The Corridors Of Power

Director and Executive Producer Thomas Schlamme walks (and talks) us through the secrets of a successful walk-and-talk.

Illustrations: Ceri Thomas

Schlamme: I think there are two secrets to a walk and talk: design a set with a production designer named Jon Hutman and shoot it with a cinematographer named Tom Del Ruth. When we first started, we said 'This is the conceptual idea of the show,' and just went from there.

Schlamme: The way that the show was designed, you could move into various atmospheres and you wouldn't be moving into the exact same visual palette. You would go from the Oval Office, which was lit one way, to the communications bullpen, which was lit a completely different way, with lots of fluorescents. There were all different lighting forms on a massive dimmer board so that everybody was in sync.

Schlamme: The essence of blocking a theatre piece is that when people are moving and they stop then it has more emphasis. Alternatively, if they're still and then they move it has more emphasis. So a lot of the time if you actually analyse the walk-and-talks, there will be a moment when they get to the coffee pot to pour a cup of coffee or something in the middle and that's the dialogue that needs to be digested a little bit more. There was always method to the madness of that movement.