Where the Magic Happens (aka "The Room")

Ready for a tour of our offices?  Buckle up and keep your hands and feet inside the tram at all times.  And please don't feed the writers.

Downstairs in the lobby are big posters of the productions made at the studio.  Our poster is next to HEROES, down the hall from DEXTER, and across the way from classic films such as GILDA.  Mmm, taste that history!

The hallway leading to The Room looks like something out of THE SHINING.  All work and no play... 

Whenever writers convene for the start of a season, the most important thing on the agenda is... of course... interior decorating.  Co-creator Jaime Paglia demonstrates his mastery of the art form by mapping out a strategy for positioning furniture.

On some television shows, The Room can be stiff and formal with back-breaking chairs arranged around a big conference table.  On EUREKA we prefer a more low-key approach, full of comfy couchy goodness.

We usually get started in the morning sometime around the Binomial Coefficient (although some folks are here as early as half past the Binary). We typically break for lunch circa Legendre's Constant.

A baby episode in the wild!  Soon it will reach maturity, with index cards noting story beats such as twists, escalations, and act outs.  There's a debate among television writers as to whether it's best to break stories with cards on a bulletin board or with dry erase markers on a white board.  (For the record, we're RIGHT.)  

 

Writers with the most legible penmanship get the honor/are coerced into writing cards as we break episodes.  Some of us have been told we have the handwriting of a serial killer and are excused from participating.

Meet Theme Amy! Sometime early on, co-executive producer Amy Berg displayed a knack for encapsulating an episode's theme in a brief, catchy bit o' pithiness.  If you look carefully, you can see the theme for an upcoming episode!

**Disclaimer: Theme for an upcoming episode may be invisible.

Breaking a story is wandering into uncharted territory, and sometimes you uncover weird/random/funny stuff on the way.  Our favorite "room bits" and quotations get cards too, although many of them -- ahem -- do not belong on a family blog like this one.  Check out Bruce Miller's radical reinterpretation of how to spell Archimedes!

We're big fans of gadgets and fun stuff from sites like ThinkGeek.  This is what we use to blow up bad ideas.  Happily it has not been worn out from overuse.  Yet.

Actual reading materials from the room. We are supar smrt!

Lots of people in close quarters + cold and flu season = Purell bottles on every available surface.

The room runs on chocolate like the Space Shuttle runs on monomethyl hydrazine! 

We go through gum uncannily fast.  On the plus side, we are all minty fresh.  Good thing, too.  On EUREKA, the reward for a good idea is getting to make out with the writer of your choosing.

Our patron saint (not to scale).

Hannukah Harry!  He offers spiritual guidance and cheerful renditions of Hava Nagila.  Often he sits on the shoulder of writer Eric Tuchman, whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

Movie quotes and allusions fly around fast and furious when breaking story -- BACK TO THE FUTURE is one of our faves.  The "flux capacitor" is our go-to temp term for any kind of power source.  

Toys play a vital part in The Room.  We make stuff up for a living, and to do that we have to let our imaginations run wild like kids on a playground.  If you look at a jungle gym and see a spaceship, you're probably a writer on EUREKA.

Comments

[Steve]

Nice.

[FredOzzel]

awesome stuff!

[Jeremy Sony]

Thanks for the tour!

[twitter.com/Psistriker]

Back To The Future, Think Geek stuff, and M&M's, some of my favorite things. No wonder I love you guys so much. ;)

[Michael J]

Handwriting like a serial killer? I suppose it could be worse and accuse those with less than legible penmanship of having handwriting like a lawyer! (This coming from a a lawyer.)

[Andria]

Made of so much win!
*luv*

[Kelly J. Compeau]

Where can I buy that awesome clock?!

[KimberleyJo]

Seriously want that clock for my husband's office! Rocks!

[KimberleyJo]

I looked all over think geek for that clock, they don't have it, can you please tell me where to find it!

[emily]

the clock can be found here:

http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?itemId=18145

:)

[Laughingdog]

Voila

http://www.uncommongoods.com/item/item.jsp?itemId=18145&utm_medium=shopping%20sites&utm_source=froogle&utm_campaign=18145&zmam=74331212&zmas=1&zmac=2&zmap=18145

[Textualdeviance]

I admit I'm surprised there aren't cases of Degree sitting around. ;)

[giorgia]

thank you emily, I'm sooo getting that clock, too! :D

[Jerry Kieffer]

COP: FARGO! Why is that SLINKY walking along the floor all by itself?
FARGO: Ahhhhh I'm not touching it... Honest.
COP: Yeah i can see that.... BUT why is that slinky walking across the room all by itself?
FARGO: Ahhhh.... I transplanted the brains from an earthworm to the head of the slinky chain. Maybe that's why it's walking across the room.

[Anie]

Someone I follow tweeted this link, I can't find who sent it but I'm so glad I've come. I got a Eureka boxset for Christmas and now I'm inspired to see what its all about :D

This definitely is my kind of office, only I doodle instead of write.

[anna]

Too funny. And "Gilda" not that's a blst from the past. Ah Rita...

[Kent H]

I'm impressed by the work put into making the silver car (Doc's) from Back to the Future. Was this custom ordered?

[Suzi Duke]

You know what else would look really awesome in this room?

Me.

[excentric]

This was great. Eureka is the show I most look forward to every year, and the most fun to watch. Great work, guys and girls.

[mathias]

I totally agree with excentric the show is just great and thanks for the tour.

[anna]

I love the Thinkgeek website! Awesome stuff!!! Thanks for posting where you get some of your cool stuff...

[Term papers]

Back To The Future, Think Geek stuff, some of my favorite things. No wonder I love you guys so much. ;)

[lipozene]

What a great rooms dude, love btf car, The Delorian!!!

[diaphoresis]

the photo of the clock is the best of all

[Asics shoes]

To make people become truly educated people, must have three qualities: the knowledge, the habit of thinking and noble sentiment. Knowledge is not foolish, Not accustomed to thinking, is rude or stupid, No lofty sentiment, is humble.Do you think so?