Woke Up This Morning by Michael Imperioli

Author:Michael Imperioli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2021-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

ANOTHER OF the alums of the writers’ room who went on to great things was Todd Kessler, who later created the award-winning series Damages. He was only on The Sopranos for two seasons but wrote some of the most memorable episodes, including “D-Girl,” as well as “Funhouse,” which he cowrote with David Chase. He told us about how his time on the show started, and how it ended. And how, as for many of us, his relationship with David was . . . complicated. —Michael

Michael: You were in touch with David while you were working on another show, Providence, which was on NBC for many years, correct?

Todd: Yes. And then sometime during the editing of the first season of The Sopranos, I got a call from David, asking, would I want to come in and maybe meet to write for the show in Season Two?

Michael: And so you left Providence?

Todd: That’s a very good question. I actually had a month left on my contract. And that show became a huge hit. And so when I came to meet with David, we talked about an episode for me to write. And he said, “Okay, you have three weeks.” And I said, “Well, I’m under contract for another month at NBC.” And he said, “Okay, you have two choices. You can either go to them and ask them to let you out of your contract, which they probably won’t do. Or you can write it. And most likely they’ll never find out.” And he said, “Go outside. You have ten minutes to think about it and come back in and tell me what you want to do.”

Steve: That’s what he said? Literally?

Todd: Yeah. I’m twenty-five years old. And I go out in the parking lot and I’m shaking. And I call the people at Providence, and I called my brothers in New York. No one’s answering. And so I go back in to see David and he said, “Which one is it?” And I said, “I’m going to go to my boss and ask him to let me out of my contract.” And he basically said, “Good luck.” And I drove from Santa Monica to the Van Nuys Airport, which is where our offices were. And I talked to my boss and he says, “Go, go, just go. If that’s where your heart is, go,” and he let me out.

And so in the first episode that I wrote, “D-Girl”—Michael, you’ll remember this scene—there’s a moment where Tony says to Christopher, at Anthony Jr.’s confirmation, “Go outside, you have ten minutes to think about whether you’re in or you’re out.” And he goes out and sits outside and thinks, “What? Am I going back into the family or not?” And that was directly from my experience with what David made me do.

Michael: Oh, I didn’t know that. That’s really cool.

Todd: And David never said anything to me about it. I don’t know whether he realized it or not, but he probably did. He’s a super-smart guy, but I used that thing that he did to me, that Tony then would do to Christopher.

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