Making "Heroes": An interview with Oliver Grigsby about writing TV and Comics

This fabulous interview is brought to you by our guest-writer Pamela Auditore

"Being a young writer in the entertainment industry is like being a kid at thanksgiving dinner. You're asked to provide entertainment but you have to sit at the kids table until you prove that you're mature enough and good enough to sit with the adults... Also there's pie!"

--Jim Martin "Heroes" writer /podcaster

With "Heroes" returning to G4 on Tuesdays, 8/7C Starting Sept. 25 (four Episodes in a row), I thought fans would appreciate a peak inside the process of making this ground breaking show from inside the Writers Room.

Among "Heroes" achievements, was launching relatively unknown and young actors like Milo

Vengtimillia, Santiago Cabrera, Tawny Cypress, Hayden Pentierre, Masi Oaka, Leonard Roberts, Noah

Gray-Cabey, Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Rhamaurthy, Ali Larter, Dana Davis, Dania Ramirez as well as

allowing veterans like Adrian Pasdar, Christine Rose and Jack Coleman to shine.

Allowing up and coming talent to shine also held true behind the camera, affording Oliver Grigsby his

big break. Going from gopher, to PA to writer's assistant, to Writer on "Heroes", you would think is the

usual route in Hollywood. Sadly, often it is not. Luckily, for Oliver, his talent was recognized and he was given the opportunity to write 12 of "Heroes" online Graphic Novels then was given his shot at writing two episodes in Season 3 "Shades of Grey" and Pass/Fail" in Season 4 "Additionally, he wrote "Slow Burn"-- a side story to the main action of Season 4 featured between commercial breaks and on the web which featured more of the Carnival story line as well as a plug for the show's sponsor, Sprint.

Continuing on his Hollywood journey, Oliver was recently a Script Coordinator on USA Network's on

"In Plain Sight."

Check Out Those 3 'Heroes' s4 DVD Deleted Scenes Featuring Zachary Quinto!

[Spoiler TV]

Zachary Quinto and Michael McMillian Working on Comic Book 'Lucid'

Former Heroes star Zachary Quinto (Sylar) and Michael McMillian (Reverend Steve Newlin, True Blood) are currently hard at work on a new comic book series called Lucid.

The four issue mini-series is being published by Archaia Comics and Quinto's Before the Door Pictures will overlook the book's production. McMillian will be writing the story.

Tim Kring Talks About Heroes

Over at EW Online, and a few weeks after NBC cancelled the show, Tim Kring talked about Heroes and whether or not there's a TV movie in the works for next season:

No decision has been made. But the Heroes brand is an extremely broad premise. It was a premise about ordinary people, an undisclosed number of people all over the world, who were waking up to these extraordinary abilities. Any number of stories could happen around that. We never posited a single ending or a single premise. It wasn’t about getting off of an island or stopping something from happening. We told stories in volumes that had a beginning, a middle, and an end. Those volumes could go on and on and on with many different characters. As a result, that Heroes universe is something that can be tapped into again in many ways. Certainly, a movie is a way to do that and clearly, there is an entire world and a number of platforms that this property could live in. Movies sometimes need a little distance from the television show.

The show's creator also mentioned that he would be at Comic-Con this year to talk about his new project, Conspiracy for Good, a new book, and about Heroes.

Go here to read the entire interview.

Tim Kring Planning Heroes Mini-Series!

Tim Kring has not said his last words concerning NBC's Heroes. The show's creator has plans to bring back the recently defunct series as a mini-series and pitch the idea to NBC. This is what was reported by TV Guide Online:

Heroes ended its season last February with the indestructible Claire (Hayden Panettiere) throwing herself from the top of a Ferris wheel in front of the media, revealing her superpower to the world. Should the axed series return with a wrap-up miniseries—that's creator Tim Kring's hope, and he says he's meeting with NBC this month to discuss it — the plot will skip ahead a year or so to see the effect of Claire's revelation.

Help 9th Wonders Save Heroes!

9th Wonders! the Official Unofficial Fan Site for Heroes has decided to initiate an origami cranes/waffles/syrup ''Save Heroes'' campaign aimed at NBC in an effort to have the studio change their minds regarding the cancellation of Heroes and save the show.

It would involve sending some origami cranes and/or waffle and syrup to NBC. If you want to help and to learn more please go directly to the 9th Wonders site here.

