Your Chance to question Ralph Hemecker

[ethsnafu]

Hi guys,

I wrote to Mr. Hemecker moons ago and quite out of the blue his publicist wrote back to say he would love to do a Q&A with us. For those of you not sure who he is he directed three episodes of Millennium, Exegesis, The Curse of Frank Black and The Well Worn Lock. If you would like to contribute a question to Ralph's Q&A please do so, we want you to get as involved as possible with what we are doing. As he worked on all three seasons you might want to ask how they compared, as he directed an episode with very little dialogue you might want to know if that was a challenge. Maybe you want to know how he broke in to the business or how Millennium compares with other shows and films he has worked on. Whatever the question, submit it here and let me know what you want to know.

Let your minds run free

Eth

[ethsnafu]

C'mon lads and lasses, have a think otherwise yours truly has to write the whole thing and the you know it will boring

Eth

[Libby]

It wouldn't be boring, Eth! You've already thought up some amazing questions.

The question about working on all three seasons is a good one.

I've got one question so far:

Your first Ten-Thirteen episode was Millennium's "The Well-Worn Lock". Unllike many Millennium episodes, this one included a lot of well-lit scenes (daylight or normal indoor lighting) yet the subject matter is about as dark as it gets. How challenging was it to film this episode where the darkness is essentially hidden? How difficult was it to film Frank Black's visual images of the father abusing his daughter?

I've got an idea for another question, but it's about his sole XF episode - "Schizogeny", guest starring Sarah-Jane Redmond.

[ethsnafu]

Great question Libby, thank you.

Please do ask any X-Files questions you might have guys that perfectly fine. I was going to slip in something about The Wonder Cabinet as he directed that and since none of us have seen it I thought he might be able to shed some light on the proposed show.

Anything and everything welcome guys.

Eth

[Libby]

A question about The Wonder Cabinet would definitely be a good one.

I noticed also on his imdb page that he's filmed the pilot episode of three shows, so a question about how much difference there is between filming a pilot and filming an episode for established show would be interesting.

Re: "Schizogeny" - this episode is often referred to as "The Killer Trees" episode. This was the first script written by writing duo Mike Wollaeger and Jessica Scott listed on their imdb pages. The story is perhaps a little hokey in places, but the episode itself has a nice eerieness. More than likely the script would also have been worked on by more experienced writers, but does it make any difference that the script is someone's very first, e.g. does that fact add an extra layer of challenge?

[Earthnut]

I just want to know what Ralph Hemecker understood about the butterflies in Exegesis. Did he know at the time how spiritual this episode was, and of course The Innocents as well. Did he also find it difficult to direct the second episode after someone else directed the first episode? And of course, any comments he may have on these episodes will be greatly appreciated. As you know, they and the butterflies are very special to me.

[ethsnafu]

Thanks guys,

Spot on Darlene. I pencilled in the second part of your question myself, it seems great minds think alike. I wondered if you had a two part episode and both episodes were directed by different people how do you ensure the direction remains coherent. Do they work together to some degree, discuss their approaches or would Ralph have been shown the dailies (I think that's what they're called) in order to get a feel for what Thomas J Wright was doing. I will certainly put that one in and Libby's question about the X-Files too and I thank you all for your suggestions. I hope he enjoys our interview when he receives it :)

Eth