Even a medical show doesn't have to be about the medicine. "[House creator David] Shore doesn't care about the medicine," said Hoselton in his standing-room-only session, referring to the show as more of a character study. "I don't think the audience cares about the medicine. A few people are really fascinated, but generally we care about characters."
Hoselton called Hugh Laurie's titular character an "iconic figure" who half the viewers love and half love to hate, but all find fascinating. "When the other characters are trying to get at House's emotional core, trying to analyse him, figure out what makes him tick, those are the most satisfying scenes."
"Shore will always say, 'Where's the heart in this scene? Where's the heart in this story? Why does House care about this case? Why do we as an audience care about this patient?' If the patient lives or dies, we want the audience to have an emotional reaction to that, even if House doesn't. House might not care if the patient lives or dies, he just wants to solve the case. But if the audience feels that way, then we've lost them."
Don't Sweat The Small Stuff
Hoselton confirmed that House doesn't have a show bible, a document that supposedly collects the known facts of the series. "It's sort of a joke," he revealed. "Every now and then, somebody will say 'Where does Wilson live?' 'I don't know, it's in the bible.'"
Greenstein suggested show bibles are not particularly common or useful, given the collective memory of the writing staff and the availability of episodes and scripts online. "If there's one on Desperate Housewives, I haven't seen it." In fact, he hasn't read a bible for any of his shows. "It's probably a useful tool if you're a freelancer," he shrugged. "But the series bible to me is a relic of pre-Internet days. It's not necessarily a tool we worry about."
Take An Idea To Script
One hallmark of television writing is the enormously collaborative nature of the process. Unless they're Aaron Sorkin or David E. Kelly, it's very unlikely the credited writer of an episode wrote every line, and even the plot was probably influenced by others. While the showrunner often does a final pass on every script, ensuring the voice of the show is consistent, the other writers and producers, the studio and network, and the directors and actors on set might have a say in the final product.
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