Remember, Jericho fans managed to bring back the show even after it was cancelled with a similar campaign so who knows what can be achieved by faithful and loving Heroes fans!!

Help Keep the Heroes Graphic Novels Alive

Hi everyone!

Heroes may have been cancelled by NBC, but our love for the show may yet live on in it's very successful graphic novels.

We need your help because the network wants to know if we want to keep the graphic novels. To sound off your opinion and say YES to NBC, go to the 9th Wonders (The official/unofficial fan site for Heroes) board here.

Everyone's help is appreciated.

Thank you!

RANT: The Death of Heroes

The show that made a phenomena of the phrase ''save the cheerleader, save the world'' is Dead. NBC has cancelled Heroes.

And now my TV world has come crashing down.

This news was somewhat expected, but still, it felt as if I'd been punched in the stomach. I've never cried over the cancellation of a TV show before: I did as soon as I learned NBC had cancelled it. Right now, writing this, I have tears still in my eyes.

Chuck and V Renewed!

Well, yesterday was an interesting day for bubble genre shows Chuck and V.

Over at NBC, fan favourite Chuck received the long hoped for renewall. However, once again the network went for a 13 episodes order. Yes I know, it's better than nothing.

Over at ABC V, a show everyone thought was a goner, was renewed. Like Chuck, V received only a 13 episodes order.

No More Heroes for NBC?

Yesterday I reported here that Heroes may get to be renewed with a 12-13 episodes season 5 order, perhaps even as a mid-season show.

Today, Vulture claims that they heard NBC was going to cancel the cult show:

More Hope for Heroes and Chuck?

Apparently, there's still some hope for fan favourites Heroes and Chuck - which, by the way, makes me happy (well, not as happy as I will be when those two shows will be officially renewed but I have hope!)

Heroes Renewal Looking Up!

Heroes, one of my favourite shows on TV, may finally get the renewal that I have been hoping for. After some stories broke out recently that it would probably come back for a 13 episodes run that would close the series, Michael Ausiello now says that there is a 60% chance it will get picked up! [Ask Ausiello]

I have been crossing my toes and fingers so hard that I may be loosing them, but it appears it may pay off. Still keeping them crossed until the announcement is made.

''Chuck vs. The Other Guy'' Inside Trekker Review

Last night, in ‘Chuck vs. The Other Guy,’ the fans were finally given what most had been waiting for since, well, since almost the beginning of the show: the long awaited Chuck and Sarah pairing.

Save Heroes and Chuck!

E Online will have it's annual Save One Show Campaign starting on monday.

Kristen Dos Santos has just posted the ''how to proceed'' on her Watch With Kristin Blog at E Online. Go Here to read it all.

My heart is balancing between Heroes and Chuck and I want both my shows to make it back next year. I believe Chuck already stands the better chance as of now but Heroes needs our help.

Never have I been more torn!! I love them both so much equally. My monday night can only fully work with the both of them.

So I appeal to everyone to participate and help out.

Thank you!

IO9's 5 Reasons Why NBC Will Keep Heroes

IO9 has published an article listing 5 reasons why NBC may keep Heroes and not cancel it

Here is a brief resume of the 5 reasons:

1-The first one is the magic 100 number, so that Heroes could make it to syndication (in that case either the show would need at least two more seasons or season 5 would need to have more episodes than a regular season has).

2-NBC has no real shows to replace it with

3-A lot of people watch Heroes even if it's not live on NBC. Downloads and DVD sales show that Heroes is still very much alive

4-Heroes is a television trend that inspires other shows.

5-Setting an end date à la LOST could creatively help it go out with a bang.

Go Here to read the detailed list.

IO9 talks about the vocal online Heroes community found everywhere, it's certainly very alive on Twitter, and how NBC may not want to anger them (us) out. Heroes does have a strong, adoring fanbase and I agree that it would be a terrible move to anger the loyal fans.

I also personnally agree with the reasons listed by IO9, and that season 4 has been less than stellar, despite a strong start early in the season (I feel they ran out of steam in the middle). But I still love the show and am hoping that with some changes (new competent writers and showrunner perhaps?) Heroes could get back up on its legs.

Do you agree? What do you think?

Heroes100: A Q&A with Peter Llewellyn, Campaign Instigator

On saturday Feb 6th 2010, a #SaveHeroes twitter campaign became successful when it went on to be one of the top 10 most trended topics worldwide due to the efforts of Mastermind Peter Llewellyn and the love and dedication of hundreds of Heroes fans on twitter.

