Universal says "We're happy to have ER writer/producer Neal Baer lined up to chat with you tonight! This chat was made possible by The American Film Institute (AFI), of which Neal Baer graduated from."

 

Universal says "All right chatters, let's get to it!! Ladies and gentleman…….it's chat time!!! Without any further ado, please welcome Neal Bear to the Backlot Cafe!!! How are you?"

 

NealBaer says "Good how about you!"

 

Universal says "Is this your first time on the internet?"

 

NealBaer says "My first time! Im a virgin chatter!"

 

Universal says "We'll go easy on you! It's really easy!!"

 

NealBaer says "Alright!"

 

ClooneyRules asks "Do you only work on ER these days, or do you write for other shows as well?"

 

NealBaer says "I'm writing a movie for 20th Century Fox and doing some pilots but my day to day job is only ER except when I work as a pediatrician."

 

Universal says "How many days a week is that?"

 

NealBaer says "I do it during hiatus - Christmas and then again Spring Break. So I can immerse myself in medicine once again."

 

Universal says "Do you have an office?"

 

NealBaer says "I'm actually doing a residency at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. I was a medical student when ER started at Harvard, 4th Year, and John Wells asked me to come on in May of '94 to break stories. When I had to sew up pig's feet. Noah Wylie had to sew them up too. I went back to Boston during hiatus in 96 and graduated in June of '96. So now Im using hiatus to do my residency."

 

Universal says "Can I ask how old you are?"

 

NealBaer says "Im 39."

 

Universal says "When you first were approached with ER, did you think it was going to be so big?"

 

NealBaer says "No. I thought it would be great, but I didnt know it would be a hit. We were up against Chicago Hope and Primetime Live - we were predicted to do maybe an 18 share. And, we were shocked when we did so well - its one of those things you don't expect - and we're very grateful."

 

Universal says "Did you do well right off the bat?"

 

NealBaer says "We did pretty well starting and by the 4th episode it was a really huge hit. Thanks everybody out there!"

 

MingoJones asks "How much input do the actors on ER have for each episode? And, at times, do they tend to make the wrong decisions???"

 

NealBaer says "In terms of input, they tend not to suggest stories - they are too busy. We have meetings 4 times a week for a total of 12 hours so we are far ahead of the actors. Right now we are shooting #18 "gut Reaction" and the actors are shooting that, but we are writing the last 4 episodes. We are so far ahead, its hard to give future story input, but we listen to them in terms of dialogue or where their characters are going. Sometimes we'll change lines after a discussion. Sometimes we'll agree with the acotrs, and sometiumes we'll convince them that we have a good point. We're lucky that the 9 principals are the nicest you'll ever meet."

 

Universal says "That's probably one of the things that makes the show so great."

 

NealBaer says "I think so and they all get along and like working with each other. For instance, in my episode Gloria and George do scnes together and Noah and Julianna do scenes together."

 

ExciteUser asks "Do you enjoy producing or writing more?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, they go hand in hand on our show. Ours is different from others. A lot of shows have an Exec producer who will run the show and people will write dafts and then will be rewritten. Our show is collaborative and that's why its successful - there are 7 or 8 writers on the show. Each writer is a producer except for 1. So each writer is responsible for their own show. I wrote episode 18, I work with the director to cast it. So we both see people, I work with the director on the set if they have questions. I help the director understand where we've been and where we're going. We have 1 director who works as a producer but otherwise the directors are people who come in and leave after their show is done. So we help them along."

 

NealBaer says "Once the show is cut the director has the first cut and then the producers screen it, and clean it up and supervise the postproduction and sound effects. So writing in television is one part of the producing process. So I cant say I like one or the other - i like producing it because it's all my baby. That's different than in movies where the writer writes it and gives it up."

 

Universal says "This sounds entirely different from producing a film"

 

NealBaer says "In television, writers/producers have the power and in movies the directors have the power. Its very different."

 

SuperDave8 asks "Neil, ER is awesome! I loved the first episode of the season (the live one), were you involved in writing it?"

