Surnow: Hi watchers of La Femme Nikita. I'm real happy to be here doing this and I look forward to all your questions. Let's start!

FictionWriter_101: Where do you get your ideas? And do the actors have an input on where their character will go?

Surnow: Mostly Target, sometimes JC Penny. No, our ideas, we do a group thing, there's usually about three in a room who stare at each other for eight hours at a time until a fragment of an ideas come out of someone's head, and then we build on it. Do the actors suggest storylines? Yes. Have we actually bought a story from an actor? No. Having said that, many ideas come out of the long conversations the writers and actors have talking about the show in general. The actors do suggest stories indirectly by the way they play their characters. The writers have written the characters tailored to the actors, and in a sense some of that character does become part of the story. So in an indirect way, yes.

Schnee139: What qualifications do you seek in writers and how do you get them up to speed on LFN if they haven't written for the show before?

Surnow: We seek talent, really as simple as that. Different writers have different talents. Some are stronger in dialogue, some are stronger in story. And when we work with writers we try to bring their strength to the show. Once a writer hands in a draft then we begin to fine tune their voice to the voice of the show which is very specific. And try to bring them to a near perfect pitch so they are writing the show we are making. It doesn't always work.

Lahteakah: How far in advance are LFN scripts written? Do you have a general outline for season 4?

Surnow: Yes we do. The shows that will begin airing in January will have begun to have been written in May, a full six months before. However, we begin production in September, which means about three months before production, and six months before airing.

cgreen52: Do the writers ever peruse the various LFN websites out there to see the fans' reactions to the episodes?

Surnow: Absolutely. Chris Heyn, who is sort of the gate keeper for all the various fan based websites, collects pages and pages of postings for us the day after a show airs. And all of the writers read them like opening night reviews. It's really a great feeling when our fans like a particular episode because we feel we have a very intelligent fan base. And we actually take a lot of fan response into consideration in terms of the direction of the show.

GENERALS99: How did you first start in show business?

Surnow: I grew up in Southern California. And many of my high school friends' parents were involved in the business, and it was a natural transition. From where I came from, the entertainment business, it was a company town for me. I started writing when I got out of college, and eventually got a job on St. Elsewhere, which was the first script I had written. My first staff job was for Steven Bosco's show Bay City Blues. Then the following season I became the head writer of Miami Vice for their first season. And I was off and running.

Schnee139: Of all the series that you've worked on, which one have you been most satisfied with?

Surnow: Definitely, Nikita. The only downside has been the fact that we're sort of in the broadcast witness relocation program. There are just so many people who don't know about us. That's one of the downsides in working in cable. The creative freedom has been phenomenal. But in cable, if you are huge hit, that means two million people are watching. On network television if 10 million people are watching, you are a failure. The other show that I felt very close to was The Equalizer. Which I did the first season. And closely represented my dramatic preferences.

Kolumbyne: Do you find the techniques used to garner audience interest vary from year to year or do the same gimmicks work from o say the 80's even today in the 90's?

Surnow: No, I think the internet played very little part in garnering new audience. As we've seen with The Blair Witch, to use one obvious example, the internet has become a very influential source of marketing. Ultimately, however, I have to believe that the good shows garner audience by word of mouth. Certainly it was true of us and The Sopranos. It's true in network. And that's the sure-fire way of getting eyeballs on your show. Do a good one.

Schnee139: Are you satisfied with the end-product you've created. Has LFN become what you originally envisioned?

Surnow: I'm very satisfied and proud of LFN. However, to refer an earlier question about how the actors have changed the look and feel of the show, what we envisioned before the actors was vastly different than what we got once we saw the actors play the parts. They're the ones that brought it to life and showed us what the show could be. And that was a surprise, a wonderful surprise.

marionsec1: The music was a part of the LFN series that contributed to the "feel" of the series, and it is that feel that has made it so popular. The music is missing from Season 3. Is there a reason for that and could it please be a component again?

Surnow: There is an average of thirty minutes of music in every show in Season 3, which is the same amount of music as we've had in seasons 1 and 2. So I'm not quite sure what you mean. Except, it is possible that we've used less source music, meaning outside sources. It's not an intentional decision to reduce the amount of source music. Blaine Johnson, our music supervisor, is still working full time to bring new music to the show (mostly indie bands). You're not the first person who has brought this to our attention, and since it wasn't a premeditated decision, we will look and see if this is a problem we need to remedy.

josephine_670: Who came up with the title Three Eyed Turtle? Was it from the Miami Vice EP from way back?

Surnow: Someone has been doing their homework! It was Maurice Hurley who wrote the Miami Vice episode of the same title. Neither of us know what the expression means. We just saw a personal ad once for Swingers who were into S&M and bondage, but absolutely no "3 eyed turtles". That intrigued us!

Nikita507: We have seen some more of the relationship with Walter and Nikita, the one time in her apartment. Will there be more of that to come and some of Walter's history?

Surnow: We hope so. We're not finished plotting out season 4 but we hope to build on all the relationships between our characters. As we go into season 4, we are aware that our fans have endured a lot of cryptic moments between the players and long for more personal moments and more revelations.

melinky: Davenport was such a great character in Third Party Ripoff. Will he be back for more in season 4?

Surnow: Yes, the fan response to him has been very vocal. They like him a lot. And we intend to make him a semi-regular next season. (hopefully his agent isn't on line right now).

Lahteakah: Will we ever get to see how each character got into section one?

Surnow: Again, as I mentioned in the question about Walter and Nikita, I think these kinds of questions will certainly pop up in the writers meetings, as that is un-mined territory for us, and we certainly want to explore a lot of this.

carolen_1306: LFN has become so popular in the States. Will you consider a conference in the USA in 1999?

Surnow: We don't put on a conference, other groups do. However, there is a conference in Toronto in October of '99. The bad news is, is that it sold out rather quickly. So if someone out there wants to start the ball rolling on another North America conference, we will certainly provide our participation.

mirth2066: Roy Dupuis is magnificent. Are we ever going to get the chance to see him *open* it up a bit?

Surnow: I don't know what it is you want him to open up, but I can guess. But honestly, I doubt Roy's character Michael, would ever feel comfortable revealing or expressing too much. You just have to do the interpretation of his emotions yourself.

gusgus_gg2: What is your favorite part of working with the cast of LFN?

Surnow: I love challenging our actors. We are a very spartanly written show. We don't give our actors a lot to work with. Vis a vis words. So they have to create the mood of the show with their body movement, their eyes, their pauses, their silences, and they do a remarkable job of creating the LFN mood with just their being. And that is what I think people like about the show. Trying to figure out what these actors/characters are thinking and feeling.

tmneff: Has anyone considered doing a two hour movie episode?

Surnow: We would certainly love to do a special two hour Nikita and take them to some exotic locale. It's currently under discussion with the network and perhaps will become a reality at some point this season.

carolen_1306: Would it be possible to have a weekend LFN-thon where the first show and other popular shows are played?

Surnow: That's a great idea. I'll mention to Steven Chao, the President of the network.

Lahteakah: Do you think a place like section one exists in the world?

Surnow: That's another great question. Yes, I do, but it's probably not as well designed as Rocco Matteo, our production designer, created. And I don't know if that place is run by people as ruthless as ours, but it probably is.

TV Guide: Thanks for joining us this evening, Joel. We'll be sure to tune into the season finale of La Femme Nikita. Please come back and chat with us again.