Another such campaign has been set for March 6th 2010 and in order to raise awareness, the InsideTrekker has conducted a Q&A with the campaign's instigator.

Pete lets start at the beginning, SaveHeroes/SaveHeroesSaturday, that was a success!

PL Thanks Nat, yes it was an amazing achievement, the Heroes fans were giants that day they really came through when it mattered.

Were you surprised at that?

PL Well I always thought we could get saveheroes to trend but I didn't think it would be so hard! The Heroes fans really do punch above their weight!

So Why not do another saveheroes campaign?

PL: Well Nat It crossed my mind, but saveheroes was reactionary, we reacted to the shock news that Heroes might be cancelled and it was an ad-hock campaign, it really just fell into place at the right time.

What do you mean by that?

PL: Nat The campaign pretty much happened by itself after seeing the Less than Four blog on the 12th January, I wrote my letter & signed the petitions but I thought is this it? Is this all I can do? I said to Sheindie what are Sarmy doing? She replied "What are YOU doing!?'' The answer came quickly as I got on twitter people were tweeting the petition they wanted to be heard, the idea of a campaign came then.

How did you set up the campaign?

PL: I was tweeting save #Heroes as two words but I realised that only the heroes was showing up in a search so I put them together & bingo! SaveHeroes was born! I then started to add saveheroes to my tweets & people copied it!

So how did it get to be a campaign?

PL: Well Nat, I was having a chat with Sara Schaller & I said we need to get more people to tweet this preferably at the same time to get it noticed! I realised that by putting it in as a search & saving it I could ReTweet abt 20-25 tweets at a time & I thought if 20 or 30 people did that then it would be 750 tweets per minute!

So why did you choose February 6th to do the first campaign?

PL: Well I had the conversation with Sara on the 27th January. Initially I was going to do the campaign on the 9th Feb the day after the last episode of Heroes was screened but I thought that by having it before it might encourage people to watch the last episode, so we decided that Saturday Feb 6 was best! It just seemed so right SaveheroesSaturday the 6th!

And we now know it Trended worldwide!

PL: Indeed it did Nat, but it was much, much harder than I thought, but when it got on the TT list the tweets went crazy! It was a beautiful thing to see!

And yet you don't want to repeat it?

PL: Quite right Nat, the saveheroes campaign did its job we all learned lessons from it but I think it was a one shot deal. I thought about doing it again but an interview I heard on the radio by Ricky Gervais gave me the inspiration to set a goal for Heroes.

Tell me more..

PL: Well He said that when a show gets 100 episodes in the USA it gets syndicated & all the networks can carry the show & repeat it on & off every 6 months etc, So I thought Yup that's what is needed for Heroes.

Hence the Heroes100?

PL: Exactly Nat, It's catchy you can play with words around it for instance Heroes100 -100% heroes! & its a goal for us to achieve, why settle for a lame few episodes to finish Heroes off when we want the show to continue?

But the ratings have been poor for Heroes

PL: Yes Nat there's no getting away from that, but I think if the shows creators bring in some new sexy young actors & get back to the shows original ethos of ordinary people doing extraordinary things then we'll be on the right track!

So do you think Heroes100 will work as a concept?

PL: Yes Nat I think its captured the fans imagination, there are about 29 Heroes100 accounts set up on Twitter in the last couple of days, people are talking about it, they are hungry for Heroes they love the show, we all do!

Where do you see Heroes100 going then?

PL:Well the sky is the limit, this time round everyone wants to help, Lucy Baker has designed the Twibbon & Is doing posters, Sara Schaller has been amazing at spreading the word.. it was her idea to have Heroes100Saturday on the 6th March, exactly 1 month after SaveHeroes, we need to build a Mega- Campaign that will Trend big on Twitter, and we can encourage the letter writing to NBC, we can have more petitions as a movement Heroes100 will have a loud voice on Twitter and FaceBook So at least the fans will be heard.

So how are you going to run this campaign?

PL: Nat this time around I know we need to get loads more tweets, so I've been asking people to get Heroes100 twitter accounts, the reason being so many people went into twitterjail last time so we need to avoid that problem, but also importantly some people were worried about spamming their followers, this alleviates that problem! With a Heroes100 twitter account you can just follow the people who want to help us and will relish being spammed to! We will also be tweeting the virtues of buying a legal download of Heroes and buying the box sets etc! The main thing we will do is spam @NBC so they receive thousands of tweets WE WILL BE HEARD!