 

NealBaer says "Each of us writes individual episodes. But we collaborate so when we're int he room talking, we all give our input and notes to that writer. If we want to do a story where Green is feeling nervous because he's recovering form the attack, what are some way of expressing that through medical stories. I didn't write it, but I do have input. I also help the other writers - the other 2 doctors - in developing the medical stories."

 

NealBaer says "I'll write up how to do the medicine. In that show, Carter saw a guy who ended up having help failure and he did CPR. So I helped Carol Flint with the medicine and what Carter would do and say."

 

Universal says "You said the part with the pigs feet was an incident you had been involved with. How often do you use your own experiences?"

 

NealBaer says "All the time. ALL the time. ALL THE TIME. Every script I've written."

 

Universal says "So you put in your own experiences each script?"

 

NealBaer says "The show has the flavor of the ER and we say things that only doctors would know about - but that's kind of appealing. There are things you wouldn't know or think about - like sewing pig's feet to practice being a surgeon. In that way, I'm ALWAYS drawing on experiences. "It seems more realistic."

 

guest207 asks "Medical students here in the UK tend to view medicine as an all or nothing thing- and the schedule that is imposed on them reinforces this. What advice would you have to medical students feeling frustrated with the daily grind?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, I dont think that's so different than the US. Students also work long hours and in their 3rd or 4th years in the wards, or on call with the interns and work all night. One thing that helps us - watching ER. We do a lot of medicine. Medical students watch us to learn a lot of medicine. You have to give yourself time away though, or you will go crazy. When I went to school I had a family - a son and a wife - so I could "hide out" at home."

 

Universal says "I wanted to bring up another point. Do you watch other medical shows and think they are off base a little bit?"

 

NealBaer says "No, I never watch it because I never have time since Im always working here. I have seen it on occassion. One of the writers, Barbara Hall used to work with us here. She was great and now she's over there - so they must be doing some great stuff since she's a great writer/"

 

MingoJones asks "When do you typically do most of your writing? At night or during the day????"

 

NealBaer says "At night because we have producers meetings at 10 on Tuesdays and Thursdays where we go around the room and talk about the episodes. This Thursday ep #15 is on, "Exodus" and we made sure it is ready. Then we talk about 16, 17 18, 19 , 20 , 21, 22 - so we have these 1 to 2 hour meetings. And we have the afternoons free to write. On MWF we meet from 1:30-6 in writer's meetings and we discuss either material that's coming in or where we're going in the season with the various episodes. We have huge dry earase boards on the wall and we write on the boards throughout the season what is going on."

 

Universal says "The pressure must be enormous. The show is the top rated show on NBC, everyone watches it, and you have to come up in a week with all this material."

 

NealBaer says "It takes actually a month and a half to do an episode from start to finish from writing, to preproduction, shooting and post. So there are a lot of pressure - time pressure. but we try to concentrate on making it interesting and to tell good stories and interesting situations where we'll get to know them better by the way they handle themselves. We're not so interested in the patients per se. We don't do stories where star X comes in, we take a patient and we explore how the doctor takes care of them. Ethical dilemnas. How does Ross' character handle it."

 

SuperDave8 asks "What is AFI all about? What is the history of it?"

 

NealBaer says "AFI is a film school that offers a masters in fine arts in film. I think it started in the late 60's. It has a board of directors with many famous actors, producers and writers. They just gave the AFI award this year to Robert Wise who directed "West Side Story" - he was there when I was there actually and taught a course on edirecting and editing. Its not an undergrad school, everyone has some experience in film and televison. I went there for directing in 83-84. I did some documentaries at Harvard and I made some short films."

 

NealBaer says "You work on teams with producers, directors and writers, you cast it, you see a lot of movies... good television shows. You hear a lot of speakers and have that experience of producing a 20 minute movie under a tight schedule. I showed my AFI short films to different agents and got one, and she told me to write, and I pitched an afterschool special to ABC and thats how I started. Then I wrote for China Beach, then I went to Med School then I came back."

 

Universal says "You've done quite a lot!"

