Making Dallas

As a hit series, Dallas is essentially in production fifty-one weeks a year.

The writers work alt year except for a week at Christmas; the actors have a hiatus between the first of April, when the filming season wraps, and the first of June, when they report to work at MGM-Lorimar studios to shoot interiors for the first six shows of the new season. Then they migrate to Dallas from mid-June to mid-August to shoot exteriors for twelve shows. While in Dallas, cast and crew work six days a week (Sundays are off); key producers and production personal with throw in an additional half day on Sunday as required.

A new season officially starts the day after the old season, when Capice, Katzman and the Dallas creative staff sit down and say, "All right, this is where we ended, now where do we begin'?" The bible is worked out and new actors in supporting roles are signed. (One-shot actors will be cast as each script is developed.) "We differ from some of the other shows in casting," says Capice. "I think that other shows go after a big name and then create a part for that person to play and work it into the story. On Dallas, the story always comes first. We shy away from a big name actor who is best known for being himself. We want our audience to accept the actor as the character." When an actor is signed for multiple appearances (a minimum of seven shows), he does not know what will happen to his character in the story or how long he will be around. During the show’s developing years, it was not unusual for characters to be tried out. Both Dale Robertson and Howard Keel played suitors to Miss Ellie, but Robertson’s character disappeared into the sunset.

After the twelve-show bible is developed, each show will be plotted act by act and scene by scene. There will be approximately twenty-five scenes in each Dallas script, divided equally into four acts. The act climaxes are chosen as the story is developed orally. (Each act climax is a mini cliffhanger that serves to move the story toward a greater climax while allowing commercial breaks.)

Scenes in a Dallas script are shorter than in almost every other show. The average scene is about two or two and a half pages of dialogue, whereas in another show, a scene can run from five to eight pages. "There’s an emphasis on character and a deemphasis on plot," says Katzman. Still, a lot more happens on an episode of Dallas than on almost any other show on television.

Scripts are mostly written by house writers, but occasionally they are farmed out to free-lancers. Free-lance writers are handed a scene-by-scene outline (called a "step-outline") of the show they are to write. They spend a week "thinking about it," according to the supervising producer, Peter Dunne. "They are encouraged to call me at any time to ask any questions they want." After a week the writers go to the offices on the MGM lot to discuss their thoughts about action and motivation. Then they go home to write for another week, turning in a script that is about fifty-two pages long – approximately one „ page of dialogue per film minute. Writers earn approximately $16,000 for a script. Sounds easy? It isn’t.

The first draft of a script is bound between red paper covers and is called, not surprisingly, a "red cover." The red cover goes to the production people so that they can begin work right away on locations and props. The rewritten version (changed as much as 50 percent) of a script, boasting a yellow cover, is the official shooting script. Yellow covers go to the actors. Pages of subsequent rewrites will be added on various shades of paper, each color coded to the number of rewrites the scene has endured. All copies of all yellow covers contain the same letter, which states, "As you know, our scripts should be treated with the utmost confidentiality, especially those containing sensitive material with regard to the opening and closing sequences of each season. Please do not let your script out of your possession!" High-security pages (such as the ones identifying who shot J.r.) are handed out on a "need to know" basis and may be stamped "For your eyes only."

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