And if NBC give us another season?

PL: WE promise to plug Heroes big time, we will have a huge campaign to get more people to watch the show, Heroes can recover it just needs the true fans behind it supporting it.

Well thanks Pete for explaining that to us good luck with your endeavour!

PL: Thank you for giving me the chance to explain about Heroes100 and Heroes100Saturday 6th March.

Save Heroes, Save the World!!

Today is the last Heroes episode of the season.

I hope it's not the last Heroes episode ever.

Despite the fact that Heroes's ratings are not what they used to be, the show continues to be the most downloaded and streamed out there, clearly indicating that people still love it and want to see it. Overseas transmission and DVD sales are also big money makers for NBC.

But today, we are worried that our beloved show wont come back.

We all know that NBC has done a lousy job at promoting Heroes, and we all know that something's not right with their decision making lately (the horrible Jay Leno Hour at 10pm anyone - cancelled thank GOD but is it too late to repair the dammage?). They also almost cancelled Chuck for Pete's sake! The fact that our beloved show is in the hands of a clearly incompetent network is scary but I keep hoping that they will see the light and at least renew it for a fifth season, even if it's the final one, so that the story can be wrapped up properly.

This past season has been better than seasons 2 or 3 but it still had it's problems. They killed a beloved character (Nathan) for good, and it seems the actor was not treated correctly by the network (or producers - details are very sketchy). We barely saw Mohinder and Tracy, Sylar has embarked on another redemption ark and Claire still annoys me but she was less so this season. New characters were added then dropped, the Carnival was a good idea at first but I feel it may have gone nowhere and Samuel took his sweet time to become a big bad. However, the writers have done their best to be more consistent in their writing, which was refreshing, and I salute their efforts. Even dialogues were more meaningful this season.

This past saturday, die hard fans of Heroes banded together on twitter to make #SaveHeroes a worldwide trend in order to show our love and support for the show. And it worked. I just hope that NBC saw that and that they will have the good sense to respect us and keep the show on for at least another year.

Today, I hope the fans will join me on twitter in hashtagging Heroes and SaveHeroes in support of our show.

Help Us Save Heroes!!!

Zachary Quinto's new Star Trek role

Cryptic's Star Trek Online new Emergency Medical Hologram Mark VI

We all know that actor Zachary Quinto, Heroes's beloved villain Sylar and Star Trek's Spock has been providing some voice work for the upcoming Cryptic's Star Trek Online MMORPG for the PC.

However, the actor is not reprising the role of Spock but rather he is voicing the new Emergency Medical Hologram Mark VI who happens to be a Vulcan!

Zachary Quinto's other Vulcan role. That of Spock in the recent Star Trek Movie

As for the reasons for making this game, Quinto says: I did this game to make an investment in the fan base.

The interview he gave for Wired also led to some people speculating that the actor was not reprising his Spock role in the next Star Trek movie. When the actor was reported as saying ''I’m stepping away from Star Trek for at least two years — no movies, no conventions, no anything for a while'' Quinto had to make an official statement on his website yesterday saying:

i have been inundated with questions and confusion about a comment i made during an interview with wired - about the new atari star trek online game - in which i said i am stepping away from trek for the next two years. obviously i will be a part of any upcoming films... reprising my role as spock. what i meant was that in the meantime i won't be making any public appearances related to the franchise - or doing any more auxiliary projects pertaining to the trek universe. i will be focusing my efforts on other projects and preparing to shoot the next film - which will be released in june of 2012... two years from now. hence the no trek for two years remark. worry not trekkers. it was a misunderstanding of context. i am not spock. but i am spock. all at the same time.
ll & p.
zq.

No upcoming Star Trek Conventions for Quinto means huge disappointment for the fans that were planning on meeting him at the next Star Trek Las Vegas convention in august.

In other news, Zachary Quinto's original Spock counterpart - or Spock Prime as he is now called - Leonard Nimoy, also voices the game coming out on february 2nd.

Source

Wedding Bells on Heroes? *spoilery*

Heroes actor James Kyson Lee spoke to Digital Spy about a possible upcoming wedding between his character Ando and his best friend Hiro's sister, Kimiko.

''It might be a fun way to end the season - or maybe we'll see it next year," he said. "It's funny - I almost felt like they were destined to be together but it's always awkward marrying your best friend's sister!''

