CSI stars discuss their work with students
Two actors from the CBS show spoke to students Thurssday night.
Published April 27, 2007
Detectives stand over a dead body and investigate a crime scene, and that's what David Berman and Jon Wellner do every week on the hit television show "CSI."
Berman and Wellner, who play David Phillips and Henry Andrews respectively on "CSI," visited MU on Thursday to speak to students about their roles as researchers and actors for the show.
They also discussed how an episode is produced. The Missouri Students Association and the Graduate Professional Council brought the actors to campus.
"We put together a full season between June and April," Berman said. "A lot of work goes into making each episode, and it is very fast and furious."
CSI has 10 full-time writers who create the ideas for the episodes. Those ideas are then put into outline form, where the first draft of an episode is written.
It is then talked about and revised, resulting in a second draft. The draft is then given to the director, who has seven days to prepare before shooting begins. Once shooting begins, an episode will be completely filmed in eight or nine days.
"When you look at a full-length feature, it is usually about twice as long as our 44-minute episode but can take from two months to two years to produce," Berman said. "Everything is done faster here."
After the episode is shot, it is edited and sent to sound to ensure that everything checks out. Berman said actors and actresses are occasionally called in to repeat their lines if the camera doesn't catch them.
"I've had to drive over to the studio just to re-record a cough or say the word 'oops,'" Berman said.
In addition to being actors, both Berman and Wellner are also researchers on the show, and they frequently field questions from writers about various topics or issues that will occur in the filming of the episode.
"We have to answer questions about all kinds of topics, and most of them have to be answered by a person," Wellner said. "Usually people help us because whether or not they do, we are still going to have whatever our question is in the episode."
Wellner said, at times, the research requested seems impossible, but there is always an answer somewhere.
Berman and Wellner have researched topics including animal costumes, transgenders, melting ice rates and hot dog ingredient uniqueness.
They also discussed some of the differences between the show and actual crime labs. These include the time it takes to get results, the fact that the cast has many jobs and if something is theoretically possible, it will be done on the show.
Berman and Wellner said there are some downfalls of having this type of show on television.
"Some people blame CSI because it influences court cases because some judges expect perfect evidence," Berman said. "CSI is changing the way crimes are being committed."
Wellner said they call this "the CSI effect."
"We think there is more positives than negatives," Wellner said. "Technology is behind what it shows on TV, but people are actually more interested in forensic science."
Berman has also done research for the XFL and "CSI: Miami," while Wellner has acted in "Gilmore Girls" and was cast in the upcoming movies "Ocean's Thirteen" and "Evan Almighty."