.

Dean watches through the window in the door.
Deputy: Let's go.
Dean ducks out of sight as he sees the deputy on the other side of the door. He waits for them to leave, peeking back through the window, before flattening himself against the wall.

Dean climbs down the fire escape, carrying a satchel over his right arm.

DN: And it's a great set-up we did outside. This is, uh... Jensen doing a lot of his own stunts here, and off we go.
EK: Yeah, both the guys. They've - they have a lot of... drive to do their own stuff, which is pretty impressive.
DN: And you have to be careful too, but they're both, uh... very adept and good in what they do.
EK: I tried to get attached as a stuntman in the show, but they wouldn't let me do it.

Dean: Fake 911 phone call? Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal.

DN: Now this right here, for instance, this telephone booth that you think's out in the middle of nowhere that was out in the middle of the-of the school that we shot at. And it was the first night of shooting. It was all this, and I think when people saw the first night of shooting we had a lots of silhouettes and dark and you couldn't see everything. People understood right away that, 'Holy Moly, this is going to be quite a dark show.' And uh, the good thing was, that Warner Brothers really embraced it. They really embraced the dark. I think that I have to give, uh, uh, everyone at the, uh, Warner Brothers and FBB a lot of credit for embracing the dark on this show, and-and uh, and letting it happen
EK: Yeah.
DN: because so many times it, uh, goes the other way.
EK: Right. And really understanding that it's... a scary show. And scare is so much about mood and being invocative -

Sam looks up and slams the brake, dropping the phone: Constance appeared on the road in front of him. The car goes right through her as Sam brings it to a halt.

EK: One of our good jump scares right here. And if we're really trying to do a different scary movie every week, which has been the goal of the show from... the get-go. That's so much director's piece, and has so much to do with mood and lighting and creating a cinematic quality. Which David established, and which many of our directors since then have done a great job expanding and riffing on. Peter and I were even in the... early developing of the script we sort of thought, 'Huh, this is really something different. No one's done, you know, X-Files, while very scary episodes had a science fiction... sort of vibe and Twilight Zone, while brilliant, was, sort of, all sorts of different shows. And no one had ever tried to do a scary show week in week out. And it was sort of accidental. We kinda looked at each other in the middle and we were like, 'Huh. I don't think - I think we're actually on fresh real estate.' And that was sort of exciting, to try to carve out something that people haven't really tried before.
DN: Another thing I want to say is, that when you do the pilot a lot of times before you sell the show you have to do a lot of temp music. You have to do things that's like, tempered gate music from John Williams or Thomas Newman or Christopher Young or Craig Armstrong, some of the best guys.

Constance is sitting in the back seat.

DN: See those little flashes of her? That was a McG idea.
EK: Mmm-hmm.
DN: I'll talk more about some ideas that he had at the end of this story here. But just to help kind of punch it up to give it a little bit of that - more interesting.
PJ: Also, our esthetic. , more esthetic, you know the low-fi, and the visual effects, those big fans of Japanese horror movies, and -
DN: Speed ups and so forths that I think really helped make it more right on the camera.
PJ: Right.
EK: Yeah, 'Less is More' is the mantra of the show and the subtlety.
DN: But the composer who did the actual final music on the first episode-
EK: Yeah, Chris Lennertz.
DN: did a fantastic job.
EK: Chris Lennertz, who, uh, did the score was a buddy of mine through USC and that I've known for years, and scored my short films, and we've worked together and worked together and I've always wanted to work together professionally, and now finally have the opportunity to do so. And it's been really fun, working with one of my close friends on the show.

Constance kisses Sam as he continues to struggle, her hands holding his face tight as she moves over him. Sam reaches for the keys; when he grasps them she pulls back and disappears, a flash of something horrible behind her face as she vanishes.

DN: Speaking of doing your own stunts, I thought it was a good opportunity for Jared to do his own stunts here, and, uh,
EK: There was a lot of watching Jared on set during that shot there,
DN: Yes there was.
EK: of Sarah was up against him, and thinking, 'Lucky bastard!'
DN: You know, it's interesting on the show we had no sequences where they actually, you know, the towing of the car - we did it all fake. And, uh, this was a situation again about Peter was bringing about the grudge and the sensibility of those effects that really becomes a low-tech thing that I think makes this work great.
PJ: Yeah, it took us two to three weeks to get the make-up just right for Constance, here, and at the end of the day, all we really talked about in the editing room was how to see less and less and less of her, going with that aesthetic of just the smallest flashes convey - the kind of visceral scare we want.
EK: And we really carried that on in the series, where we've always tried to see much less of it.
PJ: Mm-mmm.
DN: Coming up here is a sequence where we kept saying to ourselves, 'How are we going to do this sequence, and what's the idea going to be?' And McG came in and saw the thing and I kept saying-telling him, I say, you know, he was so respectful of my work and I wanted to say, 'Listen, come in to the editing room. Talk to us, give us your ideas and thoughts.' And he really came in and said, at the end of this sequence that you're going to see here in a moment, turn it into something great. And he had a lot of great ideas, and, uh, we basically talked with the effect guys and told them to take a nice acid trip and just go for it, and-and they turned this into something.

The boys try to push the bureau away, Sam groaning loudly with the effort, before pausing and panting. Constance moves toward them. The lights flicker; Constance looks around. The boys look around as well. Constance looks behind her. Water begins to pour down the staircase.