This is an unsurprising development for the characters but the actor seems to be optimistic about a season 5.

Go here to read the article.

Exclusive Dawn Olivieri Interview: Heroes's Mysterious Lydia!!!

The lovely Dawn Olivieri as Lydia with Bad Boy Sylar played by Zachary Quinto

Recently, I had the great pleasure of sending some interview questions to the lovely Dawn Olivieri who is one of the newest cast members on Heroes. Miss Olivieri plays the mysterious Lydia, who has some sort of empathic power where she can see and give information about the people appearing on her tattoed skin with the ink provided by Samuel. The character was even featured in the Web Exclusive Sprint series Slowburn.

Miss Olivieri is no stranger to Sci-Fi, having appeared in a guest role on the last season of another famous franchise: Stargate Atlantis, as a thief by the name of Neeva, as well as on Knight Rider. On Heroes, she brings much poise and luminosity to the show and it is always a pleasure to see her.

As the mysterious Lydia, you are one of the newest cast members in the Heroes family. How do you feel about coming into such a big ensemble show?
If i had really stopped to think about it too much it would have probably been more overwhelming then it was. I was lucky because i joined the show at the very beginning of the new season and ushered in a much needed, well received chapter in Heroes history.

We do not know yet whether Lydia is a good or bad character since most of Samuel’s and the Carnival’s history and motivations are still hidden from the viewers (as of episode 5). Have the writers given you any hindsight into who she is and where she comes from in order to play her?
When i was brought on as Lydia, I had a brief meeting with some of the writers regarding her but not much character direction was given. They expressed their intention of "letting me discover her" so creating Lydia was a collaborative effort. In the original breakdown, it described a "gullible" tattoo girl...this i chose to ignore, No one with all of her insight and knowledge would be "gullible" at least not REALLY;)

We have learned that Lydia’s a mother from the webisodes and that only Edgar seems to know her secret. Do you think she has more surprises down her sleeves?
Sleeves?? lol Lydia rarely sports sleeves, tattoo sleeves maybe. and if she did have them they would be full! Lydia's powers seem almost mystical in nature; she seems to see the future and makes predictions through the ink used by Samuel on her skin.

Will we get to learn more about her powers this season?
Her powers will become more defined in the episodes coming in the new year.

What was your first reaction upon learning what your character could do?
well, like many of the fans, there was so much that was unanswered. I had so many questions that i had to fill in the blanks myself. As an actor, its part of the job:)

What kind of powers would you, yourself, like to have?
hmm...to heal others

How did you prepare for the role? Did casting tell you that you would be covered with that many tattoos?
they did ask us all at the audition if we were claustrophobic in any way haha. And yes we did know it would involve tattoos. I loved the thought of it all though.

The show is hinting at a romance between your character and bad boy serial killer Sylar. Romances on Heroes have never been successful. If that is the case, how do you think this could bode for Lydia?
I cant say much about this because there will be more to come involving this storyline in the new year. Lydia is a different kind of girl;)

Heroes is not your first foray into Sci-Fi television. You’ve had quite a prominent guest part on a season 5 Stargate Atlantis episode called ''Identity'' where you played Neeva, a thief who switches bodies with Dr. Keller. Is science-fiction a genre that ever appealed to you?
I LOVE sci fi!! I would be happy if that was the only genre I ever worked in again!! It is by far my favorite subject to read, to watch, to act....

Miss Olivieri, can you talk to us about your upcoming projects?
Well, I have two films coming out that i shot actually BEFORE Heroes one called Dozers and another called Drop Dead Gorgeous. Both are fun sci-fi films in which I play a lead role.

One last question: When you are not working on Heroes, what are your guilty pleasures on television?
Due to my profession, I try to watch a little of everything. This can be exhausting and unfortunate because even the shows i love to watch do not get their fair share of watching. I also tend to favor shows i would love to be a part of such as: True Blood, Dollhouse, Dexter, Californication, Fringe, Heroes, the Discovery show (i do not need to be on this one lol) unless i was doing a travel show which i would not be opposed to! Old westerns are fun. You know every piece of cinematic art i have not had the pleasure of watching i try to see and that is a lot. It is my classroom after all.

I want to thank Miss Olivieri for having taken the time to share with us Heroes and Sci-Fi fans alike. I am looking forward to seeing more of this lovely actress, and her character Lydia, in the coming months.