 

NealBaer says "Ive been lucky. So AFI was a very good place to get the basics for directing actors. We had interesting actors, the late Lilliam Gish, Gene Kelly, Billy Wilder - an assortment of people and you could ask them questions, they spoke form differnet perspectives."

 

guest207 asks "How do you think ER influences peoples view of the medical profession- does it put them off visiting hospitals? Do you think that the move towards doctors being regarded as real people with the same emotions as everyone else is a good thing for medicine?"

 

NealBaer says "ER has actually helped people understand medicine better. There have been studies done that show people learn about the cases by watching ER. I think it has done a lot for physicians as far as they are perceived. They are now viwed as humans who have their own problems. People understand why there's a wait to get seen how hard they work - I think it's done a lot FOR the profession. So that people understand what it's about. Sometimes they are overworked and want to cry - but they care."
 

amaris asks "Have you had a mentor?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, there are people who taught me in med school or who were my residents or attendings who had a strong influence on me but noone in particular. People I admired - nobody who made me go into one profession over another. i always wanted to be a pediatrician. But I never had a mentor per se. But I was influenced by medicine all my life. My father is a surgeon - he and my brother actually help me on writing the shows. And then in Hollywood, John Wells is our exec producer - and I grew up with him in Denver! Then I didn't see him for years, he gave me a job on China Beach, I pitched him a pilot way back when and then he sent me the ER pilot by Michael Crichton - and John said to come on out. So in terms of entertainment mentors, it would be John."

 

Universal says "Have you had much interaction with Michael Crichton over the years?"

 

NealBaer says "Some, yeah. more at the beginning than now. Michael would come to meetings the first year and then as we went along... less and less to the point where now he's a big fan but we haven't met with him per se. He's always welcome to put his 2 cents in - but he's pretty happy with it. That goes for Spielberg too - this year he's very busy, but he came to the live episode. It's thrilling to have him there and hear him say "I loved your episode last night!""

 

ExciteUser asks "do you use friends and relations to build your characters?"

 

NealBaer says "Yes. We draw on the people we know. My experiences certainly inform the characters. Carter is very torn about talking to patients vs getting a lot of experience and I had the same feelings. There is a conflict there in dividing your time."

 

ExciteUser asks "what is the question that you wish people would ask you but they just never ask it??"

 

NealBaer laughs hysterically.

 

NealBaer says "We'll come back to that one - I've been asked everything from what kind of Shoes George wears to how does ER influence medicine."

 

Universal says "So you've been asked everything!"

 

NealBaer says "So I've been asked almost everything."

 

MingoJones asks "Which original and adapted screenplay do you think will walk away with an Academy Award this year?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, I was just at the WGA awards for which I was nominated for "Whose Appy Now" - I lost. but there were 2 episodes of Law & Order nominated. I was happy to be nominated there. LA Confidential and As Good As It Gets took the WGA awards. It would be nice is LA Confidential won. For best movie, I like The Full Monty - but it won't win."

 

Universal says "I think it'll go to Good Will Hunting"

 

NealBaer says ""As Good As It Gets" will win."

 

SouthPkKenny asks "What's your favorite color of M&M - and do you think they should bring back the tan ones?"

 

NealBaer says "I think. YES!"

 

Universal says "Is that the one questions you've been looking for?!"

 

NealBaer says "You found the one question! Tan WAS my favorite!"

 

Universal says "Why did they get rid of them?"

 

NealBaer says "I know they did some market research, and then there were purple and blue ones. Do they still have blue?"

 

Universal says "Jennifer says they still have blue"

 

Nobb asks "Do you ever have to do a rewrite during the shoot of an episode and if so, do you have to improvise a lot?"

 

NealBaer says "No. We hopefully - we try to make the script as good as it can be before we shoot it. It's impossible - all that medical dialogue - we'd go crazy!"

 

SouthPkKenny asks "Will you and the "other" hospital show ever do something cool like a crossover show or something?"

 

NealBaer says "No. Because we don't think that's so cool."

Universal laughs

 

NealBaer says "To me that's not so cool. We won't ever diss them, even though they do us. The disser disses the dissee when the disser is not as successful."