DN: And this of course, is the explanation of the reason she didn't want to go back to her house is...
EK: Is her children, of course, are in the home, whom she murdered. Um, and originally even, there were drafts of this script where they were her parents.
PJ: Right.
EK: Uh, if you remember that - and David cured me of that bad idea.
PJ: (chuckles)
DN: That's cause I thought it was more important to get someone like Sarah Shahi than uh,
EK: Right, it was supposed to be
DN: than someone young to play...
EK: she was supposed to be a younger person who murdered her parents in the house, and she didn't want to go back because her parents were going to kill her, and-and we came to making it the La Llorona legend, the -

Suddenly the children are behind her; they embrace her tightly and she screams, her image flickering. In a surge of energy, still screaming, Constance and the two children melt into a puddle in the floor.

EK: This is a McG special right here, the-the
PJ: (chuckles) Referencing the Chris Cunningham, um, AFX twin video called 'Window Liquor'.
EK: Exactly.
PJ: There are just odd, weird images you haven't seen before. There are a lot of, I got to say, a lot of little tiny subtle Japanese Asian horror kind of things in this-the school: uniforms for the kids, the water- kind of cascading down the stairs, a little kind of dark water stuff.
EK: Water's creepy, man.
PJ: Water's creepy.

They slowly walk over and look at the spot where Constance and her children vanished. Dean glances at Sam and back down.
Dean: So this is where she drowned her kids.
Sam nods.
Sam: That's why she could never go home.

DN: So I think really, the-the best projects are one in where everyone gets to put their best foot forward, and, uh, this is, uh, a situation where we all got a chance to do that, which is a lot of fun.
EK: So, just... as a-as a screenwriter - this line here?

Sam: What were you thinking, shooting Casper in the face, you freak?

EK: Covering up for a complete lack of logic, with a screenwriter's (chuckles) line of, 'What was Dean doing shooting at a ghost, anyway?'
PJ: (chuckles)
DN: The great thing was-was the boldness of the line itself.
EK: Yeah.
DN: It was great.
EK: Well, it was -
DN: Sticking with it.
EK: And it's what's fun with the show is, you know, is where we can kinda wink at ourselves and have a little bit of fun. And the humor has been what sets the show apart and lets people sort of enjoy it, that you know we can have a little fun with it too, in that Casper's line... was meant to be one of those... And to cover up for my, uh, poor plotting.
DN: No, not at all. Not at all.
EK: Thank you David, thank you.

Dean: Hey, if we shag ass we could make it by morning.
Sam looks at him, hesitating.
Sam: Dean, I, um...

DN: Getting back to these brothers and their mission and their separate missions and what's going to happen so we wanted to hang onto the audience here and I think that, uh, we really put together a great moment here that keeps you involved in these guys.
EK: Originally shot in the "Pilot", it said Dad's coordinates pointed to Two Guns Arizona. Ah, because we were going to shoot the show in Los Angel- shoot in Los Angeles and they were going to go to some dusty Western town was the next episode. Uh, Vancouver happened, and things happened, and suddenly they were going up to Blackwater Ridge Colorado where there's lots of evergreens
PJ: Right
EK: and very Canadian-looking landscape.
DN: Exactly. This right here was Los Angeles, this right here is on the stage. That's Los Angeles, that's on stage.
EK: Yeah.
DN: So we kinda ran out of - we ran out of time and had to make-make-make good for what we didn't have.
PJ: This was actually- wasn't this our final shot, was it not, with Jensen?
EK: It was the last run of principle photography
PJ: The very last - photography, principle, yeah.
EK: Yeah. There's a bunch of, uh, grips that are about to push the car out of frame.
DN: And the sun's coming up on this angle here on Jared.
EK: Yeah. As he drives away, just putt-putt-putt-putt putt.
PJ: And push.
EK: And push.

Dean drives off. Sam watches him go and sighs.

Sam lets himself in. Everything is dark and quiet.
Sam: Jess?
Sam closes the door.
Sam: You home?

EK: There was a lot of discussion, about what the ending of this show should be. And what was going to push Sam into this journey, and... there were versions of the script where... he came in and... you know, those of you who have already seen the show so I'm not going to be telling you - that you go in, and it was Dad who was going to be dead on the ceiling. And then Jessica wasn't going to die. She was going to... be evil. And then... we finally landed at... Jessica dead on the ceiling. And, you know, we've always pitched the show as Star Wars and Truck Stop America. And... what sends Luke on the road is... Aunt and Uncle are, uh... extra crispy. And so we said, 'Well I think we have to kill the person who's holding him back in the regular world, and that's what's going to send him off on the road with his brother.'
DN: That's real fire too, man. This is the actors in real fire and -
EK: We should kill Adrianne for this
DN: (chuckles)
EK: role,
DN: No, man. It was hot out there, man.
PJ: (chuckles)
EK: Well, she sacrificed for her art -
DN: Of course she did.
EK: Of course, that's - We're just kidding.

Flames engulf the apartment.

In a scene much like the end of the flashback, a fire truck is parked outside the building, firemen and police keeping back gawkers. There is a radio that can be barely heard in the background, a dispatcher giving out orders. Dean looks on, then turns...

DN: And then of course we, uh, end of the show, I think, with a very high level of class. And what's important is the fact that I think that this was-is the first step of many, uh, that I think Eric and Peter are really responsible for turning this show into what's going to be a huge hit, I think, worldwide. And it was a great opportunity and experience to work with both of you. It was, uh, something - that my phone number is always at your beck and call to give me a call again on something.
EK: Thanks David. Doing this show was a dream come true. This was a show I've always wanted to do, for my whole career, and so to be able to do it, I'm just having the time of my life working on it. And, uh, I love every minute, coming to work, and breaking these stories.
PJ: And thanks to everybody... for, uh, listening.
DN: Thank you. Take care.
EK: Yeah, thank you. Good times.