Showrunner and executive producer Peter Moffat made a concerted effort to diversify his writers’ room when crafting the Showtime legal drama “Your Honor.”
“I made a really, really, really clear decision early on, which was to find writers who could tell me things I don’t know, who came from backgrounds and histories that I have no knowledge of, so that we could get as full, as broad, and as wide a possible spectrum of experience into that room,” he said in a “Variety Streaming Room” conversation. “(That) made it incredibly exciting for me as an outsider to hear those disparate voices and those different stories from different people.”
Based on the Israeli series “Kvodo,” Moffat’s project takes the story about a father covering up his son’s hit-and-run murder and applies it to a New Orleans family. The plot deals with the fallout of the secret. Moderated by Variety‘s Cynthia Littleton, the panel on “Your Honor” also included star and executive producer Bryan Cranston, cinematographer James Friend, production designer Scott Murphy, director and executive producer Edward Berger, and executive producers Michelle King, Robert King and Liz Glotzer.
During the discussion, the cast and crew answered questions about the attention to detail and the technical strategies they employed while shooting the limited series. The opening episode includes a seven-minute, action-packed scene with virtually no dialogue. Berger said the team opted to let the actors’ expressions and dynamic camerawork do the storytelling.
“We like to look at it exactly and precisely and work with a lot of precision,” Berger said. “Then somehow use the camera as a funnel into this person’s soul or mind or psyche at that moment, into his emotion or hers. I think every time we changed the camera angle, we want to know exactly why and what this new angle says about this inner state of the character.”
Michelle and Robert King said the show benefited from being a limited series.
“In every other way it felt much like any other series,” Michelle King said. “You’re interviewing writers, you’re looking for the best, same with directors. You really get a special caliber of actor when they don’t have to commit to six years of their life.”
Watch the full conversation above.