 

ClooneyRules asks "What are the best and worst parts about working on ER????"

 

NealBaer says "The best parts are turning on your show on Thursdays and seeing the show you worked so hard on. You're with their friends and they are crying. I have a picture of George and George has lilfted the boy out of the water and people cried - and you know you moved them. And I did one last year where the kid wanted to die and George wanted to save him and the kid flipped him off. I love moving people like that. The deadlines get you kind of crazy. Thats so obvious though. There's no bad part per se - it can be stressful. We have great people to work with."

 

guest207 asks "Who writes the lines for Alex Kingston? They're hilarious! No-one speaks like that over in England :-)"

 

NealBaer says "We all do. But sometimes I'll say to him... I have a line where I said what would she say if she thought Morgan was Odd. She says "I might say, he's strange fish" and I said I like that - so I put that in. She is funny - the best! Alex rules!"

 

Universal says "Do you remember Kathleen Wilhoite? She did a chat with us."

 

NealBaer says "I love Kathleen! She's a really talented musician!"

 

Universal says "I know her from that because my friend represents her. She sang a song and it was great"

 

NealBaer says "She is so terrific and we all loved her! She grew up with Tony Edwards."

 

Nobb asks "Are you really doing a drama pilot for the WB? Can you discuss?"

 

NealBaer says "Yes and no I can't discuss it. Somebody read Variety there!"

 

Universal says "Good luck to you with that one!"

 

NealBaer says "Thanks!"

 

Mingo Jones asks "Do you watch South Park????"

 

NealBaer says "No, but I'd like to. I've read a lot about it - it sounds pretty fun. I used to be an elementary school teacher - so I'd relate to it."

 

Universal says "Do people on the set talk about it at all?"

 

NealBaer says "No - sorry!"

 

Nobb asks "Did the writing have to be different when you wrote the live ER?"

 

NealBaer says "No. Yeah, it was just shot a little differently."

 

ClooneyRules asks "Would you recommend AFi to people who want to get incolved in show business???"

 

NealBaer says "Involved is kind of ambiguous. If you want to be an agent, no. If you want to be a director - of course! On our show, there are Lydia, Paul Manning, Mimi, and I did - we all went to AFI"

 

SouthPkKenny asks "How do you accommodate different cast members taking time off to do films? Do you schedule around them or vice versa?"

 

NealBaer says "We schedule around them. We're able to shoot pretty far in advance. As long as we have notice - we can fix the schedule so they dont work every day. We were doing crazy stuff to keep George in the loop."

 

ExciteUser asks "In all the years that youve been doing this fabulous job, isn't there anything else that you'd like to be doing?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, I practice medicine so I get to do a lot of things."

 

Universal says "What about travel?"

 

NealBaer says "I do a lot of travelling and give talks about the show. I'm involved in a lot of social policy and talk to policy makers in medicine. I talk to med students..."

 

Universal says "So you get to do all you want to do!"

 

NealBaer says "Yeah! Im lucky! It's luck!"

 

ClooneyRules asks "Do you ever watch an episode that you penned and sit back and say....damn, that wasn't very good?"

 

NealBaer says "No! I think ive been really lucky. I've had episodes with good directors. Some things can be better, or you might not like how something was directed or how it turned out. I always think about story. Snappy dialogue is great if there's a good story behind it. I want to have something I can hold on to and get involved with."

 

guest228 asks "I just have to ask - are Carter and Anna ever going to get together?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, I just wrote an episode "Gut Reaction" - and you'll have to watch it. It DOES get into that. Late April"

 

Universal says "Do we know when that will air?"

 

NealBaer says "I think it's the 2nd Thursday in April"

 

SuperDave8 asks "Did you see any of the $$$ that was divied last month when the new contract was signed?"

 

NealBaer says "Well, there was a big discussion in the papers - but you can't always believe what you read - I wish!"

 

Universal says "Don't we all!"

 

Mingo Jones asks "What do you think of the X Files??? And it's writing?"

 

NealBaer says "I so rarely watch it, but Julianna should have won the best actress award and Tony Edwards should have won the Emmys... Sorry!"