By David Bushman
Interviews
March 2020
Fayetteville Mafia Press
ISBN: 978-1949024104
Compassion for human frailties, wisdom to respect souls curious about how the universe works in ways great and small, and a talent for creating narrative that brings clarity to visions are among the things that Mark Frost can do, and do well. In wide-ranging interviews conducted by David Bushman, Frost talks about ideas, visions and getting the work done in the book Conversations with Mark Frost.
Frost is the co-creator, with David Lynch, of Twin Peaks. And his contribution to that landmark series is an important part of this book. But Frost has been involved with other projects, and is currently working on his writing. Those also are covered in this comprehensive compilation of several interviews.
The book is arranged chronologically, starting with Frost's childhood as the son of a theater artistic director and actor -- Warren Frost, who played Dr. Hayward on Twin Peaks. In many ways, Frost's life is tied to television. He was born in New York City while his father was working on the Philco Playhouse. As a child, he appeared on an early episode of Art Linklatter's show interviewing kids. Frost's reaction to the business of being coached and knowing the difference between fake and real, even then, is something seen throughout his career.
Readers mainly interested in the television aspect of Mark Frost's career will be delighted with the conversations about two of the seminal shows he worked on, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Hill Street Blues. Of his time working on the lightning crew and other production tasks for Fred Rogers, Frost notes:
Fred was a singular man. He’s the kind of figure or role model we need to look to at times like this — somebody with profound decency, honesty and strength of character, his kindness to people.
While working on the PBS show, Frost met Charles Haid and Steven Bochco, who became important in the next phase of his career. In addition to talking about the studio writing process, Frost describes some of the characters he wrote about most and the development of deepening characterization while writing within the strictures of a network television show. This section provides a good deconstruction of what we watch, and an introduction as to how Frost could work within those confines while laying down a narrative to David Lynch's visions in Twin Peaks.
At Hill Street, Frost wrote often for some of the most memorable characters -- Hill and Renko, Sgt. Esterhaus and his roll call speeches, Lt. Henry Goldblume, and Howard Hunter.
But he didn't stay. Around this time, Frost attended a Hollywood party with big names (one of his roommates was Adam Arkin, son of Alan Arkin). A British film director spoke with him at the party about how they had all sold themselves, and their prices were known to those running the studios. It was an avenue Frost did not want to go down.
As Frost finished his television writing apprenticeship, he realized that one of the strongest aspects to his storytelling is that nothing is as it seems. So, the fit with Lynch to realize the vision that became Twin Peaks makes creative sense.
This part of the book in one in which Frost's talent for collaboration shines. As what basically amounted to being the showrunner, the first and final run-throughs of each week's script went through him, including rewrites he did but did not receive credit for. As he says, in the business, it's the person who writes the first draft who gets the credit. Frost also makes sure the work done by producer and writer Harley Peyton is noted. And, under his showrunning, the various directors who worked on the first two seasons also were able to bring their strengths to the work. That doesn't always happen in episodic television, which can rely on a certain style of storytelling for a series.
In addiiton to his ability to retrofit Lynchian visions into an overall mythology and story arc, Frost notes the influence that Jung has had on his work:
Jung was willing to throw away categorizations and open himself up to the powerful experience of “I have no control about where this is going so I’m going to let it lead me to what I want to know” — not through prescribed procedure, but through open-ended exploration.
That Frost is able to write this way proved beneficial myriad times during the collaboration with Lynch, as he discusses here:
[Bushman:] He was making his contributions on set as he was directing?
[Frost:] He would do that, absolutely. Like the white horse that appeared. That’s a good example of an image Lynch came up with. He didn’t know what it meant, but it was powerful. Then it fell to me to ask, “How do we incorporate this—in a larger, Jungian sense—into what it means in the narrative without becoming too literal?” I wanted things to have a grounding in logic that made sense, even if it’s dream logic. When I talk about finding connective tissue within the mythology, that’s what I’m referring to.
The section of the book in which Frost discusses Joseph Campbell, the hero's journey and Agent Cooper is very well done, and bringing up the concept of the law of unintended consequences shows the complexity of the storytelling within the world of Twin Peaks.
The book also covers the books Frost has written, plus projects that didn't succeed as well as they might have, and some that didn't get off the ground. Those stories are as compelling as the ones about the famous projects, and their inclusion makes this book even more worthwhile. Bushman does a terrific job of providing background and context for this as well as every other chapter in the book.
Conversations with Mark Frost covers a wide range of ideas and experience regarding writing in television, movies, the theater, fiction and nonfiction. The conversations themselves show a generous spirit who can create independently or in collaboration.
The book also includes detailed conversations about Frost's philosophy, including his research into the 19th century religion Theosophy, and the work of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung. Although much of Frost's work centers on the idea that not everything is what is seems, it also is grounded in one of his final statements in this book:
Believe in the good.
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